Sonos Sub Gen 3 crackling/static sound

Gen 3 arrived today. 
 

The good news: it sounds great. 2 sub setup is not quite night and day difference, but ao far on limited testing the experience is more ‘cinematic’. (Shame they don’t allow toggle of either sub off on to aid comparison). 

The not so good news: there is most certainly a difference in the ‘silence’ of the Gen 3 vs Gen 2.  
 

Both do have a small degree of electrical buzz type noise if you put your ear next to the speaker port. But the Gen 3 is noticeably louder and has that little tiny cricket type noise - which to my ears sounds like some sort of resonance or secondary noise from the PSU in addition to the electrical hum. 
 

With the Gen 2 I have to practically put my ear in the speaker port to hear it. With the Gen 3 i can hear it about 0.5m away. Only just, but it is there.

Just thought of a test as I was typing this…. 

The tiny crickets go quiet as soon as I put the TV in Standby!!!! 
 

With the TV off the difference between the two subs is even more marginal. I think that the Gen 3 sounds ‘louder’ as the pitch off the electrical hum is higher than the Gen2. But I can’t hear either from my seating position 4.5m away from the TV…. so not sure if it is a show stopper - and when the TV is on I don’t plan to spend much time on my knees with an ear to the sub port. 
 

i’ll try some additional positional and environmental tests - placement and see what other kit interferes over the weekend and report back. 

I’ve no idea if Sonos had made any changes on the more recent builds compared to the early adopters. But to me it sounds like a shielding issue. It could be that the assembly quality control is hit and miss and that some suffer more than others. 
 

2x subs and play 5 rears does make for a very full surround sound though. The battle scenes in Fury which I used ad a quick test have a fair bit more ‘umpf’. Arc arrives in 2 weeks so will complete the ‘upgrade’ - assuming the damn thing works with the LG lol. 

Ended up going for the replacement. Few hours in, no issues so far.

Just received my new SUB Gen3 from Sonos. Checked the Hardware Version and it is 1.32.1.5-2.2 which appears to be newer than people are reporting earlier in this thread.

I’m pleased with the SUB, no issues at all, could the hardware update have solved the previous problems people were having or am I just lucky?

I’ve been following this thread and was decided to buy the sub from Sonos directly and it just arrived yesterday. Here is my setup and initial observations with the sub so far:

Setup

• Beam
• two Play:1s
• Sub gen 3
• Sony 950G TV connected via HDMI/ARC
• all speakers, TV and Apple 4K TV are wirelessly connected to the network

Sonos OS: S2

Sub version: 12.2 (build 61183251)

Sub hardware version: 1.32.1.5-1.1

Standby mode (nothing playing): Slight hum but I need to put my area right up to the sub to hear it and it’s not bothersome. It sounds like the hum my old passive speakers would have when my amplifier was powered on.

Music playback via Apple Music (not Airplay): Same subtle hum as in standby mode.

TV audio: I can hear a faint ticking noise when < 2 feet away. I definitely cannot hear it from my normal TV viewing position that is ~10 feet away.

At this point I’m pretty satisfied with the sub and don’t have any strong concerns with the humming and ticking noise. I do find it curious that I can only hear the ticking while watching things on TV and not with music playback, and it makes me think that there is a chance that the ticking noise could be software related but this is pure speculation on my part.

whilst we have different hardware versions - of the sub gen 3 - though can’t be sure there’s any material difference in components or build practise/quality. Your experience when the TV is powered on is similar to mine. There is something about the frequencies emitted from the TV when not in standby more that the Sub is picking up and not shielded from. 

Hi guys,

I received a new sub g3 today (just sent old one just two days ago!!!) and it is just pristine. No issues at all. Zero cracking / noises whatsoever. Double checked with multiples sources, like tv, AirPlay, streaming via sonos app and everything’s fine.

thanks Sonos support team!

@giovannichiappetto Thanks for sharing your results.

Seems like at this point there is not going to be an official fix for the sub g3 issues we are all experiencing. I am gonna roll the dice and ask for a replacement since it seems more recent replacements have the issues ironed out.

Glad I found this today as I am in the process of selling my Sonos Sub Gen2 to purchase a Sub Gen 3 using my 30% off coupon.

I’m thinking I should hold tight and keep the Gen 2 sub since it is working perfectly?

There’s only one reason to upgrade, as near as I can tell, which is to allow the use of two Subs in a home theater Sonos ‘room’. Beyond that, they have the same functionality. 

Hey guys,

I have a great update from Sonos!

“We have resolved the issue with a newly manufactured SUB; however, it has not been shipped yet to the market. As soon as it does, I will reach out to you to process the replacement and ensure that you receive it.”