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Sonos Arc Problems

  • November 20, 2022
  • 5 replies
  • 92 views
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I've just upgraded to the Arc today thanks to the Black Friday deal from the Beam Gen 1 (also have Sub Gen 3 and 2x SL One surrounds) and this Arc sounds terrible! It's thin and somewhat quiet, my surrounds seem massively louder than the arc (I've had to turn them down from +4 to -7 just to balance them) and there's just no punch! My beam Gen 1 seemed much better I'm at such a loss I don't know what to do next. I'm hoping it's just a terrible update as I've swapped between 4.18 and 4.19 I've done the usual retune and this thing is terrible. I'd plug my Beam back in but I've already mounted the new bar and plugged and painted the old screw holes... I guess my next move is to factory reset everything, has that ever worked for anyone? I'm all ears if anyone has any advice?...

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5 replies

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What model TV is the Arc connected to? Have you performed Trueplay tuning and adjusted the EQ settings? Is Loudness set to ON and Night Sound turned OFF? If you play a 5.1 or Dolby Atmos source, what audio format is displayed on the Now Playing screen in the Sonos app?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
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  • Ravenshead
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • November 20, 2022

Samsung Q80T 75" Yes have done trueplay and had to significantly alter eq as stated to try to balance it... Had to reduce surrounds to -7 to balance where as they were at +4 with my Beam. :-( Sub seems to have lost some impact as well (like pre 4.18).

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  • Ravenshead
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • November 20, 2022

All different sources reporting correctly in the app... Atmos, DD 5.1, DD 2.0 etc... There is some small variation between the sources (weirdly 2.0 probably sounds the best) but none seem anywhere near as good as the beam. Also music streamed from Amazon seems to need to sit at 60% volume to sound as perceivably loud as the beam did in the same system at 40% and that seems wrong...

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If you play a 5.1 or Dolby Atmos source, what audio format is displayed on the Now Playing screen in the Sonos app? On the TV, do you have HDMI eARC set to Auto and Digital Audio Output set to Passthrough?

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
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  • Ravenshead
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • November 20, 2022

The app reports the correct source ie 5.1 or Atmos, the TV does have eARC set to auto and digital audio set to pass through. Technology wise it's all doing as it should, it's just very underwhelming sonically compared to the beam Gen 1 in the same room and same TV with the same surrounds and same sub :-( I was hoping for more of a "wow" moment from my not insignificant investment and I feel like I've gone backwards... It's even the same streaming music to it so the TV doesn't even feature in that equasion. 

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