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Beam volume far too low

  • 31 March 2020
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Hi - I have purchased a Sonos Beam today and was looking forward to enhancing my TV and music listening experience. However I am extremely disappointed with what I am hearing so far. I have a Sony Bravia KD-55XG8196 that is just a couple of months old and by no means a budget TV. The Beam is connected via the HDMI ACR and so far all I am seeing is a lag when changing the volume on the TV with the TV volume indicator often not showing, and more importantly the volume sounds quite flat and very quiet, where I would normally have the TV set to volume 11-12 I am now having to put it up to around 50 and still I want to go louder. I am watching TV through Sky Q. Before I return the soundbar has anyone got any suggestions on how this can be fixed?

 

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Best answer by buzz 1 April 2020, 23:06

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4 replies

Chris
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The numbering system doesn’t mean a lot when it comes to the HDMI ARC vs. TV internal speakers.   Now if your not getting enough volume even when turned all the way up - - you can do some settings in the Beam itself

-Turn up the bass and treble sliders in EQ settings. 

-Make sure volume limit turned off

-Run Trueplay audio tuning

 

Just because it is a new tv doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a firmware issue - make sure you update the firmware on tv

 

Respect the Queue (1)Move (2)Beam (1)ARC (1)SonosOne (1)Playbar (4)Play5 (4)Play1 (3)Play3 (1)Port (2)Connect (1)Connect:Amp (3)Sonos Amp (1)Sub + (9) Echo + Smartthings
buzz

The numbering systems are arbitrary, there are no standards. The real test is with your eyes closed. Does the unit fill the space to your satisfaction? Ignore the numbers.

We are conditioned to equate loud with distorted. We raise the level until we perceive some distortion and accept this as “loud”. In my college apartment we could raise the level to the point where verbal communication was almost impossible, but the distortion was low. We would have requests to “turn it up” shouted into our ears at close range because the system did not yet seem “loud”. The same crew of listeners in another apartment would be using a small, low quality unit, highly distorted, conversation was possible, and there were no requests to “turn it up” because that system seemed “loud”.

In this context SONOS systems will never seem “loud” because their design prevents operation in this “loud” distortion mode. With PLAYBAR and SUB I can raise the level to the point where the walls and windows rattle, but it is not “loud” yet. There wasn’t much that I could do with the walls, but I was able to subdue the window rattles somewhat.

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Hi both - many thanks for your replies. I have discarded the numbering system and will let my ears do the assessment from now on. However I am now Turing the sound up to listen to music and I’m getting a crackling sound, reported to customer support but so far It’s not gone too well!

buzz

We can’t rule out hardware issues or that your expectations are beyond what BEAM can deliver.

That said, check to make sure that nearby objects are not resonating.

You can use a bit of advanced math and science to investigate resonances. If you excite a mechanical system with an “impulse” the system will reply with its natural resonant frequency. An impulse is an instantaneous pulse that can only exist in theory, however, a sharp bump with your fist is a decent approximation. If you “thump’ a wall, cabinet, or whatever, it will reply with its natural resonant frequency. If a very light bump creates a large reply, that item will be a problem when acoustically excited. An observer would have thought that I had a few missing mental screws while I systematically walked the room thumping the walls. After inserting some small cardboard shims I was able to subdue the windows. By using thumps I didn’t need to wait for some cooperation from the music to check my shim placements.

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