Retired Community Manager

14.12 Update

Changes to volume mapping and impact on Sub output

Thank you for your feedback regarding the recent 14.12 software update with Enhanced Clarity for Arc.

In this update, we made a change to Arc’s audio profile to improve dialogue clarity and the overall sound experience. This change is based on feedback from our listeners in the field and brings Arc in line with our other Home Theater products, resulting in a more accurate representation of the sound as intended by the content creator.

The updated tuning adjusts the spectral balance of Arc+Sub to achieve a more accurate representation of the sound and an improved sound experience. While the Arc+Sub output capability remains the same, the mapping of volume across the 0-100% range has been adjusted with this release which means low and mid volume levels are relatively lower compared to the previous tuning so you may need to adjust the volume slider to achieve your pre-update volume level. The maximum volume and bass output are unchanged. We acknowledge that this change was not made more clear in the release notes and in the future we’ll be sure to make sure we communicate these rare changes more effectively.

Please note, we have identified an issue for some users of Arc, Beam and Ray whose configuration includes a Sub (with or without surrounds), who may find their Sub output is lower than desired after performing a new Trueplay tuning.

Users with Beam or Ray bonded with Sub can increase the Sub level for a more powerful low-end response, however this won’t have the same impact for Arc users. Customers using Arc bonded with a Sub (and/or surrounds) who find their Sub output is lower than desired following performing a new Trueplay tuning, should temporarily disable Trueplay on Arc until this is addressed by an upcoming software update.

Trueplay tunings for Home Theater configurations without a bonded Sub are unaffected, including standalone soundbars and those bonded with surrounds only.

If you would like any assistance adjusting the sound of your Home Theater setup, the community is here to help. You can also contact Sonos support.

Moderation edit:

With the 14.18 software update, the above mentioned issues have been addressed, and the Enhanced Clarity for Arc adjustments are retained. There was a clear preference within our community for the previous volume settings, and these have been restored. This will be apparent immediately after updating to 14.18. The Trueplay issue has been fixed. Customers who experienced a lower Sub level after performing Trueplay after updating to 14.12 will need to update their systems and then perform a new Trueplay tuning in order to address these improvements in their system. Customers will hear a more powerful low end response, meaning any Sub level adjustments made after 14.12 should no longer be required.

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M

Marcellus H.

Trending Lyricist I

close friend has the exact set up and he updated his firmware. Pre upgrade I thought his bass was too boomy and now sounds more balanced …….he can still adjust his bass higher if he wants. So it doesn’t seem to affect him.

@Gubes Don't use trueplay and you should be able to adjust bass. It works for me. That feature always used to take out some bass for my room. Without trueplay I actually focused more on adjusting treble. I assume most Android only users don't even know of this drama.

People are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts.

N

nick776

Trending Lyricist I

Ladies and gentlemen, the way you get attention in situations such as this is to file a class action against Sonos which seeks to certify a nationwide class of all Sonos customers impacted by the FW Update. The basis of the class action would be claims under various consumer protection laws, ultimately depending on which state and venue the class complaint would be filed in. Complaining on here is not going to get the results you want. Sonos is a public company and nothing would hit the headlines faster than a misled customer filing a proposed class claim against Sonos in the Federal Court of the United States because of what was done with 14.12. I can assure you that large corporations take things such as this very seriously--so much so that they often bury class prohibition waivers in the terms of service to STOP people from filing them. Even if it were filed, it would still get Sonos’s attention where it needs to be. They could at least give a reason as to why they cannot or will not “roll back” to 14.10. You have to hit them where it hurts--their pocket books. A class action claim will do just that. Energy and focus is put to better use by pursuing a good lawyer who can file the complaint, articulating to that lawyer what the problem is, exactly, and ultimately getting it filed. Complaining on here is not doing anything. If Sonos is worried about ANYTHING, it is that someone will file a class complaint against them over this fiasco. I guarantee that.

R

Rich76

Hmmm. I am wondering what to do here. I want to finalize my new system before moving back into my apartment (currently renovating) at the end of October. I had my heart set on a Sonos system (Arc + Sub + One SLs).

Ideally I want this to be resolved before I get it. However, what is not clear to me is how many people it affects. My close friend has the exact set up and he updated his firmware. Pre upgrade I thought his bass was too boomy and now sounds more balanced …….he can still adjust his bass higher if he wants. So it doesn’t seem to affect him.

However, there is a good chunk of unsatisfied customers I can see here. I guess worst case is if I get it, I run it without true play until they eventually fix it? Or am I talking too big a risk?

One thing is for sure, if they do fix it, I am disabling automatic software updates. My experience with tech in general is to never assume it makes things better!

In my opinion, you’re absolutely mad for even considering a Sonos product.

I

Ian Sives

Enthusiast I

Hmmm. I am wondering what to do here. I want to finalize my new system before moving back into my apartment (currently renovating) at the end of October. I had my heart set on a Sonos system (Arc + Sub + One SLs).

Ideally I want this to be resolved before I get it. However, what is not clear to me is how many people it affects. My close friend has the exact set up and he updated his firmware. Pre upgrade I thought his bass was too boomy and now sounds more balanced …….he can still adjust his bass higher if he wants. So it doesn’t seem to affect him.

However, there is a good chunk of unsatisfied customers I can see here. I guess worst case is if I get it, I run it without true play until they eventually fix it? Or am I talking too big a risk?

One thing is for sure, if they do fix it, I am disabling automatic software updates. My experience with tech in general is to never assume it makes things better!

In my opinion, you’re absolutely mad for even considering a Sonos product.

Consider this….. if you bought a sound system and it broke under guarantee then you would have it repaired or replaced/refunded within a short period, 1 month turnaround max …

Well Sonos has broken our systems, they have at least admitted it for trueplay.l (despite their being more than that) They have not repaired it since 2 months which will surely go on to be 3, 4 maybe more or never. No refunds offered and little communication.

The fix doesn’t involve sending equipment back and forward, its a simple roll back to 14.10 or a software fix. A matter of minutes for a customer to apply the fix. No way can it take a company months to fix it.

Question to perhaps ask is do you want to buy from a company that treats its customers this way?

Keep in mind that they broke the system by forcing their software update and new sound signature. No choices were given to the customer. Yes we can also opt to not update but normally an update is to fix things not break them. Also not updating means less compatibility such as with phones.

At first i thought that the 14.12 update was just a big mess up on their behalf but the release of the sub mini and all following updates only being to benefit this device has made me look at the situation differently. They are not being honest or transparent with their customers.

lots of Sonos die hards on here that would say that the sound was and still is great despite anything sonos do. The people complaining like myself have come to this forum because we hear and noticed the problems on our systems. We are in no way making it up and are angry because investing several thousands in a system for it to be broken by the company itself is enraging. Lots of us had to save and work hard to afford to buy what we thought was top dollar products from a reputable company !!!

J

Jagielak

Trending Lyricist I

This issue has to be spread further to YouTubers , ask them to re review the system again, linked them on to this thread and Peter pee video covering this.

I know that people like Linus actually use Sonos and lot’s of other tech YouTubers does but getting the word out there will be a tricky part...

D

David22

Lyricist III

Adding my 2 cents.
Sonos has been a continual disappointment.

They position themselves as a premium brand but completely, utterly fail when it comes to aftersales/service. They are either incompetent and/or have no respect for their customers. It’s as simple as that.

Hoping that they further acknowledge their faults, and if they can’t resolve them quickly, at least give us reason to believe that they recognize the severity of the issue, how rightfully unhappy their customers are, and are handling it with urgency.

melvimbe

Ladies and gentlemen, the way you get attention in situations such as this is to file a class action against Sonos which seeks to certify a nationwide class of all Sonos customers impacted by the FW Update. The basis of the class action would be claims under various consumer protection laws, ultimately depending on which state and venue the class complaint would be filed in. Complaining on here is not going to get the results you want. Sonos is a public company and nothing would hit the headlines faster than a misled customer filing a proposed class claim against Sonos in the Federal Court of the United States because of what was done with 14.12. I can assure you that large corporations take things such as this very seriously--so much so that they often bury class prohibition waivers in the terms of service to STOP people from filing them. Even if it were filed, it would still get Sonos’s attention where it needs to be. They could at least give a reason as to why they cannot or will not “roll back” to 14.10. You have to hit them where it hurts--their pocket books. A class action claim will do just that. Energy and focus is put to better use by pursuing a good lawyer who can file the complaint, articulating to that lawyer what the problem is, exactly, and ultimately getting it filed. Complaining on here is not doing anything. If Sonos is worried about ANYTHING, it is that someone will file a class complaint against them over this fiasco. I guarantee that.

I’m curious to know what your experience is with class action suits is in similar situations to this. Are you a lawyer or work in a law office? Have you been involved in a class action law suits before? Have you done a lot of personal study on class action? Your language implies that you have experience in this to the point that you are very confident.

Danny

skullc

Prodigy III

Just did a complete reset of my home theatre system

Removed sub and surrounds and redid truplay

Straight away had to set treble at -6 later moved to -8 as dialogue spoken with the letter S or Ch sounded harsh to the point of the person sounding like they had a lisp

Also bass was gone from the sub and front soundstage was narrow with the surrounds taking over in power and the arc appearing like a centre only channel

I have returned to manually setting up the eq etc to make it usable

Before anyone posts that this patch was not a fix I know but another user had tried this with some success so I gave it a go in desperation…

It cost me 10-15 minutes of my time but I thought it would be worth it

I gained nothing but nothing was lost either....

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless

N

nick776

Trending Lyricist I

Ladies and gentlemen, the way you get attention in situations such as this is to file a class action against Sonos which seeks to certify a nationwide class of all Sonos customers impacted by the FW Update. The basis of the class action would be claims under various consumer protection laws, ultimately depending on which state and venue the class complaint would be filed in. Complaining on here is not going to get the results you want. Sonos is a public company and nothing would hit the headlines faster than a misled customer filing a proposed class claim against Sonos in the Federal Court of the United States because of what was done with 14.12. I can assure you that large corporations take things such as this very seriously--so much so that they often bury class prohibition waivers in the terms of service to STOP people from filing them. Even if it were filed, it would still get Sonos’s attention where it needs to be. They could at least give a reason as to why they cannot or will not “roll back” to 14.10. You have to hit them where it hurts--their pocket books. A class action claim will do just that. Energy and focus is put to better use by pursuing a good lawyer who can file the complaint, articulating to that lawyer what the problem is, exactly, and ultimately getting it filed. Complaining on here is not doing anything. If Sonos is worried about ANYTHING, it is that someone will file a class complaint against them over this fiasco. I guarantee that.

I’m curious to know what your experience is with class action suits is in similar situations to this. Are you a lawyer or work in a law office? Have you been involved in a class action law suits before? Have you done a lot of personal study on class action? Your language implies that you have experience in this to the point that you are very confident.

I am a lawyer. I am not trying to encourage people to file a lawsuit. I am merely saying that complaining on here is not doing anything at all. The members of the C-Suite do not care about complaints on forum posts. They do, however, care about stock price and things which may impact that.

M

msf

Lyricist III

@ skullc
Thank you for this information. Which iPhone you’re using? I know Peter Pee said the best one is mini 12 which i have, but i find better results with my daughter’s iPhone se 2. With the mini the center is too bright for me and much pronounced than everything else, so I don’t like it.

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Changes to volume mapping and impact on Sub output

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