Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

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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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arpatil1

Enthusiast II

Hi folks. The issue with the muddy or bottoming out bass from the Arc in a stand-alone configuration (no satellites or Sub) is no longer occurring.

...but it is still occurring. :thinking: It was addressed in an update about a week after the Arc was released which improved it but the problem still exists today on an updated system.

This does seem frustrating to have you say it’s fixed now, which would lead anyone to believe that it’s no longer being actively worked on for those still having issues (such as myself).

I guess I’ll go through my RMA process and see if it is truly bad hardware but I am leery of that given others feedback. Since it took so long to get a response from Sonos Support on this being ‘fixed’ or not, my return window has passed so now I have to put my faith in Sonos that they will continue to improve it to the point where we were all hoping it would’ve been on launch day.

They are pretty much saying the way bass from Arc currently sounds is intended and not a bug. It wouldn’t surprise me given the tiny elliptical woofers. There’s no substitute for a bigger size (to push more air volume) to produce nice and punchy bass.

So now, it’s either return or buy a sub.

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bbalz

Renowned Enthusiast I

They are pretty much saying the way bass from Arc currently sounds is intended and not a bug. It wouldn’t surprise me given the tiny elliptical woofers. There’s no substitute for a bigger size (to push more air volume) to produce nice and punchy bass.

So now, it’s either return or buy a sub.

Yeah, what a bummer. My return window has passed too so I don’t have a choice other than to sell it 2nd hand now.

I guess I’ll hold on as there are some conversations on Reddit about an upcoming beta for just the Arc… so maybe there is hope there.

Will get the new replacement in 4-5 days, so maybe it really is a faulty unit I have.

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

I think some people , like the guy that uploaded the Drive video to youtube should ask for a replacement from Sonos. Mine doesnt sound like that at all.

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pyro225

Enthusiast II

I think some people , like the guy that uploaded the Drive video to youtube should ask for a replacement from Sonos. Mine doesnt sound like that at all.

‘‘Twas me who uploaded the drive video… and that is the replacement my first one had a build ate March 2020 this had maybe 2020 and sounds identical.

@Krishma M

I run a setup with no sub but a pair of play 1s as tears are you saying there is still an issue in this setup or this should be resolved and i should seek help too as I have faulty gear? Please clarify.

many thanks

Krishma M

Retired Sonos Staff

Is it possible for you @Krishma M to post a video similar to what the other community members have? For example, if you play/record the Drive scene or Eminem’s Without Me at 50% or higher, where many have reported the issue? I think that will clarify a lot of questions that people have on what their arc should sound like and if theirs is performing as expected (and they just don’t like it) or if something else is going on with their unit. Thanks.

Hi @Kepps20, as much as I love to do that but we don’t have anything to share but it would be best if we try it with the phone support team.

I run a setup with no sub but a pair of play 1s as tears are you saying there is still an issue in this setup or this should be resolved and i should seek help too as I have faulty gear? Please clarify.

Hi @pyro225, thanks for reaching out. You shouldn’t have any issues with that. I’m just saying that the issue that we’ve had with the Arc was with no Sub or satellites linked.

If you still have any questions, please let us know.

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sjw

Local Superstar

@Krishma M , you feel you've answered the questions and concerns raised above?

Or just posted something?

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PowdeRiver

Lyricist III

bbalz keep us posted, and pyro I would get another rma, I’m going to, im waiting, want to make sure I get a later build date. I haven’t seen many new people reporting similar issue it’s mostly those of us from the release date leading me to believe it’s date specific. I have the sub but eventually I’m going to want to sell the unit so I want to get it fixed. I probably wouldn’t mind as much if I didn’t pay retail so wanna get what I paid for.

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maurice.pothoven

Trending Lyricist II

@Krishma M can you provide us with some info regarding the newer build Arcs? Are there changes to the hardware? As @PowdeRiver is mentioning, you don’t see new reports from people who recently bought a Arc.

if so I want to swap my March build for the newest build.

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oriboaz

Prodigy I

I can confirm that the muddy bass issue still exists on 12.0.4. I just played the movie Drive on Netflix at the 35 minute mark, as others have suggested. With the sub on, it sounds great. The bass is nice and clean. With the sub turned off, the bass sounds “broken”: it’s a bit more stretched out, and with a slight ripple to it. Having heard what it is supposed to sound like, the Arc alone sounds wrong. I played at about 45% volume. I then tried the same part on the Beam, and the bass sounded much cleaner. In fact, the Beam alone sounded better than the Arc alone on this sample, which is very strange (and should not happen).

So, definitely the bass issue still persists. @Krishma M , whatever information you had was WRONG. Please relay back to the team that the bass issues are not fixed, unfortunately. I hope they keep working on it, and fix this soon. (I still hope it’s a DSP issue).

Krishma M

Retired Sonos Staff

Hi folks. The issue with the muddy or bottoming out bass from the Arc in a stand-alone configuration (no satellites or Sub) is no longer occurring. If your system is up to date and still the same issue we need to troubleshoot as normal. I’d suggest checking with the content (TV, Music in Sonos app) if it’s the same. If wall-mounted, does removing the speaker from the wall bracket and setting it on a credenza or table improve the issue? Is Trueplay configured on the Arc? Try to disable Trueplay, if there would be any different. Is the Bass EQ setting flat or adjusted in some way? If it’s all the same, try to reboot the Arc or reset to its factory settings.

If the issue still persists, call 800-680-2345 from Monday to Friday from 10 am to 9 pm EST for further steps and resolution. We’re always here to help. Thanks for the patience!

Hi folks. If you’ve done and followed the steps above, reach out to our phone support team for further testing and resolution. Thanks!

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