Answered

Stereo / Left and Right Channel Bug?

Forum|Forum|1 year ago
November 22, 2024
34 replies
1684 views

KylanX
Contributor I

Hello :)

I currently own the Sonos Arc Ultra. This is my first Sonos product. I have already asked google about my problem and searched here in the forum but have not found anything suitable.

My left and right speakers are extremely quiet. I first noticed this when I was watching normal TV. There were two channels that were broadcasting "Stereo PCM" according to the Sonos app. I had to turn the volume up from 10 to 20-26 so that I could hear anything at all. Then I turned on a 5.1 Dolby test video on YouTube to test the whole thing. I immediately noticed that as soon as the sound moved from the center to the left and right speakers, the volume was half as low. However, the Sonos app displayed 5.1. This leads me to the conclusion that it is only due to the left and right speakers.

I have already swapped HDMI cables. Switched everything off, restarted and checked all settings 3-4 times... Soundbar has already been replaced once because of the error. No improvement.

Interestingly, I didn't have this problem with the Bose Ultra or the Samsung Q990C.
Can anyone check this with the Arc Ultra? Is this the case for everyone? Or is the fault more likely to be mine?

Here are the two 5.1 videos I used for testing:

https://youtu.be/lWHFTCCSmks?si=UP4tbQISizP4WV2w

https://youtu.be/2o7wj2hWQNI?si=kuxeWec1S3vtVjjl

Would be nice if someone could test this for themselves.

Kind regards

Best answer by Corry P

Hi @KylanX

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

I was able to recreate the experience you are reporting with my own Arc Ultra with the centre channel sounding louder than the side channels.

Given the feedback that the previous Arc model received, I believe this is intentional.

There are three main improvements to dialogue with Arc Ultra via the placement of mids and tweeters and waveguides

One is Improved dialogue through standing wave mitigation with the integration of the Left, Center, and Right array
Improvements to dialogue are expected through adding a waveguide to the center channel and improving evenness of coverage using re-thought left and right arrays
The all-new speech enhancement feature. This gives customers more customization on the dialogue level they wish to listen.

In addition, I believe what you experienced with Stereo PCM is also expected - my nVidia Shield (the Android streaming box) has a dedicated setting just for boosting the volume of PCM sources to the same level as that of Dolby Digital, so I think this and what I mentioned above is compounding to make the Stereo PCM source sound even quieter. You may be able to circumvent this somewhat by telling your TV to always output a specific codec (like Dolby Digital +), but this may have unintended consequences (like preventing better quality formats like TrueHD or McLPCM).

I hope this helps.

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D700
Enthusiast II
Forum|Forum|11 months ago
January 27, 2025

@Corry P did you see the video example I posted in the other thread? Are you saying that’s working as designed?

+19

Corry P
Sonos Staff
Forum|Forum|11 months ago
January 27, 2025

Hi @D700

I am trying my hardest to say nothing at all!

It seems to work best when I don’t reply - I won’t be saying anything else.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein

D700
Enthusiast II
Forum|Forum|11 months ago
January 28, 2025

@Corry P thanks for your help, its good to know Sonos is paying attention. You made it a keeper for me, I’m confident whatever problems exist will get sorted.

FYI: I found one setting that was contributing to my problem, DTS DRC (Dynamic Range Compression) was enabled on my Google TV projector. While it doesn’t change system center volume it exacerbates the effect and was contributing to the “Wall of Dialog” I was getting. Disabling DTS DRC brought back back ambient music, sound effects to a large degree.

Might want to put that on the checklist for others complaining about center channel.

I’ve got an appointment with L3 on Monday for the center channel loudness , L2 was very helpful, very pleased with you and support.

Thanks again.

Rawjanus
Collaborator I
Forum|Forum|11 months ago
January 30, 2025

I just reached out to Sonos Support. They seemed unaware of any issue. The answer was that it was probably a design choice.

I pointed out, that it seemed a bit weird when sound panning from left to right, that it would start out low, then raise substantially in the center, just to go low again in the right side.

@D700 : I would be very interested in the answer from L3 :-)

Best regards

D700
Enthusiast II
Forum|Forum|11 months ago
January 30, 2025

I just reached out to Sonos Support. They seemed unaware of any issue. The answer was that it was probably a design choice.

I pointed out, that it seemed a bit weird when sound panning from left to right, that it would start out low, then raise substantially in the center, just to go low again in the right side.

@D700 : I would be very interested in the answer from L3 :-)

Best regards

Will do

D700
Enthusiast II
Forum|Forum|11 months ago
February 3, 2025

I just reached out to Sonos Support. They seemed unaware of any issue. The answer was that it was probably a design choice.

I pointed out, that it seemed a bit weird when sound panning from left to right, that it would start out low, then raise substantially in the center, just to go low again in the right side.

@D700 : I would be very interested in the answer from L3 :-)

Best regards

Just spent 40 minutes with L3 Support, very professional and got right to it. We ran tests at a few different volume levels, submitted diagnostics. He says they are actively looking into this and my case will remain open.

Rawjanus
Collaborator I
Forum|Forum|11 months ago
February 3, 2025

Sounds positive. Thnx for keeping me in the loop :-)

Logik
Lyricist I
Forum|Forum|10 months ago
February 17, 2025

Having the same issue, hoping for a fix.

Rawjanus
Collaborator I
Forum|Forum|10 months ago
February 18, 2025

Hi Logik

You really should contact Sonos Support. This can help push them for a solution.

Don’t let them brush you off with “it’s supposed to work that way”.

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