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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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    ashwin
    Lyricist III
    June 11, 2020

    I’ve had the same experience and have been messing with settings over the past few hours trying to figure this out. Music sounds particularly terrible. Movies have great highs and mids, but the low end sounds muddy and like the speaker is about to blow. 

    I have an AppleTV 4K connected to my TCL 65R615. Arc and two Sonos Ones...no sub. Atmos is not supported with my tv so my Atmos content shows Dolby Digital Plus 5.1. 
     

    Im baffled. This Arc is replacing the Beam that I’ve been using for close to a year with this same setup. I’m tempted to switch back to the Beam at this point. 
     

     

    TCL r617 will support Dolby Atmos via Dolby digital plus passthrough using HDMI arc. 

    https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.digitaltrends.com/tv-reviews/tcl-6-series-55r617-review/%3Famp

    https://www.tclusa.com/products/home-theater/6-series/tcl-55-class-6-series-4k-uhd-hdr-roku-smart-tv-55r617 (look for audio in specifications)

     

    I have tcl 55r615. After doing a good amount of research and confirming that my TV supports Atmos passthrough , I have ordered Sonos arc.

    GenAckbar73
    Lyricist III
    June 11, 2020

    I have the same issue. 
    Watched „John Wick“ (Part 1). DD 5.1 with LG B7 over HDMI Arc and Apple TV 4K. 
    Bass sounded wrong.
    In many action scenes (fight scenes) the bass „popped“ as if the speakers tried too hard.

    Was afraid that it would break something... 

    Volume was about 40% - 50%. 
    This is with a wall mounted ARC and two Ones as sourrounds. No Sub. EQ flat. Trueplay ON. 
    Hopefully this can be fixed. My former Beam sounded better in this regard...

    danibrandwat
    Lyricist II
    June 11, 2020

    • What are you watching or playing that you’re hearing this on? Be as specific as possible please and let us know if it’s only with music. For music, it helps us build a list of tracks and sources that we can recreate the issue with. 
      I’m noticing it specifically with music. But I think it’s noticable with every source at the moment the bass gets too loud. I mainly used Spotify and the track Penetrator bij Pleasurekraft is a good example. At 60% volume or above it sounds like the drivers can’t handle it at all and are being pushed too far out (overexcursion). 

    • What volume do you experience this at? Does it only show up after a certain percentage or do you notice it most of the time?
      I’ve only noticed it at 60% and above.

    • Is your Arc wall-mounted?
      No

    • If wall-mounted, does removing the speaker from the wall bracket and setting it on a credenza or table improve the issue?

    • Are you using Trueplay, and does it go away if you turn Trueplay off? I am using Trueplay but turning it on or off doesn’t make a difference.

    • Do you have the Bass EQ setting flat or adjusted in some way? Flat, when turned up higher it gets a lot worse.

    • If it’s possible, can you share an image of the setup? Not currently but the room has nothing to do with this issue. It’s the Arc and it’s  drivers. When you stand in front of it, it’s really noticable.

    • Please submit a diagnostic from the system with it happening. 983803014

    PReeves83
    Contributor I
    June 11, 2020

    Same issue for me. Bass is horrific but I have a sub on route in hope of resolving. 
    Also hearing nothing in the way of Atmos but I may only have my shelf to blame, Sean Connery gag and real problem in one…

     

    KGT94
    Lyricist III
    June 11, 2020

    Just had my ARC delivered, and set up using TruPlay. Also affected.

     

    Easiest way to make it occur is to play Penetrator by Pleasurekraft, above around 35-40% volume, it happens instantly and is very noticeable. No other testing necessary.

     

    Arc is sitting on TV stand (very sturdy, no vibration) in front of TV.

    Seeky
    Prominent Collaborator II
    June 11, 2020

    @Ryan S 

    I’ve sent you some audio recordings of the same song on the Arc and Play:5s to your community@sonos.com address.

    balle3201
    Trending Lyricist I
    June 11, 2020

    Hi all.

    Experiencing exactly the same issues here I’m afraid. Having had the Playbar for many years now, I was expecting to be more or less “blown away” by the performance of the new Arc. Due to also having the Sub (Gen 2) and two One’s I immediately paired them together and was happy with the overall results.

    That is, until a friend of mine was complaining about (utter) lack of bass compared to his two Playbars. Afterwards I disabled both the sub and the ones, and started running back and forth comparing the Arc’s performance against my Beam (located in my second livingroom)

    Although the Arc should have a wider soundstage (due to the size, and number of speakers), the Beam has much(!) more punch in the bass. And that even for half of the price of the Arc…:disappointed:

    Adjusting the Bass-level of the Arc does not seem to make things noticeably better and only end up in even more muffled bass. Even though “feeling” the bass/low-ends may not necessarily represent “good” bass, it definitively gives an impression of how capable the speaker is. Initially my thoughts pointed towards the Arc having a more “robust” housing and therefor not giving away so much of the sense of bass, and that the Beam only felt more powerful.

    In the end, I’m not all that impressed with the Arc as of now, but hope that Sonos will investigate this matter further and hopefully come with a firmware-update solving this issue. A Sonos Arc double the price of an Beam should definitively defend it’s price-point :rolling_eyes: As others have stated, it seems like the Arc thinks it is working together with a Sub, when it is not...

    • What are you watching or playing that you’re hearing this on? Be as specific as possible please and let us know if it’s only with music. For music, it helps us build a list of tracks and sources that we can recreate the issue with. 

      • Generally noticed this during listening to music via Spotify.

      • No track in particular, but in general it seems to have much less bass compared to i.e. the Beam

    • What volume do you experience this at? Does it only show up after a certain percentage or do you notice it most of the time?

      • Everything above 40-50% where I would expect the Arc to really “shine”

    • Is your Arc wall-mounted?

      • No

    • If wall-mounted, does removing the speaker from the wall bracket and setting it on a credenza or table improve the issue?

      • N/A

    • Are you using Trueplay, and does it go away if you turn Trueplay off?

      • Yes, I’m using Trueplay, and disabing it does not resolve the issue

    • Do you have the Bass EQ setting flat or adjusted in some way?

      • EQ-setting set to +3 on both Treble and Bass

      • Adjusting the level of Bass does not solve the issue

    • If it’s possible, can you share an image of the setup?

      •  

    • Please submit a diagnostic from the system with it happening and let us know the number.

      • 1248568820

    wilwong829
    Enthusiast II
    June 11, 2020

    Just would like to know if this happens only with the Arc alone? What about the setup with Sub and surrounds?

    KGT94
    Lyricist III
    June 11, 2020

    Just had my ARC delivered, and set up using TruPlay. Also affected.

     

    Easiest way to make it occur is to play Penetrator by Pleasurekraft, above around 35-40% volume, it happens instantly and is very noticeable. No other testing necessary.

     

    Arc is sitting on TV stand (very sturdy, no vibration) in front of TV.


    Just to add in, like others too, Bass is also severely lacking compared to the Beam I had before.

      pyro225
      Enthusiast II
      June 11, 2020

      I am getting this by so much on films but I have not set up trueplay, however when I play back music with a bit of a bass line anything over 50% the bass speakers start muddying/farting… nothing like my play 5 which was tight all the way to full volume. Less than 50% it seems fine

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