I like that the dialog is very easy to hear without having to turn on any dialog adjustments. The problem is I barely hear the left and right channel audio. Background music is barely audible. I’ve tried it with both Trueplay turned on and off and there isn’t much improvement. I know the left/right channels are working because I hear music. Anyone else have this problem?
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Here was response I received from Sonos Support via email:
”…we have determined the center channel being louder than the side channels is expected behavior. We believe we are creating an audio experience similar to what the content creators had intended. With that being said, we will continue to listen, test and make changes to improve the experience.”
with cancellation of Pinewood, hope dwindles of adding separate fronts…unless they decide to port that feature to the Arc Ultra.
disappointing.
I think the only thing we can hope for is Sonos adding a Center Channel Audio level control feature in the Sonos app sometime in the future.
Hi All
I have made the following post which you may be interested in:
Please be aware that the change made may not relate to the specific problem stated here, but you may find that you will want to try adjusting the setting after installing the update, just to see if it improves matters for you in any way.
I hope Sonos will please continue push for ability to add separate front left/front right … would solve so many ills, boost sales and make a lot of people really happy. I’d have 2 ERA300s and another sub in my basket in a heartbeat.
I hope Sonos will please continue push for ability to add separate front left/front right … would solve so many ills, boost sales and make a lot of people really happy. I’d have 2 ERA300s and another sub in my basket in a heartbeat.
Hey
Hi
When signing in, the app should be taking you to the Sonos.com sign-in page in a browser - I take it that is where you cannot change your sign-in details?
Please try opening your default browser (the one that opens when you click on a link somewhere in an app) and signing in at login.sonos.com (or just click this link on the same device) with the same account with which your Sonos system is registered. Once logged in, go back to the Sonos app and try signing in again. As it is your browser that is auto-filling the sign-in details, this should get it to switch to the right account. If it does not, you may want to try clearing the stored passwords for sonos.com in your browser’s settings and try again (just be sure you know the password before doing so).
I hope this helps.
The surround sound standard for years is to volume balance all speakers at the listening position. When movies are mixed they are done so with this assumption as a starting point. Period.
The comment above from Sonos that these speakers are by design not able to recreate this sound field means it is not more than a low end Home Theater product. It should be treated as such. I’m aghast that the ‘reviewers’ just rolled with this volume offset and even praised the clarity of the center channel with dialog.
Finally, the obvious fix for this issue is to add a user switch to ‘enhance dialog’. I think users are familiar with this idea. Why in the world this isn’t yet adjustable is insane - but I’m guessing this product didn’t have a smooth road to the market and some idiot PM at Sonos decided he wanted it to act like a Vizio.
FYI, I migrated to Sonos from a high end AVR, traditional speaker system because it was a reasonable compromise on sound and WAF. If this is the new path I won’t be buying more Sonos. I look forward to seeing the announcement on a software fix for this at some point.
I suspect that the real solution for my situation comes with ability add dedicated fronts and put the Arc Ultra into dedicated Center/Height duty. With Pinewood cancellation, I’m hopeful they port that feature to their soundbars..I understand it was in beta testing a few years ago and was widely liked, really hope they enable it.
Hello everyone! I'm here to complain again... This loud center channel is really starting to get on my nerves. I've noticed that with the Ultra, I hear horizontal sound movement much less frequently. How do other users not notice this? They are barely audible. The central channel or speaker volume literally eats up the horizontal space in the content and draws all the attention to itself.
Why does the Ultra sound so narrow? Even the old Arc and Playbar didn’t sound like this. It’s frustrating.
All the reviews I read and the videos I watched highly praised the Ultra for its clear speech and dialogue—how crystal-clear and articulate the center channel sounds. But it seems the real "magic" was just an overwhelmingly loud center channel. Sonos could have simply boosted the center channel volume on the old Arc, and voilà—you’d have the same clear speech and dialogue. On top of that, they even added three levels of voice enhancement. I have no idea how deaf you’d have to be to use all of them at once.
If you watch movies in dubbed or non-original voiceovers, it gets even worse.
Honestly, I’m about ready to give up on Sonos if this is their idea of "normal"—something that contradicts common sense and even Dolby’s recommendations.
Yes, I’ve had other soundbars and a full AV receiver system, and I’ve never experienced anything like this. I ordered a Samsung setup, and in the same movies, I can clearly hear sound movement in the horizontal plane—it just sounds wider, even though it's worse for music. But I returned it for now, hoping Sonos will fix this. I’ll wait until June.
I’m thrilled to have found this post and thread, as I genuinely thought I was going crazy when watching TV shows / movies (generally streamed), and found it so weird that it was much less atmospheric than when watching compared to my last Beam Gen 1 setup, as dialogue was SO loud and yet the backing music was so quiet…
As per some previous commenter’s advice, I have factory reset my Arc Ultra and started from scratch, reconnecting my Sub 4 and not adjusting any internal settings (EQ / Trueplay), and leaving as default.
It’s noticeably better than before, but still not perfect - I’d still like to turn down the dialogue and ramp the music.
I find the Sonos support response that it’s how the creator’s intended to be completely false, given the night and day difference in tension / atmosphere / emotion that’s triggered by actually being able to hear the music / soundtrack!
I’m sincerely hoping What Hifi or another HiFi reviewer gets hold of this and they downgrade the review, which would force Sonos to do something about this!
Join the crowd. I’m hoping the new management will push through their backward thinking and just give us a pseudo channel volume control. Yes I know sounds are muxed, yes I know multiple drivers firing but surely then let us adjust volume for those dedicated FL/R drivers on the Ultra.
I added Front Fives with a 3rd party app and its nearly stellar...but having the opposite problem, now I need to nudge the Center channel up a few decibels in comparison to the Fives.
Again, Sonos, make us happy please, this can’t be that hard.
Agreed with this. The fact that after just a couple of weeks with the soundbar and I’m tempted to cut my losses, sell it and get a different brand isn’t ideal for a HK$15,000 (£1,500) setup of bar and sub.
On the other hand, I like my Arc Ultra Sub (Gen 2), One and One SL set up as it is. If Sonos would decide to change its behaviour, please make the “New Coke” sound a choice.
On the other hand, I like my Arc Ultra Sub (Gen 2), One and One SL set up as it is. If Sonos would decide to change its behaviour, please make the “New Coke” sound a choice.
Ouch!
Were just asking for the ability to adjust Front Left/Front Right and Center Loudness, no different than the sliders already available for Surround, Height and Sub
Many thanks
G
Hi
I don’t think either of us will find out before it happens - if it happens.
I noticed the same with my new Arc Ultra. At first, I was very pleased with the clarity during dialogues, but now I have noticed with many films (Atmos or D5.1) that in scenes where the music or effects should be in the foreground, they come across very quietly. I used a Dolby test video to listen to the individual speakers, and yes, the left and right front channels are much quieter than the center or even rear speakers (tested with and without speech enhancement). Is this intentional on Sonos' part? I wonder why I bought a $999 soundbar when my built-in TV speakers convey more “action”. It would really help if you could adjust the volume of the center and front speakers in the app.
Having basically the same exact issue.
Here is my setup. LG G4 77 inch, Arc Ultra, Sub 4, pair Era 300s, and Xbox Series X.
Issue I am having is what seems to be center channel on Arc Ultra not producing proper audio.
REALLY notice it in Borderlands 3 when NPC is talking. Dialogue is incredibly low or nonexistent when it should be VERY present in the foreground, since NPC is right in front your character. If do turn my character on screen at just certain diagonal position in relation to NPC, it provides little better audio. Elder Scrolls Online when completing a dolmen, after all the pinions are closed, and Molag Bal is speaking (offscreen, but speaking “overhead”) right before final enemy drops, Molag Bal is near impossible to hear.
But all other audio, in the moment, in both above examples are completely normal. Just dialogue being the issues.
Neither of the above examples EVER happened when used Bose Lifestyle 650.
It is so very noticeable. Not only ruins any fun in playing the games, but really, really, has me regret purchasing the complete Sonos system.
Not sure if you’ve read through all the threads...but I managed to document this problem with Dolby Test Files, decibel meter, and videos of testing to Sonos. It went through support, navigated to an appointment with upper level support who spent hour with me virtually testing things, acknowledged it but subsequently a month letter said the official word on this from Sonos is “Working As Designed”
Since I was out of the return period, I made the best of it. I’ve added a pair of Fives as dedicated FR/FL via a 3rd party tool. Now my FL/FR are little strong compared to center but it's much better than Ultra by itself and really pretty good. (Fives are amazing by themselves). I am counting on Sonos in the next year deploying native support for separates, along with some channel level controls for Front/Center as companion to existing Surround/Height controls.
Long term, if they don’t, I’ll eventually sell it all and move to a competitor’s system that doesn’t have this limitation.
Alongside Sonos, I question the whole review ecosystem that failed to recognize this defect.
Update your Sonos speakers | Sonos
Yesterdays firmware did not change anything in this regard.
Just read yours and other post by member saying not do anything for center speaker. Will try when home and let you both know how it worked out.
Yesterdays firmware did not change anything in this regard.
Hi all, just want to share able confirm with Rawjanus that I noticed zero difference in any performance with speakers.
The system is so good, but it’s really hampered unnecessarily by the overly loud center channel. I really have my fingers crossed that Sonos will do the right thing and give us control of the center channel.
The system is so good, but it’s really hampered unnecessarily by the overly loud center channel. I really have my fingers crossed that Sonos will do the right thing and give us control of the center channel.
It would not only be wonderful, but honestly, a necessary update.
I came from using traditional L/R stereo speakers ( Revel M16 )
I bought the Arc Ultra because of all the positive reviews and because we wanted less clutter. How wrong I was .
Horizontal stereo spread is non existent - it’s basically mono - like an expensive centre channel. I do have two Era 100’s but I can’t have them in an ideal position. Trueplay does absolutely zilch to help.
ok , I have been spoilt by the Revels but there is a distinct honky resonance in the treble area especially on certain female vocals…oh for a parametric eq!
I doubt that Sonos will do anything about the unbalanced centre channel as they think nothing’s wrong.
it looks like I’ll be moving on in search of the elusive but they really are spoiling what could be a great product.
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