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Sonos Arc - Metallic Sound

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A
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Yes I think we can all echo that statement, happy as I am with the arc performance, I have seriously high ceilings, and an ability to control my he upward firing drivers; independent of truplay would be great

M
Userlevel 5
Badge +7

Hello everyone. I’m a product manager at Sonos. Thank you for sharing your experiences with Arc. The development team is monitoring this community and listening to your feedback. 

As we do with all Sonos products, we’ll continue to improve the experience for Arc through numerous software updates into the future. Last week we issued our first update (12.0.1) to fix a bug some customers were experiencing with low-frequency distortion at higher volumes. 

If you have specific music tracks or timestamps for TV shows and movies that you want to bring to our attention, please use this form. It is helpful if you can submit a diagnostic when you’re listening to the content. Instructions for doing so can be found here.

Hi Scott,

ive submitted some diagnosis forums even tho the issues are across all what I watch. Watching sky fall on Amazon prime last night, I just found there was no warmth or beef to the sound coming from the ARC. One thing I would like to see is the option to be able to manually adjust the centre speaker and the  overhead speakers, as even with speech enhancement I do find sometimes the dialogue needs adjusting. I think as other people have said the EQ needs adjusting on the soundbar, the mids are just not there.

D
Userlevel 2

Hello all, 

Thank you for clarifying that the issue is both from music services and from connected home theater sources, sometimes one does get tunnel-vision in looking into an issue this large.

For those of you that have moved from a Beam to an Arc, how large is the room that you are set up in with the Arc?

The Beam is designed to deliver optimal sound in more modest or compact space where the Arc is quite the opposite. I can see from some of the photographs that have been included in this thread that quite a few of your set-ups are in larger open spaces.

In the interest in trying to take all factors into account I’d be interested in more information from those of you who have moved from our smallest  to largest home theater products and if possible, provide comparative diagnostic reports from your system.  

@Jean C. @Scott - Sonos I also have a larger open space, roughly 25 x 15, and had a beam before this which had decent midrange. 

Interestingly, the Arc’s midrange and dialogue sounds a lot better if I sit very very close to it (within 3-5 feet) at volumes up to 50%. The bright, harsh treble in dialogue is still there but I can hear some of the warmness and bass from voices more clearly. As I move back, even when volumes are turned to around 40%-50%, only the harsh bright treble comes through much more and overtakes the warm midranges which seem to disappear. This is without any environmental background noise. 
 

The beam’s was definitely much boomier and not as tight when I was sitting around 10-12 feet away but it maintained its warmth. I’m sorry that this is not super scientific but I hope you guys can hear what we are experiencing!
 

Thanks again for all the hard work. 

C
Userlevel 1

All it takes is  a more robust  EQ settings, I’m confident the hardware with 11 speakers, each amplified independently it’s a lot of future proof. A lot can be done with that hardware. For now EQ setting would make most people satisfied for sound signatures. But in the future Sonos can come up with new ideas about the use of this hardware.

R
Userlevel 3
Badge +1

Sonos.  Is there a fix for the arc not filling the room with music?  Too much treble not enough bass. Even with the sub.  I have had my arc for three weeks now and was told there would be an update that would fix this over a week ago.  So far no fix.  Should I return my arc or will this be fixed?

I appreciate Sonos effort to try to fix this.  But they seem to be out of ideas. It’s nice that they have a form where ppl input the song they have trouble with.  The support guy yesterday pretty much told maybe the Arc just isn’t for me and I should go back to the playbar. He said it may just be how the arc is made. We are now all going through this beta testing on a released product. 

I want to hear another Arc. Cause I can’t believe some of the great reviews can be based on the same unit I have. I just want find a single Arc in a store on demo. 
 

But I have pretty much decided to return the arc and use the playbar. 
I really hope the S2 app isn’t the source of the issue. So I’ll be using the S1. Hopefully they didn’t mess that up too

C

Sonos.  Is there a fix for the arc not filling the room with music?  Too much treble not enough bass. Even with the sub.  I have had my arc for three weeks now and was told there would be an update that would fix this over a week ago.  So far no fix.  Should I return my arc or will this be fixed?

A
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Hello everyone. I’m a product manager at Sonos. Thank you for sharing your experiences with Arc. The development team is monitoring this community and listening to your feedback. 

As we do with all Sonos products, we’ll continue to improve the experience for Arc through numerous software updates into the future. Last week we issued our first update (12.0.1) to fix a bug some customers were experiencing with low-frequency distortion at higher volumes. 

If you have specific music tracks or timestamps for TV shows and movies that you want to bring to our attention, please use this form. It is helpful if you can submit a diagnostic when you’re listening to the content. Instructions for doing so can be found here.

I can say that my beam and arc setups are in identical positions, and can attest to the arc’s superior soundstage; however when asked to remove sub and surrounds, I did experience much of what has been discussed. I don’t see this as being a room/size/source issue( but note an intrinsic problem with tuning), I’m happy with my setup but can imagine many having an issue with arc as a standalone device

S

Hello everyone. I’m a product manager at Sonos. Thank you for sharing your experiences with Arc. The development team is monitoring this community and listening to your feedback. 

As we do with all Sonos products, we’ll continue to improve the experience for Arc through numerous software updates into the future. Last week we issued our first update (12.0.1) to fix a bug some customers were experiencing with low-frequency distortion at higher volumes. 

If you have specific music tracks or timestamps for TV shows and movies that you want to bring to our attention, please use this form. It is helpful if you can submit a diagnostic when you’re listening to the content. Instructions for doing so can be found here.

B
Userlevel 2
Badge

Hi @Jean C. 

Thanks for continuing to listen.
I am one of those who moved from the beam to the arc and my setup is in a relatively large room (kitchen/living/dining combined). The beam, when paired with the sub and play1s, always sounded decent, but i was also aware that the beam was not intended for a space this large. That said, I generally thought the sound signature was fine, it was mostly just lacking in soundstage and maybe detail at higher volumes playing complex audio.
The arc can clearly address those issues, but has its own issue that has been described well in this thread, and really *seems* like a processing/eq issue to me, because the drivers and power don’t seem lacking, but it’s hard to tell without more control over the eq. That theory is certainly bolstered by how different the truplay tuning results can be. The last time I tuned with an older iPad, the overall balance of frequencies seems to have improved, but it’s hard to be certain without a more scientific approach. It went from really bothering me, to something I can tolerate, but still feel is not representative of what the hardware can do.

I still have my beam and have not spent the time to reconnect and do a/b testing yet. I would be willing to go through this exercise, especially if we could decide on a repeatable testing approach that maybe others could also follow. 

Jean C.
Userlevel 5
Badge +16

Hello all, 

Thank you for clarifying that the issue is both from music services and from connected home theater sources, sometimes one does get tunnel-vision in looking into an issue this large.

For those of you that have moved from a Beam to an Arc, how large is the room that you are set up in with the Arc?

The Beam is designed to deliver optimal sound in more modest or compact space where the Arc is quite the opposite. I can see from some of the photographs that have been included in this thread that quite a few of your set-ups are in larger open spaces.

In the interest in trying to take all factors into account I’d be interested in more information from those of you who have moved from our smallest  to largest home theater products and if possible, provide comparative diagnostic reports from your system.  

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
A
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I am also coming from the beam, and the arc is a substantial improvement, but I will say it’s certainly a ‘brighter’ presentation, but I see this as aiding overall clarity, not a reduction in richness at all

This is what the rtings graphs show. The high frequency cut off for Playbar and Beam shows a score of 7.5, where as the Arc shows a score of 9.8. So this means you are hearing high treble frequencies on the Arc that you may not have heard on the Beam/Playbar, depending on how good (old?) your ears are at this frequency?

Well my 36 year old ears may have deteriorated slightly!, but for anyone to experience the beam sounding in any way ‘better’, there’s something seriously wrong with those units

yea I upgraded from the beam myself, granted my Arc came after the bass fix so I can’t speak to that but this thing sounds amazing. I was worried seeing all these negatives, im glad for me it was not an issue. It does make me wonder though if some of them are just defective and maybe need replaced?

What is the build number of your device? I’ve only heard March so far. 

Can’t see how the build number correlated to date? Mine is 58177280 for ref

M
Userlevel 5
Badge +7

I am also coming from the beam, and the arc is a substantial improvement, but I will say it’s certainly a ‘brighter’ presentation, but I see this as aiding overall clarity, not a reduction in richness at all

This is what the rtings graphs show. The high frequency cut off for Playbar and Beam shows a score of 7.5, where as the Arc shows a score of 9.8. So this means you are hearing high treble frequencies on the Arc that you may not have heard on the Beam/Playbar, depending on how good (old?) your ears are at this frequency?

Well my 36 year old ears may have deteriorated slightly!, but for anyone to experience the beam sounding in any way ‘better’, there’s something seriously wrong with those units

yea I upgraded from the beam myself, granted my Arc came after the bass fix so I can’t speak to that but this thing sounds amazing. I was worried seeing all these negatives, im glad for me it was not an issue. It does make me wonder though if some of them are just defective and maybe need replaced?

What is the build number of your device? I’ve only heard March so far. 

W
Userlevel 2
Badge +3

I am also coming from the beam, and the arc is a substantial improvement, but I will say it’s certainly a ‘brighter’ presentation, but I see this as aiding overall clarity, not a reduction in richness at all

This is what the rtings graphs show. The high frequency cut off for Playbar and Beam shows a score of 7.5, where as the Arc shows a score of 9.8. So this means you are hearing high treble frequencies on the Arc that you may not have heard on the Beam/Playbar, depending on how good (old?) your ears are at this frequency?

Well my 36 year old ears may have deteriorated slightly!, but for anyone to experience the beam sounding in any way ‘better’, there’s something seriously wrong with those units

yea I upgraded from the beam myself, granted my Arc came after the bass fix so I can’t speak to that but this thing sounds amazing. I was worried seeing all these negatives, im glad for me it was not an issue. It does make me wonder though if some of them are just defective and maybe need replaced?

A
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I am also coming from the beam, and the arc is a substantial improvement, but I will say it’s certainly a ‘brighter’ presentation, but I see this as aiding overall clarity, not a reduction in richness at all

This is what the rtings graphs show. The high frequency cut off for Playbar and Beam shows a score of 7.5, where as the Arc shows a score of 9.8. So this means you are hearing high treble frequencies on the Arc that you may not have heard on the Beam/Playbar, depending on how good (old?) your ears are at this frequency?

Well my 36 year old ears may have deteriorated slightly!, but for anyone to experience the beam sounding in any way ‘better’, there’s something seriously wrong with those units

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

I am also coming from the beam, and the arc is a substantial improvement, but I will say it’s certainly a ‘brighter’ presentation, but I see this as aiding overall clarity, not a reduction in richness at all

This is what the rtings graphs show. The high frequency cut off for Playbar and Beam shows a score of 7.5, where as the Arc shows a score of 9.8. So this means you are hearing high treble frequencies on the Arc that you may not have heard on the Beam/Playbar, depending on how good (old?) your ears are at this frequency?

A
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I also have an LG C9. That’s like four people on this thread. Anyone else have an LG tv?

I have a B7, and overall sound is sublime. Definitely seems like a faulty batch of hardware 

Did you have a Beam or playbar etc before? I really noticed the difference when comparing to my Beam.

 

Just looked don’t know why I didn’t earlier at the build date of my arc- March 2020 - I can’t imagine the reviewers had earlier builds than 3 months prior? It hadn’t even been announced at that point.

Where abouts did you find your build number? 

I am also coming from the beam, and the arc is a substantial improvement, but I will say it’s certainly a ‘brighter’ presentation, but I see this as aiding overall clarity, not a reduction in richness at all

P
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

4 digits before the serial no

M
Userlevel 5
Badge +7

I also have an LG C9. That’s like four people on this thread. Anyone else have an LG tv?

I have a B7, and overall sound is sublime. Definitely seems like a faulty batch of hardware 

Did you have a Beam or playbar etc before? I really noticed the difference when comparing to my Beam.

 

Just looked don’t know why I didn’t earlier at the build date of my arc- March 2020 - I can’t imagine the reviewers had earlier builds than 3 months prior? It hadn’t even been announced at that point.

Where abouts did you find your build number? 

P
Userlevel 4
Badge +4

Just looked don’t know why I didn’t earlier at the build date of my arc- March 2020 - I can’t imagine the reviewers had earlier builds than 3 months prior? It hadn’t even been announced at that point.

A
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

I also have an LG C9. That’s like four people on this thread. Anyone else have an LG tv?

I have a B7, and overall sound is sublime. Definitely seems like a faulty batch of hardware 

BMF
Userlevel 5
Badge +13

I have a Samsung TV and as Music streamed directly from the Arc, not involving any TV, still sounds harsh…. I assume it is the sound signature of the Arc.

 

hopefully it can be warmed up by Software to be closer to the other Sonos speakers.

G
Userlevel 2
Badge

Although the RTINGS.com review appears to not have used an LG TV, so I think it’s just a problem with the sound signature itself, as opposed to some sort of error unique to the people on this thread.

G
Userlevel 2
Badge

I also have an LG C9. That’s like four people on this thread. Anyone else have an LG tv?

W

Same issue here with my wall-mounted Arc (+ Sub Gen3 + 2x One SL for surround). Already contacted customer support by phone, sent diagnostics reports, went through all the hoops of unplugging hdmi, power cable, restarting the tv (LG C9), different sources, eARC on/off, selecting pass-through/automatic, selecting automatic/dolby digital plus on my tv audio settings, etc...but to no avail. Nothing helped. Still experiencing the same (sometimes painful) piercing highs with a lot of hiss sounds, especially when people talk and barely any mids. Music playback has the same issue by the way.

Trueplay (iPhone X) actually makes it even worse, and without Trueplay everything sounds dull. Nothing close compared to the raving reviews online which talk about full range audio.

Something is definitely off with the tuning on the Arc. I hope Sonos will take the time to look into this and fixes this asap.

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

published yesterday, the reviewer has also reviewed the beam:

https://www.soundandvision.com/category/soundbar-reviews

Outstanding music and movie sound
Impressive rendering of height information
Solid bass for standalone soundbar

I don’t get why there is such a difference of opinion of sounds coming from the Arc? Could it be the environment, eg speaker placement, room size/dimensions?

 

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