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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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    Bruno Arrais
    Contributor I
    June 21, 2020

    Mine is also having the same irritating ratling noise. It is faint but for an overpriced product, I was expecting it to be dead silent.

      buzz
      buzz
      Grand Maestro
      June 22, 2020

      I’m curious. For some esoteric reasons that I don’t think that I could explain, it is possible that this noise will change from time to time, possibly correlated with time of day and/or with large appliance and air conditioning use. Is anyone observing this sort of correlation? Are you in a 120V or 220V area?

      Dropper
      Lyricist III
      June 22, 2020

      @buzz Im in the UK, so on a 240v system.

       

      andrewchiu1st
      andrewchiu1stAuthor
      Enthusiast II
      June 22, 2020

      @buzz 

      I’m not observing this correlation personally, the noise sounds like the same any time, even when large appliances are not in use and I don’t have a air con either.

      Canada is 120V.

        andrewchiu1st
        andrewchiu1stAuthor
        Enthusiast II
        June 23, 2020

        Reached out to Sonos support again and they’ve escalated the case to their Tier 2 support team. Scheduled a time on Thursday to go through the setup with them and I will keep you guys posted.

        Also updated the system this morning as soon as I got the app update but it didn’t seem to resolve the issue.

          andrewchiu1st
          andrewchiu1stAuthor
          Enthusiast II
          June 25, 2020

          Just spoke to the escalation support team over the phone.

          They think the fact that the crackling noise appears the moment it’s connected to the power outlet is something to do with electricity and not the software/firmware. Ran through the diagnostic and everything appeared to normal, but he said that the problem with electricity won’t show up in the diagnostic, however. 

          So, what they will do is to send me a power strip with electric stabilizer for me to test again and see if that can eliminate the possibility that the noise is caused by unstable electricity current coming out of the outlet. They will also taken into consideration that my other 5 Sonos speakers don’t have the same problem. If that still doesn’t solve the problem, I’d imagine they will examine the unit further in their lab and see if there is something out of the ordinary with the new Sub. They don’t want to send me another replacement that will have the same problem, which I appreciate actually.

          Will update more later!

            TapDatApp
            Enthusiast I
            June 25, 2020

            Just spoke to the escalation support team over the phone.

            They think the fact that the crackling noise appears the moment it’s connected to the power outlet is something to do with electricity and not the software/firmware. Ran through the diagnostic and everything appeared to normal, but he said that the problem with electricity won’t show up in the diagnostic, however. 

            So, what they will do is to send me a power strip with electric stabilizer for me to test again and see if that can eliminate the possibility that the noise is caused by unstable electricity current coming out of the outlet. They will also taken into consideration that my other 5 Sonos speakers don’t have the same problem. If that still doesn’t solve the problem, I’d imagine they will examine the unit further in their lab and see if there is something out of the ordinary with the new Sub. They don’t want to send me another replacement that will have the same problem, which I appreciate actually.

            Will update more later!

            Really appreciate the updates, thanks for keeping us posted. Glad they’re not just sending you a new unit as that doesn’t appear to be the fix. However, if this is a hardware issue, I’m skeptical they’d issue a recall. Very uncertain if an electrical issue like this could be at all resolved via a software patch. Luckily, the noise mine emits is truly impossible to detect unless my head is right up to the sub itself, but still uneasy about it being an issue in the first place considering the price of the unit.

              andrewchiu1st
              andrewchiu1stAuthor
              Enthusiast II
              June 25, 2020

              Just got an email from the escalation support team, it seems that they are able to reproduce the issue on their end as well.

               

              “Thank you for going over the details with me today.

              As this is an unexpected reproducible issue, I have met with few of our hardware and electrical engineers to review the diagnostics and videos gathered from your case. We have so far determined the issue to not be with your home electrical wiring based on the specific tickling/hissing noise level, and currently we are waiting for the one that you have already shipped back to confirm if the issue is at the hardware or software(drivers) level. 

              Having stated the above, a power conditioner/filter device will not help with this issue. Please bear with us as we are currently working on investigating this abnormality. 

              I will notify you via this email as soon as any updates become available in the following couple weeks.”

                TapDatApp
                Enthusiast I
                June 26, 2020

                Just got an email from the escalation support team, it seems that they are able to reproduce the issue on their end as well.

                 

                “Thank you for going over the details with me today.

                As this is an unexpected reproducible issue, I have met with few of our hardware and electrical engineers to review the diagnostics and videos gathered from your case. We have so far determined the issue to not be with your home electrical wiring based on the specific tickling/hissing noise level, and currently we are waiting for the one that you have already shipped back to confirm if the issue is at the hardware or software(drivers) level. 

                Having stated the above, a power conditioner/filter device will not help with this issue. Please bear with us as we are currently working on investigating this abnormality. 

                I will notify you via this email as soon as any updates become available in the following couple weeks.”

                This is a significant update! My thanks again for keeping the rest of the community posted. Hopefully it’s on the software level somehow. But interested to see what they will tell you next regardless. Glad to hear it’s been officially acknowledged. 

                brolin
                Trending Lyricist I
                June 26, 2020

                Just got an email from the escalation support team, it seems that they are able to reproduce the issue on their end as well.

                 

                “Thank you for going over the details with me today.

                As this is an unexpected reproducible issue, I have met with few of our hardware and electrical engineers to review the diagnostics and videos gathered from your case. We have so far determined the issue to not be with your home electrical wiring based on the specific tickling/hissing noise level, and currently we are waiting for the one that you have already shipped back to confirm if the issue is at the hardware or software(drivers) level. 

                Having stated the above, a power conditioner/filter device will not help with this issue. Please bear with us as we are currently working on investigating this abnormality. 

                I will notify you via this email as soon as any updates become available in the following couple weeks.”

                Excellent work from andrewchiu1st and SONOS support team.

                I am holding back my purchases until we get more update from the support team. But alas, I already sold my Sub gen 2… :joy:

                Andrewchiu1st, can you provide your sonos sub gen 3 hardware / version / build number so that we know which batch to avoid when buying again.  

                Its great to see the support team still working hard after the 12% culled.  

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