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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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    Dave Lalor
    Trending Lyricist I
    June 14, 2020

    Have an LG C9 connected to the Arc, hard to explain but muddy base probably nails it. Using the Arc with an amp for in celling surrounds, waiting on sub to arrive..Watched Twister on Netflix, voice was terrible. Purchased Top Gun on Vudu which was good but lots of low end issues. Hope Sonos figures this one out. I dumped and old my Denon Atmos setup for the Arc. I hope this is not a hardware issue and can be fixed in firmware.

    Seeky
    Prominent Collaborator II
    June 14, 2020

    Actually Amazon would have to remove the works with Alexa certification Badge from Sonos:

    https://developer.amazon.com/de/support/legal/wwa-program-guidelines

     

    Your smart home skill must be up-to-date with the latest applicable Smart Home API functionality. If Amazon introduces new features or functionality to the Smart Home API for your WWA certified product, you must update your Alexa integration to include the new feature or functionality as applicable.

     

    Or am I misreading something there?

    Poder
    Lyricist I
    June 14, 2020

    Hello,

     

    Just to share my experiment :

    Sonos Arc with One’s as surrounds, no sub.

    Song : “Remember the name”, downloaded from Apple Music on my iPhone and played to Arc through AirPlay with surrounds de-activated in Sonos App.

    Volume set on the Arc at 60-70%.

     

    Result : I can not hear any bass bottoming or rumbling as the sample shared by another contributor on page 4 of this thread : https://www.dropbox.com/s/il1m9kt134k9rsq/RememberTheName-ARC.m4a?dl=0

     

    Hope this helps,

    Nice day,

    Seeky
    Prominent Collaborator II
    June 14, 2020

    Actually Amazon would have to remove the works with Alexa certification Badge from Sonos:

    https://developer.amazon.com/de/support/legal/wwa-program-guidelines

     

    Your smart home skill must be up-to-date with the latest applicable Smart Home API functionality. If Amazon introduces new features or functionality to the Smart Home API for your WWA certified product, you must update your Alexa integration to include the new feature or functionality as applicable.

     

    Or am I misreading something there?


    That was the comment to a wrong topic, unfortunately can’t edit the post.

    MerlinNL
    Lyricist III
    June 14, 2020

    Just want to mention I am experiencing the same bass-related issues as mentioned here (standalone Sonos Arc). Sent an email to sonos expressing my concern and hoping to have a solution soon. Also worried the ‘muddy’ bass might leave permanent hardware damage (or a lower lifetime expectancy) if I keep using the product as I usually would (I have the muddy bass sound while watching some movies at only 30% volume). Sounds as if the bass is ‘overused’ or something. So weird.

    Seeky
    Prominent Collaborator II
    June 14, 2020

    Just want to mention I am experiencing the same bass-related issues as mentioned here (standalone Sonos Arc). Sent an email to sonos expressing my concern and hoping to have a solution soon. Also worried the ‘muddy’ bass might leave permanent hardware damage (or a lower lifetime expectancy) if I keep using the product as I usually would (I have the muddy bass sound while watching some movies at only 30% volume). Sounds as if the bass is ‘overused’ or something. So weird.


    I don’t think we have to worry about it breaking. I once by accident had my Play:5 play on 100% when the volume limit from the app was removed by some bug. It damaged my ears, but the Play:5 still works flawlessly ;)

    MerlinNL
    Lyricist III
    June 14, 2020

    Just want to mention I am experiencing the same bass-related issues as mentioned here (standalone Sonos Arc). Sent an email to sonos expressing my concern and hoping to have a solution soon. Also worried the ‘muddy’ bass might leave permanent hardware damage (or a lower lifetime expectancy) if I keep using the product as I usually would (I have the muddy bass sound while watching some movies at only 30% volume). Sounds as if the bass is ‘overused’ or something. So weird.


    I don’t think we have to worry about it breaking. I once by accident had my Play:5 play on 100% when the volume limit from the app was removed by some bug. It damaged my ears, but the Play:5 still works flawlessly ;)

    But the Play:5 has proven to be a great product. My first experience with the Arc is that it’s not.

    maurice.pothoven
    Trending Lyricist II
    June 14, 2020

    I’ve solved my problem for now… I’m not selling my sub anymore and added it to my system again. Bass much more clear now and I can really crank up the volume now :)

      bbalz
      Renowned Enthusiast I
      June 14, 2020

      I’ve solved my problem for now… I’m not selling my sub anymore and added it to my system again. Bass much more clear now and I can really crank up the volume now :)

      Yeah I temporarily moved our sub from the media room to our living room with the Arc until a fix happens.   

        Seeky
        Prominent Collaborator II
        June 14, 2020

        I’ve solved my problem for now… I’m not selling my sub anymore and added it to my system again. Bass much more clear now and I can really crank up the volume now :)

        Yeah I temporarily moved our sub from the media room to our living room with the Arc until a fix happens.   

        Could have kept it where it was and just adjusted the bass to be louder so you feel it from the other room :joy:

        What do we have wireless multiroom systems for?

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