How to pair two Google Homes for stereo sound

Creating a stereo pair is a great way to boost sound by devoting one smart speaker to the left channel and one to the right. It’s a trick that all Amazon Echo devices have been able to do for a while, but you can do the same with the Google Assistant, so here’s how to how to pair two Google Homes for stereo sound.

The first step is to get two identical speakers. And, by identical, I mean exactly the same model. That’s a bit of a shame, as the Google Home Mini and the Google Nest Mini are largely identical but aren’t compatible with each other in a stereo pair. This process also only works with audio-only products, so that’s the above products plus the Google Home and Google Home Max, but not the Google Nest Hub smart display.

1. Start the pairing process

Before you begin, you must have both the speakers that you want to use connected to the same Google Home account, and they have to be on the same wireless network. You should position the speakers where you want them.

It makes sense to place the two speakers a good distance apart so that you get proper stereo separation and can hear the effect.

Once done, open the Google Home app and select one of the speakers that you want to connect to. Tap Settings, then scroll down and select Speaker pair. Note, you only get the Speaker pair option if you have two speakers of the same type on the same network. Tap the two speakers that you want to connect.

2. Choose left and right speakers

Now, you need to choose the left and right speakers. Only music will come out of both speakers, and Google Assistant responses come out of the left speaker, so choose carefully. One speaker will start flashing white, so choose whether this is the left or right speaker, and tap next; the other speaker is assigned automatically.

Next, create a name for the speaker pair and select which room they’re in and tap Done.

3. Control your speakers

Now, when you play music on your speaker pair, it will come out of both speakers, with one acting as the left channel and one as the right channel. Any changes to the volume are reflected on both speakers, not one.

If you want to undo what you’ve done, you can select the speaker pair in the Google Home app and select Settings, Speaker Pair, Separate speaker pair and then choose Separate. Frustratingly, this process removes the speaker that was the right-channel from your Google Account, so you have to select it, tap Settings and select Link account to make it work as a voice assistant again.