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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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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ripcordaff

Trending Lyricist I

Support just reached out to initiate a replacement based upon my initial case from day one. Has anyone else received anything similar? I hate to go though that process if it really is software related but the fact that some people appear to not be affected is strange.

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Cherr1020

Lyricist III

Support just reached out to initiate a replacement based upon my initial case from day one. Has anyone else received anything similar? I hate to go though that process if it really is software related but the fact that some people appear to not be affected is strange.

Now you’ve got me concerned that they have determined it’s hardware and we are all going to need replacements haha. Hopefully we get an update from Sonos today.

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bbalz

Renowned Enthusiast I

Support just reached out to initiate a replacement based upon my initial case from day one. Has anyone else received anything similar? I hate to go though that process if it really is software related but the fact that some people appear to not be affected is strange.

I haven’t. I’m waiting to see if the software update fixes the issue. Since I added my sub and removed the sub and it made a giant difference, I feel as if there needs to be some tweaks on how the Arc handles bass and once that is done things will be fine.

Just my personal opinion but I am leaning more towards certain people aren’t listening to things exactly the same. IE: I played DD+Atmos scene with Atmos enabled and then I adjusted settings so it would be forced to play through stereo. Stereo sounded fine and no blow outs. DD+ Atmos sounded great except for when the heavier bass scenes hit.

I don’t mean to say others are just wrong when they say it’s fine, I just know looking at Reddit and on here that settings can make all the difference in the world and if it’s not setup right, you might think it sounds great but you might be blown away if the settings were how they should be. I’m sure it’s not the case for everyone but just my opinion. I have also watched content that sounded incredible and great but it never really had any scenes that would’ve made the bass muddy sounding.

Crossing my fingers that the software update resolves this.

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Jacobjacobi

Trending Lyricist I

So I've been following this thread since the begining and was afraid this would include mine. Just got it and tested it out with previous examples as mentioned here. Mine does not have the issue. True play was on and loudness. Did not hear any issue with the bass. So I guess it's a batch problem?

Mine was delivered and bought in Norway. Arrived today to the shop from Danmark.

I don’t have it all the time.

Oh.. So I guess I have to test it a little more then. Anyone got good song examples? Or movies with what time in the movie?

Toy atory 3 opening scene when the train falls in the ravine is the only time I notice any issue. I love it with everything else I have tried. It’s amazing with the scene in Spider-Man Far from Homw when mysterio is tricking Spider-Man in the abandoned warehouse/building site or the opening scene of Baby Driver.

i listener to reverence by faithless all the way through to test and it was amazing.

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bbalz

Renowned Enthusiast I

So I've been following this thread since the begining and was afraid this would include mine. Just got it and tested it out with previous examples as mentioned here. Mine does not have the issue. True play was on and loudness. Did not hear any issue with the bass. So I guess it's a batch problem?

Mine was delivered and bought in Norway. Arrived today to the shop from Danmark.

I don’t have it all the time.

Oh.. So I guess I have to test it a little more then. Anyone got good song examples? Or movies with what time in the movie?

Toy atory 3 opening scene when the train falls in the ravine is the only time I notice any issue. I love it with everything else I have tried. It’s amazing with the scene in Spider-Man Far from Homw when mysterio is tricking Spider-Man in the abandoned warehouse/building site or the opening scene of Baby Driver.

i listener to reverence by faithless all the way through to test and it was amazing.

Try John Wick 3 if you have it with Atmos. I found it in the intro right after the rollercoaster company intro ends and when blood falls on the coin.

At 0:33 and 0:53. Also a bit when the title comes up shortly after that too.

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arpatil1

Enthusiast II

Support just reached out to initiate a replacement based upon my initial case from day one. Has anyone else received anything similar? I hate to go though that process if it really is software related but the fact that some people appear to not be affected is strange.

Now you’ve got me concerned that they have determined it’s hardware and we are all going to need replacements haha. Hopefully we get an update from Sonos today.

I received my Arc today, and don’t have the issue. I did play all the songs listed here and compared them to the recordings people have provided. My Arc sounds different and better. Could be a hardware issue. Who knows!

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bbalz

Renowned Enthusiast I

Support just reached out to initiate a replacement based upon my initial case from day one. Has anyone else received anything similar? I hate to go though that process if it really is software related but the fact that some people appear to not be affected is strange.

Now you’ve got me concerned that they have determined it’s hardware and we are all going to need replacements haha. Hopefully we get an update from Sonos today.

I received my Arc today, and don’t have the issue. I did play all the songs listed here and compared them to the recordings people have provided. My Arc sounds different and better. Could be a hardware issue. Who knows!

Did you have an update after adding it to the Sonos app?

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Aristotle_UK

Contributor I

So I've been following this thread since the begining and was afraid this would include mine. Just got it and tested it out with previous examples as mentioned here. Mine does not have the issue. True play was on and loudness. Did not hear any issue with the bass. So I guess it's a batch problem?

Went from beam to this one and I have to agree that it requires higher % to have the same volume as beam

Mine was delivered and bought in Norway. Arrived today to the shop from Danmark.

How much better from the beam is it ?

Ryan S

Retired Sonos Staff

Support just reached out to initiate a replacement based upon my initial case from day one. Has anyone else received anything similar? I hate to go though that process if it really is software related but the fact that some people appear to not be affected is strange.

Now you’ve got me concerned that they have determined it’s hardware and we are all going to need replacements haha. Hopefully we get an update from Sonos today.

Hey @ripcordaff, a replacement shouldn’t be needed. The current process internally for this particular issues does not involve replacing the unit. Most likely you were working with someone not fully in the loop, doing a replacement because that’s one of the standard processes for most audio quality issues that come up. I’ve been working with the team investigating this issue and they have not asked for any of the units back.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

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ripcordaff

Trending Lyricist I

Thanks, Ryan. I’ll go ahead and decline the replacement. I appreciate your help on this issue.

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