Lower minumum volume level

Hi everyone,

We haven't made a post in this thread for a while because we don't have any new information to share. We don't comment on possible future products or features. We do still keep an eye on these threads and take note of the features that the community requests. Many of the current features came from requests like this one.

I'd like to remind everyone to be friendly and helpful. Not everyone has been on the site as long as others and may not understand why some requests have not yet been implemented.

Also, so there is no confusion, Sonos employees are all marked as such.

It's funny. I haven't seen anyone in this thread defend themselves. Only three people defending others. Which is what I don't understand why you have the need to do. If you are not a shill.
I am certainly in right to accuse the company of not listening to their customers - because they obviously don't, when a forum sponsored by the company contains old threads which aren't responded to by the company. If you believe that is "to come in guns a blazing", I say you are in want for some reality adjustment.

But thank you nonetheless for explaining the lingo to me. Apart from that, none of the three "pro-everything-sonos-do-is-great" posters have contributed with anything but criticism of something that is not their business. That isn't lazy. That is useless. Thus not to be argued.

If you DO use sonos in the bedroom to fall asleep to gentle tones, then feel free to share your experience and thoughts. Because that's what was being discussed originally. However, I have observed an utter lack of this subject in the last posts. And that, my friend, was "the first bullet". But I guess we never will agree, so I'll call this an interesting debate and get on with something important. Like life.

I have a Play 1 in my bedroom that I use as my bed side radio and alarm clock. I'll admit I thought about it a fair amount before I took that plunge - it was my 4th Sonos unit so I was familiar but had never had the need to use alarms (on the Sonos units).

The use of Sonos as an alarm clock is going to depend on which controllers you have and whether they are portable - I expect most people will have at least 1 tablet or smart phone that is Sonos controller capable but not all will have. It is obvious that the Sonos eco-system was not designed to be an alarm clock and in my opinion it is testament to it's extraordinary quality of sound, array of audio sources, ease of set-up and looks that people like me actually use Sonos for this purpose. There are even people on this forum who mention they have a Play 3 or 5 in their bedroom and sometimes even 2!!

Now, of all the shortcomings of a bedroom replacement for the alarm clock volume is NOT one of the problems I have had. I set an alarm in the evening that plays Radio 5 Live - a speech based news and sport channel and that starts at level 27. In the morning for my wake up alarm the level is set to 25 on Radio 4.
At times I have to raise the volume in the evening (that is rare) and maybe if there is a boxing commentary or similar I may turn it down. But those volumes are fine for me. Certainly not loud, I wouldn't describe them as quiet either but then I do actually want to hear the discussion or news event or whatever.

I have vast experience with listening to Sonos at a low volume at sleep time, for I have a playlist of ocean sounds and various other white sound type tracks that I listen to regularly during sleep. I have absolutely no problem with the lowest volume setting, though I do have to lower the slider to '0' and tap it once to get the lowest setting.

And Sonos does listen to its customers. If you are interested in proof rather than your own pre-conceived notions due to a few outstanding issues which may or may not be on the radar, I can supply ample proof. Something tells me your eagerness to correct your accusation will not be as quick as your eagerness to "fire" it off in the first place, n'est pas?

I have been out and about, but just dropped back to confirm that I am not paid by Sonos. I do love my Sonos system and admire Sonos as a company.
I have no objection to the opinion that Sonos should have a lower minimum volume level. It is an entirely reasonable request. What I thought it reasonable to challenge was the suggestion that the entire system was "useless" because it lacked a feature 99.999999% of users don't care about. Also worth challenging was the suggestion that because a particular feature request hasn't been implemented Sonos doesn't listen to its customers. Sometimes it listens and says "not worth limited development resource because only 0.0000001% of users care about it".

I just sold my Samung because of being too loud and having too coarse volume control. Next on the list to try was Sonos Play:1 but now I am confused, as it seems to have the same problems as Samsung. Were there any updates about lowering the minimum volume (1/100) or giving more fine tuning of the lower volumes?

Could I buy a Play:1, try the volumes and return it if it is too loud?

Related question: can I have my alarm clock volume (e.g., TuneIn Internet Radio) to rise from 0 to 25% over a first minute or so? My samsung sometimes scared me to death, because it just played the radio immediately at the final volume that was definitely too loud for the first seconds of a day. I put a lot of hope in Sonos to implement it better than Samsung.

Could I buy a Play:1, try the volumes and return it if it is too loud?

Related question: can I have my alarm clock volume (e.g., TuneIn Internet Radio) to rise from 0 to 25% over a first minute or so? My samsung sometimes scared me to death, because it just played the radio immediately at the final volume that was definitely too loud for the first seconds of a day. I put a lot of hope in Sonos to implement it better than Samsung.

If you buy from Sonos.com yes you can return it. They have great return policy. But IME if you want super granular volume control you should be looking at a Connect with external Amp/Preamp that would allow fine volume control when necessary.

Regarding alarms, you can't adjust fade in. I don't really notice but I think there is a slight fade in and fade out 10-15 seconds.

Regarding alarms, you can't adjust fade in. I don't really notice but I think there is a slight fade in and fade out 10-15 seconds.
Thanks a lot!
I would really appreciate if you could check the fade-in at the next occasion. 10-15s is much better than 0.

Just tested and yes faded in for 10-15 seconds.

I totally agree that the lowest volume needs a few more settings. It is too high for me listening in my small office if I just want background talk or music. I love the product but for that reason I will likely be returning it. Sonos! Listen to your customers! A few more lower settings will not hurt anyone who likes to listen at higher volume levels but will help out a vast number of your customers and potential customers.

Could I buy a Play:1, try the volumes and return it if it is too loud?


If you buy from Sonos.com yes you can return it. They have great return policy. But IME if you want super granular volume control you should be looking at a Connect with external Amp/Preamp that would allow fine volume control when necessary.
I bought it and it is too loud 😞 Even louder than my previous Samsung. I wait about 2 months for an update on this. if the update is not there, I will sell it as second hand.