How to Connect Sony Speakers Together

The Sony SRS XB43 -Party Mode- lamp glowing.

The ST Pair function on many Sony speakers allows you to connect two or more of them together. When you have two of the same speaker, you can sync them to form a stereo (L + R) set, such that they behave as a single stereo speaker. Or, when you have several to a hundred compatible speakers, you can connect them together as well to make a party connect set. So in this piece, we show you how to use this feature to enjoy more life like sounding music from your Sony speakers. The only extra cost for a stereo set, is that you must have two of the same speaker.

We show stereo pairing here using the Sony SRS XB13 model. But a similar routine works on the other models that support this.

Sony SRS XB13 -ST PAIR- lamp dark.

How to Connect Sony Speakers Together for Stereo Sound, Step by Step

1. Prepare the Speakers

1. Start with both speakers powered OFF.
2. Power up both speakers, and watch for the Pairing lamp to begin flashing each one. If either speaker connects with a nearby Bluetooth device, you need to break that connection. So turn off Bluetooth on the nearby BT device or shut down that device altogether.

2. Initiate Stereo Pairing

1. Press and hold the ST PAIR button on one of the speakers for around three seconds, until that speaker beeps. At this point, both the Bluetooth and ST PAIR lamps on this speaker flash. Then after five (5) seconds, the ST PAIR lamp stops flashing and glows steadily.
2. Next, on the the second speaker, press and hold the ST PAIR button for approximately three (3) seconds until its Power / Pairing and ST PAIR lamps flash. Note that you have one minute to do this after putting the first speaker in Add mode. Otherwise, that speaker times out, and reverts to a single speaker configuration. If this happens, power down both speakers, and start over with step 1.
3. You’ll shortly thereafter hear a beep. Then the ST PAIR lamps on both speakers glow steadily and the Bluetooth light on the second speaker goes out while that same light on the first speaker continues blinking. Your two speakers are now linked to each other.

3. Connect your Source BT Device to This Sony Speaker

1. Now connect the source device to the stereo pair set by going to the Bluetooth settings page on your source device, and connecting to the speaker set (should appear on your device as “SRS-XB13” here). When you make the connection, the Bluetooth light on the first speaker begins glowing steadily, and you are now ready to enjoy stereo sound from your two Sony speakers.

The glowing ST PAIR lamp on the Sony speaker SRS XB13.

Note that the speaker with the glowing Bluetooth lamp is the primary speaker in the stereo set. So that means that it is the one you would work to answer a call by pressing the Play-Pause-Phone button.

Also, the speakers will remain connected together even after you turn them off. This just means that the next time you turn one of them on, it will look for the other one in the ST PAIR set to connect with. And if either speaker does not find the other after one (1) minute, then it reverts to single speaker operation.

How to Break the Sony Speakers Stereo Set

To end this speaker joining, while both speakers are powered up and connected to each other, press and hold the Pairing button on one of them for approximately three (3) seconds.

The -Bluetooth- button on the Sony SRS XB13 speaker.

Release the button when you hear a beep. The stereo pairing has now been dissolved.

How to Connect Many Sony Speakers Together for More Sound at a Party, Step by Step

You can use either the Party Connect or the older the WPC (short for Wireless Party Chain) to join from two to a hundred compatible Sony speakers together, such that they all play the same program. Why do this? Because, as with the Connect Plus and Party Boost features on JBL speakers, you get a wider coverage area when you have more than one speaker in sync, than when just one is playing. So you get more volume to spread around bigger party areas.

What WPC and Party Connect Are on Sony Speakers and How to Use Them, Step by Step

The Sony SRS XB41 speaker WPC button.

How to Set Up Party Connect or WPC

Now to create a WPC party group, you can use any combination of XB20, XB21, XB30, XB31, XB40, and XB41 models. Furthermore, the GTK-XB60, GTK-XB90 Sony models work here too. Other models like the LSPX-S3, XB23, XB33, XB43, XE200, XE300, XG300, XG500, XP500, and XP700 among others, use the Party Connect protocol.

Now in either of these modes, unlike with stereo pairing, you can indeed mix and match different speaker models, so long as you do it with only the models listed here for each protocol. But you cannot put both WPC and Party Connect speakers into the same group however.

To form a linked group of speakers of either protocol, do as follows.

Get the Speakers Together

1. Position all speakers you wish to add within 3.2 feet, or 1 meter, of your phone or tablet from which you’ll be playing the music.

Start Party Mode on Speaker One

1. Power up the first speaker. We’ll call this one Speaker One.
2. Pair Speaker One with your source Bluetooth device.
3. Briefly press the WPC / Party Connect button on Speaker One. The speaker then beeps and the WPC / Party Connect light then starts blinking. E.g. See this light in the next picture below. Finally after a few seconds, this lamp stops flashing, and begins glowing solid.

The Sony SRS XB41 speaker WPC light glowing.

Start Party Mode on Speaker Two

1. Next, turn on the second speaker. I.e. Speaker Two.
2. As you did on Speaker One, briefly press the WPC / Party Connect button on Speaker Two. The WPC / Party Connect light begins flashing on that speaker for a short time and a low-high beep is heard. Then the lamp glows steadily. Also, the Bluetooth lamp on Speaker Two goes dark. At this point, you have successfully created a link between these two speakers. Note that once you initiate WPC / Party Connect on Speaker One, you have just one minute to complete the connection on Speaker Two. If you do not, the waiting Speaker One times out, and returns to normal single-speaker Bluetooth operation.
3. Finally, once you connect to the new group, you can start playing music on that device. Then it will stream to that speaker group, and you’ll hear the program on both speakers.
4. Now to add other speakers to the group, repeat steps 1 through 2 on the speaker you’re adding.

How to End The WPC / Party Connect Session

When you’re ready to break the link, simply press and hold the WPC / Party Connect button on Speaker One for three seconds. A tone then sounds and the WPC / Party Connect light goes out, meaning that the link is now broken.

The Sony SRS XB41 speaker with dark WPC light.

Then simply turn off the speakers that you’ll no longer be using.