Occasionally one of my S5's loses all bass reponse - it sounds like an old tinny transistor radio! It's not the equalization settings (according to my contraller at least) - bass is still showing set at midpoint, and moving it either way changes nothing. And it's not the source - same source linked to another S5 at the same time sounds normal.
But what I found does fix the problem is whacking the volume up and down quickly a few times - it seems to kick the bass back in.
I'm thinking it's probably a hardware fault. But is there anyhting else I should check before contacting Sonos support? (don't want to add to their workload unnecessarily over Christmas!)
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I am looking at possibly purchasing an S5 and decided to do some homework first 🙂.
A couple of questions:
Has this connection issue been acknowledged by Sonos? I saw a support member responding here for a while.
Does this affect the S3 as well as the S5?
Thanks,
Chris
A couple of questions:
Has this connection issue been acknowledged by Sonos? I saw a support member responding here for a while.
Does this affect the S3 as well as the S5?
Thanks,
Chris
I have 3 Play:5s and none of them has suffered from this defect. The oldest one is almost 2 years now.
I would not worry so much about it, I assume that the have revised their manufacturing process if it was a widespread problem.
I would not worry so much about it, I assume that the have revised their manufacturing process if it was a widespread problem.
My take on this is that I don't think it's a batch issue, as I had both my units affected, which were manufactured nearly 2 years apart, and sold in different countries.
I would say that if you live in the US, the Sonos RMA and support system is probably good enough to help you get around the hardware problems they seem to have. But if you live in either Australia or Hong Kong (possibly other countries too, but I have no personal experience) I would certainly think twice as the support level is poor and expensive.
I would say that if you live in the US, the Sonos RMA and support system is probably good enough to help you get around the hardware problems they seem to have. But if you live in either Australia or Hong Kong (possibly other countries too, but I have no personal experience) I would certainly think twice as the support level is poor and expensive.
I would say that if you live in the US, the Sonos RMA and support system is probably good enough to help you get around the hardware problems they seem to have. But if you live in either Australia or Hong Kong (possibly other countries too, but I have no personal experience) I would certainly think twice as the support level is poor and expensive.
Speak to SONOS US directly and tell them about the poor service you've received from your distributor. It's in their interest to resolve the problem to your satisfaction.
All companies have issues with products, it's how they deal with them that sets them apart. In the UK the service is excellent..
Hi,
I started experiencing the same issue about 6 months after purchase.
Just brought in my S5 at my retailer for repair, we'll see what the diagnosis will be.
Greets,
Tom
I started experiencing the same issue about 6 months after purchase.
Just brought in my S5 at my retailer for repair, we'll see what the diagnosis will be.
Greets,
Tom
Anyone know what is the warranty on the Sonos S5? Mine is 19 months old, and the bass was gone. Have been going in and out for a while, this morning just decided to die on me. Sounded very crappy without bass.
Thanks.
Thanks.
The warranty may depend on country and local consumer rights. Contact Sonos Support.
Hi All,
Just picked up my brand new S5.
Didn't get an explanation what exactly was wrong, but Sonos replaced it (within warranty)
Greets,
Tom
Hi,
I started experiencing the same issue about 6 months after purchase.
Just brought in my S5 at my retailer for repair, we'll see what the diagnosis will be.
Greets,
Tom
Just picked up my brand new S5.
Didn't get an explanation what exactly was wrong, but Sonos replaced it (within warranty)
Greets,
Tom
I started experiencing the same issue about 6 months after purchase.
Just brought in my S5 at my retailer for repair, we'll see what the diagnosis will be.
Greets,
Tom
My Sonos S5 is just under 2 years old now and has just developed this fault, has anyone had any luck getting Sonos to repair it without charge?
I've just spoken to someone on the support line and they made me factory reset it and informed me that the warranty is only 1 year. We'll see if the reset does anything or not.
I'm in the UK so I can use the Sale of Goods Act to pursue the retailer if the problem reoccurs, but it would make things a lot easier for me if I could just get Sonos to repair it.
I've just spoken to someone on the support line and they made me factory reset it and informed me that the warranty is only 1 year. We'll see if the reset does anything or not.
I'm in the UK so I can use the Sale of Goods Act to pursue the retailer if the problem reoccurs, but it would make things a lot easier for me if I could just get Sonos to repair it.
I'm sorry to say one of my S5's has just developed this fault.
I'll be contacting Support shortly (can't do it today as they don't open until 4.00pm and I'm out) but looks like an inherent fault here.
My unit is a few years old but only gets infrequent use so will be interesting to see what the response from support will be...
I'll be contacting Support shortly (can't do it today as they don't open until 4.00pm and I'm out) but looks like an inherent fault here.
My unit is a few years old but only gets infrequent use so will be interesting to see what the response from support will be...
Well my S5 was replaced in January due to this problem. The replacement unit now has the same defect.....Very disappointing.
Are newer versions of this device any more reliable? Is it just the older units that are developing this problem or is it another case of poor build quality like the CR200?
I don't know but would hope so. These sre not cheap and I would expect higher quality.
I agree - I have a bad feeling this is a problem with even recent units. My own experience was that I have now had 3 Play 5's develop this same fault (100% of the units I have owned) - bought or replaced over 2 years, and from two different countries. So in my own small sample size, it is a widespread issue.
For what it's worth, when my third Play 5 developed this fault, it was the final straw in my Sonos experience (multiple CR200 failures, multiple Play 5 bass issues). I have now sold all my Sonos gear, and was just about to delete the bookmark for the forum when I thought I would make one final visit.
It's such a shame, because when the kit works, it really is awesome. But the combination of high price + high failure rate of hardware is just too much for me. I'll wait until either Sonos admit they have QA issues and state what they have done to rectify (change suppliers, new processes , etc) or a new vendor comes onto the market making better quality kit.
Good luck to everyone - look forward to re-joining the wireless music community when/if one of the above happens!
Tom
For what it's worth, when my third Play 5 developed this fault, it was the final straw in my Sonos experience (multiple CR200 failures, multiple Play 5 bass issues). I have now sold all my Sonos gear, and was just about to delete the bookmark for the forum when I thought I would make one final visit.
It's such a shame, because when the kit works, it really is awesome. But the combination of high price + high failure rate of hardware is just too much for me. I'll wait until either Sonos admit they have QA issues and state what they have done to rectify (change suppliers, new processes , etc) or a new vendor comes onto the market making better quality kit.
Good luck to everyone - look forward to re-joining the wireless music community when/if one of the above happens!
Tom
I guess I'm lucky in that this has happened to mine after about 15 minutes of usage from new! I purchased a Play 5, set it up, and on about the fourth song I played noticed the bass was dropping in and out.
At first I thought it might be a network issue (although the Play 5 is connected via an Ethernet cable to the same gigabit switch as the server storing my music) but having shut down everything else the problem persisted.
A quick search on the Internet brought me here and the instant I turned the volume up the problem went away.
Going to contact the retailer for a replacement as I'm not keen on the idea of swapping a brand new unit that had only been out of the box for half an hour with a refurbished one from Sonos support.
Fingers crossed it's second time lucky. 🙂
At first I thought it might be a network issue (although the Play 5 is connected via an Ethernet cable to the same gigabit switch as the server storing my music) but having shut down everything else the problem persisted.
A quick search on the Internet brought me here and the instant I turned the volume up the problem went away.
Going to contact the retailer for a replacement as I'm not keen on the idea of swapping a brand new unit that had only been out of the box for half an hour with a refurbished one from Sonos support.
Fingers crossed it's second time lucky. 🙂
My year-old S5 began exhibiting the same behavior yesterday while listening to Pandora. The S5 was in linked mode with a ZonePlayer 120 in another room hooked up to satellite speakers and a subwoofer. The unusual part is that when the bass would cut out on the S5, I also lost bass to the subwoofer on my ZP120.
To me, this indicates some sort of software problem, not hardware. That is, it's not losing the connection to the speaker, but the audio signal is dropping the low frequencies. Anyone else seen the behavior duplicate itself in another room or on another model? Having just found this thread, I did not try adjusting the volume, but will see if that works if it happens again.
To me, this indicates some sort of software problem, not hardware. That is, it's not losing the connection to the speaker, but the audio signal is dropping the low frequencies. Anyone else seen the behavior duplicate itself in another room or on another model? Having just found this thread, I did not try adjusting the volume, but will see if that works if it happens again.
Well, my two month old Play 5 just started to have intermittent bass problems *sigh* (I have one more which seems to be working fine still... fingers crossed).
I first heard the bass was dropping when I was listening at lower volume level. Just like many have said here turning up the volume brings back the bass, unfortunately this is probably the beginning of bass problems for my Play 5 judging from other posts here. This solution is also temporary as the bass drops again after a while.
I've contacted Sonos support to inform them of my issue, I've also contacted the place I bought the unit from. I hope the unit will be fixed without a lot of hassle, this problem is intermittent and is difficult to reproduce on demand.
I like the functionality of the Sonos units but the build quality seems to be lacking. These things aren't exactly cheap...
I first heard the bass was dropping when I was listening at lower volume level. Just like many have said here turning up the volume brings back the bass, unfortunately this is probably the beginning of bass problems for my Play 5 judging from other posts here. This solution is also temporary as the bass drops again after a while.
I've contacted Sonos support to inform them of my issue, I've also contacted the place I bought the unit from. I hope the unit will be fixed without a lot of hassle, this problem is intermittent and is difficult to reproduce on demand.
I like the functionality of the Sonos units but the build quality seems to be lacking. These things aren't exactly cheap...
Hi, I am in the UK and my Play5 has developed the same problem, its about 20mths old.
Has anyone had any joy getting this sorted by Sonos with units that are out of warrantee ?
I was contemplating getting one of the new TV Bars but if Sonos products only last a couple of years I'll look elsewhere.
Malc
Has anyone had any joy getting this sorted by Sonos with units that are out of warrantee ?
I was contemplating getting one of the new TV Bars but if Sonos products only last a couple of years I'll look elsewhere.
Malc
My Play:5 is about 20 months old and developed the same problem. Sonos UK want over £100 to send me a new unit. Disappointed that I have to pay for this. It is a known fault that I think they should fix without charge, regardless of the warranty status.
Sonos warranty can't remove your UK/EU rights, which are that products should last a "reasonable" time. What is reasonable will depend on the type of product. For common electrical goods 2 years is usually seen as the minimum reasonable period. Product type, price/quality and usage/environment comes into consideration in determining what reasonable is.
Under UK/EU legislation I don't think you'd have any problem in getting your Play:5 fixed (for free).
In the first instance you should make a claim against whoever sold it to you (which may be Sonos) not the manufacturer. You also have protection if you bought it with a credit (and sometimes debit) card and your card supplier is jointly responsible.
Under UK/EU legislation I don't think you'd have any problem in getting your Play:5 fixed (for free).
In the first instance you should make a claim against whoever sold it to you (which may be Sonos) not the manufacturer. You also have protection if you bought it with a credit (and sometimes debit) card and your card supplier is jointly responsible.
I was still thinking about getting one of these but it's very disappointing to see that the problem is still happening. I don't think I want to pay this much money for a product that might not even last 2 years.
JohnG,
There are a hand full of reports on this thread. We don't know what fraction of the PLAY:5 population this represents. For all we know this could be the entire population of failed units. In that context this is an excellent track record. Out of tens, probably hundreds of thousands of units sold, the above units might be the only failures. Further, all of these failed units could be from the same batch, a production correction has been made, and this issue does not effect current new stock.
I have PLAY:5's at home, in the office, and in my "circle". None of these units have failed. Many of these units are from very early production. If there is a time bomb in "all" units, one would expect that I should have seen an explosion by now.
There are a hand full of reports on this thread. We don't know what fraction of the PLAY:5 population this represents. For all we know this could be the entire population of failed units. In that context this is an excellent track record. Out of tens, probably hundreds of thousands of units sold, the above units might be the only failures. Further, all of these failed units could be from the same batch, a production correction has been made, and this issue does not effect current new stock.
I have PLAY:5's at home, in the office, and in my "circle". None of these units have failed. Many of these units are from very early production. If there is a time bomb in "all" units, one would expect that I should have seen an explosion by now.
There are a hand full of reports on this thread. We don't know what fraction of the PLAY:5 population this represents. For all we know this could be the entire population of failed units. In that context this is an excellent track record. Out of tens, probably hundreds of thousands of units sold, the above units might be the only failures. Further, all of these failed units could be from the same batch, a production correction has been made, and this issue does not effect current new stock.
I have PLAY:5's at home, in the office, and in my "circle". None of these units have failed. Many of these units are from very early production. If there is a time bomb in "all" units, one would expect that I should have seen an explosion by now.
I take your point but on the other hand there could be many people out there using defective units and totally unaware that they're affected.
JohnG,
The true mettle of a company shows when they react to problems. I know a company (not SONOS) that had an almost 100% failure rate of a certain model in the 2-4 year age range. The company took care of their customers and most were happy to buy more of that manufacturer's product. I think that you'll find that SONOS takes care of their customers.
Personally, I assume the best when I purchase a product and I have amazingly good luck. I have friends who assume the worst and they have amazingly bad luck. Manifest what you want.
The true mettle of a company shows when they react to problems. I know a company (not SONOS) that had an almost 100% failure rate of a certain model in the 2-4 year age range. The company took care of their customers and most were happy to buy more of that manufacturer's product. I think that you'll find that SONOS takes care of their customers.
Personally, I assume the best when I purchase a product and I have amazingly good luck. I have friends who assume the worst and they have amazingly bad luck. Manifest what you want.
The true mettle of a company shows when they react to problems. I know a company (not SONOS) that had an almost 100% failure rate of a certain model in the 2-4 year age range. The company took care of their customers and most were happy to buy more of that manufacturer's product. I think that you'll find that SONOS takes care of their customers.
Personally, I assume the best when I purchase a product and I have amazingly good luck. I have friends who assume the worst and they have amazingly bad luck. Manifest what you want.
It is this that makes me think that Sonos should do the same for Play:5 that have this issue. As the timeframe for failure appears to be fairly wide, some devices fail in warranty and some do not. If the fault was wear and tear then obviously the warranty period is applicable but this problem does not appear to be that.
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