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ggmogollon
Enthusiast II
June 10, 2020
Answered

Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

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. 

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    Scott - SonosAnswer
    Sonos Product Management
    July 2, 2020

    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.

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    PowdeRiver
    Lyricist III
    July 20, 2020

    They probably sent you one somebody else sent back. Just kidding, don’t want a bunch of beta tester to flock down but that does suck for you. 

      Danio1137
      July 21, 2020

      Got my replacement with a may 2020 build date my old one was March - just as bad maybe even worse 

      good to know, then maybe it is not worth sending back but hoping for a fix.

      Butcher
      Lyricist III
      July 21, 2020

      Got my replacement with a may 2020 build date my old one was March - just as bad maybe even worse 

      Then it MUST be software?

      ftm
      Trending Lyricist I
      July 21, 2020

      This really sucks as i was hoping the arc was all sorted by now, been itching for a bigger bar but gor now my sub +sub combo works beautifully. The ARC would need some real wow factor for me to keep my testicles  ;)

      The arc is awesome with the sub for both movies and music.

       

        Hackys
        Lyricist I
        July 23, 2020

        Hi,

        I would like to ask if the announced update has already taken place, and the problem has been solved. Today I replaced the current SONOS BEAM with a new SONOS ARC, and I felt a significant shift down in sound quality As for the sound, I didn't expect that. Because the opposite should have happened. I updated to the current firmware version. 

        The soundtrack lacks space. The bass is unspecified, not very dynamic. In general, sound performance is not played together. And I compare it only with SONOS BEAM, I will omit the rest of the B&W audio set, Madrigal Lab. etc .. ARC was only to be a backdrop to TV

        SONOS ONE SL surround speakers are connected to SONOS ARC.

         

        Thanks,

        Jan

        Danio1137
        July 23, 2020

        with the problems with Arc, does it help with buying a Sonos sub, is the problem blown away then?

        pyro225
        Enthusiast II
        July 23, 2020

        This is such a joke people are bored of posting now on here and Sonos will probably just accept everyone is putting up with it… we need updates! 

          Danio1137
          July 23, 2020

          Are there any figures on how many have problems, sent back or received new ones?  How big is the problem and how many may have been sold?  if anyone knows :-)

          vivianfahy
          Lyricist II
          July 23, 2020

          I have an Arc and underwhelming is the word for it. Sitting beside my Move and testing both with music, it blows the Arc away. The bass is sooooo much better on the Move, kind of ridiculous really. The music I'm listening to is EDM or dance music etc.. but anything else is the same. It just seriously lacks separation and clairity, lame and souless. It's been probably the most disappointing purchase I've ever made because I was so looking forward to it. I bought an LG C9 last year which also cost a bit but that has not disappointed, in fact it continues to impress me. I'd expect the same for a 900EUR flagship speaker. And don't anyone tell me that it's only engineered for TV and movies, nonsense all I keep hearing is how the Beam blows it apart for everything! They will need to fix this soon or it will definitely go back. The cynic in me says they have built this soundbar with the purpose of forcing people to buy the sub. So basically spend 1600EUR on something flawed. What really gets my gripe is all these positive reviews, this is what led me to buy it in the first place, got my expectations so high. Then I come here and see all the very same complaints. 

          Hey Scott, be a good PM now and let us know when this will be fixed and if this is a hardware issue, be honest and let us know. Be prepared for influx of RMA's otherwise.

           

          Butcher
          Lyricist III
          July 23, 2020

          Sonos support office. Nobody is going to answer :(

           

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