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andrewchiu1st
andrewchiu1st
Enthusiast II
June 15, 2020

Sonos Sub Gen 3 crackling/static sound

Hi guys,

 

I just bought the Sonos Arc and the new Sub Gen 3 and I paired them with 2 Sonos One (Gen 1) speakers for the surround setup.

Yesterday I noticed that while idling and playing, there are some tiny constant crackling/static/electric current sounds coming from the brand new Sub and I found it quite irritating. So what I did first was to make sure that the connection with the power cord is secure, which it was. Then I tried to remove the Sub from the group, factory reset it and added it back to the system. But the same issue persists.

I don’t suppose this is normal, right? Does anyone has a similar issue with the new Sub?

I’ve checked my Sonos Arc, One and Beam and none of them has this issue.

Since I just bought it from Best Buy last week, should I return it and get a new one to see if it’s something wrong with the one I’ve got? 

It’s not a cheap device and I don’t want to compromise on its quality.

 

Thank you all!

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    246 replies

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    Mansfield46
    Lyricist III
    November 2, 2021

    Hi @Livius21,

    thats what I call timing. 😂 

     

    Let me give you the current status of my story:

    Just for your information I am from Germany. Ordered my Sub Gen 3 with my ARC 24.9 on the Sonos Website. All fine. Compared it to a Bose 900 with Sub and found the Sonos ARC way better. Cheers Sonos.

    I then started to watch some quiet horror/thriller movies. There I realized there was some buzzing noise…Sitting 3 meters away from the sub. Found this thread. Exactly the sound from the dropbox link above. Checked I had a A202, which should have solved the problem.

    Then I reached out to the Sonos the support as @Corry P advised me to. Exchanged it and received the replacement unit today. The sticker said “refurbished certified” and A201. I was instantly like nice I order a full price product something is not working and then I get a refurbished one for full price… 

    I instantly called the Sonos Support. The guy on the phone was really nice, checked the serial number and told me it is labeled refurbished, because the Sonos team checked the Sub internally and it was never sold to a customer. So if thats true, then its not a problem for me, otherwise it definitely would be.

    Right now, I just added it to my ARC, turned it on put my ear near the sub and what do I hear, yes you are right the buzzing, it seems a little higher in tone. I will check it this evening with some horror movie and if its the same volume as the A202 and I hear it from 3m away, I will have to call the support again. For a product worth 849€ I am not accepting this, since the Bose Sub did no noise at all.

     

    Thats all for now,

    Mansfield46

      Judge_Cookie
      Lyricist III
      November 4, 2021

      Hi @Livius21, @Mansfield46 and all the others,

      just got the 2nd exchange device today (remember: 1st one was a brand new Sub Gen. 3 A202, 1.32.1.6-2.1, 2nd one was a refurbed A200, 1.32.1.5-2.1). It is again a refurbed model (A200, 1.32.1.5-2.1). 

      So, what should I say? The annoying “crackling” noise in idle now is gone! Cheers, Sonos! 

      But as @Mansfield46 mentioned above: a “refurbished certified”-labeled product is fairly not a brand new one (which could be even relevant in case of reselling it in future) as ordered and paid for… will talk about that with local Sonos support. I’m confident that a solution will be found for this either. 

      Wish you all the best!

       

       

        Mansfield46
        Lyricist III
        November 4, 2021

        For me it is sadly not solved, I need to replace mine again…

          Judge_Cookie
          Lyricist III
          November 4, 2021

          For me it is sadly not solved, I need to replace mine again…

          Annoying to you, no doubt. But the good thing is: there seems to be a technical solution in general…  

          Mansfield46
          Lyricist III
          November 4, 2021

          Honestly I am thinking about returning it and buying it again on Black Friday for less…

            Livius21
            Lyricist III
            November 5, 2021

            So helpful to read about other cases and share all our experiences regarding this Sub topic here. 
             

            What about all the US or North American customers with this problem? Everything solved or did you give up? :-) 

            @andrewchiu1st

            @ChetBaker

            @cstyow

            @ghflow

             

              ghflow
              Trending Lyricist I
              November 5, 2021

              So helpful to read about other cases and share all our experiences regarding this Sub topic here. 
               

              What about all the US or North American customers with this problem? Everything solved or did you give up? :-) 

              @andrewchiu1st

              @ChetBaker

              @cstyow

              @ghflow

               

              Yeah I’ve pretty much given up. Went through 4 exchanges last year and the the one I ended up with still has the same problem. It was better than the other ones though, and I couldn’t hear the noise unless I place my ear very close to the opening. 

              I still think Sonos’s lack of response is unacceptable. Based on your experiences seems like this problem is very wide-spread and haven’t been fixed yet. Sonos is charging 50 dollars more for the sub this year, and it refused to even acknowledge the problem.

                andrewchiu1st
                andrewchiu1stAuthor
                Enthusiast II
                November 6, 2021

                Unfortunately I still haven’t heard back from Sonos support. I reached out about 2 times earlier this year and I was told that as soon as the new model becomes available, they will reach out to process the replacement and ensure that I receive it in time.

                So I was quite surprised that other people are starting to receive the new model and no one from Sonos tried to get in touch with me. I don’t want to go through another exchange and get another unit with the same problem.

                  Livius21
                  Lyricist III
                  November 8, 2021

                  Ouch. 😔

                   

                  I don’t want to sound too pessimistic but that kind of feedback from @andrewchiu1st and @ghflow does not sound that good in my HiFi ears.
                   

                  I would have hoped for a solution from Sonos especially for those initial cases from a long long time ago …

                   

                  @Corry P Any new wisdom for us?

                    bizzy
                    Lyricist I
                    November 12, 2021

                    Original launch unit (with Arc preorder) A200 1.32.1.4-1.1 chirps, hisses, and humms very audibly/loudly.

                    Just received an advance unit that looked BNIB (sealed retail packaging) RMA A201 1.32.1.6-1.1 and have them side by side.

                    Noted that both had fingerprints on the woofers (from factory/packaging as I did not touch the insides at all).

                    During setup/update of the new unit the wifi/processing activity chirping was still audible but significantly muted. 60 Hz buzz is more muted, activity chirping is significantly less frequent and less audible but still present, and the constant hissing is significantly less/almost eliminated.  Am mostly satisfied after a quick 30 min test, but will need to give it some more time to see if it’s still noticeable during movies.

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