Contributor I

Dual Sub 4s nerfed? Not as loud as single Sub 4 or single Sub Mini.

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Some back story: I started my Sonos Journey around 5 months ago. I initially had a Beam Gen 2 + One SLs + Sub Mini for my 1st full setup. I was then bitten by the Sonos Bug and quickly had the urge to upgrade everything. I found a deal on Facebook Marketplace that I could not pass up, and I upgraded to Arc Ultra + Era 300s + Dual Sub 4s.

The Era 300s and Arc Ultra were vast improvements over the One SLs and Beam 2, especially for Movies and Gaming. For music, the Beam 2 setup was pretty amazing, but still a downgrade nonetheless.

The area that didn't perform as expected was the Dual Sub 4s, which sounded like a downgrade. I at first thought they were duds and could not hear any bass coming out of them with bass-heavy music. When I set them up, I placed one Sub 4 on my bed, positioning it at the height my ear level would be at viewing position, and then performed a sub crawl. I found 2 areas of the room to sound best in opposing corners of the room, diagonally from each other. So that's where the Dual Sub 4s were placed (one in each opposing corner).

With Dual Sub 4s essentially being the equivalent of 4 Sub Minis according to Sonos, I expected my EQ settings to be a lot lower than my previous setup with a single Sub Mini. This was not the case. Playing bass-heavy music, I could barely hear it.

For troubleshooting, I have factory reset, tried both subs individually to make sure they both are performing and not duds. I have performed Quick TruePlay instead of Advanced and kept my phone facing the walls rather than the Arc Ultra while performing the Quick TruePlay setup. Doing these seemed to help some, but they are still not performing at the level I would expect them to. I also tested them as individual units to make sure they were both working and that one wasn't a dud. They both work just fine individually, and the weird thing is that they sounded much louder at much lower EQ levels when played individually and not paired. It’s when I pair them together, I have to turn the EQ Bass Level at +6 and the Sub Level at +13 to really achieve a decent bass level.

I know Dual Subs creates a more even Bass sound. It is not booming from a single corner. Which can take some adjusting to, but this is not the issue, I just feel they are getting nerfed when paired as Duals. I feel I was even getting better base with a single Sub Mini than a paired set of Sub 4s. My Sub Mini would only need to be at -1 bass level and +6 Sub Level to fill and shake the whole room.

What could be the issue here? Is anyone else having any similar issues? Was anyone able to fix the issue, if so?

I also read some old suggestions to say to set the phase control to 180° instead of 0°. But now with TruePlay enabled, you can't adjust the phase control, when I believe you were able to in the past with TruePlay enabled. I have also tried to listen without TruePlay, and it makes the rest of the system sound worse without it on, and maybe the subs sound a little better?

I guess the only step here would be to do more factory resets and hope that resolves the issue? Unless someone has a troubleshooting step I have not yet performed.

Some other key points: My system is fully up to date as far as updates. I stream my movies through a Nvidia Shield Pro. I use an app called Stremio for streaming, along with my Nvidia Shield Pro + Sony A95L TV, which supports the highest level of streaming quality. Most of my streams are playing in 4k Blu-Ray Remux + Dolby Atmos + Dolby Vision. I am getting Full passthrough at the highest audio levels, nothing is compressed. For my music, I listen to Apple Music through the Sonos App. I also make sure to download all songs in Hi-Res Lossless, and again, my setup supports full passthrough. Just wanted to touch on this because the quality of what I am viewing or listening to is not the issue, nor is my streaming device or TV. All settings on all devices are set up correctly to support the previously mentioned features.

All suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks!

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DonTheJuanAuthor

Contributor I

@jgatie , according to SVS and a couple of other Subwoofer/Home-Theater forums, the opposing diagonal setup for Dual Subs provides some of the best results for Sub Placement.

SOURCE: https://www.svsound.com/blogs/subwoofer-setup-and-tuning/75040195-why-go-dual?srsltid=AfmBOooQr8V2sdZrYCmx09snxoWVaNSfd2I53rNRFyR8cp7YlMwUhv6J

The first reply I received in this forum was that when the Dual Subs are paired, they lose -3dB. This is the most accurate way to explain what I am experiencing, but a lot more extreme. I am losing 40-50% of the power when they are paired as duals compared to when they are set up indvidually. When I set them up, I performed a sub crawl and placed them in the 2 spots that sounded the best. I also tried switching them in and out in the same diagonal, opposing placement, but each sub individually tested in each of these 2 spots. They both performed the same individually, so I know that one is not a dud. It’s just when they are paired as Duals that I am experiencing the loss in performance.

I did open up a ticket with support last night. The Support Tech walked me through all the troubleshooting steps, and I believe they connected to my system to check the performance, and from their end, all looked to be performing well when paired as duals. They did say that it is normal for one single sub to sound 40-50% more powerful than dual subs paired because the dual sub setup provides a more balanced experience. Maybe my expectations were just set too high when adding a 2nd sub. Perhaps I need to give myself time to adjust to the balanced sound instead of one sub booming from the corner. What's wild to me is that my EQ settings rattle the room at +6 Sub Level when it is a single sub, and to achieve the same results in the sub dual pairing, I need to set it to +14/15 Sub Level. It does sound good at +15. I worried that I would damage the subs at this high of a setting. The Support Tech ensured that they would not blow since the EQ settings allow for this much adjustable range.

I will keep my system at +15 for now as a Dual setup. Hopefully, one day Sonos allows for an update that allows them to perform at their full potential when paired. Even if it loses 3dB when paired, that shouldn’t be the case. For the best performance and customer experience, the full power should be available, paired as duals or not.