This Google Home guide explains what the speaker pair is, the difference between it and the speaker group, the requirements to pair two Google Home speakers, the limitations and caveats of when pairing two Google Home speakers, how to pair two Google Home speakers and how to separate them. Some questions you may have on pairing two Google Home speakers are also answered.
Google Home Speaker Pair (stereo pairing) allows you to pair two Google Home speakers for stereo sound.
After paring the two Google Home speakers, they will function as one stereo device only. Voice commands will be handled by the left speaker.
Google initially introduced this feature exclusively to Google Home Max. When Google Nest Mini (Google Home Mini 2nd Gen) was released, Google added the speaker pair feature. And later it was rolled out to all other Google Home speakers including Google Home and Google Home Mini (1st Gen).
So, you can now this feature with all Google Home speakers.
Of course, it does not work with Google Home devices with a display, e.g., Google Home Hub, Google Nest Hub, and Google Nest Hub Max.
Some owners already know, you can group Google Home devices and Chromecast devices so that you can cast audio (even video) to all these devices simultaneously even in multiple rooms.
As explained in this post, the group play (or speaker group) was initially introduced with Chromecast Audio. Later, it was expanded to all Chromecast devices (including Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra) and Google Home devices including Google Home, Home Max, Home Mini, Nest Home Mini, and Nest Audio.
But the speaker pair and speaker group are totally different.
Essentially, you can consider:
So, paring two Googe Home speakers and grouping multiple Google Home speakers and Chromecast devices are for different purposes.
To create a speaker pair, there are some requirements for the two Google Home speakers, including:
Of course, you also need the Google Home app.
You may follow the following steps to create a Google Home speaker pair.
You need to make sure both Google Home speakers are working properly first, and all of the requirements listed above are met.
In the Google Home app, you can locate the two speakers to be used.
As shown in the screenshot below, you may need to scroll down to find all Google Home and Chromecast devices if you have a few in the home.
You can start the process from either of the two Google Home speakers. Tap on it.
As shown above, you can tap the gear (settings) icon for the speaker.
In the device settings page for this device, as shown below, you can tap Speaker pair to create the pair.
If you cannot find the speaker pair option in the device settings, it means there are no matching Googler Home speakers in the same network.
You need to make sure all the requirements are met to proceed.
After tapping the speaker pair, the Home app will ask you to confirm the operation, as shown above.
You need to tap Next to proceed.
Now, you can choose two speakers for the speaker pair, as shown below.
If the other Google Home speaker is not listed here, you need to make sure it is on, and it is connected to the same WiFi network.
If you have more than 3 Google Home speakers of the same model, you need to choose the desired one.
In this example, we only have two Nest Mini speakers, so it is simple to choose the second one.
Tap Next to proceed, as shown below.
Because the speaker pair will replace the two speakers, and voice command will be executed on the main (left) speaker, you need to specify which speaker is the main one.
Normally, you should choose one closer to you. But it is up to you.
Just remember, OK Google or Hey Google will be responded on the left speaker only.
The speaker you started with should blink now. By default, this will be the left (main) speaker of the speaker pair.
You can also tap Play sound to identify it.
If you want the other one to be the left speaker, you can tap Right.
Once finishing, specify the main speaker, tap Next to continue.
Now, you need to specify the room for this speaker pair, as shown below.
By default, the new speaker pair is named as Room name +pair.
If you want, you can give the pair a meaningful name, as shown above.
You can tap Next to finish the set up the speaker pair.
Now, on the Google Home app, you should find the two Google Home speakers disappear.
Instead, a new speaker pair is shown, as shown below.
Now, you can use only this speak pair, not the individual one.
You may try to use Google voice command to test the new speaker pair.
Also, when you cast your audio from any supported apps, you can find the new speaker pair, as shown above.
You can now manage the speaker pair as one device. All settings, like volume and equalizer, are applied to both Google Home speakers.
Actually, it is impossible to manage the individual speaker of the speaker pair except for rebooting them individually. They always act like one speaker until you unpair them.
For example, on Google Home app, you can find the pair we just created.
Tap it to access the speaker pair, as shown below.
You can tap the equalizer icon (marked as 1) t0 access it.
As shown above, you can now only adjust the equalizer for the speaker pair. You cannot adjust the equalizer for the individual speaker of the speaker pair.
You may tap the gear icon (marked as 2) to access the settings for the speaker pair.
In the Speaker pair settings page, many entries are identical to those for individual speakers.
But if you change any settings here will be applied to the two Google Home speakers in the pair.
You can even restart (reboot) the two Google Home speakers together.
In the Speaker pair settings page, as shown below, tap the menu key (3 vertical dots).
From the menu, as shown above, you can tap Restart pair to reboot both Google Home speakers immediately.
Of course, you can reboot them individually.
To manage the speaker pair, you can tap Speaker pair (marked as 4) on the speaker pair settings page shown earlier.
As shown in the screenshot below, the details of the speaker pair will be displayed.
You can tap Reboot to reboot each Google Home speaker individually.
You can also change the network settings for the individual speaker. But this would require you to set up the device again.
If you want to separate the speaker pair so that the two speakers work individually, you can tap the Separate speaker pair (marked as 5), as shown below.
This would unpair the two Google Home speakers. Of course, the speaker pair will be deleted.
As shown above, you need to confirm this operation to formally separate the speaker pair.
Tap Separate if you want to unpair the speaker pair. Otherwise, tap Cancel to return without separating the speaker pair.
You can adjust the volume the speaker pair just as what you do with the individual speaker as explained in this guide. For example, for Nest Audio, you can use both touch control or voice commands (Google Assistant) to control the volume of the speaker pair.
The volume for alarms and timers can also be adjusted in the Google Home app, as explained in this page.
The speaker pair is very useful if you need a more “powerful” speaker. It simply combines two Google Home speakers.
But when using the speaker pair, you need to be aware of some limitations and caveats, including:
If you have any questions or encounter any problems on the Google Home speaker pair, please let us know in the comment box below.
The community will help you.
Please check other Google Home guides here.
For Google Home Mini specific guides, please check this page.
You can find Nest Audio guides here.
This post was last modified on January 1, 2021 9:28 am
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I have been trying all different solutions to run my speakers as Stereo (GoogleHome Bluetooth) without success. I do not have a credit card at this time. Can you help me
There are no products named Google Home Bluetooth. Google Home (or Nest Audio) always requires WiFi.
You can pair two Google Home speakers in the Google Home app. What are the errors you get when creating the pair?
Once the two speakers are paired, you can then use them as one, including pairing the pair to your phone through Bluetooth and using the pair as a Bluetooth speaker.