To pair your Sony Bluetooth speaker with a source device for the first time, or to refresh stale linkage data in that device, you need to understand how to start up discovery mode on these portable speakers. Note that once discovery mode begins, these speakers digitally announce their name and connection information over Bluetooth, so that nearby devices can find and join to it. Then once connected, the source device can stream audio to said speaker. So in this post, we show you how to make a typical Sony Bluetooth speaker discoverable, to let you link it with phones, tablets, computers, and smart speakers.
How to Make a Common Sony Bluetooth Speaker Discoverable, Step by Step Guide
1. Turn On the Speaker
Firstly, turn on the speaker by rapidly pressing and releasing its Power button. All Sony Bluetooth speakers that we know of have some soft of Power switch or button.
E.g. See this button, pointed out by the yellow arrow, in the next picture. In this example, we’re demonstrating how to do this on the Sony SRS XB33 speaker. But the procedure is similar in all other Bluetooth speakers by Sony.
The speaker then starts up. Note that most Sony speakers also have an LED that lights when the unit powers ON.
Now if the speaker has never connected with a device since its last reset, then it automatically becomes discoverable. But if it has connected with a phone or other mobile device since the last reset, then you must manually put it in discovery mode at this point.
2. Press and Release the Pairing Button After a Half Second
Secondly, to do that, you press and release the Bluetooth Pairing button. E.g. See the location of this button in the next picture. You needn’t press it for long for the action to register. Note that most Sony Bluetooth speakers have a pairing button that features the Bluetooth logo, somewhere on their front or side panels.
At this point, more expensive speakers then will announce “Bluetooth pairing…” in a female voice. So at this point, the unit is now discoverable by other Bluetooth devices. Furthermore, the cheaper units emit beeps to let you know this.
Note also that putting the speaker in discovery mode does not clear its prior stored BT links. It just lets you connect to and add new devices to its memory, but does not delete any.
Now if the speaker is misbehaving and will not go into discovery mode, you can try resetting it and see if that solves the problem.
3. Done with How to Make Sony Bluetooth Speaker Discoverable
Finally, while the Bluetooth Status or Power lamp is fast blinking, you should see the speaker on any in-range phone, computer, tablet, or smart speaker, that is within several feet of it, as we see in the last picture. In this demo, the speaker appears as “SRS-XB33” there. But the actual name you see will depend on which model of Sony Bluetooth speaker you have.
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Revision History
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- 2022-06-27: First published.