Beam Gen 2 - sudden full volume hammering sound

  • 28 December 2021
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93 replies

N

Update from email I sent to Sonos CEO:

I received a reply from Jake (not the Jake from State Farm lol) but from Sonos Cusomer Experience. Here’s his response … 

Patrick forwarded your note along to me as I am a supervisor here at Sonos. Your case has been assigned to our team here at Sonos Customer Experience.

Thanks for bringing it up. We would like to apologize for the inconvenience. As of now, we are actively investigating this matter and working on a fix but we don't have a timeline yet. I will make sure to let the Engineering Team know about the feedback

And of course another case id.

If Engineering is only now investigating this what with all the complaints over a year ago they must have a low priority for this problem. I’m not taking a chance on another Beam 2 and will move on from Sonos. An interesting option is the Bose 600  introduced in October which has upward firing speakers. 

G

Can add to this. I got a Beam (Gen 2) from Costco for Black Friday. Setup went smooth and the first use was great. However, when I was watching Spirited in Dolby Atmos on the Apple TV app native to the Samsung TV, 7 minutes in, it made a loud, horrible machine gun sound. So, safe to say, I unplugged it and tried again next weekend by streaming National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation on HBO Max (Dolby Multichannel 5.1), and that time, it happened 3 times, the first one being a whimper, and the next 2 were the same as the first instance. The following week, I finally called Sonos to see if I could get to the bottom of this. Nothing much happened on that call, except for me getting a case number and them suggesting to update it. That update made it go away for that session, but then I powered it down. That brings us to yesterday, when I used my Sonos Beam to watch the 4K Blu-ray of The Grinch (2018) on my Samsung 4K Blu-ray player. It only lasted 7 minutes before emitting that horrific sound. After that, I called Sonos to let them know it had occurred again. Not even 5 minutes after telling them my case number and running some diagnostics (didn’t have to give a number apparently), they went straight to replacement. And it was a really abrupt tone shift at that. Anyway, that brings me to today, where I went back to an another Costco to get a replacement Beam. I didn’t take up Sonos’s offer because I wanted to get a new one and use Costco’s generous return policy. So, I am hoping to god it doesn’t happen again on this one, because I really want to get the IKEA surrounds so I can have a good audio setup. 

N

I’m following this board on all the reported issues with the Beam 2 unexpected LOUD HAMMERING noise. Purchased a Beam 2 from Costco and within a day the same booming explosive hammer/machine gun noise occurred. This happened randomly when watching TV or streaming music. Followed up with Sonos Support and after several calls they offered to send me a replacement. However the replacement is a refurb or open box unit.

The problem with this is I just purchased a new unit that is a week old and I am not swapping it for a refurb. Since Sonos is aware of this hardware issue for over a year and not addressing it I have absolutely no confidence in their product. I was so looking forward to the Beam as my soundbar. This is going back to Costco. (One less Sonos customer).

S

Sonos replaced my Beam2 now and the new one has not had the issue so far.

Hi! I replaced my Beam2 today, what about your Beam2? Still having the issue?

I just experienced this on my Beam Gen 2 that I bought for Black Friday (3 weeks ago).  My wife was watching TV when the Sound bar malfunctioned and sounded like a Jack Hammer going off in our home.  We ran out of the house in our socks in the middle of a snowstorm because we thought something was going to explode.  This was a terrible experience!

 

The fact that this has been happening for 11 months and there is no fix is unacceptable. 

 

Does Sonos have plans to acknowledge and address this issue?

TBH, I just got my SONS Beam Gen2 Delivery, after a rally with the carrier uh!, Anyway I’m starting to be worried about this issue, and thinking to return back everything to SONOS, before the returning policy ending. I prayer not happen to me.Lastly, any advice before this issue happen? Like be worry not to ...etc 

T

I just experienced this on my Beam Gen 2 that I bought for Black Friday (3 weeks ago).  My wife was watching TV when the Sound bar malfunctioned and sounded like a Jack Hammer going off in our home.  We ran out of the house in our socks in the middle of a snowstorm because we thought something was going to explode.  This was a terrible experience!

 

The fact that this has been happening for 11 months and there is no fix is unacceptable. 

 

Does Sonos have plans to acknowledge and address this issue?

V

I had the issue occur again .. multiple times late last night and again this morning. I collected diags and called support .. they look at the diags, but then ask me to play TV audio with expectation that the issue will occur while they are on the phone. This is extremely unlikely, as I’ve told them repeatedly that the issue can occur several times in rapid succession, but then not occur for another few hours or days.

 

I captured a video of it happening this morning:

https://ufile.io/429v3h2a

 

You can see the show on the TV with the sound doing its messed up machine-gun/stuttering thing. Then I hit pause, but the messed up sound keeps going - until it stops as the Beam Gen 2 resets itself. I offered to send this video to technical support to help show what the issue is, but they did not seem all that interested.

 

Other observations (trying to capture any additional data):

  • It may just be me, but it actually kind of seems that the pitch of the noise is related to whatever the actual sound was when the trigger happens.
    • For example, If you are watching an show where there is somebody singing in a higher pitch and the trigger happens, then the stutter seems to be a higher pitch.
    • On the other hand, if all that is happening is low dramatic music then the pitch seems to be lower. 

Tech support also keeps asking me if I encounter this when streaming Music (ie: not watching TV or movie). I don’t really listen to Music on my home theater setup, so I can’t comment on that. Not sure if anybody else out there who has seen this issue can comment?

V

Adding a link to another thread (closed) in the forum on the same topic.

 

 

 

V

I had the issue occur multiple times this weekend already. I’ve submitted diagnostics twice in the past 24 hours (although the issue occurred far more than just the twice) - but have not reached out to support yet as the timing was not great for sitting on the phone.

I have a “case #” that I was given the last time I actually reported it to support - It would be great if there was a mechanism so that I could attach the # that the app reports when I submit diagnostics to my case # so that support could look at the diagnostics without needing to be prompted by a call.

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @SubmarinePilot 

I recommend you follow @Airgetlam’s advice above:

Here is how to submit a system diagnostic. You’d need to submit it within roughly 10 minutes of the event, as the space for the diagnostic information on your system is not infinite. And once you’ve submitted it, you need to inform Sonos folks which one they should be looking at, and why. 

You can get in touch with our technical support team via this link.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Airgetlam

Here is how to submit a system diagnostic. You’d need to submit it within roughly 10 minutes of the event, as the space for the diagnostic information on your system is not infinite. And once you’ve submitted it, you need to inform Sonos folks which one they should be looking at, and why. 

Bruce
S

I have had this issue pop up twice in the last 2 days.  Randomly.  One with the TV off.  How do we submit diagnostics for a replacement when its completely random and disturbing pets when its happening?

Corry, any ideas this is really upsetting the family and I have a lot of Sonos products lol

@Corry P

W

I use the cord provided by Sonos when it happened 

U

For those who’ve had this issue, did you replace all your cables? Was your tv setup properly for Atmos? The reason I ask is that I reused an HDMI 2.1. I did use the Sonos AC cord. 

V

I spoke too soon. I had the noisy version of the issue today.

S

I saw a guy saying that this was fixed by a software update, but turns out it is still recurring. Really puts me off buying the Beam though I really like it in every other aspect. Can someone reassure me that what's happening here are mostly isolated cases? 

V

I’ve had this issue (or something similar) as well -- and reported it with diagnostics but no resolution. For me it is:

  1. Random, but overall infrequent (it can go weeks without it)
  2. Generally once it happens, it will happen a second (and possibly a 3rd time) within a very short period after (within 20 minutes).
  3. After about 30 seconds, the noise stops (and the Beam 2 disappears from the app - as it reboots).

The most recent occurrence (in the past week) changed though - it  was silent. So audio just dropped but like I noted above, the Beam 2 rebooted itself and then it did it again a few minutes later. So either:

  1. I hit a variation of the issue or,
  2. They pushed out a “fix” to at least make the fail less panic inducing.

 

W

Based on what I have read through the thread there’s no one app, service, device that reproduces the problem.  On the first beam 2 I got it happened when I was using the TV and from my phone using different apps.  Once it happened within 10 min of use, 5 min of use then 2 h of use.  Currently testing the new beam 2 they sent me.

U

Just finally found this thread after having the exact same issue 4 times with my Beam. Twice today. Is there no fix?!

Doesn’t seem like it.  They just sent me a new one but have to wait till my kids aren’t home to test it.  For the price of the whole system I shouldn’t have to worry like this.  My fear is that the issue shows up a month from now and they tell me to reproduce it when it seems to happen at random.


Has anyone figured out how to replicate it? I tried leaving my TV/streaming app running for hours but couldn’t make it happen. 

W

Just finally found this thread after having the exact same issue 4 times with my Beam. Twice today. Is there no fix?!

Doesn’t seem like it.  They just sent me a new one but have to wait till my kids aren’t home to test it.  For the price of the whole system I shouldn’t have to worry like this.  My fear is that the issue shows up a month from now and they tell me to reproduce it when it seems to happen at random.

U

Same problem here. The first time it happened, I was streaming HBO on my Samsung TV at 12:30am -- it woke and terrified the whole family. I unplugged the HDMI, but it continued, so I unplugged the power. I figured a reset would fix it, and for weeks afterwards things were going fine. But then last week, it happened to my 13-year-old while playing on the PlayStation 5. She cried, it was so awful. That time, we caught it on video to send to support.

Thanks to everyone here for sharing their experiences. This should really be an urgent priority for Sonos.

W

2 days in and the noise has freaked out my young kids and they won’t go near the speakers. May need to post vid on social for support because there’s nothing on this page and no customer on the weekends.  The second time it happened was when I was trying to set the volume limit.  My current solution is unplugging it when not using it.  

P

I had this issue today for the first time after having my Sonos Beam for 10 months. We were watching something on YouTube through my Samsung TV and suddenly this machine gun firing sound started. We were so scared for a moment and took time to realize it is from the speaker. We immediately unplugged the power and the sound stopped.  

The sound impact was so horrifying that we didnt dare to turn ON the sonos again. After reading all the updates from everyone in this forum, I am thinking to call Sonos tomorrow. 

 

But since I had purchased it from Costco,  not sure if Sonos will attain my problem or will they ask me to contact the retailer directly.  With Costco, not sure if thet will provide a replacement or refund now after crossing the 90 days return policy. Keeping fingers crossed. 

 

M
Userlevel 1
Badge +2

@adamk111 What content was playing just before this happend?

 

People are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts.
A

Just finally found this thread after having the exact same issue 4 times with my Beam. Twice today. Is there no fix?!

K

Sonos replaced my Beam2 now and the new one has not had the issue so far.

Hi! I replaced my Beam2 today, what about your Beam2? Still having the issue?

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