Sonos Arc Ultra center channel too loud

I spent some time today investigating the issue. I got out my old World of Wonder (WoW) Blu-ray which has calibration tools along with a tripod and sound level meter. Went through the same steps as the old days before channel volume level setting became automated.

I found that the Arc-Ultra runs about 4db hot in the center channel compared to the front left/right. This was the same with both types of Trueplay as well with Trueplay off. I also found that Trueplay set the surrounds (Era 100s in my case) 10db or more louder than the front channels. Home theater as instructed by Dolby is that all the channels should be the same volume level at the seating position. We are way off.

So I contacted Sonos Support. And after a false start of the Chatbot explaining that in the EQ settings I can reduce the center channel volume (which is not a feature...) I got an agent. She said that this issue is unexpected and opened a case and suggested I call in to get a level 2 agent. There was a 30 minute wait on the phone so I swapped back in my Arc for comparison.

The Arc had matching volumes across the front three channels immediately. After running Trueplay the center was elevated by almost 2db and the surrounds were between 0db and 2db. The subs ran 10db+ too loud. But that was adjustable in the app. 

So for some reason Trueplay gave a terrible result with Arc Ultra as the host but did fine with the Arc system. 

Subjectively I find the Arc Ultra in my system (with dual subs and Era 100s) in a large room to be a poor performer in comparison to the Arc. It struggles with imaging in the front stage due to the volume differences in the channels and seems to also struggle with placing objects in the surround channels (there are other threads regarding this in 5.1 specifically). 

I’ll note that all the dialog enhancement stuff is off, loudness off and the speakers are all ‘up to date’ as of 3/1. Honestly I’m sad that this seems to be a shared issue and confused that this didn’t get flagged in the reviews. Is there a chance there is a defect in just some units? 

For those that want to try a test video here is one from youtube. All channels should be at the same volume. 

Did you manage to talk to level 2?

Every time I have talked with Sonos I get the same answers; “we are unaware of any such issue” and that’s how it’s supposed to be”. 
 

They don’t seem interested in helping. 

There’s a handful of us that have all replicated all that, so it’s known.  I recorded a video of the anomalies using meter and sent in, then they made an appt and I ran through it all with a L3 person. I found that LR/C delta increased as system volume decreased and vice versa. My Arc Ultra is in the middle of 30’ wall and the L/R speakers fire perpendicular to the seating area, so I wonder if the bar was designed to depend on closer walls for reflection/reinforcement…but that’s speculation. 
 

FWIW L3 said they would leave my ticket open but I have not heard back since posts above

On a reddit thread I saw that someone claimed that LG TVs have a bug that has the AI mess with the sound in some cases when set to Pass Through. I am using an AppleTV to a LG to the Sonos. But looking at my settings all the AI Audio is turned off as recommended.

Have you guys compared notes? My Ultra is boxed up to be returned based on its behavior and this thread’s common experience but I’m still baffled on why this hasn’t been caught in reviews. 

Mine is a TCL tv and I have the same issue. 

So as I mentioned in another thread, I’m currently auditioning both the Sony Bravia theater quad and the Arc ultra with Eros 300s and the sub 3 (I already had the sub from a previous system). As I continue to test both systems, some of these Sonos issues are becoming more bothersome. The center channel issue is painfully obvious as is the rear surround issue, particularly when you run any of the common sound level checks. In fact it’s so obvious that it’s almost impossible to believe that Sonos didn’t see it before pushing the system out. It’s also a head scratcher that none of the reviewers caught this. 

I also have a bit of an issue, which I haven’t seen reported here, with dialogue when I A/B the Quad vs the Ultra system. Although dialog intelligibility is very good on the Ultra, there’s a bit of sibilance in some dialogue on the Ultra that I don’t hear on the Quad. I’ve run numerous TruPlay calibrations, tried turning TruPlay on & off and obviously played with the equalizer as best I could. Yet switching to the Sony, the dialogue just seems smoother without the sibilance. I’ve also turned off any speech enhancement which obviously can contribute to this issue. The front channels, despite the Quad having only a phantom center, are unquestionably better balanced (as are the rears) when performing the typical level tests, but I don’t think that’s related to the sibilance issue. Does anyone else hear this?

I was definitely leaning toward keeping the Ultra, but now I’m really torn. My wife thinks I’m neurotic with the number of times I’ve switched the HDMI cable from the Sony control box to the Ultra…I probably am! ;)

L3 responded today, still actively working the issue.

L3?

Level of customer support

Hi, 

Just wanted to let you know that I am also experiencing the same issue with the center channel being too loud. 

Hope this get’s fixed!