Sonos Arc Ultra center channel too loud

So I think I found your scene. I’m at the 1 hour 20 minute mark. The scene has bullets flying through the air. Those are just moderately audible. However, bullets hitting cars are very audible. If we’re talking bullets striking the shield, EXTREMELY audible. There is an increase in pitch toward the end of the scene you specifically mention. I found it to be a very satisfying listen. I’m on Disney plus watching in Dolby Atmos. Hopefully you find the same experience and don’t find unboxing and reconnecting to be a waste of time. 

Do the bullets hitting the shield shift left to right? Or just centered in front of you? Should be expansive movement  

Today i listened scene from the winter soldier. Zero l/r effects. As you say it’s sound like “telephone booth directly in front of the screen”.

true hd atmos

Unfortunately I have not seen this movie in theaters. Nor did I hear it on my other high end soundbar which I’m still waiting to be returned from its repair. So I have no means of comparison. 
 

I have done trueplays after each update because the sound profile was definitely weird each update. Including the recent one. I can definitively say I’ve heard certain improvements in ambient sound. 
 

Now to the movie. The bullets fly off the shield and the sound is enveloping throughout the room. But as one who has not seen this movie before now, the bullets deflecting do not have an ambient sound of deflecting right to left back toward the gunman. That sound is very faint like as in I had to put my ear next to the bar to hear it. I would trust the previous posters judgment regarding the movie. D700, my feeling, again without data to back it up, is that sound intended for the L or R channels is now more increasingly being mixed into the center speaker array than it was previously. Which would account for certain ambient sounds that I know for a fact I’m hearing now that I did not hear before. But to support yours and the previous poster’s point, if there’s definitive L—> R sound that the Arc Ultra is not accurately outputting then more work needs to be done. 

Of note, I have two arc ultras. One in the living room with sub 4 and 300s as surrounds. In the bedroom I have sub mini and 100s. The living room one has experienced changes in sound with each of the last three updates, each of which for me had required trueplay to balance it back. The latest one I went from about volume 15 to volume 25 to get a similar volume level. After trueplay it reverted back to normal. It feels like something is happening. But whether that something accounts for all the issues is another matter. I can say I went from extremely dissatisfied with the arc ultra to at least pretty pleased with how it handles sports, which is what I mostly watch. I just don’t know if that difference accounts for complete mix accuracy, which I feel my other soundbar had. Still waiting for its return via UPS. Not sure if I’ll set it up or not. I hated the bass on it. Loud, boomy. My fav thing about Sonos is the rich levels of bass you get with Trueplay. 
 

Finally, I don’t know if you’d find it worth unboxing and trying again based on my info. I don’t really want to be the reason you unbox and feel like it was a waste of time. But I’m also curious if you’ll detect any change in effect. 

So, hey, Sonos, forget about the Atmos test files. Focus on delivering cinema sound. Here’s a great example for you to work on.

I’m listening on Disney plus. For me the effects are all over the room. Including this specific scene. Like I said idk if I’m missing the L-R separation to which you refer but it definitely does not sound like it’s in a closet to me. I can also distinctly hear bullets strike two of the gunmen if that helps. 

How big is your room? How wide is your front wall?

New to Sonos and had a soundbar with sub and rear speaker from another brand before.

Sound of the arc ultra is great. But I have the same issue with front left and right channel. Sounds very strange for me. I thought I have problems with my ears at first. The soundbar I had before (still having it in another room) had very good seperation.

I have 30 days to return the Sonos system. Is there a workaround or anything I can do to get better left and right sound? Any updates from Sonos yet?

So. I’ve mentioned that I went from a high-end competitor’s soundbar system. It bricked in the spring. I had it repaired and moved it to my girlfriend’s house and just recently set it up. Watching football on it. Including same exact source and device I’ve used on the Arc Ultra for months. I’m watching Monday Night Football. Rarely, on ESPN NFL football (or other NFL games) has any ambient noise (e.g. QB calling signals) been louder than the broadcasters when watching with the Arc ultra. Not sure if I have ever had it happen and I measure decibel levels with some regularity. Not true with the competitor’s system. 
 

Do I think the Arc Ultra has improved since its inception? I do. Some mixes sound great. Which explains my posts above. But, the competitor’s system maps test tones at equal decibel levels to every channel. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the dialogue isn’t overpowering as it is on the Arc Ultra for certain mixes. We can go around in circles about test tones and how the Arc Ultra maps sound. I’m no expert on that. But I still strongly believe the mapping is simply not accurate compared to the intended sound mix. 
 

Here’s the ultimate thing. Why couldn’t the current default have been the “low” speech enhancement and the “off” position be authentic? Everyone could be happy then. Why have 4 speech enhancements on a system that is designed this way? 
 

As a sports fan, I really feel this. In movies the L-R channels impact at times, but you get most of your dynamics through the surround channels. In sports, the L-R channels have impact throughout. 
 

One year of this? Come on Sonos. 3,000 dollars should get you an accurate sound mix. 

Not to repetitive. But I buy this sort of thing primarily for sports. And for my affordability level this is such a large investment. Even a bad sports mix on the competitor’s bar sounds ok. Not so on the Arc Ultra. Certain sounds are muffled, probably those designed for the R-L channels if I had to guess. I’ll try increasing treble and toning down bass. Though I thought trueplay already handles that with accuracy. 
 

I see that D700 already reached L3 support. As such, I’m not going to attempt that route. I’m going to email Sonos directly with links to this info and hope that helps. 
 

I’m so frustrated and disappointed. Never suspected that this purchase would result in an inaccurate sound mix at its default level. Everything else is so good. Bass, tonality and clarity. One fix from dominating the competition. 

I had same experience with the few sports programs I've watched. 

I still hold out hope they’ll officially integrate support for front separates but they seem to be moving on from us and consider this a dead issue.

I don’t recommend Sonos to friends any more and I’ve got a house full of their stuff.

D700, you had written in another post that the L-C-R channel balance levels out at higher volumes. Say I lower max volume to 25% and raise the volume to 80. Would that alter the L-C-R balance more favorably as opposed to using Max volume and raising the TV volume to 20? It’s still the same volume in relative terms but wondering if the balance would somehow change by doing the former and increasing the volume slider higher. I hope this makes sense. 

I never got satisfactory sound for actual viewing….end up trying 5s for front left and right with Sonos sequencer , which solves the problems here but it’s not well integrated, other issues introduced.

Ran into this thread regarding use of Trueplayed speakers prior to Sonos sequencr integration. Maybe it would be of help to you. 
 

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/1o94884/you_can_use_trueplay_with_sonossequencer_front/