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Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass


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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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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.

 

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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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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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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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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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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

 

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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... 

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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 😊 

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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. 🙂

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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.

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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.

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

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

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

Userlevel 3
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So nobody who deals with the community...

Userlevel 4
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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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join the other thread and email them if you have issues I just got this back...
 

 

Thank you for contacting Sonos and sorry to hear that you have audio quality issue with your ARC.

We are investigating bass issue with some of the Sonos users. To help us to do that, could you please tell us:

  • What type of content is being played? (TV, Music)?
  • What volume lever do you experience the issue?
  • Is the Arc wall-mounted?
  • If wall-mounted, does removing the speaker from the wall bracket and setting it on a credenza or table improve the issue?
  • Is Trueplay configured on the ARC?
  • Is the Bass EQ setting flat or adjusted is some way?

Also, could you please submit new diagnostic and reply to us with the number please.

Submit Diagnostics

Last, if possible please make a photo where ARC is located and reply to this 

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I tried to run 4hz test tone on my Samsung MS750 in bedroom and on my friend’s Q90r and both of them wobble even on 30% volume without sub but sounds smooth with sub. So probably this is something with soundbars to provide nice quality sound with decent bass otherwise add sub. I tested dr carter by lil wayne and penetrator both of them sounds good after the update at around 60-70% volume without sub. This could be how the soundbars are designed. As adding sub made these tracks sound powerful so sub is required if you want to play bass heavy tracks at high volumes. 

But Sonos is not Samsung. I didn’t devote my whole house to Sonos products just to live with problems that other manufacturers also have. I went with Sonos because they don’t have the issues that others have. 

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Thank you for contacting Sonos and sorry to hear that you have audio quality issue with your ARC.

We are investigating bass issue with some of the Sonos users. To help us to do that, could you please tell us:

  • What type of content is being played? (TV, Music)?
  • What volume lever do you experience the issue?

It would have been funny if we responded with (Test tones) and (100%). Haha.

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Hopefully they wouldnt say something like shouldn’t expect our product to produce certain tones at 100% without the speaker making odd sounds.

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Hopefully they wouldnt say something like shouldn’t expect our product to produce certain tones at 100% without the speaker making odd sounds.

Idk man I tested the test tone on my sonos one and it made weird sounds at certain volumes. I think people are nitpicking now. But even if it does make some weird sounds at 80 percent volume I will never reach that and can wait for a fix. If it is a hardware issue you bet I will ask for a replacement later down the road.

 

People in this forum are hilarious sometimes, yall think the playbar and other sonos products didnt get firmware updates that improved the sound signature significantly. Many were complaining about the Sonos AMP and they have been patching that changing the sound signature constantly to improve it (some even say its too many updates because they have to slightly retune it). Playbar also got a big firmware update months toa year after release in which they improved the sound quite a bit (Sonos said they weren’t 100% satisfied with the sound on launch and retuned things). I for one am invested on Sonos (own many products) and think on 99 percent of cases the Arc sounds great. Movies just blow me away. Go find another soundbar that sounds this good for the price and has Atmos etc…. Samsung soundbars are great but are very pricey as well, some even pricier than the Arc.

Test tones are useful to a point, but one can cause any speaker to do something ugly if one applies tones of certain frequencies (unique to each design) at a high enough amplitude.

I’m not saying this in an attempt to sweep this issue under the rug, only to point out that one must interpret response to pure tones carefully.

Don’t push this analogy too far, but consider a sports car with a reputation for “excellent handling”. This is does not give the inexperienced driver (or any driver for that matter) permission to place a brick on the accelerator, then thread through city traffic or mountain roads expecting no consequences.

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Test tones are useful to a point, but one can cause any speaker to do something ugly if one applies tones of certain frequencies (unique to each design) at a high enough amplitude.

I’m not saying this in an attempt to sweep this issue under the rug, only to point out that one must interpret response to pure tones carefully.

Don’t push this analogy too far, but consider a sports car with a reputation for “excellent handling”. This is does not give the inexperienced driver (or any driver for that matter) permission to place a brick on the accelerator, then thread through city traffic or mountain roads expecting no consequences.

If I heard the issue during normal content at volumes I listen to I would definitely be upset. But that’s just not been the case.

i think people wanting a bass heavy speaker will be dissapointed I think the arc does great for music and movies, but certainly the as with any speaker it won’t wow everyone. People have different tastes in music and speaker reproduction. People even like different types of bass and subwoofers . 
 

butncoming from a playbar I just don’t feel any downgrade whatsoever. The arc sounds better especially for movies. For music I’d argue it has a different sound signature with less warmth to it. But that doesn’t mean worse it just means different. Some will prefer the soundbar, or the beam or a bose soundbar to this. That’s just a matter taste.

 

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Test tones are useful to a point, but one can cause any speaker to do something ugly if one applies tones of certain frequencies (unique to each design) at a high enough amplitude.

I’m not saying this in an attempt to sweep this issue under the rug, only to point out that one must interpret response to pure tones carefully.

Don’t push this analogy too far, but consider a sports car with a reputation for “excellent handling”. This is does not give the inexperienced driver (or any driver for that matter) permission to place a brick on the accelerator, then thread through city traffic or mountain roads expecting no consequences.

 

Whilst I totally agree with you, and that the limitations of physics must be taken in to account when criticising a product, Sonos market their products as distortion free at high volumes. In direct comparison to your analogy, this is very different to simply stating that their products handle distortion at high volumes excellently.

 

Sonos have and always will continuously improve the products already out in the world and I have no doubt will end up fixing this issue. The problem that companies like Sonos have is that they give so much in the way of constant improvement and longevity that people take it for granted and completely forget the limitations of the real world. You could argue the Arc was released a little early or the testing during production wasn’t as thorough as it could have been, but they aren’t immune to the challenges facing the world today. 

 

I for one will be running alongside Sonos on their sprint to fix this issue.

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Sonos or other people shouldn’t be surprised to see negative comments about soundbar if the response is the speakers always need adjustments up to a year later to make them sound as advertised

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Sonos or other people shouldn’t be surprised to see negative comments about soundbar if the response is the speakers always need adjustments up to a year later to make them sound as advertised

Yes continual improvement and updates should be the mark of failure. 
 

?what¿

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