After update to version 14.12, subwoofer sound problem, sound volume is low

Working on the volume also? 

From what I understand, the volume slider is not going to change and is part of Sonos’s new design. 

There are reports that say the overall sound output has not changed - i.e. if you did go to 100% (not recommended!) the output would be the same. The volume is no longer powerful at the lower end of the volume slider, but returns as you get closer to 100%.

I have also heard that some users are having terrible trouble with the volume - meaning their 40% is now 80%+! So not quite sure what is going on. I have had to adjust my slider from around 30-40 to 50-60, and that is for very loud listening and would not want to go above 60 in my 21m2 / 226f2 room. 

I doubt that the “low volume” characteristic will be changed. There has not been any change in the maximum power output, only the output associated with lower levels of the control setting. Changing the control characteristic improves the ability to make small adjustments of Volume level at the low end.

You could make a similar judgement with respect to the accelerator in a car. The car will seem very powerful if a slight press on the accelerator results in an instant jump to high speed, but the car is difficult to control in bumper to bumper local traffic.

The 14.12 problem still exists.  14.14 does not either fix or address the problem.  My ARC + Generation 3 Sub + 2 SL Ones is impossible to listen to.  Because of SONOS’ gross negligence, I am now using my BOSE Flex Sound Link wireless speaker ($150) while watching my LG G1 OLED TV (a great TV).  If the 14.12 problem is not solved by SONOS by September 15th, I am going to make a YouTube video that shows me setting my system on fire!  It will be over $2,000 being wasted, however, it may force SONOS into action.  SONOS stock is down over 58% over the last 12 months. The stock may go to nothing after my video.

I haven’t ordered my system yet…. Plan on ordering before I move back into my place after 2 months renovation (Arc, Sub, One SLs). I am watching this closely.  It’s making me concerned.  It’s a pity they don’t allow you to go back to an old firmware version.  Might turn my auto updates off. 
 

It’s my experience with tech in general is to wait to upgrade software after hearing reviews. Software upgrades are just as likely to makes things worse then better

How does it sound with Truplay disabled?  We have the C1/ARC/SW/Play 1s without Truplay and haven't noticed any substantial changes in sound.

As sound bounces around in the room, depending on the room size, shape, wall composition, and door/window locations, the sound can be bruised and battered. Trueplay attempts to correct some of this with equalization. Trueplay cannot correct everything any more than a luxury car can smooth out a bumpy mountain trail. but there can be welcome improvements. In easy situations there may not be much difference in the before/after results of Trueplay. This would be similar to our car ride comparison between luxury and jalopy on a smooth highway.

Any news yet on a resolution it’s been a while now?

Sonos has not yet released an update to address this. Nor will they talk about when it might (or might not) happen, as has always been the case for Sonos. 

But this new volume mapping on just the Arc, does not match the rest of their products. Whether it's been done on purpose or not, the Arc is now the quietest thing in my house when everything else is playing the same thing at 25%. And they deem this intentional? The Arc has now been singled out from the rest of the product range by being on a different volume map and sound profile. Odd behaviour and certainly not progress in my eyes. It needs changing back, period.

Considering people have forked out a lot of money buying their stuff a little transparency can’t go to waste.

I really don’t understand why its taking so long to address.  Clearly a lot of customers are livid. They should be able to fix it immediately by allowing customers to dial back the firmware to the previous version until they find a long term fix. Wake up. 
 

I have yet to purchase my system but waiting for this to be resolved before I risk spending US2$k on a system.

How hard is it to restore back to the previous firmware update.

While you look for a long term fix, can you allow customers to dial back the firmware? That can be done in minutes surely.

Minutes?

Of course. They just need to move back to the old firmware while they find a long term fix  - more people seem to be unhappy about it than positive for sure otherwise you wouldn’t see hundreds of pages in numerous forums of customers venting their frustration.  No brainier.  Why they are being stubborn about it is beyond me. Not a good sign for potential buyers!

I have been involved with lots of different pieces of software that change over time. There’s likely thousands of lines of code change, each with multiple dependancies, that have nothing whatsoever to do with this particular issue, but are part of the newer builds. With evolving software, it’s not “easy” or “minutes” to move backwards, it would require herculean effort, most of which is probably tasked with figuring out what happened, and how to make it better. Once that gets released, you normally then have time to figure out “how” it happened. 

It’s extremely unlikely that there was only a single change in the code release past 14.10. I’ve never seen such a beast in my 37 years of software management, although I suppose it’s possible. I don’t, however, work for Sonos, so I’m only basing my opinions on previous experience, not direct knowledge. 

30 years for me, and I concur.

14.10 is already written / saved somewhere/ published so it's not a herculean effort in my opinion to re-release it on just Arc and Sub at least. But let's face it, it'll never happen. Just like myself buying another Sonos product.

Exactly my point.  The code is saved and written already.  They should fix this immediately

So they just ‘throw away’ all the other changes that may be equally, or even more important, to ‘roll back’? Because some people are having an issue? Seems like an odd thought to me. 

Not some people.   It affects anyone with an ARC and sub.  What other changes are there that is worth keeping vs having the sound profile deteriorate.  Speakers are speakers first and  foremost.  

Actually, it doesnt affect everyone with an Arc and Sub.  Sonos has stated it only affects certain configurations.  Also if it affected everyone, the threads would be hundreds of pages long in mere days, like they were when the Playbar had a bug.

100% affecting you, and most frustrating, I get it. I’m not ecstatic about the situation either.

But I recognize the issues around software development, having tangentially been involved in it for many, many years.

Nothing is a “simple” fix. There’s the research about what the actual issue is, what setups it affects, how the solution can be affected, actually writing the code to do so, then the inevitable testing of the “fix’, which takes time. My suspicion is that 14.14 was already locked in before 14.12 was released, it’s not an uncommon process in software development. So when they found the issue, likely based on the comments in the multiple threads about this, a discovery process was immediately initiated, and will take some time to resolve to a point where it’s feasible to release it to the rest of us. 

The problem tends to be that “rolling back” changes that may not be evident isn’t alway possible/easy. The code team would spend more time dealing with that, pulling in the other features that we may not be aware of,  then they would need to just fix a bug. By significant factors, in my experience.