Contributor I

Answered

Minimum Volume is too loud to enjoy background music

186 replies
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The minimum volume on a Play 1 for instance (volume level 1) is too loud to let the music play as background.
It's "no music" or "too loud music" on volume level 1 Nothing in between. Ideally I could lower the music volume like an old amplifier. It's as simple as that. We use the Sonos system on the lowest volume side and the minimum volume is just way too high. I'm surprised that nobody else raises this.

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Ryan SAnswer

Retired Sonos Staff

Hi everyone, starting today with Sonos 9.2 there's the ability to use the mobile controller for Android or iOS to set a maximum volume for each of your Sonos players. The reason I bring it up in here, is that if you have the maximum volume set at 50%, the whole volume bar will still go from 0-100, but 100% will now reflect what your volume limit is set to. This has the added benefit of being able to get more granular control of players at low volume, as the volume steps will scale up or down with the max volume.

So, if you never set your players above a certain volume, this is a great chance to improve the control at lower volumes. Play around with it and see if this helps.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.

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Stilllife87

Lyricist II

Same issue here using Spotify on symfonisk next to my bed. Absolutely unusable for background music while reading or just chilling.

Sonos needs to fix this. Also the trick doesn't work with the 50% as I just simply get no sound on the first level and the exactly the same minimum volume on the second tap. Which is still the same too loud volume.

Really disappointed by this.

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Tibi

Lyricist II

This issue is really embarrassing/annoying/disappointing. Sonos please just fix it already, it’s been there forever and people pointed it out years ago :|

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doggyh

Lyricist I

If sitting quite close to the speaker and there is no background noise it really is too loud for me.

This is using the Play:1 directly via Sonos with either Spotify or TuneIn.

Sometimes I want to play music at my desk really quietly - instead I alternate between lowest volume and just switching it off.

Airgetlam

I just move the speaker farther away. If it’s next to my head, it may be to loud, if it’s on the bookcase, I can barely hear it at minimum volume. Sometimes, social distancing works for speakers as well.

Bruce

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bjohlson

Contributor I

Just adding my voice to the chorus (again). The minimum volume is too loud on both my playbase (watching Comcast cable) and my playbar with Netflix, Hulu, etc. Even with the night sound button on. C’mon Sonos, just give us a lower volume level with more control and granularity!

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peejaydj

Lyricist I

Pathetic.

I have ended up rather comically using the EQ on sonos to lower at least some frequencies for volume on my Ikea Symfonisk, EQ is for EQ not for volume surely (anyway the difference is only marginal\0

Nearly 4 years of requests to sort this and nothing done.

Please Sonos just admit it, you CANNOT fix this via a software or firmware update can you?

Please rather than just keep stringing all these customers along. very poor for a supposed high quality audio product.

Oh, and BTW….. to all the posters who keep rattling on that they have no problem with this, please just keep it to yourself and go to another thread.

You are talking about your subjective experience not objectively about the amplitude of the signal between 0 (off) and 1 (too loud for many of us). TBH You are totally missing the point ie. that some of us DO want to listen to music really quietly eg in a silent bedroom 12 inches away from my head to go to sleep by. This thread is for surely user who would like precisely this?All the posts saying this is not a problem for you changes nothing and you are just clouding the issue and whether you personally and subjectively find it too quiet at Volume No. 1 is irrelevant to be honest.

As one poster said, best to close this forum down if after so long Sonos do nothing; that is apart from community manager Ryan throwing in a red herring trumpetting the modifications to higher end volumes ….. as if it changes anything to the actual minimum volume… all quite farcical really.

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GabrielLogan

Enthusiast I

Coming back one year later and still the same issue. Please Sonos do something. This is feasible for sure. I paired 2 Sonos Ones as surround of the Beam. I can’t set the surround volume to -15 in the setting parameters for the surrounds. Then the minimum volume of both Ones is what I would love to have on my other Ones themselves. The speaker can technically do this so please allow the software to do it.
I was waiting Sonos S2 hopping this could be solved. But almost nothing new and no issue solved with this update.

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GabrielLogan

Enthusiast I

We are not alone :

https://community.spotify.com/t5/Other-Partners-Web-Player-etc/Sonos-volume-way-too-high/td-p/4553785/page/3

https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/egpems/ikea_symfonisk_too_loud_on_lowest_volume/

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famschopman

Trending Lyricist I

I solved the problem, and fair to say, it was an issue of “incompatible user” in combination with unclear UX/UI in the Sonos App.

So what you need to check is the following, if you - just like me - are using a Playbar with 2x Play 1. In my case I apparently increased the volume of the surround speakers.

So how to solve: Go to your system settings, and select the group with the playbar. Then go to the “Surround Audio” settings and make sure you set both sliders; Tv Level, and Music Level to 0.

I had them initially at arround +9 and what happens is that the base volume of the Sonos system is then increased with the number configured on the sliders resulting in a much louder volume. Overall, I think the sliders are not clear enough. But they simply set your surround speakers to a higher or lower volume level compared to the Playbar.

Right now the first step in the volume slider is just noticeable, almost whispering. Hope this helps other people.

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GabrielLogan

Enthusiast I

I solved the problem, and fair to say, it was an issue of “incompatible user” in combination with unclear UX/UI in the Sonos App.

So what you need to check is the following, if you - just like me - are using a Playbar with 2x Play 1. In my case I apparently increased the volume of the surround speakers.

So how to solve: Go to your system settings, and select the group with the playbar. Then go to the “Surround Audio” settings and make sure you set both sliders; Tv Level, and Music Level to 0.

I had them initially at arround +9 and what happens is that the base volume of the Sonos system is then increased with the number configured on the sliders resulting in a much louder volume. Overall, I think the sliders are not clear enough. But they simply set your surround speakers to a higher or lower volume level compared to the Playbar.

Right now the first step in the volume slider is just noticeable, almost whispering. Hope this helps other people.

Thank you for your answer. I know this procedure, I just gave this as an example to demonstrate that Sonos Ones can provide very low volume when used as surround. Therefore, it should be feasible to lower the minimum volume of a Sonos One when not part of surround system.

This is also true for a pair of Sonos One. If you set the volume to the minimum it is still to high for a lot of users. If then you set the balance to the right speaker then the left speaker can provide very low volume. Why could not we reach this very low volume on a One itself?

Just to say this is not hardware limitation but software only! And then very easy to fix for Sonos! What the problem to reduce minimum volume?

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