Sonos Amp sub output brightens stereo channels unnecessarily

  • 17 December 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 2621 views

I just bought the new Sonos Amp and I love it. It makes my Mangepan MMGi's sound much better than my previous receiver. I have a pretty decent Yamaha subwoofer connected to the sub out on the Amp.

I've noticed that when I turn on the sub output from the Sonos app the two stereo channels get noticeably brighter. My Maggies are already quite bright so the added treble boost is pretty unwelcome. But without the sub output my subwoofer receives no signal. I can use the primitive treble/bass eq in the app but that is not ideal and doesn't produce adequate results.

Is there a way to enable subwoofer output without changing the eq of the stereo channels?

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5 replies

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Have you tried playing with the crossover frequency?
Absolutely. I found that around 60Hz is the sweet spot for the maggies since they are decent to 55Hz. The crossover frequency isn't the problem. It seems to work. The biggest problem is the added EQ treble boost when the sub output is turned on versus off.

At all crossover frequencies, even when my sub isn't actually on, simply activating the sub output makes the stereo channels jump to a noticeably brighter EQ profile. That's pretty undesirable. Instead the sub output should leave the treble alone simply lowpass the signal at the crossover frequency.

I wonder if it could be something in the design of the Amp. When it knows it might need to reserve power to drive high energy low frequencies it is in one mode. When the sub output is activated it can safely ignore that potential load. However that is just a wild guess. It actually sounds more like a new EQ profile is used. The mids don't get a boost but the highs go very bright as soon as the sub output is activated.
Exactly in the same boat with the sub output brightening the stereo channels. I have a pair of Kef Q100 as the mains, which are quite bright to begin with. They sound good with the subwoofer output disabled but become ear piercing with subwoofer output enabled. Debating changing speakers or not using the subwoofer out. Didn’t think I’d need to consider these options when buying this amp. Hope this ‘feature’ is adressed in a firmware update - definitely sounds like there’s some unnecessary processing going on there.
I have settled for leaving the Sub output off and boosting the bass EQ in the app. It's a ham-fisted way to get bass out of my maggies but I just couldn't justify having my subwoofer turned on for everything. Now it's off for everything. Regardless, this flaw is definitely disappointing.
I have the same problem. As soon as i connect a sub to the subwoofer output the sound signature appears to be brighter or too bright. Crossover frequency is set to 50hz. Does anyone know if this is also the case with the sonos subwoofer? I wish sonos would let you disable their "tuned" sound profile.