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DVS JEZ
Contributor I
June 20, 2020

Dialogue level through Arc with Sony KD-75X9400D

Just changed from Bose soundbar and sub to sonos arc with sub and twin ones as surround. 
 

The sonos is so hard to hear dialogue with the sound level down yet the action scenes are very loud. Finding myself constantly adjusting the volume and the wife is asking if we have wasted our money changing to sonos. 
 

i have been playing all night with the app, trueplay on and off, loudness on and off etc etc. Have the surround speakers turned down to help a little but never had ti do any of this with the bose 300 system. 
 

Running Sony KD-75X9400D. 
 

any help appreciated :) 

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    22 replies

    WandB
    Enthusiast I
    June 20, 2020

    I kind of recognize this in our setup. We upgraded from a Playbar to the ARC, with sub and two Ones for surround. We feel dialogues were more clear then with the ARC. Yesterday I spend some time on adjusting the sound and it is better but still not as good as with the Playbar. It is hard to explain in writing but the sound feels ‘dull’, balance between speech and the music/effects is far apart which, similar to you, means we need to adjust the volume some times during a program or movie. Hope Sonos will make some tweaks to make it better.

      DVS JEZAuthor
      Contributor I
      June 20, 2020

      I am also wondering if it has somehow dropped resolution on the tv picture in netflix. Just seems more “pixely”

      WandB
      Enthusiast I
      June 20, 2020

      I am also wondering if it has somehow dropped resolution on the tv picture in netflix. Just seems more “pixely”

      The Sonos ARC has no influence on the picture quality in any way. It is only receiving audio data from your TV (or AVR) and sending/receiving some CEC data.

      DVS JEZAuthor
      Contributor I
      June 20, 2020

      Was just googling as the wife also mentioned it and supposedly it can slow down the NETFLIX. Some have said using the sonos boost can help. Our internet is not too bad but maybe with these now its slowing it down 

      WandB
      Enthusiast I
      June 20, 2020

      Sonos ARC is running on local network and not necessarily pulling a lot of data from the internet unless you play music from e.g. Spotify. Maybe you have other network devices that are using bandwidth from your internet connection causing less available bandwidth from your internet connection? What is your down/up speed you get from your ISP?

      DVS JEZAuthor
      Contributor I
      June 20, 2020

      Ok :) 

       

      38.1Down

      14.1Up

      ping 12ms 

       

      7 devices on the network  4 sonos and our 2 phones then the android tv

       

      Stanley_4
      Stanley_4
      Grand Maestro
      June 20, 2020

      We find the standard dialog hard to hear too, kinda fixed it. Set Night Mode and Speech Enhancement mode. Went to Settings and manually lowered the low frequencies and Sub volume.

      What we wish we had was an option to make the center channel louder than the R/L channels.

        dribando
        Lyricist III
        June 20, 2020

        I upgraded to the Arc from the Playbase and find the dialogue on the Arc to be substantially better.  Louder and clearer voices.  No special settings for me.  Using LG C7 TV. 

          DVS JEZAuthor
          Contributor I
          June 20, 2020

          I upgraded to the Arc from the Playbase and find the dialogue on the Arc to be substantially better.  Louder and clearer voices.  No special settings for me.  Using LG C7 TV. 

          Ohh ok. I am going to try my old bose system again today. If i can’t get it to be as clear as that then i am going to ask for a refund. Hopefully i don’t lose 3k. 
           

          i have tried all the night mode, speech enhancement, changing treble and bass and Adjusting volumes around but am still not happy with the sound.

           

          i am a bit disappointed on the sonos kit for the poor volume dialogue only, if that was rectified it would be such an awesome kit. 

           

          dribando
          Lyricist III
          June 20, 2020

          Did you run Trueplay?  It requires an iOS device but can make a big difference.  You may want to rerun it again and this time change the way you sweep the room.  Maybe focus on a narrow region of the room (like 15x15 feet) where you listen the most.

          I haven’t heard the Bose bar you have.  But I’m almost shocked how great the dialogue sounds on my Arc. 

          Another idea, are you using the stock Sonos HDMI cable or your own?  I’m using the stock cable.

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