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.
Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass
Best answer by Scott - Sonos
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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I thought of something. I was listening to the YouTube link of that video showing the difference between the Playbase and the Arc. And I was thinking, the Playbase base sounds great and the Arc was bottoming out…
But you might want to know, I was playing it over an Arc. without sub and surrounds. Just the arc on its own. So if I can hear how good the playbase sounds on the Arc….
😂 Haha, I did the same but never thought of it that way... thats brilliant and only confuses matters
Well i tried to return my Arc and sub today and I got a message that I am not eligible to return. I tried to return them back in July 3 and i was told my order was eligible to return until Aug 22. i decided to wait another month for them to come up some solution on bass issue. Damn i should have returned them back in July to save me the trouble .
Well i tried to return my Arc and sub today and I got a message that I am not eligible to return. I tried to return them back in July 3 and i was told my order was eligible to return until Aug 22. i decided to wait another month for them to come up some solution on bass issue. Damn i should have returned them back in July to save me the trouble .
The Sonos terms of sale, available via the App settings under the heading ‘Legal’, are shown here, if that is of any assistance.
https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/legal/terms
As far as I can recall, they have always been there for all to view and it details the 100 day return policy and other matters that involve returning a product.
Well i tried to return my Arc and sub today and I got a message that I am not eligible to return. I tried to return them back in July 3 and i was told my order was eligible to return until Aug 22. i decided to wait another month for them to come up some solution on bass issue. Damn i should have returned them back in July to save me the trouble .
The Sonos terms of sale, available via the App settings under the heading ‘Legal’, are shown here, if that is of any assistance.
https://www.sonos.com/en-gb/legal/terms
As far as I can recall, they have always been there for all to view and it details the 100 day return policy and other matters that involve returning a product.
Yes i know those terms and I have also a screen shot of what they said about my eligible return date. I will wait for their email response. It is just messed up that i am told a different thing later.
+4I just received my 2nd Arc. First one was purchased through Bestbuy. I was having the same problems everyone was having in this thread. Decided to return it and re-purchase it through Sonos. Waited a month and finally received it today. All the problems i was having previously is gone, the new one sounds good, i purposely set the bass to 10 to test it out and it doesn’t bottom out anymore. So it’s definitely the arc itself and not software. For everyone that’s having problems with theirs, just return it and re-purchase it again.
I am beginning to think that there is/was something wrong with the first manufactured Arcs hardware. This will also explain why you could, at first, buy it in stores everywhere here in Norway, but now it is impossible to get hold of. There is a delivery delay for 3 months here now. Have Sonos stopped the first manufactured Arcs? Is it possible For you who already owns the arc, to compare hardware versions?
I just received my 2nd Arc. First one was purchased through Bestbuy. I was having the same problems everyone was having in this thread. Decided to return it and re-purchase it through Sonos. Waited a month and finally received it today. All the problems i was having previously is gone, the new one sounds good, i purposely set the bass to 10 to test it out and it doesn’t bottom out anymore. So it’s definitely the arc itself and not software. For everyone that’s having problems with theirs, just return it and re-purchase it again.
I am beginning to think that there is/was something wrong with the first manufactured Arcs hardware. This will also explain why you could, at first, buy it in stores everywhere here in Norway, but now it is impossible to get hold of. There is a delivery delay for 3 months here now. Have Sonos stopped the first manufactured Arcs? Is it possible For you who already owns the arc, to compare hardware versions?
There are multiple build versions in this thread already. No changes have been reported in the sound from build date to build date. Just a popular product that is sold out.
I just received my 2nd Arc. First one was purchased through Bestbuy. I was having the same problems everyone was having in this thread. Decided to return it and re-purchase it through Sonos. Waited a month and finally received it today. All the problems i was having previously is gone, the new one sounds good, i purposely set the bass to 10 to test it out and it doesn’t bottom out anymore. So it’s definitely the arc itself and not software. For everyone that’s having problems with theirs, just return it and re-purchase it again.
I am beginning to think that there is/was something wrong with the first manufactured Arcs hardware. This will also explain why you could, at first, buy it in stores everywhere here in Norway, but now it is impossible to get hold of. There is a delivery delay for 3 months here now. Have Sonos stopped the first manufactured Arcs? Is it possible For you who already owns the arc, to compare hardware versions?
There are multiple build versions in this thread already. No changes have been reported in the sound from build date to build date. Just a popular product that is sold out.
Do we have more people who can certify that new hardware delivered in recent weeks is faultless?
Apparently, placing the Arc against a wall seems to fix most, if not all, of the bass issues. That may account for some of the differing reports of some people having issues and others not.
Not sure if Peter Pee also says it in this video, but he analyzed it in an earlier one (I can’t find the best one right now). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu8TLAco2tI
I just received my 2nd Arc. First one was purchased through Bestbuy. I was having the same problems everyone was having in this thread. Decided to return it and re-purchase it through Sonos. Waited a month and finally received it today. All the problems i was having previously is gone, the new one sounds good, i purposely set the bass to 10 to test it out and it doesn’t bottom out anymore. So it’s definitely the arc itself and not software. For everyone that’s having problems with theirs, just return it and re-purchase it again.
a couple of things as I have down this - what is the build mont of your good one?ive had may and March both sound junk.
secondly on Netflix if you watch a film called drive at 35:00 exactly at 55% volume or more does it sound right and punchy it horrible?
Just curious how do you tell the build date? I’m sure it’s in this thread somewhere but at 45 pages....
I would be skeptical of ones before June 10th otherwise you assume that they noticed a problem prior and still sent it out. Also, to the person who mentions Peter pee video above he also says in the next video released that to be in the sweet spot to experience atmos with 9’ ceilings that you should be 3-3.5’ away so if you need to put against the wall then you need to use wall mount with no way to angle the arc. Based on his review if you don’t mount it to the wall and put it on a shelf of some sort then you should place it toward the forward edge of the listening position. But all this is based on a guess of what angle the speakers are actually mounted at. Cluster f...
I just received my 2nd Arc. First one was purchased through Bestbuy. I was having the same problems everyone was having in this thread. Decided to return it and re-purchase it through Sonos. Waited a month and finally received it today. All the problems i was having previously is gone, the new one sounds good, i purposely set the bass to 10 to test it out and it doesn’t bottom out anymore. So it’s definitely the arc itself and not software. For everyone that’s having problems with theirs, just return it and re-purchase it again.
Build version on your new? Happy for a answer
RTINGS published arc 5.1 setup early test results (must be an insider to see them now) but this means full review coming out likely on friday
RTINGS published arc 5.1 setup early test results (must be an insider to see them now) but this means full review coming out likely on friday
Pretty interesting actually..
https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/discussions/cifgZ1DF9rU6FUDu/results
Hey guys, also check to make sure your night mode is not automatically turned on. Somehow on my unit, it was automatically turned on and it also affected my music playback. I though it sounded like crap unit yesterday I went in the app and found out night mode was On… when I turned it off, everything sounded much fuller on tv and on music playback.
It’s most definitely a bug since when activating night mode in tv, and the listening to music, it shouldn’t carry over, but it was “stuck” in night mode on all sources.
could this be the metallic sounding arc people were reporting?
Hey guys, also check to make sure your night mode is not automatically turned on. Somehow on my unit, it was automatically turned on and it also affected my music playback. I though it sounded like crap unit yesterday I went in the app and found out night mode was On… when I turned it off, everything sounded much fuller on tv and on music playback.
It’s most definitely a bug since when activating night mode in tv, and the listening to music, it shouldn’t carry over, but it was “stuck” in night mode on all sources.
could this be the metallic sounding arc people were reporting?
Absolutely not!
Hey guys, also check to make sure your night mode is not automatically turned on. Somehow on my unit, it was automatically turned on and it also affected my music playback. I though it sounded like crap unit yesterday I went in the app and found out night mode was On… when I turned it off, everything sounded much fuller on tv and on music playback.
It’s most definitely a bug since when activating night mode in tv, and the listening to music, it shouldn’t carry over, but it was “stuck” in night mode on all sources.
could this be the metallic sounding arc people were reporting?
No.
So RTINGS finalized their review now and the Arc including Sub + 2 One SL speakers has a total score of 5.8/10, which is by far one of the worst scores on the entire website. https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/sonos/arc-with-sub-one-sl-speakers
One of RTINGS reviewers posted this on reddit:
There's an issue with the way our website is interpreting the data we collected from the Arc full setup. The score isn't justified, it's actually (subjectively) one of the best-sounding bars we've tested.
Thoughts?
So RTINGS finalized their review now and the Arc including Sub + 2 One SL speakers has a total score of 5.8/10, which is by far one of the worst scores on the entire website. https://www.rtings.com/soundbar/reviews/sonos/arc-with-sub-one-sl-speakers
One of RTINGS reviewers posted this on reddit:
There's an issue with the way our website is interpreting the data we collected from the Arc full setup. The score isn't justified, it's actually (subjectively) one of the best-sounding bars we've tested.
Thoughts?
They might got a version that works 100% then!
Maybe some sent back and bought other brands or maybe bought Arc again and were satisfied then. I'm waiting for my Arc after being sent back.
Well i tried to return my Arc and sub today and I got a message that I am not eligible to return. I tried to return them back in July 3 and i was told my order was eligible to return until Aug 22. i decided to wait another month for them to come up some solution on bass issue. Damn i should have returned them back in July to save me the trouble .
Waited for a week with no response so i finally called and got the RMA#s. Personally if a bar that crapped out like that in the bass area is just not acceptable. Getting a sub to fix a known issue is not the right approach for me and I strongly believe there is some kind of hardware issue if only some of us are experiencing this. Anyway time to shop for something else.
+13Hi folks, we greatly appreciate your patience. Upon checking the issue with the Arc Bass muddied without satellites or a Sub is no longer occurring. Thanks for understanding and let us know if there’s anything else we can help you with.
Hi folks, we greatly appreciate your patience. Upon checking the issue with the Arc Bass muddied without satellites or a Sub is no longer occurring. Thanks for understanding and let us know if there’s anything else we can help you with.
I'm assuming you are referring to post 12.0.4 app update results?
Please clarify.
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