Arc microphone constantly turns off and off by itself

i have been in touch with sonos on numerous days with a level 2 tech person. 

he has run diagnostics in real time when the off/on problem kept on occurring.  no solution.

again, they claim that this arc off/on issue is new to their techs.  i found 3 year old reddit discussions (without solutions) for the same arc off/on issue

Do you have pets?

no pets

off/on problem began happening on 2 arcs right out of the box.

does anyone have any ideas why my beam (gen 1) does not have  this off/on problem?

Both Sonos Soundbars should work for you. I’ve seen mic issues reported before (albeit a long time ago), but even then, only very (very) occasionally in threads here …and often a replacement device, or repositioning the Soundbar has sorted the issue. I think you need to return to Sonos support and maybe even video the issue and provide the Support Staff with the evidence gathered. Then see if they can assist you to resolve the issue.

I am in the EXACT same situation. I had an Arc that had this issue right out of the box, and I just received a replacement with the same issue. I have Sonos Voice Assistant activated, and at random intervals I hear the mic on/off tone. It doesn’t matter whether I’m using the TV sound or just playing music, same result. I’ve hard reset the device, to no avail.

Since Sonos is saying they’re unaware of the issue, would you be willing to share your diagnostic codes with me? I’ve also logged a number of them and am hoping that if both of us complain about the same issue with firm records, we’ll get a better response.

Out of curiosity, what TV do you have? I have a 2018 Vizio P-F1 with arc (not e-arc). I haven’t disconnected it from the TV, but I’m guessing I’d have the same result since the issue persists when I’m just playing music (and it sounds like you’ve already tried this).

I did have one thought I haven’t tried yet and I’m wondering if you did. When I swapped my Arc for the replacement, I used the same power cable that was connected to my original Arc. I’m wondering if maybe there’s something wrong with that and I should try swapping in the replacement power cord to see if that changes anything.

What has Sonos support said to you thus far in terms of troubleshooting?

ken

i have been on the phone/e-mail end of contact ad nauseam with sonos level 2 tech support since monday.  he has been sharing all data with his support tech team.

johnny drama32:

update

47424320  - major off/on’s with associated clicks every couple of seconds.  just sent sonos diagnostic.  had to remove sonos assistant because the clicks were way too annoying 

see below for original draft of my reply:

how long have you had your arc?

i have seen this same problem on reddit sonos forums that are over 3 years old

1520451136,1507668416 and1288322289 -  recent diagnostics. sonos has a lot of “real time” diagnostics that they have performed

i have a 2023 lg  oled tv w/ eArc.

when i only play music (w/out hdmi), i also have same off/on issue

i used the new power and hdmi cords that came with the replacement arc to no avail

so far, i have been interacting w/ sonos support every day.

new arc, tried repositioning unit, turning off all smart home and security devices to no avail

 set up my old sonos beam (gen 1) ~12 inch’s below arc.  - no off/on problems!

i think sonos support  is running out of ideas…

It’s so perplexing that others aren’t having the same issues regularly. The chances of both of us getting two broken units seems unlikely. Interesting that we both have Vizio TVs, but if it’s doing it without being connected, seems unlikely to be the issue. However, did you ever try hard resetting the arc without connecting it to the Vizio and seeing if the problem persists? Just throwing this out there, but maybe once it’s set up with the Vizio, it has created certain settings in the arc (like volume control) that continue to affect the mic even if you then disconnect it and only listen to music or connect it to another tv. Kind of a shot in the dark, but the fact we both have Vizios is curious.

I guess another test could be bringing the arc to someone else’s home and seeing if you have the same issue. Then you could narrow it down to a wifi issue or something to do with the way power is affecting the unit.

I have an easy fix in that I have the era 300s, which also have voice assist. I can just turn off Voice Assist on the arc if I wanted to, but the product should work as described.

How are you connecting with T2 tech support? Did they give you an email? If so, maybe I could connect with the same person.

Here are my diagnostic codes if it helps:

723779744

642824365

1529549030

2072542269

1114071393

This can’t be correct because nobody is touching my mic and I have the Sonos voice assistant and am having the same issue. 

I take it that if you toggle off the mic hardware switch (top right-hand-side), the issue goes away, but have you perhaps tried toggling the mic hardware button off/on a few times in case it’s just got itself stuck slightly at some kind of in-between position?

I don’t think toggling it makes it go away. It automatically turns off and on regardless. I think if voice assistant is turned off, the problem goes away. The guy in this thread turned off Alexa voice assistant. I was using Sonos voice assistant but getting the same problem. 

The only thing I can think of is 1) between the two of us we got four broken units, all with the same issue (read: unlikely) 2) there’s something about the device being connected to a Vizio that is causing the issue, and the issue may persist even after being disconnected from the TV once it’s been set up that way. Nothing else makes sense.