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Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

G
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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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Best answer by Scott - Sonos 3 July 2020, 01:04

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1406 replies

J
Userlevel 2
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Has anyones ARC been shipped after this thing gained attention? Like shipped yesterday, today etc

This is the really interesting question to me. I have tried not to doubt Sonos, but the shipping times seems so far out now. 
 

I really am wondering if they are still shipping. If they are then we can assume that they are confident that it’s not a hardware issue. If they’re not, then maybe I should be concerned. 

ordered mine on the 9th June day before launch I'm in the UK this morning my card was charged and the sonos site now says "dispatch acknowledged" and " processing "


thanks. I was pretty sure that this was not a hardware issue and it gives me comfort that they are still shipping. 
 

I asked out of intrigue really. 

S
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I’ve seen some people say with the current issue if you are playing with any loudness, even with the sub, you can damage the arc speakers, is there any truth to this? Is there a need to hold off on using until the update? Thank you.

I’m afraid to play and damage my Sonos ARC right now, until their is a software update. I will be playing my headphones for now. 

I don't think this problem can harm the speakers or other hardware. On the contrary the bug is just overprotecting.

M
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40Hz test tone

 

Anyone tried running this to see how theirs sounds? Mine sounds as is it should

L
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40Hz test tone

 

Anyone tried running this to see how theirs sounds? Mine sounds as is it should

Did you run the volume up high? You need to get up well over 50% and then it should happen.

A
Userlevel 6
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40Hz test tone

 

Anyone tried running this to see how theirs sounds? Mine sounds as is it should

Did you run the volume up high? You need to get up well over 50% and then it should happen.

My Arc crackles/farts after 50% at 40 Hz. I played one particular movie and the bass is coming out of nowhere and crackling below 50% volume. other movies are doing perfectly fine. Now, even I am scared about damaging the speaker pushing me towards returning it.

S
Userlevel 4
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@Ryan S I've checked all my speakers with the 40 Hz tone. The issue is extreme on the Arc. But it also occurs on my One in the bathroom. I've always felt like it added too much base there after display. I think the limiter is simply not designed properly. It looks like a control system which does not fit the loop it's controlling. 

 

@anyone who thinks he does not have the issue. Please play this tone on the Arc and let us know what happens. Latest at 70% volume u will hear something weird.

Edit: Also happens on another One. There it sounds like a heartbeat. 

Anyway of my other speakers the arc has like 30% of the volume of the one and 10% of the play:5 on that sound

Smilja

40Hz test tone

 

Anyone tried running this to see how theirs sounds? Mine sounds as is it should

Did you run the volume up high? You need to get up well over 50% and then it should happen.

My Arc crackles/farts after 50% at 40 Hz. I played one particular movie and the bass is coming out of nowhere and crackling below 50% volume. other movies are doing perfectly fine. Now, even I am scared about damaging the speaker pushing me towards returning it.

 

If it only happen with a particular movie, probably the soundtrack is not encoded resp. mastered correctly or embedded properly within the movie. Nothing Sonos can do about it.

»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)
A
Userlevel 6
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40Hz test tone

 

Anyone tried running this to see how theirs sounds? Mine sounds as is it should

Did you run the volume up high? You need to get up well over 50% and then it should happen.

My Arc crackles/farts after 50% at 40 Hz. I played one particular movie and the bass is coming out of nowhere and crackling below 50% volume. other movies are doing perfectly fine. Now, even I am scared about damaging the speaker pushing me towards returning it.

 

If it only happen with a particular movie, probably the soundtrack is not encoded resp. mastered correctly or embedded properly within the movie. Nothing Sonos can do about it.

Well, my HomePod and tv speakers do not crackle when playing the same movie. What’s up with that.? Crackling is the same noise I get after playing 40 Hz above 50% volume.

V
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Same here, played the 40Hz test tone and bass is all good until volume is 50% and above, then the Arc farts loudly…..

 

Diagnostic confirmation number: 437538094

A
Userlevel 6
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Same here, played the 40Hz test tone and bass is all good until volume is 50% and above, then the Arc farts loudly…..

 

Diagnostic confirmation number: 437538094

Same thing. Bass farts loudly like the speaker is blown. I abosultely cant believe what we are getting from such an expensive soundbar.

Diagnostic number: 1497785928

U

My arc seems fine, I've checked all provided songs/bass tests and I didn't find anything suspicious. I've done it on about 60% volume level. So I think that maybe there were some issues during the update? Or something like that?

M
Badge +1

40Hz test tone

 

Anyone tried running this to see how theirs sounds? Mine sounds as is it should

Did you run the volume up high? You need to get up well over 50% and then it should happen.

Yeah I ran it at 50% and it seemed okay may give it another go and crank it see what happens then

N
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Be careful folks, playing low frequency sine wave test tones at high volume can cause damage to speaker drivers.

U

Be careful folks, playing low frequency sine wave test tones at high volume can cause damage to speaker drivers.

What do you mean by high volume? Do you consider 60% as high?

C

Got mine today and tested it out with music and movie trailers provided in this thread.  I don’t seem to have it as bad as others that posted recordings of their audio via dropbox and google drive…. but when I played a 40hz test tone from Spotify around 50%-60% I got the wavering demonstrated in the YouTube review posted earlier in this thread (below)

 

 

Fingers crossed this is a simple software fix

 

W
Userlevel 5
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I think a daily update from Sonos at a particular time until the problem resolved make sense... especially for those Arc owners that have a returning window to chase...

L
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I know everyone is saying that the issue goes away if you add a sub as the sub grabs the bass and the ARC doesnt have to. Can anyone verify for me that issue isnt apparent in my setup which will be ARC with 2 play 5’s as surrounds but NO sub?

A
Userlevel 6
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I know everyone is saying that the issue goes away if you add a sub as the sub grabs the bass and the ARC doesnt have to. Can anyone verify for me that issue isnt apparent in my setup which will be ARC with 2 play 5’s as surrounds but NO sub?

No sub=issues !

A

I think a daily update from Sonos at a particular time until the problem resolved make sense... especially for those Arc owners that have a returning window to chase...

At this point, I’m still unable to return mine. I tried to use the online Sonos return process yesterday and the web site advised that my order is “not eligible for return”. I tried to call customer care twice yesterday. Both times, after about an hour and 15 mins on hold their phone system abruptly disconnected me without ever speaking to someone. I then sent an email asking for assistance with a return and I still have not heard back. Called again today, same thing. Over an hour on hold and an abrupt disconnect. I’ve had Sonos products for a while and this is really disappointing. My experience has gone from what appears to be a premature product launch to non-existent customer service to return the product. 

P
Userlevel 3

The fact that Sonos hasn't given us any update on the issue that is plaguing every ARC buyer is really just sad at this point. 

P

I have the Arc 5.1 setup and it sounds good with the subwoofer and surrounds on, but the Arc alone sounds very flat. The bass sounds hollow, even when turned up. Feels like I have an $800 bar that only pushes treble. This can’t be what all the reviewers were listening to.

B
Userlevel 3
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I would image Sonos custom service is overloaded at the moment. Not that this is an excuse. At some point they need to release some sort of announcement, even to the forum and sonos community. Something. I believe this could be quite damaging to their reputation if they can not get ahead of it. 

 

Beam. 2x Play:1 - 2x Play One (gen 2) - Sub - 2x Play 5 - Move
A

I would image Sonos custom service is overloaded at the moment. Not that this is an excuse. At some point they need to release some sort of announcement, even to the forum and sonos community. Something. I believe this could be quite damaging to their reputation if they can not get ahead of it. 

 

They’ve seriously disappointed me as a customer. There’s other options out there for home/multi-room audio that won’t lock you into their ecosystem. I’ve been looking into alternatives the last few days. I realize that might sound crazy but I just don’t like how this has been handled. They’re supposed to be the premium solution and this doesn’t feel premium. 

P

I would image Sonos custom service is overloaded at the moment. Not that this is an excuse. At some point they need to release some sort of announcement, even to the forum and sonos community. Something. I believe this could be quite damaging to their reputation if they can not get ahead of it. 

 

They’ve seriously disappointed me as a customer. There’s other options out there for home/multi-room audio that won’t lock you into their ecosystem. I’ve been looking into alternatives the last few days. I realize that might sound crazy but I just don’t like how this has been handled. They’re supposed to be the premium solution and this doesn’t feel premium. 

Yea this doesn’t seem like they are able to support the hardware they are selling. I can’t believe they haven’t given any updates.

W
Badge +2

This should never have been, with all those engineers working on it developing this product how does such a thing occur? What about all those professional musicians no doubt demoing and testing. This is Bad bad bad. Extraordinary sound meets elegant design….REALLY

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