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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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    Ryan S
    Ryan S
    Retired Sonos Staff
    June 23, 2020

    Hi everyone,

    We released a software update today to address a bug that resulted in audio distortion for some customers listening to bass-heavy content at higher volumes on Arc.

    Make sure you’re updated to 12.0.1 to get the latest release.

    Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
      arpatil1
      Enthusiast II
      June 23, 2020

      Hi everyone,

      We released a software update today to address a bug that resulted in audio distortion for some customers listening to bass-heavy content at higher volumes on Arc.

      Make sure you’re updated to 12.0.1 to get the latest release.

      Thank you @Ryan S . Will report back with the findings later today.

      antm22
      Enthusiast I
      June 23, 2020

      Hi everyone,

      We released a software update today to address a bug that resulted in audio distortion for some customers listening to bass-heavy content at higher volumes on Arc.

      Make sure you’re updated to 12.0.1 to get the latest release.

      Thanks @Ryan S. Sounds better so far. 

      Aristotle_UK
      Contributor I
      June 23, 2020

      I’ve had my ARC installed for a week and I am experiencing the same bass issue. I hope the software update addresses this. The frustrating thing is if it doesn’t, it forces owners into purchasing a sub to address a manufacturing error. Let’s see the results. Makes me wonder why the ARC wasn’t bundled with a sub from the get-go if it can’t handle bass. 

      Even with a Sub the bass from there Arc is not 100% perfect. The update needs to address it. if it doesn’t and there are still issues, the answer shouldn't be spending more money on a Sub. The answer should be returning the Arc. 

       

      Agreed . Though the sub is just phenomenal  (sadly given its price tag ...)

      Highfalutintodd
      Prominent Collaborator I
      June 23, 2020

      Hi everyone,

      We released a software update today to address a bug that resulted in audio distortion for some customers listening to bass-heavy content at higher volumes on Arc.

      Make sure you’re updated to 12.0.1 to get the latest release.

      Awesome, @Ryan S! Thanks to you and the team for the quick turnaround on this issue and for the transparency. Looking forward to seeing how well it performs now! 

      Arc + Sub 3 + One SLs = Awesome and Loving It!
      SOCalistic
      Renowned Enthusiast I
      June 23, 2020

      I was playing Pink Martini through my Arc with sub and rear Ones then saw this update. Applied the update and turned Pink Martini back on. Wow! Sounds much better in general. More full and maybe even more detail. I usually want two channel stereo for music but this is just fine for general listening.

        Cdodge
        Lyricist III
        June 23, 2020

        Mine is sounding better. No more bottoming out. 

        danibrandwat
        Lyricist II
        June 23, 2020

        Just tested Penetrator and it doesn’t bottom out, it sounds like they muted/limited the bass more to solve it

        bbalz
        Renowned Enthusiast I
        June 23, 2020

        Mine is better but still resulting in some bottoming out.  It’s not as bad as it was previously though. 

        I still have to adjust the EQ and loudness off to make sure it doesn’t bottom out as much.  It’s significantly better than before but there are still times during movies it sounds bad.

        Hope more tweaks continue to come.

        Example:  The Greatest Showman opening scene.  If I have the loudness on, it’s ok but seems to be on the verge of sounding bad.  If I put the bass to +2 with loudness on it seems like it just pops and the bass over steps and sounds muddy again, it sounds like something is still wrong with it.  Trueplay also seems to make it worse.  I did use an iPhone 6 that we have sitting around just for this purpose, so it’s not an issue with the newer microphones people have reported.

        :disappointed:

        Only solution for me until this gets resolved is to keep my sub temporarily moved into the living room at -13 so I don’t annoy the neighbors.  Feels like such a waste when I can have it in another room with the beam at 0 and enjoy it.  I really hope adjustments keep coming and coming quickly because I feel $800 for the Arc is really hard to swallow.  Thankfully there’s a 100 day window in the US if you ordered from Sonos. 

        mudstuff
        Lyricist III
        June 23, 2020

        Hi everyone,

        We released a software update today to address a bug that resulted in audio distortion for some customers listening to bass-heavy content at higher volumes on Arc.

        Make sure you’re updated to 12.0.1 to get the latest release.

        Good stuff, now for that LPCM update... 🤗

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