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I have Sonos set up through the house, various ones, a connect hooked up to an AV reciever and a Sonos amp in the dining room driving a pair of Tannoy DC6T SE floorstanding speakers. Im having problem with the sound from the amp. Im getting clarity in the mids and highs, however the bass response is dissapointing. It sounds muddy with no definition at all. Certain low frequencies override others and seem to be clashing. I replaced the amp with the AV receiver and it sounds good. When moving the sonos amp to drive a set of kefs in the living room im getting the same problem, lack of clarity in bass and an overall disappointing sound.

 

The DC6T SEs are wired using 4 core cable, 4 wires from each output on the sonos amp to LF terminals and HF terminals on each speaker.

I am streaming tidal, deezer and spotify from the Sonos app, and have also tried using an external dac into the line in using audirvana on mac. No luck on anything.

Ive played with the EQ and tried loudness, have also factory reset the amp.

Do you have any suggestions as the amp really is sounding terrible in various rooms and speaker set ups and Im out of options.

 

Hello @lewisbarrow1,

Welcome to the Sonos Community and thank you for reaching out with your question. 

Do you have a separate sub-woofer that could be wired to see if this changes the dynamic of the audio?

It’s interesting that you only get this from the Amp. Can you submit a diagnostic report while the amp is wired up and playing?

If you include the confirmation number I would be happy to take a look at your system.

 

Thanks for your reply Jean,

I have raised a diagnostic report 1036683903.

 

I will hook up my seperate subwoofer again and report back! :)

 

Thanks,

 

Lewis

Having the subwoofer hooked in does improve the lower end, but I still think the amp lacks any clarity, it seems the lower end clashes. Some songs sound better than others, its almost like a certain frequency which in the lower end, completely overpowers the overall sound, whereas other lower end range frequencies in the same song are quieter.

I am comparing the sonos amp sound to my previous set up, using the same speakers, in the same room with a denon av amplifier, which seemed to control the bass range alot better and separate the final overall sound. (The denon av amplifier is by no means high end, so would expect the stereo music sound to be better in the sonos, which was 3 times the price)

Im finding the sonos amp sound is like a ball of mush compared, and think it is the bottom end that is the main contributer.

 

Diagnostic report for with subwoofer is 2054206657.

Note, I also bridged the HF+LF inputs on the speakers, so now only running 2 cables to each speaker (1 x positive and 1 x negative).

I found this slightly improved the sound.

Hello @lewisbarrow1,

The Sonos Amp may cost more than your other amplifier but your other amplifier isn’t a networking computer that happens to have an amplifier in it. 

It may be that for the best sound on these lovely speakers would be from a traditional amp that is then wired into Sonos with a Port  rather than have the Sonos Amp drive them directly. 

I wouldn’t like you to not experience the full range of sound your speakers have to offer due to a limitation within Sonos.

Incidentally, what gauge is the speaker wire in your 4 core wire, 14 or 16? 

Hi,

 

Thanks for replying. Yes its 14 gauge wire, its also relatively short run at 1.5m distance from the amp.

 

Regards,

 

Lewis

Hello @lewisbarrow1,

I wonder if changing to 16 gauge would make any difference for you since it is what we recommend for runs shorter than 80ft (24m for the rest of the world). 

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