Arc microphone constantly turns off and off by itself

Do you have pets?

Same issue here. Arc arrived yesterday. Today started randomly saying Mic on, Mic off.

I called support and he got me to do a diagnostics. Immediately said it showed a problem with the mic, and I had to wait on the phone while he spoke to someone else. Came back to me and confirmed it's a hardware issue with the arc and I would need another replacement as there is no fix possible. Also said that it's a known issue.

So at least we have confirmation from Sonos that there is a known hardware fault with the Arc, maybe a bad batch that is causing this issue.

He said he couldn't say how long a replacement would take, once they collected the faulty unit. This is really bad.

This is my second Arc in a week. First one arrived with a dent on the end cap part of the bar, which looked like a defect in manufacturing, rather than a transit dent, if that makes sense. Returned that unit for a refund.

The Sonos guy also said, hopefully third time lucky. Which isnt what I want when spending thousands on a premium products with Sonos.

Debating whether to return the arc, sub and ones and go elsewhere. Just down to Sonos and their CS response really. What am I supposed to do, keep paying out £900 a time to get faulty products, then sending them back for refunds hopefully within 30 days, in the hope that eventually I get a good one.

Hi, the workaround seems to be disabling the touch controls in settings. This worked for me anyway…

Not exactly a solution though.:)

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.

Yes, it does rather sound like a faulty batch as @ratty mentioned earlier - but perhaps see what the Support Staff may say when you provide them with the data next week. I guess they’ll need to investigate the matter and come back to yourselves.

I didn’t test SVC, but confirmed that Alexa still works with touch disabled (as long as you disable touch while the mic is still on).  Downside is that this workaround disables touch for the entire room - both Eras and the Arc.

Update: I spent three hours on the phone with Sonos CS today. What an awful experience. One department doesn't do everything, so I was constantly put on hold or transferred.

 I started with T2 support, explained the QC problem, sent this thread, and laid out that it's a hardware issue. They agreed to let me return the original Arc and the replacement, but said I'd need two new return labels since I was initially only returning the first Arc I two labels. But getting them to provide these two new return labels has been akin to scaling Everest. I still don't have them.

I also asked that they let me keep the Best Buy Arc but give me the same 15% discount I received on the Sonos-direct Arcs. The T2 CSA said that would be fine, but then he transferred me to sales, who told me I must've misunderstood. At this point I was determined because I had no return labels or discounts, but had already spent hours of my time. I waited out three hours and finally got a supervisor who said that she would try to coordinate with both the returns dept and sales dept, but it'd take a few days because the depts are separate and don't always communicate.

In short, the CS was horrible. I don't have a way of returning my two Sonos-direct Arcs. I didn't get a discount on the Best Buy Arc. And I wasted 3 hours of my time. But the good news is they are now aware of the mic on/off issue and have sent my diagnostics up to T3 along with my video evidence.

I'm on the verge of returning everything given the horrible support. They're so thankless. We diagnosed a problem that could cost them millions if they keep producing Arcs that need to be recalled. I am so sick of these companies with overseas CS with overseas supervisors. Even the T2 tech support was a call center. For a luxury product, Sonos has been anything but a luxury experience.

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…

Having the same issue. Just received my arc this week.

Will try contacting Sonos support to have it replaced, not looking forward to it based on some of your earlier experiences…

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?

It sounds like a hardware fault, but what are the chances of getting two faulty units?… can’t say I’ve known that happen to two different people …and I’ve seen others here with a Sonos Arc and Vizio TV’s and no mic issue, so it is certainly baffling.

Sorry to ask this, but can you just perhaps confirm that the mic on/off toggle switch and mic LED  is on the upper right hand surface of the Arc, as it has been known in the past where users have installed their Arc the wrong way up - so I’m just ruling out that perhaps being the case here.

I just removed the voice assistance, it looks like you can't disable the Mic it from the app. Also, try tapping into the Mic button on the bar but it doesn't work. 
 

This is something Sonos should resolved. I will be opening a ticket soon.