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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Reefy

Enthusiast I

Could be just me but there’s also a significant lack of mid-range even with the Sub 3.0. I hear the “bass” issue when I turn off my sub leaving the Arc to play by itself. The fullness of sound returns when the sub is on but the Arc ends up sounding like just a bunch of tweeters coupled to a bass bin … not something I’m used to even with my Five and several Play 1s.

Ended up calling Sonos service yesterday before jumping on here and they’re very reluctant to return or exchange. Hope this is fixed by next week.

… For other’s with 5.1 Arc + Sub set ups … just me??

I agree with you. My issue is not simply the bass at higher volume. The overall sound even at lower volume is not great. The balance is off. Something just isn’t right.

I second that, I have the same feeling and I am surprised why people have not spoken about it yet. I am going to talk to someone from Sonos and if they don’t see to be helpful. I am just gonna return or sell it local

Should be able to return. I guess we have 45 day return window, until they try to finish this product. I’ve been trying to reach support but it’s pretty tough these days. I will say that Sonos support is great!! Better than pretty much any tech company I’ve dealt with.

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Edgar71

Lyricist I

I think all of us are facing the same kind of problems, wether it is the failing mid range, farting bass or hollow thin metallic sound. But after all, I am most surprised by all the excellent reviews I read over the last few days. I can hardly believe it was the same product the Hifi magazines tested.

Still though I do believe Sonos is going to solve the issue soon.

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SmallRoomAudio

Lyricist I

Just to add my voice to the ever growing crowd - awful distorted bass, very thin mids and a largely tipped up hard treble that makes everything sound artificial and hollow.

My Playbase destroys my Arc - this is an awful PR disaster for Sonos. Let’s hope the fix is a good one, or its return time!

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Ollespappa

Enthusiast II

Same problem here. Lack in midrange, not engaging, low voices. Not impressed so far, though im running it with subwoofer.

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

Yall…. make a freaking post about your lack in midrange issue. THIS POST IS ABOUT THE MUDDLED BASS… if you want your issue to be noticed make a post and everyone that has those issues comment there.

BTW initially after SONOS released the playbar years ago they did an update that retuned things a bit improving sound for many. So SONOS might do the same a bit down the road. Get vocal but create your own trouble shooting post about your issue.

Muddled bass has nothing to do with lack in midrange some of you are getting

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arpatil1

Enthusiast II

Same problem here. Lack in midrange, not engaging, low voices. Not impressed so far, though im running it with subwoofer.

https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/sonos-arc-metallic-sound-6843110?postid=16442311#post16442311

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arpatil1

Enthusiast II

Yall…. make a freaking post about your lack in midrange issue. THIS POST IS ABOUT THE MUDDLED BASS… if you want your issue to be noticed make a post and everyone that has those issues comment there.

BTW initially after SONOS released the playbar years ago they did an update that retuned things a bit improving sound for many. So SONOS might do the same a bit down the road. Get vocal but create your own trouble shooting post about your issue.

Muddled bass has nothing to do with lack in midrange some of you are getting

I already have !

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JohnasPT

Lyricist I

Hello All,

I was going to place an order for Arc (my first Sonos device) but I am impressed by the negative with all this problem related to AUDIO in a device of this price.
My Samsung TV does not have HDMI eARC so I will not be able to enjoy the Dolby Atmos function by now.
For the price difference (€ 899 vs € 699) I would like to know your opinion\advice if I will be better served by buying the Playbar + 2 OneSL instead of Arc (buying the Sub on a later stage).

Or probably wait until all this issues to be resolved, properly tested and then move to the Arc?

For all the discussion I have read here it seems to me that Arc does not seem to be mature enough as announced by Sonos (“featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass”) and it wouldn't be nice to have a device that looks “incomplete” and patch-dependent

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

Hello All,

I was going to place an order for Arc (my first Sonos device) but I am impressed by the negative with all this problem related to AUDIO in a device of this price.
My Samsung TV does not have HDMI eARC so I will not be able to enjoy the Dolby Atmos function by now.
For the price difference (€ 899 vs € 699) I would like to know your opinion\advice if I will be better served by buying the Playbar + 2 OneSL instead of Arc (buying the Sub on a later stage).

Or probably wait until all this issues to be resolved, properly tested and then move to the Arc?

For all the discussion I have read here it seems to me that Arc does not seem to be mature enough as announced by Sonos (“featuring eleven high-performance drivers for crisp highs, dynamic midranges, and surprising bass”) and it wouldn't be nice to have a device that looks “incomplete” and patch-dependent

Remember people with negative feedback are ALWAYS more vocal than those satisfied and happy with their products. There’s MANY that got their Arcs played their music and movies and didnt push the volume or bass level too high and never noticed any issues. The Arc sounds great it does have a brighter sound signature than the Playbar but for movies and tv it sounds better IMO. The bass issue is going to be rectified.

I think it all depends on what you value if you want to future proof your system (* you will get an eARC TV in a few years probably) and you want alexa, airplay 2.0 and better looks (more modern). Or you dont care about atmos or any of that and just want a good soundbar

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AndrewLC

Enthusiast I

Don’t think you need eArc for Atmos. Currently most services offering Atmos will work with normal HDMI Arc. I think eArc might be needed for some Blu-ray movies though, and in the future it might become more widely used. But by then you’ll have a new TV anyway!

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