Sonos Arc Ultra center channel too loud

Yes … using a dB-meter and Dolby test signals I measure the difference to 7 dB. 
 

And my tv is definitely not smart enough to transcode and change the original signal … it is pure pass-through. 
 

I don’t use voice enhancements. 

Appreciate the response ​@Corry P. I imagine this is hurting sales. Likely worth it in dev costs to have a centre volume slider.

Many thanks.

​@Corry P 

I’m a big sports watcher. I replaced another high end soundbar system with the Arc Ultra, Sub 4 and Surrounds. I generally don’t regret my decision. But I will say certain sporting events do demonstrate a difference in width of sound between the two systems particularly on ESPN and baseball in general where background crowd hum can be heard on one bar but not the other. I’m wondering if the L/R channel phenomenon is more prevalent on certain mixes than others and if there is an engineering issue that can be remedied with software pertaining to certain kinds of sound mixes. 
 

Separately I have an idea. In lieu of a center channel slider might it be easier for Sonos to simply add a fifth speech enhancement category which would lower dialogue volume and surround volume for an authentic mix? This would benefit all of us. I generally enjoy the “off” speech enhancement position but would not mind one lowering dialogue and surrounds. It could be called “true mix” or “enhanced immersion” or something like that. Would that be an easier fix for Sonos than a center channel slider? When I listen to my center speakers in the Arc ultra, there’s not only dialogue coming out anyway. It seems to me like a mix enhanced speech enhancement category is the way to go. 
 

Finally, on certain sports mixes, engaging night mode makes crowd noise come alive. On other mixes the effect of night mode is not as measured. Any reasons?

Thank you for all the info you provide here as well. I know it’s not easy being in your position. 

This is a great idea 💡 

Is the simpler solution to allow additional Era 300 speakers to be added to the front?

Sonos customers then would have a legit surround sound system and Sonos sells more speakers. Am I the only see this as win-win for all involved?

If adding Era 300s to the front, would you then disable the left and right speakers in the soundbar for non-Atmos content?

What would be your suggestions for the height channels on the Arc and Beam when playing Atmos content?

If you would see speakers other than the 300s supported what would be your answers to the above for them?

Adding front speakers was tried and rejected for some reason.  There’s serious bandwidth and reliability issues to overcome with adding more wireless speakers to a Sonos soundbar, and it’s rather obvious what they came up with was not ready for primetime.

Several points:

1. While I get the desire to add front channel speakers to the system, not everyone who has already invested about 3,000 dollars into the system is going to want this. Frankly, a 3,000 dollar system should sound like a 3,000 dollar system. 
    
2. I had a 1,500 dollar soundbar system. Another top model. Prefer the arc ultra in most ways but on that system you could hear l-r channel audio more audibly than on the arc ultra immersive system. Same room same configuration. 
    
3. I’m a sports watcher as previously mentioned. My belief is that some mixes (not all) are not being properly processed on the arc ultra. This again is compared to my former configuration in the same room. Some mixes sounded nearly identical. Others the arc ultra mix of crowd noise just doesn’t compare. 
    
4. I should probably also put this in the surround sound change forum. But what I would love as a starting point until (if) this dialogue loudness issue gets fixed is a toggle option where you can choose whether or not to increase the surround level both on the soundbar AND on the surrounds. I actually liked that option for sports as it opened up the surround capability without affecting the balance between the arc ultra and the rears. 
    
5. Good news is when I toggle night mode for a 5.1 sporting event the ambient noise is much more present in both the front and rears. I don’t know why but it’s a measurable difference. To compensate for the loss of bass I put the sub to +5 and crank up the surrounds accordingly. There’s more balance and immersion. All in all a nice workaround. 
    
6. I’ve read people saying Sonos can’t win because they had so many complaints with Arc dialogue and now there are complaints in the opposite direction. My response is that there’s 4 speech enhancements. Isn’t that what the speech enhancements are for? When not using speech enhancement you should get the creator’s sound mix. Especially on expensive sound equipment. 
    
7. Again ​@Corry P thank you for all you do in terms of conveying our concerns. This is no way addressed at you. In my opinion there should be people in a decision-making capacity monitoring this community and providing feedback. Not only are we not getting what appear to be needed improvements, nobody in a decision-making capacity is providing feedback. That should not be the case in my opinion. 

I am dropping back into the thread to see if there have been any updates in Sonos’ view on making the center channel 4db+ louder than other channels by design. Seems like their view remains that breaking the Dolby standard and having the sound field off balance is a good idea and not worth investing in a fix for.

I banished my Ultra to the kids TV and have gone from a proponent of Sonos to an active anti-Sonos message for people that would consider replacing a traditional AV surround system. The Arc Ultra competes with consumer sound bars by focusing on spoken words dominating the audio field at the expense of all other channels. The original Arc competes with AV separates by properly (per Dolby) setting every channel to the same volume level.

Corry, appreciate your attention and comments in the forums supporting Sonos but please don’t mistake lack of repeating posts with accepting this behavior by the product. I’ll drop by again at the end of the year.

It’s really difficult to understand the rationale of Sonos here. Yes we know people wanted clearer dialogue than on the Arc. That’s because other premium soundbars have center channel adjustments for such a situation and the Arc only has one speech enhancement setting. Four speech enhancements should easily have achieved that goal while still leaving us with a setting enabling an authentic sound mix. 
 

Without measurement tools other than measuring decibel levels I’m strongly of the opinion that all mixes are not as equally affected. Meaning some mixes sound very similar in l-r separation to my prior system. Others are several decibels different. Or at least they were when I had both systems. That was several updates or trueplays ago. 
 

I think it’s not simply just a center channel/dialogue issue. I think certain mixes are mapped better than others for whatever reason. I could be wrong but that’s my feeling. 
 

This is a Sonos community forum. It’s directly affiliated with Sonos. There should be someone here who has the decision-making power to give us feedback. 
 

it’s such a shame. This system is one fix away from being top notch. Fix the balance issue and you have something that likely competes with full separate speaker systems.