Enthusiast II

Answered

Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

1406 replies
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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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S

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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maurice.pothoven

Trending Lyricist II

I own the Arc and have had the same bass problem, with andwithout trueplay. I did an RMA and now the problem is gone. However with trueplay it comes back, with the new Arc also. I suggest you do a full reset of the Arc and try without trueplay.

How do you do a reset?

Google my friend:

For the Sonos One, Five, Sonos Arc, Play:5 (gen-2), Beam, Boost, Bridge, Sub, Playbase, Port or Amp, do the following:

1. Unplug the Sonos speaker from the outlet.
2. Hold down the Connect button while plugging the speaker back into the outlet.
3. Keep holding the Connect button – after a few seconds it will start flashing amber and white.
4. Once the speaker has reset, the light will flash green.

V

vtince

Trending Lyricist I

I own the Arc and have had the same bass problem, with andwithout trueplay. I did an RMA and now the problem is gone. However with trueplay it comes back, with the new Arc also. I suggest you do a full reset of the Arc and try without trueplay.

How do you do a reset?

Google my friend:

For the Sonos One, Five, Sonos Arc, Play:5 (gen-2), Beam, Boost, Bridge, Sub, Playbase, Port or Amp, do the following:

1. Unplug the Sonos speaker from the outlet.
2. Hold down the Connect button while plugging the speaker back into the outlet.
3. Keep holding the Connect button – after a few seconds it will start flashing amber and white.
4. Once the speaker has reset, the light will flash green.

Thanks!

I own the Arc and have had the same bass problem, with andwithout trueplay. I did an RMA and now the problem is gone. However with trueplay it comes back, with the new Arc also. I suggest you do a full reset of the Arc and try without trueplay.

I did a reset but the muddy bass is still heard when playing Trinkets s01e06 @24:10 mark.

V

vtince

Trending Lyricist I

Just an update, chatted with sonos online and told them that I had already reset the arc, and did not have trueplay and still had muddy bass issues. They also asked for a recording of the muddy bass. They determined that I have a defective unit and gave me a RMA to replace.

I asked them if it was a known problem with the Arc, and if the new unit will fix this problem. They assured me that there are no know problems with the Arc and that their engineers tests all their products…

hopefully the replacement I get will have better bass than the one I have currently. I got my Arc during preorder and got it on release date, build number A100 2004 WC.

R

RensAFX

Lyricist II

Is it possible for you to post the recording in a place where we can listen to it?

B

bbalz

Renowned Enthusiast I

hopefully the replacement I get will have better bass than the one I have currently. I got my Arc during preorder and got it on release date, build number A100 2004 WC.

Good luck. I had 2004 (April) build from preorder and had it RMA’d back for a 2007 (July) build and ran into the same issue with the new. I’ve tried to bring this to the beta community attention but I just get referred to the ‘care team.’

After emailing back and forth with the ‘care team’, I told them the issue is still happening with the new RMA’d Arc, they said they will pass my information along and get back to me as soon as they can.

The last reply to my 2 email chains is from August 18th for one and August 26th for the other. I haven’t gotten a response since then and don’t anticipate I will.

The only solution I’ve found is moving my sub from the other room in and pairing it with the Arc. It really bums me out but I have to hope Sonos figures it out and doesn’t continue to ignore us all complaining about this. :frowning2:

N

Niko79

Trending Lyricist I

hopefully the replacement I get will have better bass than the one I have currently. I got my Arc during preorder and got it on release date, build number A100 2004 WC.

Good luck. I had 2004 (April) build from preorder and had it RMA’d back for a 2007 (July) build and ran into the same issue with the new. I’ve tried to bring this to the beta community attention but I just get referred to the ‘care team.’

After emailing back and forth with the ‘care team’, I told them the issue is still happening with the new RMA’d Arc, they said they will pass my information along and get back to me as soon as they can.

The last reply to my 2 email chains is from August 18th for one and August 26th for the other. I haven’t gotten a response since then and don’t anticipate I will.

The only solution I’ve found is moving my sub from the other room in and pairing it with the Arc. It really bums me out but I have to hope Sonos figures it out and doesn’t continue to ignore us all complaining about this. :frowning2:

Got Arc replaced with same build numbers - that's my situation exactly. At least I'm going back and forth with Tier 2 and trying: TruePlay on/off, Surrounds Ambient/Full etc etc, pretty much trying to see what sticks. I don't think they really know what is the problem here still. Unbelievable!

R

ricow

Lyricist III

12.0.6 (app version) and a trueplay after that install fixed the bass issue for me. With all the songs on which I had the issues the bass now finally sounds like a bass (arc with two fives for rear). I’ve run the trueplay using a iPhone 11pro.

Just to point out, I have heard the woubling sound very good after 50% and up since the release of the arc. With the update and new tuning applied it sounds like a whole different system (from a bass side). Tested it out with a couple of songs from Martin Garrix (YouTube Martin Garrix - 538 kingsday, Davina Michelle (torn apart) and specifically: Free from Emilie Sande with rudimental , and even at 70% Volume sound stays clear and bass sounds as good as you would expect from a soundbar. Not tested any louder - what a sound!

Anyone else experiencing the different bass after applying the app update and tuning?

N

Niko79

Trending Lyricist I

12.0.6 (app version) and a trueplay after that install fixed the bass issue for me. With all the songs on which I had the issues the bass now finally sounds like a bass (arc with two fives for rear). I’ve run the trueplay using a iPhone 11pro.

Just to point out, I have heard the woubling sound very good after 50% and up since the release of the arc. With the update and new tuning applied it sounds like a whole different system (from a bass side). Tested it out with a couple of songs from Martin Garrix (YouTube Martin Garrix - 538 kingsday, Davina Michelle (torn apart) and specifically: Free from Emilie Sande with rudimental , and even at 70% Volume sound stays clear and bass sounds as good as you would expect from a soundbar. Not tested any louder - what a sound!

Anyone else experiencing the different bass after applying the app update and tuning?

Darn it, I think you are right. I updated, and IT does sound better here. Then run True Play and it sounds even better now. I hope it's not just my imagination. 😂

R

ricow

Lyricist III

Good to hear that its not only me that notices the big differences. It’s like a subwoofer was virtually installed on the system. So far I’m quite happy with this 12.0.6 update. No complains from me what so ever on the bass. Keep on with the good works Sonos.

J

JNunes

Contributor I

Good to hear that its not only me that notices the big differences. It’s like a subwoofer was virtually installed on the system. So far I’m quite happy with this 12.0.6 update. No complains from me what so ever on the bass. Keep on with the good works Sonos.

It is strange how the update improved the bass (without Trueplay) if the update was only at the App level (without sending any firmware to the soundbar).

I think it's incredible how Sonos doesn't publish recent release notes so we can understand what happened behind the scenes.

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