Arc Ultra + Sub Gen 3 : Sub less powerful than before !?
Hi,
I just replaced my Beam (Gen 2) by a Sonos Arc Ultra, in my home theatre system.
But now, the Sub Gen 3 seems to be a lot less powerful.
Before, with the Beam, when I pushed the Sub level adjustment to +2 or +3, i was able to balst the entire room… Now, even if I choose +8 on the Sub level adjustment, I feel it but very light. I can’t have the same “bass blast effect”.
Obviously, I completely reinstalled the system in the App and reseted each element of my home theatre system when I installed the Arc Ultra (included x2 Era 100 at the back).
Does anyone knows why this is happening (maybe someone at Sonos)...?
Thanks a lot.
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I am having the same issue. I just upgraded to the arc ultra to replace my gen 2 beam. I have a gen 3 sub and 2 one SL surrounds. The bass from the sub is minimal now compared to what it was before, also what I have noticed is the white lights on sub and the 2 ones are no longer lit and they actually look like they aren’t switched on (ones are as I can hear them fine)
I am having the same issue. I just upgraded to the arc ultra to replace my gen 2 beam. I have a gen 3 sub and 2 one SL surrounds. The bass from the sub is minimal now compared to what it was before, also what I have noticed is the white lights on sub and the 2 ones are no longer lit and they actually look like they aren’t switched on (ones are as I can hear them fine)
The white status light led is disabled by default. If you want it to show, then enable it in the app.
I have a feeling there is either a bug with the Ultra and subs….. I actually don’t know if TruePlay is really making that much of a difference, besides allowing the bug to be more noticeable after the Ultra has been tuned.
OR, the built in Sound Motion sub on the Ultra is just holding onto to much of the bass from the LFE channel, and the crossover is set incorrectly when paired with some or all subs… the Arc and Beam seem to pass all the bass to the sub woofer once once is paired, the Ultra doesn’t seem to be doing that, as you can hear the bass still coming out of the sound motion sub in the middle of the Ultra, even when it’s paired with all or specific solo sub, and dual sub combinations.
again, anyone from Sonos want to acknowledge a possible bug with the Ultra? And if so, how should we report it or provide you more data around the possible bug?
@Corry P@Marco.B
That's what I think too, I have the same feeling but I'm waiting for Sonos to confirm it (I hope they will have time to look into this issue soon).
Hi @Matclane et al
Thanks for reporting this issue.
We are aware of an issue whereby, after TruePlay Tuning, Arc Ultra will either sound low in bass, or sound not quite “pristine”.
To remedy this while we investigate, please try retuning, either with the same method (Quick/Advanced) or with the other, if available to you.
If this does not help, please try disabling TruePlay Tuning in the meantime, if that sounds better to you.
We thank you for your patience while we investigate this matter.
I hope this helps.
Hi @Corry P
Thank you for taking the time to answer and for the proper consideration of the problem ; but just to be absolutely clear : the problem is not the lack of bass of the Arc ultra itself, but the overall lack of bass WITH a Sub Gen 3 type (and especialy compared than before with a Beam Gen2 for exemple).
Hope you’ll find the source of this malfunction and provide an update when possible. Thanks again and please keep us informed here if possible.
Hi @Corry P
Thank you for taking the time to answer and for the proper consideration of the problem ; but just to be absolutely clear : the problem is not the lack of bass of the Arc ultra itself, but the overall lack of bass WITH a Sub Gen 3 type (and especialy compared than before with a Beam Gen2 for exemple).
Hope you’ll find the source of this malfunction and provide an update when possible. Thanks again and please keep us informed here if possible.
It isn’t just with a Gen 3 sub though, the issue is there on Gen 4 subs too after the advanced Trueplay has been completed.
Hi @Matclane
Yes, I noticed the difference when I found the documentation on the issue, but the documentation did not mention Subs at all - just that Arc Ultra sounds like it has less bass after TruePlay Tuning, which everyone here mentioned. As the Arc Ultra will tell Subs what to play, the issue seems to fit what was described here. There may be more aspects to the issue that I am not aware of, but it seems to be the right issue to tag here.
I don’t have this issue with ultra, 300s and g2 sub. The issue I have is that the surrounds are overpowering. The ultra sounds distant because the surrounds are so loud. No way is the true play accurate on this.
I don’t have this issue with ultra, 300s and g2 sub. The issue I have is that the surrounds are overpowering. The ultra sounds distant because the surrounds are so loud. No way is the true play accurate on this.
Simply adjust the ‘TV Level’ and/or ‘Music Level’ slider controls in the Home Theatre surround settings - it’s why they are there to help you fine tune the levels to suit you and your listening environment.
I don’t have this issue with ultra, 300s and g2 sub. The issue I have is that the surrounds are overpowering. The ultra sounds distant because the surrounds are so loud. No way is the true play accurate on this.
Simply adjust the ‘TV Level’ and/or ‘Music Level’ slider controls in the Home Theatre surround settings - it’s why they are there to help you fine tune the levels to suit you and your listening environment.
I did that, but it’s still not balanced. It’ll lower the volume of the surrounds, but in tandem. So it doesn’t sound as good as it should because the left and right surrounds decrease in volume together rather than letting me change the volumes individually. Based on other posts, it seems like Trueplay is the issue.
Arc Ultra with two Era 300s and two Sub Gen 3s. After Advanced Trueplay, sub levels are really low and overall the system sounds thin (a bit sibilant). Subs need to be turned up to +6 to get any response that sounds like there is more than just the Ultra. Overall the sub bass is a lot weaker than my previous setup with the original arc (everything else is the same for the e300s, Subs and Trueplay device).
Quick Trueplay is a bit better, but right now it seems Trueplay off sounds the best whereas in the past, Trueplay substantially helped the entire system sound clearer and balanced.
Using an Apple iPhone 16 Pro for Trueplay.
I don’t have this issue with ultra, 300s and g2 sub. The issue I have is that the surrounds are overpowering. The ultra sounds distant because the surrounds are so loud. No way is the true play accurate on this.
Simply adjust the ‘TV Level’ and/or ‘Music Level’ slider controls in the Home Theatre surround settings - it’s why they are there to help you fine tune the levels to suit you and your listening environment.
I did that, but it’s still not balanced. It’ll lower the volume of the surrounds, but in tandem. So it doesn’t sound as good as it should because the left and right surrounds decrease in volume together rather than letting me change the volumes individually. Based on other posts, it seems like Trueplay is the issue.
Probably the room environment. You can simply adjust the position of your sweetspot to compensate in the first stage of TruePlay tuning. That’s the easiest thing to do here, together with any adjustments to the two slider bars mentioned earlier (if required).
I'll add my issues here as well. I recently upgraded from an Arc + Sub Gen 2 to the Arc Ultra + Sub 4, but I can barely notice any bass now—it's incredibly frustrating. My system also include 2 x One’s (gen 2) for surrounds. While the setup was seamless, the execution is disappointing. With all the praise they give their app, you'd think they would have resolved these issues by now. Unfortunately, I'm starting to wonder if the hope of them returning to their former standards is just wishful thinking.
I had this exact same issue after replacing playbar with the Arc Ultra and replacing Sonos one’s with Era 300s, it was super frustrating! The bass was almost non-existent. I had turned off true play tuning and manually increased the bass levels in the app. However, I got a Sonos app update couple of days back and now the bass is much better. I still feel my previous setup had a punchier bass (note that I haven’t upgraded my sub from gen 2, still using that one now). I’m wondering if with the Ultra Arc which can handle better bass if some of lower frequencies are being sent to the Ultra Arc and not to the sub. But overall extremely happy with the performance now.
I highly doubt that, I have not had trueplay on since I got the utlra and my 2 subs has been banging like crazy. Im gonna test now with trueplay (android lite version) and see
Anyone tested trueplay with the new app update, looks like it’s fixed this issue going by the what’s new in app update and reports from other people.
Anyone tested trueplay with the new app update, looks like it’s fixed this issue going by the what’s new in app update and reports from other people.
I don't dare to update the app for now, I see a lot of negative comments...
If you are on the previous app then not updating is a good idea.
If you are on the new app updating is almost always good.
If you’re using the Arc Ultra, per the title of this thread, then yes, you should update.
In fact im up to date.
This is hugely frustrating, especially after dealing with a poor app experience for months.
Upgraded an Arc to an Ultra and bought two additional 3rd-gen subs. No bass. The subs are alive (vibrate slightly to the touch) but volume is imperceptibly low. Turning the sub audio on and off in settings makes no difference.
Overall sound quality is not as good as the Playbar + 2x gen2 subs we have in the other living room.
Feeling really g…] about my $2000+ upgrade right now, Sonos.
Same issue here.
I got an Arc + 2x Era 300 + Sub Gen 3 setup and upgraded it with Arc Ultra to get an even worse performance on bass.
I was hoping to finally get metter mid-low bass frequencies in music play - which is totally missing for Arc.
But I was disappointed. Sonos is dropiing unfinished crap on the market and we shall now wait until our return periods are over so that they don’t have to fix it anymore wand we are stuck with out crap…
Sorry. Thats how it feels to me.
Arc is technically capable to deliver better sound quality on music but it does not and it gives me nearly no control.
And if I tune Bass by cranking it up, to get better music experience, I have an issue when watching TV because bass is too high then.