Sonos Sub Gen 3 crackling/static sound

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246 replies

M
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Similar experience here, BE market. I think I may be one of the "lucky" ones with a fairly okay sample. Being in the 0.0001% top auditive range of population (since I have become 98% blind) I noticed it right away. As I removed and readded it from the system it went from the rattling to the static noise, which is far less annoying in my opinion. Adding ethernet kind of helped too, but not sure about that. Either way, I can hear it from about 6 metres away but my girlfriend only did when she was holding her ear in the sub (even with 2% vision, a very pleasant sight ha!), which seems less than what some of you are experiencing. Fearful of it deteriorating though. 

I'm planning to contact support and redirect them to this thread, waving the request or counter-proposal for a substitute which is just wasting their time really, especially in this pandemic situation. I hope that legally expressing my desire to return, but only once they are able to replace with a fixed production line extends the window to do so. From the positive help a lot of people seem to have gotten I'd say Sonos cares enough not to screw its' customers over on such technicalities. That alone is rare nowadays. 

Wishing the best to all fellow sub-owners and the people at Sonos who are probably stressed out of their mind to adress this as the complaints roll in. We don't buy these on the short-term, a solution might not be found in such time either. Hopefully they can find a way to fix and replace case by case rather than recalling. 

Z

Received my Sonos Sub 3 Gen yesterday. I can confirm the cracking noise as well. Very disappointing.

In case that only music is played you can hear a constant sum noise like a harddrive. If sound is coming from TV over the Sonos ARC you can hear a cracking noise in regular intervals that is louder.

i will get in base touch with the Support on Monday.

At the moment I am not sure how to proceed. It seems that replacements do have the same error. 

Did some more tests. Connected all speakers (ARC, Sub, 2x One SL) using Ethernet to a switch. Disabled WiFI on each speaker.

The cracking noise is gone! In a LAN-Setup the system works as expected.

I am using a FrithBox 7590 as Router in the basement. In the ground floor and upper floor there is a FRITZ!WLAN Repeater 1750E each. The FritzBox 7590 and both FRITZ!WLAN Repeater 1750E build a Fritz Mesh. WiFi is repeated WiFi-to-WiFi on the FRITZ!WLAN Repeaters. At the moment I assume that the annoying noise at the Sonos Sub is caused by this WiFi-Mesh configuration.

Has anyone had this experience too?

What can I change on the Fritz Mesh so that it works with the Sonos system without background noise?

When the going gets tough I replace the Fritz Mesh.But what would you recommend? The WiFi must work on three floors. Preferably with just one WiFi SSID.

R

Hmmm - Gutted to say that my new Sub Gen 3 is doing the same. This is the my first Sonos system having finally taken the plunge last week. Thanks for the ongoing support of this thread. Will contact Sonos support on Monday. Despite the Sub issue I’m absolutely blown away by the Arc. Ready Player One with the Dolby Atmos sound track was ridiculous! I just cranked up the volume and the humming Sub issue went away (as in drowned out 😂)

D

Received mine today (Netherlands) and can confirm the issue is indeed still very much there. I'm still testing but would call it deafening in some cases.

 

Serial 54-2A-1B

I bought mine from bol.com (NL), not sure what to do if all units are the same.

Z

Received my Sonos Sub 3 Gen yesterday. I can confirm the cracking noise as well. Very disappointing.

In case that only music is played you can hear a constant sum noise like a harddrive. If sound is coming from TV over the Sonos ARC you can hear a cracking noise in regular intervals that is louder.

i will get in base touch with the Support on Monday.

At the moment I am not sure how to proceed. It seems that replacements do have the same error. 

T

Received mine today (Netherlands) and can confirm the issue is indeed still very much there. I'm still testing but would call it deafening in some cases.

 

Serial 54-2A-1B

T
Userlevel 1

@Krishma M can you please answer my previous question? I got my replacement and same issue.

D

I’m in the same boat, Belgium

SN: A200 2009CP 54-2A-1B-21-5C-6C-5

I can hear this noise even when no music is playing (by putting my year to the sub), when watching TV (with the Beam via HDMI arc)  the sound is more intensive, I can hear it well from 1m. 

Replacements won’t help as far as I understand here.

Unbelievable, no official response, nothing. What should we do all? I believe the number of actual faulty units is huge.

M

I have the same issue. Last week ordered the sub gen 3 and arc. When the sub is Connecting with the arc the static noise starts. Hopefully Sonos Gets it solved.

Yesterday my sub has been replaced. The static  sound is still there but not as loud and anoying as my first sub. So happy for now, hopefully sonos can fix the last bits via software.

S

I did go through 4 Sub = 3 replacements

 

Sub #1 and #2 sounded equally bad

Sub # 3 was even worse 

= all 3 of these I could hear a high pitch hissing and crackling noise from more than 3 meters away!

 

Sub #4 was ALOT better, but not perfect.

I can still hear the noise, but only from about 10-20 cm away.

Still, I am awaiting a permanent solution and hope that I will get a fully working replacement once  the fix is in place

S
Badge

I got my Sub yesterday, in Canada, the same noice as described by many here. 

serial number: 54-2A-1B

hardware version: 1.32.1.4-1.2

Just might have to return it, or I can hold on if Sonos guarantees a replacement when problem is fixed. I will wait for two days for any Sonos reply with a conformation on the, if not it’s going back to the store in two day.

 

Cheers.

 

T
Userlevel 1

@Krishma M Considering that this is  a production issue, will my return window be extended for keeping a defective sub? From my understanding you only have something like 45 or 60 days to return the product. Once this issue is fixed in your production can I contact you guys and get a guarenteed working replacement even if I am not within the prescribed timeframe to return?

andrewchiu1st
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

Hmm, I wish the replacement did solve my problem, haha! I requested 1 replacement, but it still has the same problem.

 

When I last checked with them, they wanted to offer another replacement but when I saw that people who purchased the device only recently are still having the same problem, I have some doubts that another replacement is going to solve the problem if it’s an issue with the production.

T
Userlevel 1

Update on my end: Spoke to support worker. Didn't even need to send in a video or do diagnostics. I just put my phone up to the Sub and he could hear the insanely loud ticking/hard drive-like noise. He insisted on a replacement, but I told him I didn't think that would work based on what I read on this thread. After referencing @andrewchiu1st 's case number he told me that a replacement solved the problem for him. I asked again because I wasn't so sure, but he insisted. 

 

This Sonos agent I pray to God is right because I am physically walking this sub 20 minutes away to return it. I don't own a car and told the agent that I would legit need to carry the sub to return it because I cannot use Uber / Don't have anyone in my bubble that drives (Covid). He once again insisted that a replacement would solve my problems and that they would check that it works before shipping out my replacement. Can @Krishma M confirm that this agent is correct before I break my back returning this sub? Thank you.

 

Edit: Just learned that they do scheduled pickup. Wish the agent would have mentioned this because he just kept saying "don't worry". Breaking my back is no longer a concern of mine. Hopefully the replacement will fix this.

T
Userlevel 1

@andrewchiu1st 

Your case file must be very long lol. The support worker has been reading it for a good 15 minutes 😂😂😂

andrewchiu1st
Userlevel 4
Badge +2

@TwoBiteBrownies 

Yes, I’ve shared the case number with you and just reach out to the customer service. It seems to me that this is still happening with the new units, I hope they can resolve the problem for good and send a perfectly working replacement as I think the issue seems quite wide spread.

 

T
Userlevel 1

I have this EXACT issue! What is the recommended course of action? I am in Canada. Thank you.

 

Should I contact support and reference Andrew's case number?

M

I have the same issue. Last week ordered the sub gen 3 and arc. When the sub is Connecting with the arc the static noise starts. Hopefully Sonos Gets it solved.

I

This problem seems to go back over 4 months. Why did they act like they had never heared of this issue before? This lack of quality and support is definitely not what I expected from Sonos. Do they even bother to read posts on their own forum?

Hi, there is another thread, look what sonos staff replied  to my post :)

https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/sub-gen-3-tickling-noise-6848879?postid=16488059#post16488059

I was going to buy the Sonos Sub but now I will wait for sure...

 

M
Userlevel 1

Received my Sub gen 3 a couple of days ago and found that it made a mains hum/crackle sound too. I spent over an hour talking to technical support and sending them videos of the problem. Eventually they agreed to send a replacement which should arrive on 23rd November. However, after reading this thread I don’t expect the replacement will be any better. I guess this is a hardware issue and won’t be resolved until they design out the flaw.

This problem seems to go back over 4 months. Why did they act like they had never heared of this issue before? This lack of quality and support is definitely not what I expected from Sonos. Do they even bother to read posts on their own forum?

 

 

S

Hi all, another update from me:

I have now gone through 4 units of Sub gen 3 and have finally found one that is “good enough".

It does still have the hiss/crackling sound, but from this unit I can only hear it from 5-10 cm away.

The other 3 units I have tried I could hear it from 3 m away.

 

Still hoping for a permanent fix from Sonos, but I fear that it might be hardware related?

I

Hi all, can you guys please confirm 1st gen does NOT have this issue? I’ve found a 1st gen Sonos Sub at a good price and would like to know if this generation is affected by this issue…

Thank you very much

M

I also have the same issue reported in this thread. Only bought the sub gen 3 a month ago.

G
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Hey all,

Just thought I’d give you an update from my end:
I got my replacement unit today and I used the option to send my old one to Sonos within 14 days = I have both at home right now.

After som testing I can conclude that they are both having the exact same problem.
One thing that I found out during testing was that it does matter what the Sub is paired to.
I tested to pair it to: Sonos One, Sonos Five, Sonos Arc and Ikea Symfonisk bookshelf.

Conclusions:
When paired to One, Five or Symfonisk - the sub has one specific crackling/hissing sound - mainly crackling. The volume of this noise is not too bad

When paired to the Arc, the Sub has a much louder, high pitch hissing noise. This I can hear from 3 meters away.

Contacted support again, sent them my findings, and their response was so send me yet another Sub.
If this 3rd Sub exhibits the same problem I will not bother accepting any more exchanges.


A Dropbox link to my recordings of the sound when paired to different speakers:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ntb6uwjl08vhzyk/AAC2gHkIpnHsVgm_b7YZ7ZK6a?dl=0

 

Note: When I made the recordings I had music playing to the speakers, but volume muted.
That is when this problem occur. When there is nothing playing, there is just a very faint crackling which does not bother me at all.

 

Could anyone with an Arc confirm my findings that the problem is worse when the Sub is paired to Arc compared to any other speaker?

I agree with you, it seemed to me that when I play music through TV, which is connected to ARC, the sub makes a louder crackling sound. 

S

Hey all,

Just thought I’d give you an update from my end:
I got my replacement unit today and I used the option to send my old one to Sonos within 14 days = I have both at home right now.

After som testing I can conclude that they are both having the exact same problem.
One thing that I found out during testing was that it does matter what the Sub is paired to.
I tested to pair it to: Sonos One, Sonos Five, Sonos Arc and Ikea Symfonisk bookshelf.

Conclusions:
When paired to One, Five or Symfonisk - the sub has one specific crackling/hissing sound - mainly crackling. The volume of this noise is not too bad

When paired to the Arc, the Sub has a much louder, high pitch hissing noise. This I can hear from 3 meters away.

Contacted support again, sent them my findings, and their response was so send me yet another Sub.
If this 3rd Sub exhibits the same problem I will not bother accepting any more exchanges.


A Dropbox link to my recordings of the sound when paired to different speakers:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ntb6uwjl08vhzyk/AAC2gHkIpnHsVgm_b7YZ7ZK6a?dl=0

 

Note: When I made the recordings I had music playing to the speakers, but volume muted.
That is when this problem occur. When there is nothing playing, there is just a very faint crackling which does not bother me at all.

 

Could anyone with an Arc confirm my findings that the problem is worse when the Sub is paired to Arc compared to any other speaker?

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