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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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    Redraider3403
    Enthusiast I
    June 16, 2020

    Should those of us experiencing the problem stop using our arc until a fix is identified? I don’t want to damage it and have to go through the return process. 

      arpatil1
      Enthusiast II
      June 16, 2020

      Should those of us experiencing the problem stop using our arc until a fix is identified? I don’t want to damage it and have to go through the return process. 

      I think you should be fine as long as you don’t exceed the volume beyond 50%. I pretty much played all the test tones and the bass is smooth below 50%. DSP should be able to fix this, but it will definitely take some time for Sonos to do it without breaking other things.

      arpatil1
      Enthusiast II
      June 16, 2020

      I think the people who have been using SONOS products for years may have more patience and willing to give them some time to get it right, while especially those who bought Arc as their first SONOS product may not… It make lot of sense! 

      Nah that’t not it. I have been with Sonos for 2 years and my Beam had 0 issues since day one. People expect the same from a product that costs as much as 2 Beams. That’s not much to ask of a premium brand like Sonos. Consistency

      Yes, that’s true!

      I’m going to be patiently waiting to replace my Beam until I see further update on this.  I thinking that by December this kind of quirk should be fully resolved.  

      This reviewer has been pretty reliable in his objective approach.  It may be worth following him.

       

       


      THIS is what surprises me the most. Wouldn’t the standard test for a speaker involve going through a test program with all the possible frequencies, recording the response and checking if everything is alright?

      Indeed. For the engines and generators we develop, we do the same exact thing you mentioned. Running the sets at different RPMs and different loads while monitoring all the performance parameters. It’s pretty dumb that they missed it lol.

      arpatil1
      Enthusiast II
      June 16, 2020

      THIS is what surprises me the most. Wouldn’t the standard test for a speaker involve going through a test program with all the possible frequencies, recording the response and checking if everything is alright?

       

      This assumes that the firmware used on the production line is the same as used at home. Units always update at installation time. If the home firmware introduces the issue, the production line test will be fine.

      Well, didn’t they test the product with the new firmware at their R&D center? It’s a standard engineering procedure to redo the key tests at the engineering facility when any hardware/software change happens. 

      I understand that the firmares are very complex these days and issues happen. But those issues should never compromise the primary function of the product i.e. Audio in this case. Breaking google assistant is fine, may be some occasional connectivity issues are fine. But BREAKING AUDIO IS NOT. 

      ggmogollonAuthor
      Enthusiast II
      June 16, 2020

      Ideally Sonos can facilitate an exchange worst case scenario because as of right now an Arc order won’t ship until July 24th

      mdreiager
      Lyricist III
      June 16, 2020

      Has anyones ARC been shipped after this thing gained attention? Like shipped yesterday, today etc

      AndrewLC
      Enthusiast I
      June 16, 2020

      It certainly surprises me that Sonos would have managed to overlook a fairly major issue in the performance of a new, and possibly the most over-hyped, product they have produced. However I doubt many companies would already be working on a fix days after release following feedback from a forum. I cannot imagine they would have been remiss enough to fit drivers that couldn’t cope with the load. 

      It does make me wonder though - 

      1. How many people consistently listen above 50% volume??
      2. How many people use a Soundbar for music very often? If so - why, other than if your only system is the one under the TV. 
      3. How many people use a Soundbar without a Sub, especially one this expensive? I can’t see any Soundbar, of any price, sounding great with TV and Movies unless partnered with a Sub. 
      ggmogollonAuthor
      Enthusiast II
      June 16, 2020

      It certainly surprises me that Sonos would have managed to overlook a fairly major issue in the performance of a new, and possibly the most over-hyped product they have produced. However I doubt many companies would already be working on a fix days after release following feedback from a forum. I cannot imagine they would have been remiss enough to fit drivers that couldn’t cope with the load. 

      It does make me wonder though - 

      1. How many people consistently listen above 50% volume??
      2. How many people use a Soundbar for music very often? If so - why, other than if your only system is the one under the TV. 
      3. How many people use a Soundbar without a Sub, especially one this expensive? I can’t see any Soundbar, of any price, sounding great with TV and Movies unless partnered with a Sub. 
      1. It’s noticeable over 50% that was just a baseline for being able to hear it clearly. Been using mine since I got it and still notice it around 30-40% on certain shows like The 100. It’s persistent and will come up unless you use your Arc around or below 20% which is borderline unlistenable 
      2. people prefer an all in one solution compared to having an additional set of speakers for music. It’s all about convenience and simplicity 
      3. if you look on the Sonos reddit, approximately 40% of owners live in an apartment. It’s easy to piss off a neighbor with a sub. The Arc or any sound bar will get most people 90% of the sound they want. For many the additional purchase of a $700 sub is unjustifiable or not feasible in their environment 
        Reefy
        Enthusiast I
        June 16, 2020
        1. I listen above 50% sometimes
        2. i use my soundbar for music all the time. Paired with a pair of Sonos ones it sounds great (used to with a playbar configuration)
        3. I do no have a sub… considering it in the future (let’s see how this arc fiasco plays out)

        it’s rare that a firmware falls flat on its face like this from day 1. But maybe it’s a bad batch of components that they will try to “fix” with a software patch. 

        mdreiager
        Lyricist III
        June 16, 2020
        1. I listen above 50% sometimes
        2. i use my soundbar for music all the time. Paired with a pair of Sonos ones it sounds great (used to with a playbar configuration)
        3. I do no have a sub… considering it in the future (let’s see how this arc fiasco plays out)

        it’s rare that a firmware falls flat on its face like this from day 1. But maybe it’s a bad batch of components that they will try to “fix” with a software patch. 

        Yeah, good luck trying to survive that 😂

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