How to Connect the Amazon Echo Dot to an External Speaker?

What is Amazon Echo Dot?

Amazon Echo Dot is a small, smart speaker from the Amazon Echo family. Oh, boy, it has some cool features and an even cooler design. The latest, 4th generation offers a simple spherical shape that can please almost anyone’s sense of aesthetics, packed in a small 10 cm package full of features.

It can play music streamed from your mobile or many other music services such as Amazon Music, Apple Music, Spotify, SiriusXM, etc. It can read you audiobooks, manage your calls and provide you with all relevant information about the news, weather, or traffic you may need. How is that possible? Well, it has Alexa built-in it. Alexa is an artificial intelligence virtual assistant developed by Amazon and used to operate and control many Amazon and other manufacturer’s smart devices and services. Listing all the things Alexa can do for you would take ten articles like this one. We will try to focus only on your connectivity options regarding other external speakers.

What if Echo Dot sound is not enough?

Amazon states that echo dot has “crisp, balanced and full sound,” but some customers complain it is simply not loud enough. Built-in 1,6” speaker may give you all it’s got, but sometimes it just isn’t enough. So, how can you improve your audio experience but retain all other features Echo Dot provides?

Well, if that is what you’re looking for, you have two options: connecting by wire or wirelessly.

How to connect it with wire?

Amazon Echo Dot comes equipped with 3,5mm AUX output, allowing you to connect it with other audio devices. Whether it is an amplifier, set of speakers, soundbar, or any other audio device with 3,5mm AUX IN, you can connect it with Amazon Echo Dot. Then use the smart speaker as a source. After you plug the exterior speaker, you need to use your phone app and tell Alexa where do you want to play the music. So, go to the settings. Find a group where your echo device is located and select your Echo dot device. Then click on a “speaker” and change from “built-in speaker” to AUX cable. That was relatively simple, right? When you do this, you will let Alexa know you want to play music on an external speaker and not the one built-in into Echo Dot. This connection will allow you to boost the sound in level and quality. However, suppose you choose to connect by wire. In that case, you are just missing out on a TON of options and possibilities you can get by forgetting about the cable. It’s much better to connect your Dot with other devices from the Amazon smart home ecosystem by Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

How to connect it wirelessly?

Amazon Echo Dot uses your Wi-Fi network, Zigbee, and a built-in Bluetooth for wireless connectivity. Even doe Zigbee is a nice feature used to connect a ton of different devices with your smart speaker and to control them through Alexa, Zigbee cannot be used to connect other speakers. So, there are Bluetooth and your Wi-Fi network.

Let’s begin with the more straightforward option. If you have two Amazon Echo Dot devices of the same generation (gen three or gen 4), you can pair them up and use them as a stereo system. You can stream music from your phone or some other source or service, and that sound will come out of the speakers as two separate channels (left and right). Isn’t that cool? Oh, but wait, there is more.

You can, if you want, make a Home theater setup with your echo dot(s) using Alexa settings. To do this, you need a couple of things as follows:

1. Two Amazon Echo Dots of the same generation OR a pair of stereo speakers AND a subwoofer
2. Amazon Fire Stick or Fire cube
3. Adequate TV or projector + screen

For this to work, all speakers must be online, on the same network, and in the same space or room.

If you have all of those above and are willing to use them as a system, you can use the Alexa phone app to set it up as a home theatre system, just like we mentioned before. First, you need to plug your Fire TV device and set it up. Then you can use the Alexa phone app to connect the speakers to the Fire TV and use it as a system.

Suppose you want to take the sound even one step further. In that case, you can connect each Echo dot speaker with a separate, more capable speaker through AUX port by wire and get the music grooving with the capital G.

A Home Theater system configured like this supports both Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital Plus. You can genuinely feel like you are inside a bubble of sound coming from all directions.

Alexa has a ton of options, settings, and menus. Where and how can you set this up? Don’t worry. We will explain everything.

To pair your speakers, open the Alexa phone app and go to Devices. Then click on the “+” symbol in the upper right corner of the screen.

You will get a menu with the following options:

– Add Device

– Add Group

– Set-up Multy Room Music

– Set Up Audio System

– Choose the latter one.

Now you will get two options to setup:

– Stereo pair

– Home Theater

Here is where you can pair your speakers if you only want to use them as a stereo audio source. It would be better if you pair them before connecting them to Fire TV. When you’ve done selecting them and pairing them, come back here and proceed to option number two, “Home Theater”.

You will be asked to select your Fire TV device. Do it and click “next”. Now choose speakers to connect to your Fire TV. Since it can send to two separate Bluetooth devices, you have options to connect two speakers or a pair of speakers and a subwoofer. Like mentioned earlier, all speakers must be online, on the same network, and in the same room. Select your setup and click “next”. Name your Home Theater setup by picking one of the preselected options or giving it a custom name if you have more of these setups. Click “next”. In this menu, select a proper Group (i.e., Living Room). Click “Save” and you are done.

SUMMARY

There are two ways to connect Amazon Echo Dot to the external speaker. Wirelessly and by wire. Echo Dot comes with the 3,5mm AUX out port. You can use it to a sound system or a speaker with the same AUX-IN option, and then by selecting that external speaker or a sound system as an audio source in the Alexa phone app.

Another method is pairing it with another Echo Dot of the same generation in the Alexa phone app. If you do this, each of the speakers will reproduce a separate stereo channel. You can also link that pair of speakers with the subwoofer and the Amazon Fire device and create a Home Theater for a full experience.