This tutorial covers flashing your speaker with the ESPHome SendSpin-ESP32 firmware.

 

PLEASE NOTE

This is such a comprehensive tutorial with MANY screenshots, that has been copied from a prior tutorial.

Unfortunately, I do not have time to repeat the process just to screenshot new photos - many of them refer to "LOUD" or "LOUDER" vs. "LOUDER-PLUS"

 

 

Step 1 — Ensure you have ESPHome Device Builder installed in HA

This is a Home Assistant application that onboards and prepares ESP32 (and other) devices for use with Home Assistant.

  1. In Home Assistant, Click on Settings, then Click on Apps

  2. If you do not see the ESPHome Device Builder on this page, use the blue button at the bottom to install it

  3. type in ESPHome Device... in the search bar

  4. Select the one with no additional names (not Experimental, not Developer)...just plain "ESPHome Device Builder"

    1_sendspin_esphome_esphome_device_builder_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

 

 

Step 2 — Install ESPHome (starter) firmware

  1. Open the ESPHome web-based firmware installer in a browser: https://web.esphome.io/

  2. Connect the ESP32 LOUD board to your computer with the USB-C cable

  3. In the ESP Device box on the screen, Click on Connect and select the serial connection in the pop up box.

    2_sendspin_esphome_prepare_for_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  4. Click on "Prepare For First Use"

    3_sendspin_esphome_basic_firmware_install_for_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  5. Wait for the firmware to install

  6. When finished be sure to write down the new device name - you will need it later

    In this example, the device name is "esphome-web-9cc7bc"

    4_sendspin_esphome_save_entity_id_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  7. Enter your home Wi-Fi credentials

  8. Click Connect

    5_sendspin_esphome_connect_network_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  9. When HA connects to the device, you have completed the Initial Provisioning

  10. You may Click CLOSE inn the dialog box

  11. Keep the web browser open for the next step

    6_sendspin_esphome_speaker_provisioned_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

 

Step 3 - Download the YAML code needed for SendSpin

ESPHome Device Builder will need a configuration file used in building the firmware. Luckily Sonocotta keeps these files already prepared in a GitHub repository. Other than a few small edits, everything is ready for you.

Please note - every board is different and has several (also different) YAML configuration file options available depending on firmware needed. You must use the file that corresponds to the board you are using.

The link below is specifically for the ESP32-LOUDER-PLUS board in this DIY tutorial.

  1. Open Sonocotta's GitHub repo

  2. Download the YAML configuration file for ESP32-LOUDER-PLUS-SENDSPIN:

  3. Open in a text editor (e.g. Notepad in Windows)

  4. Edit three lines

    a. in the first section labeled "substitutions", change the first line to the name you wrote down from step 1

    I have already changed it to name: esphome-web-9cc7bc (esphome-web-9cc7bc was the name assigned in step 1)

    You will have a slightly different suffix

    b. you may optionally change the friendly-name in the line below

    c. scroll down to the line with logger_level. You should change this to WARN or INFO

    DEBUG will flood your log file with a lot of unnecessary information.

  5. SAVE this file for the future!

     

Step 4

— Prepare ESPHome Device Builder to install the firmware

  1. Open ESPHome Device Builder

  2. Click on SECRETS in the top right corner

    10_sendspin_esphome_builder_start_screen_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  3. Add the top 4 lines to the secrets.yaml file, replacing everything in the quotes with your network ssid and password

    the ota_password is a new password you will create; keep this saved somewhere

    NOTE - this SECRETS file is different than the secrets yaml file created in HA Configuration

    11_sendspin_esphome_builder_save_secrets_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  4. Click SAVE

  5. in the black bar across the top, it should say it has discovered your new advice - Click SHOW on the far right side

    10_sendspin_esphome_builder_start_screen_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  6. Your new controller will have it's own box

    12_sendspin_esphome_builder_show_discovered_device_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  7. Click "TAKE CONTROL"

  8. Acknowledge the warnings and Click TAKE CONTROL in the new popup box

    15_sendspin_esphome_builder_take_control_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  9. in the next popup box "Configuration Created" - Do NOT Click INSTALL - Click SKIP instead

    14_sendspin_esphome_builder_ready_to_install_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  10. You will return to the main window

  11. You new device will now have TWO options on the bottom: EDIT and LOGS

    16_sendspin_esphome_builder_edit_device_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  12. Click EDIT

  13. The new screen will show up with basic YAML configuration code already prepared - we will not need this.

  14. DELETE ALL the lines in this yaml file

    17.1_sendspin_esphome_builder_copy_paste_yaml_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  15. Go back to your text editor with the YAML file you created in STEP 3

  16. COPY ALL lines from that YAML file

  17. PASTE ALL lines into the ESPHome screen

    17.2_sendspin_esphome_builder_copy_paste_yaml_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  18. Click SAVE in the upper right corner

  19. Click INSTALL in the upper right corner

  20. Click Wirelessly in the new popup box

    18_sendspin_esphome_builder_install_wirelessly_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  21. WHEW --- Your work is done; Time for HA to compile and install the firmware

  22. The Log screen will pop up and you'll see the screen quickly fill to the last line "Reading CMAKE Configuration...."

  23. This is when everything gets really, really slow, do not be alarmed if nothing changes for 5 or more minutes as the compiler begins preparing.

    19.0_sendspin_esphome_builder_log_screen_compiling_starts_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  24. After what seems like an eternity, you will see the screen begin to fill up with hundreds of lines as it reads each component of the code library.

  25. When it finishes (see the second to last line - TOOK 920.17 SECONDS ) you will see the summary report

  26. Several lines in this summary should start with "Successfully created..."

    19.2_sendspin_esphome_builder_log_screen_compiling_success_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  27. If everything works, your device will reboot and you'll see a screen similar to below.

    NOTE - if you changed the logger_level from DEBUG to something else, you will not see most of this

    But, you should see the messages showing SendSpin is up and running.

    OPTIONAL - You may want to keep this screen open - while you open another window with Music Assistant to start using your new SendSpin speaker. It can be interesting to follow the status messages as you begin to stream audio.

    19.3_sendspin_esphome_builder_log_screen_sendspin_speaker_ready_housewaves_and_loud_esp32

  28. When you're finished - Click STOP and your done.

 

 

Build dated 2026-06-15 | HouseWaves, Smarter Home Audio. Copyright, 2026.