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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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    ftm
    Trending Lyricist I
    June 23, 2020

    After the update I would say it's better but it still doesn't sound like an £800 soundbar.

    I know the play 5 is a dedicated speaker but it cost half the price.  I would at least expect the arc to handle bass as clearly but it cant.  

    I'm beginning to think that this is indeed a hardware issue.  Were the reviewers given the same hardware to give such glowing reviews?

    At 6 mins onwards in Unbroken the machine guns from inside the aircraft sound bizarre like the speaker is still bottoming out when they fire.  Or when the plane crash lands.

    It's so disappointing for a highly rated and expensive product.

    I've got a sub being delivered tomorrow but now I'm not sure whether to open it or just return it with the arc

     

     

    bbalz
    Renowned Enthusiast I
    June 23, 2020

    Will check the update in a bit, slightly confused as the app updated then checking for updates to Sonos said no update was required and ‘about my system’ also reports it’s on 12.0.1, so not sure what happened but it definitely didn’t update or run the process to the speakers.

     

    I believe it relates more with the Arc hardware build, if you go into the System-->About My System, what does your Arc build report back with?

    Mine is updated from the weekend and we had to make sure we were on build 58178180.  I believe 12.0.1 is the iOS or Android app update but the build/firmware update for the Arc is probably more critical to verify that you are indeed on the updated build/firmware.

      mattadamsone
      Enthusiast I
      June 23, 2020

      Just got my ARC, updated out of the box and really disappointed with the low end.

       

      Have you updated to the new 12.0.1 firmware that came out earlier today?

      Yes. Updated and tuned post 12.0.1

      ftm
      Trending Lyricist I
      June 23, 2020

      Try playing "I Found u" by Axwell.  At 2 mins when the bass kicks in it's awful at anything over 50 then sounds tinny.  The play 5 handles this much better.

      Diagnostics number 75507208

      sebas1509
      Enthusiast II
      June 23, 2020

      Will check the update in a bit, slightly confused as the app updated then checking for updates to Sonos said no update was required and ‘about my system’ also reports it’s on 12.0.1, so not sure what happened but it definitely didn’t update or run the process to the speakers.

       

      I believe it relates more with the Arc hardware build, if you go into the System-->About My System, what does your Arc build report back with?

      Mine is updated from the weekend and we had to make sure we were on build 58178180.  I believe 12.0.1 is the iOS or Android app update but the build/firmware update for the Arc is probably more critical to verify that you are indeed on the updated build/firmware.

      Oh you are right. Yeah the build will relate to the firmware on the Arc. I checked and after the update I am on the same firmware as you. @mattadamsone , @pyro225 , @MerlinNL  confirm your Arc was updated to this new build . Look under the Arc in about my system there will be a build number. My build for the sonos one and a the top of the app is different (58178190) vs the 58178180 i see under Arc

        Immersive
        Avid Contributor III
        June 23, 2020

        Will check the update in a bit, slightly confused as the app updated then checking for updates to Sonos said no update was required and ‘about my system’ also reports it’s on 12.0.1, so not sure what happened but it definitely didn’t update or run the process to the speakers.

        I’m new to Sonos but it seems to update in sequence.  I checked for updates and it updated the app.  The sound never turned off or anything.  Did a sound check and was thinking ehhhhh… but I went back and checked updates again it found something and this is when the speaker firmware updated.  
         

        it is better.

        AndrewLC
        Enthusiast I
        June 23, 2020

        Has anyone had an answer as to whether the Arcs currently shipping are identical in hardware to the demo models that were reviewed so well? 

        sebas1509
        Enthusiast II
        June 23, 2020

        After the update I would say it's better but it still doesn't sound like an £800 soundbar.

        I know the play 5 is a dedicated speaker but it cost half the price.  I would at least expect the arc to handle bass as clearly but it cant.  

        I'm beginning to think that this is indeed a hardware issue.  Were the reviewers given the same hardware to give such glowing reviews?

        At 6 mins onwards in Unbroken the machine guns from inside the aircraft sound bizarre like the speaker is still bottoming out when they fire.  Or when the plane crash lands.

        It's so disappointing for a highly rated and expensive product.

        I've got a sub being delivered tomorrow but now I'm not sure whether to open it or just return it with the arc

         

         

        Man the play 5 is tuned for music and only worries about that. The Arc needs to have surround capabilities, atmos capabilities. Mulitple woofers and tweeters etc. Also the volume for the woofers is smaller. Of course the play 5 will have better bass its physics! You are citing the price for the Arc but it is consistent with SONOS pricing. It is high for sure, but delivers good sound for movies and TV. That is what it has to work on, not just low end but clarity, spacious sound, good soundstage, atmos effects, clear crisp voices etc. if you are looking for good low end bass youre probablty better off with any 2.1 soundbars out there with a dedicated sub

          sebas1509
          Enthusiast II
          June 23, 2020

          Will check the update in a bit, slightly confused as the app updated then checking for updates to Sonos said no update was required and ‘about my system’ also reports it’s on 12.0.1, so not sure what happened but it definitely didn’t update or run the process to the speakers.

          I’m new to Sonos but it seems to update in sequence.  I checked for updates and it updated the app.  The sound never turned off or anything.  Did a sound check and was thinking ehhhhh… but I went back and checked updates again it found something and this is when the speaker firmware updated.  
           

          it is better.

          Yeah, THERE ARE 2 different updates people one for the app and one for the speaker firmware. Check updates in the app after updating the app

            Sir Fluffy
            Contributor I
            June 23, 2020

            so i’m definitely amongst the group that has had a good number of issues with the arc (paired with a gen 2 sub and 2 ones) since arrival (tinny, tearing, etc.); i updated to 12.0.1 and music playback sounded better, but not as good as any of my other sonos products (playbar, beam, move, five, etc.); i then re-tuned for trueplay again (used an 11 pro max) and goodness it went from sounding passable back to completely horrific. turning trueplay off brought depth back to the voices but still sounds horrible. i’m charging up my old 6s to retune it again (some have suggested the mic array on newer apple products may be a problem) - will report back will hopefully better results

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