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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H

HighEndMusic

Prodigy I

That's a good way to do it, but when I just did it on my Mac controller at my desk in a quiet room, with speakers flanking the computer and close to my ears, it took me a couple of taps - more like 4 - before I could hear music with some clarity. Hence I remain puzzled as to why this too loud complaint is made.

And the same results from my handheld.

Yes, hence my question above - works for me as well.

S

sjw

Local Superstar

In a very quiet room (let's say in bed at night), turning the volume all the way down on a Play 1 and then pushing the Volume up button once is too loud and the wife can hear it. Repeated with a Play 5 it is quieter.

K

Kumar

Don't push it once it is all the way to the left, tap next to it, to the right of the button. I would very surprised if you need less than 3-4 taps, each tap does a very small advance of the button/sound levels.

S

sjw

Local Superstar

I know that - but I'm talking about the physical.buttons above. Unless I'm mistaken, there isn't a smaller increment than a single tap?

K

Kumar

Ahh, I see what you mean. Yes, the physical tap is too "coarse" as can be seen by the reflected move in the controller. Fair point, but some above have also complained about the controller via the app, which muddies the waters. Hopefully Sonos reading this picks up this important difference.

Cazualchatter

Enthusiast I

i agree the physical buttons have a lower gradient of volume control than the apps. Almost feels like sound is reducing in slow motion if you use the physical buttons as compared to the apps..

Music + Movies on 2x Play 1s + Sub + Playbar. Amazon Echo Dot + Google Home Mini. Beautiful impulsive music.

Airgetlam

To be honest, what I ended up doing was moving the Play:1 from next to the bed to somewhere further away (across the room), which allowed me better control over how loud it appeared to be to me.

Of course, I sleep alone, so there's no one else I'm trying to please other than me. I recognize that my solution isn't a perfect fit for everyone. I have this issue in hotels, where sometimes it's hard to find an appropriate place to put the speaker.

Bruce

G

GaryMary

Lyricist I

I totally agree and can't believe thìs isn't fixed already! It should be an easy problem to solve!
Some of you are talking about tapping the volumecontrol. Well I've tried and still can't get lower volume.

I would like to propose a test, so that we all know we are talking about the same volume level. Here's how we do it.

Put alarmclock on volume-level 1 (just a minute ahead or so). Listen carefully how high the sound is.
Now, the big question is, can you manually adjust the volume to a lower level? I cannot! I can adjust it to the same level as the alarmclock set on volume-level 1, but i cannot get lower. '(And it is too loud... Please fix this Sonos.)

B

bama

Avid Contributor I

Dear all. Same feelings : Lowest level is too high. Has nothing to do with apple controls : went as low as possible, then pushed just once on play bar button which immediately went to level zero. As a proof this was really the mute : the led switched to green. Apart from that it is my feeling that the increments when you use iPhone or iPad buttons are to large and that the volume button on the screen is difficult to fine tune. Room for improvement.

K

Kumar

Tap to either side of the button in the controller to have it move in 1% changes. That gives fine control over the volume changes.

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