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Dan135
Contributor I
July 6, 2020
Answered

About the Sonos Arc Drivers

Hey all, 

So maybe this is a stupid question but I'm new to Soundbars.

The arc has 11 drivers, but when listening to music I always only her the center ones and the ones on the sides. 

I basically never hear the front facing ones left and right from the center ones. (Even with movies) With Atmos content I at least also hear the upward facing drivers at specific scenes (I assume they are not supposed to always play)

So of course I can only hear it with my ear right next to the drivers, but I was just curious and I can never seem to hear sound from the Left and right front facing ones, only the center ones. 

What's up with that, is this normal or is my unit damaged?

Thanks in advance!

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    AudiofnAnswer
    Trending Lyricist I
    July 7, 2020

    I’m so glad you posted this.  I’ve been playing with my Arc, constantly adjusting settings trying to get it to sound more direct.  I have noticed the exact same thing, the concentration of the left and right stereo channels fires directly out the side woofers.  This is what I believe gives it the recessed stereo sound.  Sometimes I think standing on the side of the soundbar music sounds better than standing directly in front.  
     

    I really hope they can send the stereo L and R to the front of the soundbar where it belongs. 

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    John B
    July 7, 2020

    RyanS was part of the layoffs last week.

    But he would undoubtedly havevclarified the situation if he were still here. 

      Dan135Author
      Contributor I
      July 7, 2020

      I’m so glad you posted this.  I’ve been playing with my Arc, constantly adjusting settings trying to get it to sound more direct.  I have noticed the exact same thing, the concentration of the left and right stereo channels fires directly out the side woofers.  This is what I believe gives it the recessed stereo sound.  Sometimes I think standing on the side of the soundbar music sounds better than standing directly in front.  
       

      I really hope they can send the stereo L and R to the front of the soundbar where it belongs. 

      Thats really strange, i thought maybe my unit is just damaged. Maybe this is an first adopters hardware issue?  Do you think this is something that can be fixed through software? 

      Dan135Author
      Contributor I
      July 7, 2020

      Its a weird spot to be in, as a customer.  I don't know if this is suppose to act this way or if its a first batch thing, especially when there are reviews saying all drivers are being utilized. With mine this is definitely not the case. ( i held my ear right next to those drivers)

      Could it be that just these front facing driverd are damaged,  or would the whole soundbar stop working in that case?

      Audiofn
      Trending Lyricist I
      July 7, 2020

      I have no idea if it’s hardware issue or just the tuning of the speaker.  I think I will return mine as most music sounds way below average.  And it will always sound bad so long as the stereo left and right come out at 180 degrees.

      Sound and Vision gave the Arc a Top Pick.  I have been reading that magazine for years and bought tons of products they’ve reviewed.  I just have a hard time believing they heard the same we are. 

      Listen to drums/cymbals.  They have zero attack or presence.

       

      theprince4u2
      Trending Lyricist I
      July 8, 2020

       

      How can we escalate this issue to SONOS Support ?

      theprince4u2
      Trending Lyricist I
      July 12, 2020

       

      Hi everyone, any update on this?

      • How many drivers/speakers are utilized while playing music? (radio steaming or mp3)
      • How is the sound quality for music listening?  
      theprince4u2
      Trending Lyricist I
      July 12, 2020

      @Keith N @Jeff S @Edward R 

      can you tell if this is as-designed or a defect in Sonos Arc music playback?

      Dan135Author
      Contributor I
      July 15, 2020

      @theprince4u2 sorry for the late reply - I am still experiencing these issues. The quality of streaming is fine - at least for the speakers that sounds comes out from. Its kinda difficult to make out which speakers are excatly being used, but with my ear very close I can say that I hear no sound coming from the speakers I marked yellow in this picture. The upward facing ones are at least playing with atmos content, but kinda inaudibly when playing music.

       

      Dan135Author
      Contributor I
      July 15, 2020

      Im not sure wich of the 2 front-facingdrivers right next to each other (where the right one is yellow) is not being used, but one of them is doing 90% of the work for the whole soundbar.

      theprince4u2
      Trending Lyricist I
      July 16, 2020

      Thanks @Dan135 

      I still wonder whether this is a software defect or designed to work this way…?

      Have you tried to contact SONOS Support for this?

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