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Arc Ultra: left and right balance

  • December 19, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 45 views
thomasbricker
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I am starting to use my second Arc Ultra. The first arc was experiencing fuzzy sound. (like a fuzz box for an electric guitar) I returned it and got a new unit which doesn’t seem to have the fuzziness problem.
Now when I’m listening to my new unit, I’m noticing that the left and right channel balance on the Arc seems to be skewed to the right. Vocals do not come from the center of the unit but more towards the right side. This is particularly noticeable when playing music. Either through the Sonos app or through the Apple Music app on the Apple TV Unit.
 

Are other people are experiencing this?

I wonder if it perhaps has something to do with the woofer speaker being overly active? (it’s located on the right side of the arc unit.)

I have definitely run true tone on the set up. I’m using the arc together with two era 300s set to surround sound and the Sonos sub 4. 

I have seen a few other posts where people are asking this question having heard the same thing.

I suppose I will have to call Sonos and troubleshoot it again  😐

My set up is in a relatively small area of my basement with walls at equal distance from left to right.

Anybody have any ideas?

2 replies

Sotiris C.
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  • Sotiris C.
  • Sonos Staff
  • December 22, 2025

Hello ​@thomasbricker, welcome back!

I am sorry to hear about your experience with your first Sonos Arc Ultra having audio quality issues.

Since you’ve already done Trueplay tuning, may I suggest experimenting with EQ settings within the Sonos App?

If possible, you can also move the Sonos Sub 4 around and re-do Trueplay tuning each time and see if it makes any difference.

As you mentioned, if you feel like something still “sounds off”, contacting our Support Team for live troubleshooting is the way to go.

They have tools at their disposal to provide you with information and advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

I hope this helps.

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    thomasbricker
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    • thomasbricker
    • Author
    • Avid Contributor I
    • December 22, 2025

    Hi Sotiris,

    Thanks for getting back to me.

    I was wondering if the shape of the room might have something to do with it. My television is in an alcove space that’s approximately 10 feet wide. The right and back wall are Stone. The left wall is a drywall. This is where I have the sub 4 positioned. The surrounds are behind the couch. The one on the right side is up against the stone wall. The one on the left side is up against nothing. The viewing space is in an alcove as I mentioned. The left surround is firing more into open space.  That is less so with the right surround.

    Last night I watched a recently released movie on Netflix. It had Dolby Atmos sound and sounded excellent on my set up. I dont hear the imbalance as much on movies as I do when playing music. The vocals on the screen seemed to be perfectly positioned on the screen when playing the movie.

    Is there a way I can use Trueplay to make the system push the sound a little more to the left? 😊

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