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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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    Butcher
    Lyricist III
    July 30, 2020

    On the floor for the test directly under it. It’s not on the wall it sits forward about an inch

    Is the Playbase the first one? Sounds WAY better then second sound :scream:

    craigski
    Local Superstar
    July 30, 2020

    On the floor for the test directly under it. It’s not on the wall it sits forward about an inch

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksTRc1zsdz4 skip to 6:00 in, maybe pushing the Arc against back to wall will help in your specific room?

    jinjin19
    Lyricist III
    July 30, 2020

    Hi all - since the last update seemed to have fixed nothing I thought I’d do a direct comparison of my Playbase and the arc … here is the video… and for those of you who think the Arc sounds greats can you not hear the difference?

     

     

    To be fair I don’t think the playbase would be a fair comparison as it was designed to have sort of a sub in it.  A better comparison would be a playbar. 
     

    Physics would dictate that the playbase would definitely have tighter bass than the Arc with its ported built in sub. I feel that the Arc was really built with a limitation but for a different wider sound signature and if its something that you are unhappy with you may always return it and stick with the playbase which is also a great product. 

    JJ
    Valynox
    Trending Lyricist I
    July 30, 2020

    Hi Guys:
     

    New to this forum. I almost pulled the trigger on the Sonos Arc to pair with the LG CX 65 OLED I just purchased as I couldn’t wait to try the Dolby Atmos. But after seeing the bass problem posted here I guess I will wait to see how this issue is resolved. I won’t buy one unless they resolve the bass issue.


    In the meantime, I think my TV speakers are good enough to carry me through for a while.

     

     

    Wise choice. Mine is like everyone else posting here, very poor bass issues. I cannot fathom how so many so called reviewers gave this product such a glowing review, it’s just average at best - if it cost 250EUR, that is no exaggeration. Not sure if its hardware or software related, but bass and sharp sounds make it poor to listen to. I’ll keep it for another few weeks until I see it improves, if not its going back, as simple as that. I’m very disappointed in it, especially as I hoped to use it for music in my sitting room.


    Hello,

    For what it worth, here is a link to French website review of the Sonos Arc. They do mention an issue with the bass, as well as the higher half of the spectrum:

    https://www.lesnumeriques.com/enceinte-home-cinema/sonos-arc-p57755/test.html

    Sorry guys, it is in French, here is a Deepled version:

    Beyond this point, we also manage to identify some sensitive sound weaknesses in the Arc. First of all, the accuracy is sometimes lacking in its rendering in the upper half of the spectrum. At best, this simply results in a not quite ideal level of detail; at worst, some voices can take a slightly nasal turn, and the high-pitched extremes become slightly acidic. This is particularly noticeable in music listening, where the cymbal blows sometimes show a slightly excessive virulence. The problem is generally less noticeable during film viewing, although it does not disappear.

    Finally, the Arc does not quite live up to its promise of producing fully satisfactory bass without a subwoofer. Even though the frequency response measurement seems to indicate a more than correct depth, with a nice presence as early as 50 Hz, the distortion measurement reveals the aftermath: the harmonic purity of the bass drops to a trickle as early as 110 Hz, a frequency below which one hears nothing but confused sounds and indistinguishable timbres. The addition of a Sonos Sub is particularly beneficial, providing a suddenly much more assured foundation.

    Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

    After reading so much good reviews of the Sonos Arc, I was about to discard this review, but I discovered today this thread and it looks like the French site is having a point here…

    I already have a sub (Gen2), a beam and a few :1/Ones so I was really keen into investing in this new Arc to set-up a Dolby Atmos capable home theater (Arc+sub Gen3+ 2xOnes LS for surround) but I think I will wait a bit for Sonos to clear things up !

    Considering the TV to buy as well, it is a big investment!!!

    PowdeRiver
    Lyricist III
    July 30, 2020

    How long does it take for Sonos to clear a reply that was flagged?

    pyro225
    Enthusiast II
    July 30, 2020

    On the floor for the test directly under it. It’s not on the wall it sits forward about an inch

    Is the Playbase the first one? Sounds WAY better then second sound :scream:

    Yep Playbase first one 

    pyro225
    Enthusiast II
    July 30, 2020

    Hi all - since the last update seemed to have fixed nothing I thought I’d do a direct comparison of my Playbase and the arc … here is the video… and for those of you who think the Arc sounds greats can you not hear the difference?

     

     

    To be fair I don’t think the playbase would be a fair comparison as it was designed to have sort of a sub in it.  A better comparison would be a playbar. 
     

    Physics would dictate that the playbase would definitely have tighter bass than the Arc with its ported built in sub. I feel that the Arc was really built with a limitation but for a different wider sound signature and if its something that you are unhappy with you may always return it and stick with the playbase which is also a great product. 

    I half but that but how about the tinny highs and lack of mids on the arc vs playbase that should be comparable.

     

    also the sub is only one 4inch woofer if it was going to be that limiting surely they should have incorporated it its long enough for plenty of porting
     

     

    kenwk123
    Lyricist III
    July 30, 2020

    Hi all - since the last update seemed to have fixed nothing I thought I’d do a direct comparison of my Playbase and the arc … here is the video… and for those of you who think the Arc sounds greats can you not hear the difference?

     

     

    To be fair I don’t think the playbase would be a fair comparison as it was designed to have sort of a sub in it.  A better comparison would be a playbar. 
     

    Physics would dictate that the playbase would definitely have tighter bass than the Arc with its ported built in sub. I feel that the Arc was really built with a limitation but for a different wider sound signature and if its something that you are unhappy with you may always return it and stick with the playbase which is also a great product. 

    It is embarrassing for the ARC.  I don’t see how anyone can say the ARC is better sounding in this video.

      Danio1137
      July 31, 2020

      Hi! 
       

      When you look at other "cinema" systems, it almost always includes a sub, probably because the soundbar can not perform bass on its own.  It does not defend Sonos but could it be a bit like they thought here too?  Incredibly bad marketing then to say that Arc should have a base.  It may fix itself over time.  I will buy another system now for testing, both are on open purchase.

      DebadgedA6
      Trending Lyricist I
      August 1, 2020

      I thought of something. I was listening to the YouTube link of that video showing the difference between the Playbase and the Arc. And I was thinking, the Playbase base sounds great and the Arc was bottoming out… 

       

      But you might want to know, I was playing it over an Arc. without sub and surrounds. Just the arc on its own. So if I can hear how good the playbase sounds on the Arc…. 

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