Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

1406 replies
193222 views

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

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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pyro225

Enthusiast II

I have just updated and it sounds just as bad as before - Eminem - without me over 50% , Weeknd - StarBoy - over 50%

come on do you even test these before saying its fixed?

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Niko79

Trending Lyricist I

I have just updated and it sounds just as bad as before - Eminem - without me over 50% , Weeknd - StarBoy - over 50%

come on do you even test these before saying its fixed?

If they did that, we would not have had the issue in question in the first place :D

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pyro225

Enthusiast II

its getting frustrating no updates and then we get a ‘its fixed’ and it never is never even an improvement apart from the first release. On my second Arc now and still sounds like an entry level alba system over 50%… £800 Sonos… £800… where's my £800 class of service ...

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Doozeruk

Lyricist III

I have just updated and it sounds just as bad as before - Eminem - without me over 50% , Weeknd - StarBoy - over 50%

come on do you even test these before saying its fixed?

Wow, that's bang out of order Sonos to say its fixed when clearly it isn't. Let's face it, this should have only been sold with the sub... Then it might be fixed. In that case can't wait for the arrival of my Samsung bar tomorrow. Sonos can do one!

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maurice.pothoven

Trending Lyricist II

I contacted Sonos Netherlands by chat. He told me I had to put bass on 0 (I have +8) and turn off true play. After that he told me I have to perform true play again, as this had a fix in the latest app update. Also my Eco system being on a wifi extender could cause problems. (i have this for a week now, because my Play 1 sound cut out in the back Of the garden)

if true play doesn’t fix it I have to call them

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Doozeruk

Lyricist III

I contacted Sonos Netherlands by chat. He told me I had to put bass on 0 (I have +8) and turn off true play. After that he told me I have to perform true play again, as this had a fix in the latest app update. Also my Eco system being on a wifi extender could cause problems. (i have this for a week now, because my Play 1 sound cut out in the back Of the garden)

if true play doesn’t fix it I have to call them

Well it sounds like we are going round in circles even more... Did he want you to do that standing on your head whilst drinking water too? Don't believe anything they say anymore to be honest.

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

I contacted Sonos Netherlands by chat. He told me I had to put bass on 0 (I have +8) and turn off true play. After that he told me I have to perform true play again, as this had a fix in the latest app update. Also my Eco system being on a wifi extender could cause problems. (i have this for a week now, because my Play 1 sound cut out in the back Of the garden)

if true play doesn’t fix it I have to call them

Well it sounds like we are going round in circles even more... Did he want you to do that standing on your head whilst drinking water too? Don't believe anything they say anymore to be honest.

At this point, I believe some people have expectations out of this soundbar that wont be met. I say this in the music department. And the reason is simply speaker design, the Arc is smaller in area than the playbar and has smaller woofers. It also doesnt have an integrated sub as the playbase. So it wont have similar “feeling” bass. Even though it is 800 dollars or euros it was designed for movies or tv primarily. And it delivers very well in that department. For me music is also good with the bar, but I think some are misled because its 800 it will be amazing for everything including music.

There are MANY users that are happy with the Arc performance, actually I think it has more than enough bass for my movies and shows and movies. But I recognize it isnt as good for music thump as other speakers.

Some compare it to Homepods, or Sonos Fives, look at the size look at the physical dimensions look at the woofer sizes (diameter) that is what determines bass of a speaker.

I have seen one or two clips of a guy who shows a netflix movie and a bad sound, I would ask for a replacement mine does not behave like that.

I initially had some issues but after the firmware update it was fixed for me. If you are not satisfied gfo with another soundbar with a sub. That is my advice or grab a playbar with sub.

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maurice.pothoven

Trending Lyricist II

I must say for movies it sounds great (the scene in The Punisher where he shoots the mob guys is mega)but I still find it lacking mid and low range power.

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Doozeruk

Lyricist III

I contacted Sonos Netherlands by chat. He told me I had to put bass on 0 (I have +8) and turn off true play. After that he told me I have to perform true play again, as this had a fix in the latest app update. Also my Eco system being on a wifi extender could cause problems. (i have this for a week now, because my Play 1 sound cut out in the back Of the garden)

if true play doesn’t fix it I have to call them

Well it sounds like we are going round in circles even more... Did he want you to do that standing on your head whilst drinking water too? Don't believe anything they say anymore to be honest.

At this point, I believe some people have expectations out of this soundbar that wont be met..…

Why, its advertised as a standalone home theatre?

Even though it is 800 dollars or euros it was designed for movies or tv primarily. And it delivers very well in that department. For me music is also good with the bar, but I think some are misled because its 800 it will be amazing for everything including music.

Obviously £800 means a lot less to you than it does me, perhaps you have money to burn? For that amount of money I do expect a speaker to not distort at 50% volume and even on films and TV, although it sounds good, it distorts on that too sometimes as low as 30-40% volume

If you are not satisfied gfo with another soundbar with a sub. That is my advice or grab a playbar with sub.

Bit harsh, I won't blow smoke up Sonos's ass for what I see as a inadequate "expensive" product

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arpatil1

Enthusiast II

I contacted Sonos Netherlands by chat. He told me I had to put bass on 0 (I have +8) and turn off true play. After that he told me I have to perform true play again, as this had a fix in the latest app update. Also my Eco system being on a wifi extender could cause problems. (i have this for a week now, because my Play 1 sound cut out in the back Of the garden)

if true play doesn’t fix it I have to call them

Well it sounds like we are going round in circles even more... Did he want you to do that standing on your head whilst drinking water too? Don't believe anything they say anymore to be honest.

At this point, I believe some people have expectations out of this soundbar that wont be met. I say this in the music department. And the reason is simply speaker design, the Arc is smaller in area than the playbar and has smaller woofers. It also doesnt have an integrated sub as the playbase. So it wont have similar “feeling” bass. Even though it is 800 dollars or euros it was designed for movies or tv primarily. And it delivers very well in that department. For me music is also good with the bar, but I think some are misled because its 800 it will be amazing for everything including music.

There are MANY users that are happy with the Arc performance, actually I think it has more than enough bass for my movies and shows and movies. But I recognize it isnt as good for music thump as other speakers.

Some compare it to Homepods, or Sonos Fives, look at the size look at the physical dimensions look at the woofer sizes (diameter) that is what determines bass of a speaker.

I have seen one or two clips of a guy who shows a netflix movie and a bad sound, I would ask for a replacement mine does not behave like that.

I initially had some issues but after the firmware update it was fixed for me. If you are not satisfied gfo with another soundbar with a sub. That is my advice or grab a playbar with sub.

Smaller area, smaller woofers, bass isn’t as good as the HomePod which has a quality big size woofer and 7 tweeters for just $199, isn’t good for music - so the important question - What are you paying $799 for, bruh? I didn’t even mention the lack of passthrough ports and trash microphones for google assistant.

Based on your own points, you are paying 50% premium for Sonos logo. Enjoy !

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