Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

Hey guys, sorry if I’ve been confusing on statuses, this is one of the reasons why we generally don’t give much in the way of details. The team is investigating what went wrong and how. They’re also working on a solution. Since they’ve been able to recreate it, they know what the symptoms are and how to fix them. But as those of you who know about this sort of process, a lot goes into it.

All indications are that there’s a software fix coming for this as soon as the team can get it ready, tested, and out the door. This is one of their top priorities, as I mentioned before. We don’t have a timeline to share right now, but if I have one I’ll let you know. 

I'm starting to believe it to be a software issue as some music/movies sound excellent through the sound range and some sound bad.  I'm to wait to see if it can be fixed as in uk we get 100 days from sonos.  I trust sonos to either fix the software or the soundbar under warranty if needs be.

I'm going to get the sub too but will just order it when they are back in stock.

I have returned my wall mount though as it looks like I will be needing a new tv and don't want to mount it then have to move it again.

I find this but strange. I cannot find one of the reviewers referencing this issue or posting an update on it. If this issue were as significant as we all think it is, then why are the reviewers not turning to it? I think maybe they simply didn’t see that occasional blip as an issue, or they simply didn’t come across it - which may indicate how detailed their reviews really are  

I would be interested to reach out to them and ask them if their units now have this issue, or whether the simply did not consider it a pervasive enough issue to impact their review. 
 

Still. Personally I am a long way off from retuning, but then I bought from Sonos and so my 100 day window gives me thst flexibility. 

if y'all are so upset and think this is unacceptable, then return it. period. mistakes happen, if you stretched your budget so thin buying a luxury item you probably didn't need to get it anyways. this thing has been out for 5 days. give them some time and they will fix it. check back in a month and buy it again, easy.

Sorry @Ryan S , it was not my intention to start anything that might leave room for speculation about the root cause of this.

To all others posting here:
I have myself been in a situation where a just released product of my team did not perform as expected. It did pass the tests because the issue did only occur in the field. The process of resolving such issues is very tedious. First step is to reproduce it, which is often quite hard so we should be greatful that we are that far already. The second step is much harder though, a small group of people - the few software experts who make the excellent performance of Sonos possible - must resolve the issue under the highest pressure you can imagine. It is the time when numerous people who have no idea about the problem (like us, product managers, etc) start to ask you how far you are and try to give you tips which actually are all total nonsense, but you have to prove them they are wrong. Any time you - as a developer - say anything about “I have fixed it”, someone is going to ask you to release it asap. What would happen then is that the actual issue is gone, but you created 5 others, which you just don’t have any knowledge of yet. So of course they are taking the time they need and that is the sign of professional work. If they fixed this sound within a day I’d be very surprised about how Sonos creates the almost identical sound on all of their speakers. We pay the premium price because of what we get here, and what others don’t deliver.

So, let’s give them the time they need. The fix has to be created, and carefully tested.
As far as I am concerned I think we are customers of one of the most consumer friendly tech companies. Many other companies would probably simply ignore this issue until some really big news pages cover it. I have not seen any note of this issue outside reddit and this forum, and still they are working hard to solve the issue.

I wrote this because think it would be a bad idea to heat up this discussion, causing people to send their Arc back, even though they could have waited a few days more.

Do you really think a company as large as Sonos, selling an ultra-premium product, should be let off the hook with “mistakes happen”. This isn’t a lemonade stand...it’s not about the money, it’s about the blatant mismanagement of a company. The $800 soundbar is just a start for most of us who have thousands sunk into the ecosystem. 5 days for a fix isn’t the frustrating part, allowing what is arguably the most hyped product every released by the company out the door broken is.

I am a first time Sonos customer - just bought an Arc (and have confirmed this issue) and two Ones to go in the bedrooms.  I’ve ordered the Sub separately but it won’t arrive for a while.  As a first time customer, I also have no loyalty to Sonos either and completely understand the frustration and the want for quick answer - I’ve spent almost $2k on Sonos products as well!

What I do trust though, is the support that the larger Sonos community has given to the company for years, and for them to keep Sonos accountable to fix this issue.  The Arc is their newest flagship product and I’m sure that they are doing everything they can to support it.    In addition, @RyanS has been quite responsive with updates, so thank you for that.

I personally am willing to wait - in the grand scheme of things, we’re less than a month into a completely new product and there will inevitably be kinks.   And if it turns out to be a hardware issue, I also trust that Sonos will fix that situation as well (via recalls or exchanges).  And if that doesn’t happen, you can be certain I’ll be returning the product but I’m a far ways from that.  

For those wondering how reviewers could have missed this, it’s totally possible that they didn't, but that it was such a blatant problem that they assumed it would get worked out in the final production run. 

In my room I probably wouldn’t have noticed the issue without trueplay. It’s still there without, but just at volumes which I wouldn’t run the soundbar at usually, besides some tests.