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Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

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B
Userlevel 5
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@Ryan S Thanks for all the information you’ve passed along and bringing this to the team.  Does the team anticipate when they might be releasing this update?  

M
Userlevel 3
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Or going back to before this first Arc update?

M

I’m playing music on my entire home setup and It appears to me that all of my home speakers have lost the tightness in the bass and And are predominately treble which is disappointing. 
 

My play 5 combined with my arc surround sound sounds bad. My play 5 + sub before the addition of the arc’s was amazing.  I did notice an improvement when I changed the audio output to full from ambient. 

 

I wasn’t sure if I was going crazy but I was thinking the bass on my play 5 also didn’t sound as good as it used to... 

S
Userlevel 4
Badge +5

I’m playing music on my entire home setup and It appears to me that all of my home speakers have lost the tightness in the bass and And are predominately treble which is disappointing. 
 

My play 5 combined with my arc surround sound sounds bad. My play 5 + sub before the addition of the arc’s was amazing.  I did notice an improvement when I changed the audio output to full from ambient. 

 

I wasn’t sure if I was going crazy but I was thinking the bass on my play 5 also didn’t sound as good as it used to... 

I did the comparison Arc vs Play:5, the Play:5 atm definitely is much better. I can’t really tell if the Play:5 quality degraded, but what I can say is that it doesn’t have the bass bottoming out like the Arc does...

B
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

My beams bass sounds better. Much tighter. Got the arc yesterday and been battling atmos. Thought I’d check on this issue as well. 
 

  • What are you watching or playing that you’re hearing this on? Tried it with Daft Punk - Loose Yourself To Dance

  • What volume do you experience this at? 50% ish - no adjustments  

  • Is your Arc wall-mounted? No

  • Are you using Trueplay, and does it go away if you turn Trueplay off? No

  • Do you have the Bass EQ setting flat or adjusted in some way? Flat

  • If it’s possible, can you share an image of the setup? Excuse the state of my basement, midst of painting etc 

  •  

  • Please submit a diagnostic from the system with it happening and let us know the number.488487580

FYI not tried it with the sub. 

Thanks

A

 

 

Beam. 2x Play:1 - 2x Play One (gen 2) - Sub - 2x Play 5 - Move
H
Userlevel 6
Badge +7

Experiencing the same issue. No Sub or surrounds (yet). Haven’t found it horrible, but guessing I’m just not listening to a lot of material with bass in those frequencies. 

Diagnostic submitted: 738063512

Hoping for a fix before Amazon 30 days is up, otherwise I’ll probably be returning. 

Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
S
Userlevel 1

I’ve seen some people say with the current issue if you are playing with any loudness, even with the sub, you can damage the arc speakers, is there any truth to this? Is there a need to hold off on using until the update? Thank you.

J
Userlevel 2
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Hope this gets sorted and proves to be a winner and surpasses my Beam + Sub combo which works very well indeed.

 

I
Userlevel 2
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I am still awaiting arc, gen 3 sub, and two OneSLs.  They are sending out the arc and OneSLs on monday while my sub isn’t scheduled until late June.   First time Sonos owner, so pretty stoked.  


I have an LG OLED B8 series TV which only has ARC, but seeing people say they are getting Dolby Atmos with it, seems kind of strange, but I will not complain if it works.
 

I have been reading through all of this about the bottomed out bass and it being software issue. Are we talking firmware in each speaker, the Mobile app software, or combination of both?

 

thanks… looking forward to receiving the sonos .

M
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

What is the difference between the hardware numbers? Colour?

i have 1.27.1.8-2.1 (white Arc) and a friend of mine has 1.27.1.8-2.2 (black Arc).

 

he claims not to have problems but he has a sub

P
Userlevel 3
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I think it’s 1.27.1.8-1.2 and 1.1 just the color.

ant0
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Hi everyone, I just came across this and I thought it would be interesting to share 

 

You can clearly hear that The Playbar has better low end which does not match what other reviewers are saying

@Ryan S is this related to this bass issue we are all having here?

 

C
Userlevel 2
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Any news, Sonos? Would be great to get a feel for the software update timeframe. 

R

What is the difference between the hardware numbers? Colour?

i have 1.27.1.8-2.1 (white Arc) and a friend of mine has 1.27.1.8-2.2 (black Arc).

 

he claims not to have problems but he has a sub

Mine has no problem and it is a Black Arc 1.27.1.8-1.2

A
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Hi everyone, I just came across this and I thought it would be interesting to share 

 

You can clearly hear that The Playbar has better low end which does not match what other reviewers are saying

@Ryan S is this related to this bass issue we are all having here?

 

Playbar did sound much warmer and balanced. Arc’s bass is poor with too much treble. I was expecting much better sound from Arc given how much time they had in between it and the playbar. Currently, i feel like my pair of ones as surrounds are pulling all the weight. Don’t know how much the software update will improve things.

$799 is ridiculous for the sound it produces. Good at 30% off ($559) which I paid or even less.

@Ryan S Please let the team know they have a lot of work to do on the Arc. At this moment, it feels half-baked. 

B
Userlevel 5
Badge +4

Hi everyone, I just came across this and I thought it would be interesting to share 

You can clearly hear that The Playbar has better low end which does not match what other reviewers are saying

@Ryan S is this related to this bass issue we are all having here?

 

Playbar did sound much warmer and balanced. Arc’s bass is poor with too much treble. I was expecting much better sound from Arc given how much time they had in between it and the playbar. Currently, i feel like my pair of ones as surrounds are pulling all the weight. Don’t know how much the software update will improve things.

$799 is ridiculous for the sound it produces. Good at 30% off ($559) which I paid or even less.

@Ryan S Please let the team know they have a lot of work to do on the Arc. At this moment, it feels half-baked. 

 

I thought you posted the other day that you received it and had no issues?  What changed?  

I mean honestly I expected most people to have issues but just wondering.

 

From your post: 

Support just reached out to initiate a replacement based upon my initial case from day one. Has anyone else received anything similar? I hate to go though that process if it really is software related but the fact that some people appear to not be affected is strange. 

Now you’ve got me concerned that they have determined it’s hardware and we are all going to need replacements haha. Hopefully we get an update from Sonos today. 

I received my Arc today, and don’t have the issue. I did play all the songs listed here and compared them to the recordings people have provided. My Arc sounds different and better. Could be a hardware issue. Who knows!

 

A
Userlevel 6
Badge +6

Hi everyone, I just came across this and I thought it would be interesting to share 

You can clearly hear that The Playbar has better low end which does not match what other reviewers are saying

@Ryan S is this related to this bass issue we are all having here?

 

Playbar did sound much warmer and balanced. Arc’s bass is poor with too much treble. I was expecting much better sound from Arc given how much time they had in between it and the playbar. Currently, i feel like my pair of ones as surrounds are pulling all the weight. Don’t know how much the software update will improve things.

$799 is ridiculous for the sound it produces. Good at 30% off ($559) which I paid or even less.

@Ryan S Please let the team know they have a lot of work to do on the Arc. At this moment, it feels half-baked. 

 

I thought you posted the other day that you received it and had no issues?  What changed?  

I mean honestly I expected most people to have issues but just wondering.

 

From your post: 

Support just reached out to initiate a replacement based upon my initial case from day one. Has anyone else received anything similar? I hate to go though that process if it really is software related but the fact that some people appear to not be affected is strange. 

Now you’ve got me concerned that they have determined it’s hardware and we are all going to need replacements haha. Hopefully we get an update from Sonos today. 

I received my Arc today, and don’t have the issue. I did play all the songs listed here and compared them to the recordings people have provided. My Arc sounds different and better. Could be a hardware issue. Who knows!

 

Yes, don’t have the issue or at least don’t notice it (may be because I never exceed 50% volume). I was commenting on the overall sound quality, especially for music. For $799 (MSRP), it sounds underwhelming. Would never buy on its own (pair of surrounds is must). Since the update will likely only address bass bottoming out, I doubt it would improve the sound by a lot of margin.

let’s see.

 

 

M
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

I think it’s 1.27.1.8-1.2 and 1.1 just the color.

No…

1.27.1.8.2.1 and 1.27.1.8.2.2

check your system info

M
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

This one is of that friend of mine

P
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

All my products end with .2 and are black are you in the states? Maybe it the power connection

M
Userlevel 3
Badge +3

All my products end with .2 and are black

But the your final to last is a 1 and mine a 2. The one my friend had 2.2 and is a black Arc

What i’m on about is maybe a certain hardware version has the issues? @Ryan S 

D

Beyond thrilled to receive the new Sonos Arc. True played my room and I have loudness on as well connected to LG B8 using Tidal and Spotify. Most of the sound range is phenomenal, aside from the bass. At even half volume the woofers are extremely muddy and sound terrible. Not sure if this is because I have under two hours of use but I wasn’t expecting to have to break-in the speaker. I own set of speakers next to it in the same room (KEF LS50W) and the difference is night and day. There have also been posts on Reddit regarding this issue. It is interesting given no reviewers have mentioned this issue but more than a few recipients have. Has anyone else experienced similar issues? Turning loudness off helps but it is disappointing for such a highly anticipated product. 


Same issue here, arc bass sounds really bad on music and most movies. @Ryan S I know you said your team is working on a software fix but can you confirm the root cause of the issue is a software issue and not a hardware issue?

I still see a lot of posts and reviews that rave about the arc so why are only some so satisfied while others can barely listen to it?

 

 

 

 

 

P
Userlevel 3
Badge +2

The last digit is color, second to last digit is prob power supply. They wouldn’t design something for the last few years just to change the hardware during the production process.

J
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Hi everyone, I just came across this and I thought it would be interesting to share 

 

You can clearly hear that The Playbar has better low end which does not match what other reviewers are saying

@Ryan S is this related to this bass issue we are all having here?

 


but their conclusion is that they love it, even with the base as it is. 
 

this appears to really be a question of taste. I think there is something weird happening in some specific situations, but overall I think the sound is amazing. 
 

I was worried that the bass issue was hardware related and that would have been a problem for me, but it really seems to be related to how it interacts to with the rears for me and so that can only really be software. 
 

the soundstage when compared to the play we is enormous. 
 

 

A
Userlevel 2
Badge

I am having few issues, 1) I need to bump up the volume really high to hear voice or sound, then suddenly it gets really loud for certain scenes. I am connected with the sub and sub gets too loud too. Something seems not right. I get the muddy bass too. Raised a case with support so not sure if this is something that sonos can fix over software upgrade or is it really some problem with hardware. 

Overall actually bit disappointed with such a expensive system, I have a LG SJ9 3 years old soundbar which performs better waiting for sonos before I decide on returning.

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