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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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    sebas1509
    Enthusiast II
    June 25, 2020

    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.

    No, I am not saying you have a defective instance of the Arc. I am saying if there is a bug, it will be fixed. IF you happen to have a defective product (which we do NOT know and saying otherwise is speculation) then you can get a warranty exchange. Also, SONOS wouldn’t give you a refurbished product. Refurbished products are returns or slightly defective products that were fixed. For example, Some people are even getting Fives as replacements for Play:5s. Even past their warranties (read some instances of people having defective WIFI cards past warranty) and Sonos shipped them Fives right away.Also, saw some people that had the weird sub ticking noise, and got replacements right away. So don’t bring that BS because we all know Sonos has backed their products throughout the years… We are not talking about a random startup here... come on!

     

    As I said if you want to keep doing a roulette and returning arcs and rebuying them even before you know if there is an actual issue or it will be patched in a week go ahead. If you want to return your arc and not have a soundbar for a while go ahead! But all I am saying is warranties exist for a reason… I had a Vizio 5.1 system the sub then refused to connect to the soundbar. I checked amazon it was plagued by people trashing the reviews complaining etc. Contacted vizio they instantly sent me a new soundbar, I checked the serial number seems like they had a revision B fixing this issue. The fixed it past my warranty. That worked very well, even sold it to get my play bar at a discount. So you guys do you .

     

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

    Uhm.. are you aware the arc is backordered for at least a month and out of stock most places. Some people haven’t even received their preoders. Many people here said they already sold their beam/playbar to upgrade. So I commented on that saying you dont have to worry because we are backed by a warranty. That is the point of my post. I for one am not about to spend 1+ months without a soundbar while a wait for a mythical hardware fix that might or might not exist so I can play EDM music on my arc at 100% volume without distortion. Will patiently wait for it to be improved/fixed the DSP issues. IF they dont progress and update within a reasonable amount of time will ask for a replacement once the arc is not backordered for a month

     

    Niko79
    Trending Lyricist I
    June 25, 2020

    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. 

    Just FYI. Got through to the chat session with Engineer. Reported my issues (the one most of us are having) and was told that they are continuing to look what the main problem is. So.... They got no idea, it seems, what's the root cause really is yet. I'm suspecting the patch was just to possibly cover up (minimize) the issue not actually fix it. You cannot fix something if you don't know what the actual problem is. Just my 2 cents and a report after I ended my chat session with Sonos. By the way, I also tested the patch (part of Beta). My case was escalated to Tier 2.

    Wanted to add one thing, that I really believe they will either patch this properly at the end or replace the soundbar if they uncover its a hardware problem. I hope... 

      Bumper
      Bumper
      June 25, 2020

      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. 

      I mean it's not like this thing isn't $800 and they didn't just lay off 12% of their staff. I'm sure it will hold it's value and you can sell it and get a playbar lol /s

      In all seriousness that's cool you are doing that. Hope it works out for you 😊 

      Pawl
      Lyricist III
      June 25, 2020

      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. 

      I mean it's not like this thing isn't $800 and they didn't just lay off 12% of their staff. I'm sure it will hold it's value and you can sell it and get a playbar lol /s

      In all seriousness that's cool you are doing that. Hope it works out for you 😊 

      I still own both the Sonos soundbar and Sonos Beam. But, I still prefer Dolby Atmos and Dolby Digital Plus. So, the Sonos ARC stays. 🙂

        kill21pro
        Lyricist III
        June 25, 2020

        Anyone still having problems with the ARC post-patch/update should post in the new topic at https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/sonos-arc-post-build-58178180-6843904

         

        Because this one is marked as answered they might not be looking here anymore.

        The new one is also set to the “troubleshooting” category for more luck.

        Game programmer and music enthusiast
          jkozlow3
          Enthusiast II
          June 25, 2020

          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.

          No, I am not saying you have a defective instance of the Arc. I am saying if there is a bug, it will be fixed. IF you happen to have a defective product (which we do NOT know and saying otherwise is speculation) then you can get a warranty exchange. Also, SONOS wouldn’t give you a refurbished product. Refurbished products are returns or slightly defective products that were fixed. For example, Some people are even getting Fives as replacements for Play:5s. Even past their warranties (read some instances of people having defective WIFI cards past warranty) and Sonos shipped them Fives right away.Also, saw some people that had the weird sub ticking noise, and got replacements right away. So don’t bring that BS because we all know Sonos has backed their products throughout the years… We are not talking about a random startup here... come on!

           

          As I said if you want to keep doing a roulette and returning arcs and rebuying them even before you know if there is an actual issue or it will be patched in a week go ahead. If you want to return your arc and not have a soundbar for a while go ahead! But all I am saying is warranties exist for a reason… I had a Vizio 5.1 system the sub then refused to connect to the soundbar. I checked amazon it was plagued by people trashing the reviews complaining etc. Contacted vizio they instantly sent me a new soundbar, I checked the serial number seems like they had a revision B fixing this issue. The fixed it past my warranty. That worked very well, even sold it to get my play bar at a discount. So you guys do you .

           

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

          Uhm.. are you aware the arc is backordered for at least a month and out of stock most places. Some people haven’t even received their preoders. Many people here said they already sold their beam/playbar to upgrade. So I commented on that saying you dont have to worry because we are backed by a warranty. That is the point of my post. I for one am not about to spend 1+ months without a soundbar while a wait for a mythical hardware fix that might or might not exist so I can play EDM music on my arc at 100% volume without distortion. Will patiently wait for it to be improved/fixed the DSP issues. IF they dont progress and update within a reasonable amount of time will ask for a replacement once the arc is not backordered for a month

           

          There are a lot of people who cannot afford to or would prefer not to waste $800 on something that sounds inferior to a $400 alternative.  And there are a lot of people who are tired of companies rushing buggy products to market before they are ready.  I tend to be one of these people who votes with my wallet when a company releases something prematurely that doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to.  I’ve returned plenty of buggy products that performed unsatisfactorily vs. holding out for a fix that may or may not come.  Sometimes the manufacturer ironed out the kinks over time, other times they did not.

          Yes, Sonos MAY improve/fix the Arc so that it sounds better than the Beam/Playbar.  But until they do, I certainly am not going to fault anyone for returning it vs. holding out hope that Sonos makes it work properly in a timely matter.  Maybe they will, maybe they won’t.  But a lot of people don’t want to take that chance with their hard-earned money and I can’t blame them.  You have a different philosophy and there’s nothing wrong with that.  To each their own.

            maurice.pothoven
            Trending Lyricist II
            June 26, 2020

            I tried to tweet Sonossupport again, but the account doesn’t excist anymore????

            Seeky
            Prominent Collaborator II
            June 26, 2020

            I tried to tweet Sonossupport again, but the account doesn’t excist anymore????

            Well, no person behind it, no use to keep it alive.

            maurice.pothoven
            Trending Lyricist II
            June 26, 2020

            So nobody who deals with the community...

            Seeky
            Prominent Collaborator II
            June 26, 2020

            So nobody who deals with the community...


            Actually it seems like they want you to use the live chat here:

            https://support.sonos.com/s/?language=en_US

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