Can't cast to a speaker group after changing default music speaker to bluetooth

[nrmaharaj]

I've recently made a change to a 2-speaker group I'd been using daily.

Previous speaker group configuration:

• Chromecast Audio
• Nest Mini

The Chromecast Audio has now been factory reset and removed from my Home. A Google Home Mini in the same room is now set to use a nearby always-on Bluetooth speaker as its music player (FWIW the Chromecast Audio was playing through this speaker's aux jack); when casting to this device now it reliably plays through that Bluetooth speaker.

New speaker group configuration:

• Google Home Mini defaulting to Bluetooth (GHMxBT)
• Nest Mini (same device as above)

When I try to cast to this new speaker group, only the GHMxBT connects; attempts to manually add the Nest Mini through the Google Home app fail consistently.

However, if I first cast to the GHMxBT, I can go through the Google Home app, tap the Media icon, and add the Nest Mini in an ad hoc speaker group. If I first cast to the Nest Mini, adding the GHMxBT through this manual method fails.

I have removed and re-added both devices.

Any idea what's going on here?

[Muddi]

Hello nrmaharaj,

My apologies for the late response. I know how challenging it is when you're having issues adding a speaker to the speaker group. Is there a message when you try adding the Nest Mini? Are they set up on the same home structure? Do you have a dual-band router?

Let's go ahead and try setting up a new home structure then move your speakers. Once done, try to set up a speaker group again and see if you will still have the same issue. Visit this link or follow the steps below to know-how:

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. At the top, tap Add.
3. Tap Create new home.
4. Follow the steps.

Let me know how it goes.

Cheers,

Muddi

[nrmaharaj]

Thanks, Muddi. 

I probably should've mentioned that in this Google Home I have several other speaker groups that work reliably. All of these groups are comprised of Google devices (Nest Mini, Chromecast Audio, Chromecast w Google TV, Chromecast Audio). This new problem speaker group is the only one where the default music device is a Bluetooth speaker (from a Google Home Mini). When I change its default music speaker back to the device itself, the speaker group works as expected.

And to be clear, I'm not having trouble adding to the speaker group. The group exists with the correct devices in it. 

The problem is that casting to the group doesn't work: only the device using a Bluetooth speaker connects. The Nest Mini does not. There's no error message: it just starts playing through the Bluetooth-connected device. If I go through the Google Home app and try to manually add additional devices to the media currently playing I get the error message, "Something went wrong. Please try again."

However, if I first cast to the Google device in the speaker group, and then manually add the Bluetooth-connected device, that works and seems to create an ad hoc speaker group named "[Google device]+1". But this speaker group doesn't persist and I need to go through this multi-step process each time.