Seems like a physical issue with the PC board. They may need to replace a board. In other contexts I’ve seen adhesives used to stabilize components become conductive over time (years) and cause issues. In either case a physical interaction with the SUB internals is required.
So there is actually some benefit to getting old then?
Yes, eventually The Beatles will be introducing new music --- every day!
Seems like a physical issue with the PC board. They may need to replace a board. In other contexts I’ve seen adhesives used to stabilize components become conductive over time (years) and cause issues. In either case a physical interaction with the SUB internals is required.
Here we’re talking about six units (plus the other had/sent back by the other thread participants).
I agree with you, the fix will likely be that, but they first need to address the issue and make an “A203”.
The question is, why 2 years passed and the sub still suffers from the same issue? Why can’t this be solved? Even simple acoustical isolation of the board could reduce this issue (we are talking about high frequency noise)
I mean… look at the “related topics” I get on my left bar:
It is a serious thing
Even simple acoustical isolation of the board could reduce this issue (we are talking about high frequency noise)
Maybe. There could also be conduction to, then radiation by the enclosure. This could be somewhat explored by temporarily blocking the ports with a high frequency absorber or with varying microphone positions. Radiated noise will tend to exit through the ports or driver membranes.
If there is electrical leakage on the board, the noise might appear as input to the amplifier. In this case the noise is emitted by the speakers. My conductive adhesive could do this, but it typically requires many years for the adhesive to become conductive. These factory fresh SUB’s are likely too young -- unless they are using a “new improved” adhesive that I have not experienced.
I can also imagine the factory introduced some sort of production change causing an issue that was not present in the development lab or early production. And, this change might not affect every unit. In this case the engineers can pull a few units from stock and not observe the issue. Years ago (before SONOS) there was a speaker driver from a well known model that started to fall apart in shipping. This was both brand new speakers and replacement parts. It took some weeks to track down, but it ultimately came down to parts assembled by a single person on the production line over a few day period many weeks prior to the failures.
Based on my conversation with Sonos Support in the past couple of months, there is definitely still a known issue with the Sub A202, they advised not me not to replace again for the time being because I will most likely hear the same issue, so that does not indicate to me that this is a rare occurrence. The pop sound from standby definitely should not be happening, and it should be completely avoidable with a “soft start” circuit so the surge of electrical power to the amplifier when powering up from standby doesn’t cause a pop sound. This soft start circuit is standard on premium amplifiers so people won’t hear an annoying thud or pop sound when the amplifier is being powered up, here’s an example of a soft start module: https://theaudiocrafts.com/soft-start-module-audiograde
I think the low crackling sound is perhaps indirectly related because of poor electrical shielding within the Sub that is causing inference on the amplifier. Either Sonos can’t source enough supply of quality components to provide features like soft start, or there’s a fundamental design flaw in the Sub Gen 3. Now that supply chain constraints are easing, I will be leaning more to this being a design flaw if people receiving new Subs manufactured in recent months are still presenting with the same issue.
Based on my conversation with Sonos Support in the past couple of months, there is definitely still a known issue with the Sub A202, they advised not me not to replace again for the time being because I will most likely hear the same issue, so that does not indicate to me that this is a rare occurrence. The pop sound from standby definitely should not be happening, and it should be completely avoidable with a “soft start” circuit so the surge of electrical power to the amplifier when powering up from standby doesn’t cause a pop sound. This soft start circuit is standard on premium amplifiers so people won’t hear an annoying thud or pop sound when the amplifier is being powered up, here’s an example of a soft start module: https://theaudiocrafts.com/soft-start-module-audiograde
I think the low crackling sound is perhaps indirectly related because of poor electrical shielding within the Sub that is causing inference on the amplifier. Either Sonos can’t source enough supply of quality components to provide features like soft start, or there’s a fundamental design flaw in the Sub Gen 3. Now that supply chain constraints are easing, I will be leaning more to this being a design flaw if people receiving new Subs manufactured in recent months are still presenting with the same issue.
You perfectly presented the current situation, I may add that it is really bad given the Sonos positioning and the premium prices.
I’m currently stuck with a chirping sub that I had to disconnect from the system.
The support just forwarded my case to the US engineering team, but I’m not so confident there is a flawless unit being manufactured right now.
Wondering if the sub mini (a part from the plastics/assembly problems) suffers from the chirping and standby issues
I also had the sub replaced this week and the problem continues. Sonos has been aware of this problem for at least 2 years and it remains unsolved. It's time to collect and repair the subs or guarantee replacement to customers with a new version (A203??) or with a new generation.
You perfectly presented the current situation, I may add that it is really bad given the Sonos positioning and the premium prices.
I’m currently stuck with a chirping sub that I had to disconnect from the system.
The support just forwarded my case to the US engineering team, but I’m not so confident there is a flawless unit being manufactured right now.
Wondering if the sub mini (a part from the plastics/assembly problems) suffers from the chirping and standby issues
Sadly, yes, I can report that my partner’s Sub Mini has been similarly plagued (all 3 of them…).
Morning all from the UK, thought I would throw my name in the hat to this (2 years later).
Not long had my system (Arc, Play 1’s, Sub and Beam), noticed yesterday this was happening whilst the sub was idle. Had no clue what the noise was until I followed it straight to the sub.
Quick Google brought me here. I’ll be phoning Sonos today to start whatever process has to be started. Series number for me is A202. Once again forums to the rescue.
Apologies to re-ignite an old thread but I’m looking for assistance.
As mentioned above my Sub was faulty - same crackling issue. I contacted Sonos support who - initially - were great. They took some diagnostics and asked for footage/sound clip of the Sub crackling. I sent this over and they forwarded me the returns label.
I organised the return with DHL who collected the sub made it back to their Euro warehouse in Poland on approx 12/05/2023. Since then I have heard nothing from them…..
I have sent numerous emails with very little response and when I phoned them (17/05/203) they advised the replacement sub was due to be sent out by the end of that week. Nothing has arrived.
Now when I try contacting them the wait times are ludicrous and no one is reponding to my emails. I’m pretty shocked at how bad the service has been from this brand. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m hoping I am a minority in this aspect.
Apologies to re-ignite an old thread but I’m looking for assistance.
As mentioned above my Sub was faulty - same crackling issue. I contacted Sonos support who - initially - were great. They took some diagnostics and asked for footage/sound clip of the Sub crackling. I sent this over and they forwarded me the returns label.
I organised the return with DHL who collected the sub made it back to their Euro warehouse in Poland on approx 12/05/2023. Since then I have heard nothing from them…..
I have sent numerous emails with very little response and when I phoned them (17/05/203) they advised the replacement sub was due to be sent out by the end of that week. Nothing has arrived.
Now when I try contacting them the wait times are ludicrous and no one is reponding to my emails. I’m pretty shocked at how bad the service has been from this brand. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m hoping I am a minority in this aspect.
Have you contacted the global sales team? If not, then perhaps give them a call. Here is their contact details:
https://support.sonos.com/s/global-sales-help
I
Apologies to re-ignite an old thread but I’m looking for assistance.
As mentioned above my Sub was faulty - same crackling issue. I contacted Sonos support who - initially - were great. They took some diagnostics and asked for footage/sound clip of the Sub crackling. I sent this over and they forwarded me the returns label.
I organised the return with DHL who collected the sub made it back to their Euro warehouse in Poland on approx 12/05/2023. Since then I have heard nothing from them…..
I have sent numerous emails with very little response and when I phoned them (17/05/203) they advised the replacement sub was due to be sent out by the end of that week. Nothing has arrived.
Now when I try contacting them the wait times are ludicrous and no one is reponding to my emails. I’m pretty shocked at how bad the service has been from this brand. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m hoping I am a minority in this aspect.
Have you contacted the global sales team? If not, then perhaps give them a call. Here is their contact details:
https://support.sonos.com/s/global-sales-help
Thanks mate I contacted them this morning; turns out my replacement hasnt even been organised and nobody seems to really know whats going on. I was so dissappointed.
The agent has now escalated it to the warehouse team who should be back in touch ‘between now and Monday’, again shocking.
I asked about their complaints escalation procedure and the guy had no idea, referred me to the forums and told me to email their CEO. He said he would try to organise a call back but seemed very non-commital about it. You pay thousands for a system and the aftercare is this bad, I don’t think so.
I’m really dissappointed in SONOS I expected so much better.
I
Have you contacted the global sales team? If not, then perhaps give them a call. Here is their contact details:
https://support.sonos.com/s/global-sales-help
Thanks mate I contacted them this morning; turns out my replacement hasnt even been organised and nobody seems to really know whats going on. I was so dissappointed.
The agent has now escalated it to the warehouse team who should be back in touch ‘between now and Monday’, again shocking.
I asked about their complaints escalation procedure and the guy had no idea, referred me to the forums and told me to email their CEO. He said he would try to organise a call back but seemed very non-commital about it. You pay thousands for a system and the aftercare is this bad, I don’t think so.
I’m really dissappointed in SONOS I expected so much better.
Ah it sounds like something must have gone awry on this occasion - it’s not something I see often mentioned on these boards but I guess that’s no satisfaction in your case. At least it sounds like the matter is now back in hand and being sorted by the Staff. So hopefully you will get your Sub soon.
Thanks for the tip; I’ll definitely press Pause on ordering the Sub 3… maybe the Sub 4 in 2025 will be “fixed”. *digresses* I got the cheaper sub a month ago, and it’s been a champ so far.
Ah, I see, a 6 month old thread.
I didn't have this problem until I connected to my new TV yesterday and it's driving me crazy now!!
I got a 65" Hisense tv as it's newer and also had the eArc.
I can't believe this problem with such an expensive bit of kit.
It's unbearable!
There was a recent thread that suggested that for Hisense TVs, you needed to change the setting fom ‘pass through’ to ‘Auto’….or perhaps it was the other way around. I don’t own a Hisense to confirm.
If that doesn’t fix your issue, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.
I'm not tech savvy unfortunately.
What setting do I need to change please?
Since I’ve never owned a Hisense, any instructions I’m giving would be hazy at best, but somewhere in the settings for the TV set would be an area for Audio Settings. Somewhere in that area would be something that likely say Digital Audio, or ann option along those lines. I suspect it has at least two options, either ‘pass through’ or ‘auto’. Flip it from what it is now to the other and see if that fixes your issue.
Or, you could call Sonos Support directly to discuss it. They probably have better information than I do.
