Question

Soundbar bass distortion. Add subwoofer?

  • 3 October 2016
  • 4 replies
  • 2175 views

I currently have soundbar which has amazing sound, however when I turn the volume up a bit louder for music the bass becomes distorted. I have turn down bass on room equalizer to the point it is basically on its lowest setting, this helps some but should I have to do this?
My main question is if I add the subwoofer will all bass be dispursed from sub eliminating distortion of bass from soundbar.
I find this distortion of bass only really happens with music, movies/tv is fine,

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4 replies

Userlevel 7
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Welcome to the community, peepeddle. There should be no distortion on the bass. The acquisition of a SUB may remedy the loss of low end as a result of having to turn down the bass but on the other hand, you should not have to reduce the bass just to not get a distorted bass sound. This is not expected behaviour from the device. Can you elaborate on what you mean by a distorted bass sound? Is it a crackling noise or do you hear a rattling? Are you sure it's not something in the vicinity of the PLAYBAR that's vibrating as a result of the bass? Can you please submit a diagnostic and respond with the diagnostic number? Thanks!
Best way to describe distortion is if u turn volume up to say medium level, not really high but a decent level say for watching a concert, the bass is no longer 'tight'. It becomes very noticable that the soundbar cannot handle the power or level of bass that it wants to put out. If u have a low quality speaker and you turn a high bass song up really loud and the speaker obviously can't handle song, this is what is happening with the playbar. If sound is kept to a low level rhen everything including bass is great but once u come out of that low volume range bass quality drops very quickly, only remedy I can see that helps a big is turning bass down to lowest setting.

The soundbar currently sits on entertainment unit with no loose object placed near around or in entertainment unit.

His do I do diagnostics test?
His do I do diagnostics test?
Click on Edward's link above. In case you missed it: https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/142
Every single speaker on God’s green earth can be “blown”. All it takes is a low bitrate file which is heavily compensated for said bitrate using high gain, played loud. In other words when u play that 100 year old song on YouTube coz you couldn’t find on Spotify and put the volume up, there will be incredible amounts of distortion due to the low quality and high gain of those tracks. Same goes for some songs on SoundCloud. U want ur speakers to last then play ok good quality music. The moment u hear hissing or chirping or voices straining lower the volume and change the track. Many people don’t realize this until it’s too late