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

I just returned mine, although i will give Sonos the benefit of the doubt, i will re-purchase it in a few weeks to see if i will still run into the same problem. At this point, i believe it’s more of a bad batch than a software issue. If it were a software issue to begin with, EVERYONE would be running into the same problem. not just the people that posted in here. The 12.0.1 version did not fix my bass problem. it helped but it was still there.

Yup. That’s my thinking as well. I had planned on doing the same thing.

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

Could someone actually post a video of the issue? I got mine yesterday and doesn’t seem to be having this issue but I am not too sure. Also what is the hardware version for those with the issue, you can find that in the app under System/About My System? Thank you in advance.

Did you watch this? It sounds good 90% of the time, but when loud movie scenes or songs hit certain frequencies it sounds like garbage.

Yes I have watched it. I also did a 40hz test on Youtube and it didn’t seem to have the static/crackling sound that he has in the video. I am skeptical though, that’s why I wanted someone to post a video of their unit while having this issue and the hardware version.

Listen, this is a DSP bug it’s obvious by the fact that the software issue made it change and now show up at 50Hz and when switching tones it acts differently. However, this is not how you’re meant to use the product and I wouldn’t blare low freq tones at full volume for a long time on the soundbar.

@Sash A, there are still some issues but it is mostly at higher volumes (mine has the rattle at 40Hz only at close to 100% volume. I will never reach this volume during normal listening.

@cowmilkcandy , I won’t be returning mine. Here is my reasoning. If this is a DSP bug, can be fixed in more time and more bug fixes. Remember bug fixes tend to introduce other bugs especially in this high pressure environment (they released a patch in 1 week). If there is a bad batch, SONOS knows it. And once support gets back to normal (come on the pandemic clearly hit them, and all of us, hard) they will no doubt replace your speaker if that is the case. What I see as a remote almost impossible option, is SONOS keeping the arc with bugs, not fixing things and refusing to exchange the “bad batch” that would be asking for a class action lawsuit. So as of now my arc is 90% there. Sounds good at less than 60% volume and sounds excellent in movies and TV so I am a happy customer. However, i definitely want them to iron out all issues and bugs and if mine is defective ( I did get some rattling at hjigh volume test tones) I want it replaced. Does it have to be this week? or this month? I particularly can wait.

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

This whole debacle is just exhausting. And now that Sonos fired the only person who was seemingly working to fix it and communicate status to those of us that purchased the Arc based on Sonos’ prior reputation, I don’t have much hope of it getting resolved. My arc is going back.

Dude they are restructuring the company and laid off 12% of people. This by no means means that the engineering team is gone and no one will the arc. That would be just stupid. It is your decision to return. But I don’t see SONOS not fixing the Arc issues as a remote possibility, look at the improvement we got in 1 week. Come on...

Bumper

Dude they are restructuring the company and laid off 12% of people. This by no means means that the engineering team is gone and no one will the arc. That would be just stupid. It is your decision to return. But I don’t see SONOS not fixing the Arc issues as a remote possibility, look at the improvement we got in 1 week. Come on...

Folks have different tolerance to risk. As return windows start to close imo smart money will be returning the Arc and waiting until they fix it.

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arpatil1

Enthusiast II

This whole debacle is just exhausting. And now that Sonos fired the only person who was seemingly working to fix it and communicate status to those of us that purchased the Arc based on Sonos’ prior reputation, I don’t have much hope of it getting resolved. My arc is going back.

Dude they are restructuring the company and laid off 12% of people. This by no means means that the engineering team is gone and no one will the arc. That would be just stupid. It is your decision to return. But I don’t see SONOS not fixing the Arc issues as a remote possibility, look at the improvement we got in 1 week. Come on...

@sebas1509 If we bought the Arc in the US before May 31st, do we get 100 days return window?

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sebas1509

Enthusiast II

This whole debacle is just exhausting. And now that Sonos fired the only person who was seemingly working to fix it and communicate status to those of us that purchased the Arc based on Sonos’ prior reputation, I don’t have much hope of it getting resolved. My arc is going back.

Dude they are restructuring the company and laid off 12% of people. This by no means means that the engineering team is gone and no one will the arc. That would be just stupid. It is your decision to return. But I don’t see SONOS not fixing the Arc issues as a remote possibility, look at the improvement we got in 1 week. Come on...

@sebas1509 If we bought the Arc in the US before May 31st, do we get 100 days return window?

I got an email that said so but I am not 100% sure. maybe someone else has gotten confirmation from support.

@Bumper the answer for a “defective” device isn’t a return window, it’s a warranty claim. You have 1 to 2 years depending on your region. Yes you’re totally free to return. I was just mentioning if you sold your previous soundbar it just makes more sense to keep the Arc. But that’s on every person.

Bumper

going back.

@sebas1509 If we bought the Arc in the US before May 31st, do we get 100 days return window?

I got an email that said so but I am not 100% sure. maybe someone else has gotten confirmation from support.

@Bumper the answer for a “defective” device isn’t a return window, it’s a warranty claim. You have 1 to 2 years depending on your region. Yes you’re totally free to return. I was just mentioning if you sold your previous soundbar it just makes more sense to keep the Arc. But that’s on every person.

No, the the answer for a defective item is to return it if your return window is still open.

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jkozlow3

Enthusiast II

going back.

@sebas1509 If we bought the Arc in the US before May 31st, do we get 100 days return window?

I got an email that said so but I am not 100% sure. maybe someone else has gotten confirmation from support.

@Bumper the answer for a “defective” device isn’t a return window, it’s a warranty claim. You have 1 to 2 years depending on your region. Yes you’re totally free to return. I was just mentioning if you sold your previous soundbar it just makes more sense to keep the Arc. But that’s on every person.

No, the the answer for a defective item is to return it if your return window is still open.

Agreed - who would keep a defective item and send it in for warranty repair if they could still return it?? That makes no sense.

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Sash A

Lyricist III

going back.

@sebas1509 If we bought the Arc in the US before May 31st, do we get 100 days return window?

I got an email that said so but I am not 100% sure. maybe someone else has gotten confirmation from support.

@Bumper the answer for a “defective” device isn’t a return window, it’s a warranty claim. You have 1 to 2 years depending on your region. Yes you’re totally free to return. I was just mentioning if you sold your previous soundbar it just makes more sense to keep the Arc. But that’s on every person.

No, the the answer for a defective item is to return it if your return window is still open.

Agreed - who would keep a defective item and send it in for warranty repair if they could still return it?? That makes no sense.

Exactly, if you send it back under warranty you’re essentially paid full price for a refurbished unit since the issue was there from the jump and people bought it new.

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Pawl

Lyricist III

Nope, not returning mine. I’m 100% confident that the Sonos engineers will fix the bass problem. These things take time, the fix will get done. I’m really surprised that many of you don’t believe that it will get done, instead giving up.

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