/sc-set-speaker

/set-speaker

Bind a snapclient to a specific audio sink. Use when adding a new DAC/speaker, swapping outputs, or fixing a stale binding.

Inputs

• Client host.
• Target sink (or "list and let me pick").

Procedure

1. Look up the client in network/topology.yaml. Confirm the current audio_sinks entry with the user.
2. SSH in. List available sinks:
   • ALSA: snapclient -l and aplay -L
   • PipeWire/Pulse: pactl list sinks short
3. Confirm the target sink with the user (full identifier — not just an index, since indices reshuffle).
4. Edit /etc/default/snapclient, replacing --soundcard <old> with --soundcard <new>. Back up the file first (.bak.YYYYMMDD-HHMM).
5. sudo systemctl restart snapclient. Verify with systemctl status and speaker-test -c2 -twav -D <sink>.
6. Confirm audio in the snapserver web UI.
7. Update network/topology.yaml: replace the audio_sinks entry. Set primary: true on the active one. Update speaker: label to a human-readable name (model + room).

Gotchas

• USB DACs change card numbers across reboots — prefer the by-id name (alsa_output.usb-Vendor_Model-...) over hw:1,0.
• HDMI sinks disappear when the display sleeps; bind to an analog or USB output if the speaker should always play.
• If the previous sink was the only one available and is now physically gone, the user needs to plug in the replacement before this command can finish.