Best answer by Ryan S
View originalJust wanted to add a +1 to this. I have an Amp (Powering a pair of 88dB/W/m, 15 - 90Watt, 4 - 8 Ohm bookshelf speakers), a third-party sub, and 2 x One SL rear speakers. ~4 meters distance between the fronts and rears.
The system goes from silence straight to 60db average in the middle of the room, it’s impossible to have it quieter than this without hacking around with the EQ settings to bring it down, or cutting out the One SLs (which still isn’t enough).
The volume slider literally operates like an on/off switch at the quiet end, where it goes from silence to loud, there’s nothing in between. The accepted answer here also doesn’t help, the additional granularity just moves the point at which the system switches to silence away from the furthest end of the slider.
+26
This is a “problem” that has baffled me from the time it was first reported. In my play 1 units, once the slider is moved all the way to the left to mute, it takes more than one tap to the right of the button in the app to hear anything from the speaker.
For those facing it perhaps a solution is to set max volume to maybe 80% and then the additional granularity may help.
In my case, I see no issues even without using this feature.
PS: new visitors may find that the first two pages of this thread give them some useful insights. Perhaps. Nothing lost in reading them once, though.
+22
+20
The issue is still present almost a year later. Apple at volume level 1/100 is way too loud.
EDIT: Had a chat with Raul P at Sonos technical support and they will escalate this issue.
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!
It depends how loud is the recording.
I have two Sonos Ones 4 meters away from me. I set volume limit to 25%, loudness off, bass -10, treble -10 and lowest volume level.
Diana’s Krall “Live In Paris” is ok so it is possible to play more quiet even when you loose some quality, but for example Jon Spencer Blues Explosion “ACME” is way too loud.
Background noise is about 35dB and when I turn on the ACME it goes to 44dB and it couldn’t be more lowered. Moving volume bar in Sonos app even one pixel to the left is turning music to mute.
Yes. There is lot of room for improvement here.
After 4 years, I can confirm this still not been solved. Setting the Volume limitation doesn’t solve the issue. Also it’s not based on the streaming service, I played it through Sonos app directly so the audio source should come straight to Sonos speaker, nothing to do with the 3rd party app.
Hi! I spended a lot of money to “improve” the sound system in our bedroom and just realized
that it is totally useless. I’m so ##!++!# Wish I would have found this thread before I bought this crap.
It’s like SONOS is making fun of us. There is an option to switch of the LEDs. I read this before
I decided to buy SONOS speakers and thought: Wow, finally a company wich is aware of annoying LEDs in dark rooms, how great is that. And now I realized that I can’t fall asleep because the first volume step is way too loud, regardless wich setting, tweak or workaround I tried. But my bedroom is pitch black dark thanks to the switched off LEDs…
Thank you SONOS, good prank!
Hi! I spended a lot of money to “improve” the sound system in our bedroom and just realized
that it is totally useless. I’m so ##!++!# Wish I would have found this thread before I bought this crap.
It’s like SONOS is making fun of us. There is an option to switch of the LEDs. I read this before
I decided to buy SONOS speakers and thought: Wow, finally a company wich is aware of annoying LEDs in dark rooms, how great is that. And now I realized that I can’t fall asleep because the first volume step is way too loud, regardless wich setting, tweak or workaround I tried. But my bedroom is pitch black dark thanks to the switched off LEDs…
Thank you SONOS, good prank!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/LightDims-Original-Strength-Electronics-Appliances/dp/B00CLVEQCO
I also have this issue with my Sonos Move. The lowest possible volume (one tap from mute) is too loud. I tried setting the max volume to 50%, but all that did was mean I have to tap 2 times from mute before the music comes on too loud again. It did not make the lowest setting lower. If I set the max volume to 30% then I have to tap 3 times from mute before the music comes on too loud.
It’s crazy this issue has not been addressed by Sonos. I only have a Move, I don’t have other Sonos speakers in a surround sound configuration. I guess Sonos expects us to cover the speaker with pillows or stuff it in a drawer and let it run off battery?
I have three speakers in the bedroom, a Beam & surrounds (One’s) and even with 1% volume and set to ‘ambient’ I struggle to hear the playing music at that level, so I don’t think the volume needs to be any lower than it is. I do not consider myself to be ‘hard of hearing’ even in the slightest and the surrounds are placed close-by on bedside tables and within 3-4 feet away of my listening position, with the Beam set about 8 feet away. So I guess that Sonos need to cater for all users when setting the lowest volume available. Anyhow I’m fine with the lowest 1% volume (on the scale of 0-100%) as it currently stands and more often than not set it to higher than that setting. Had it been too noisy at 1% I would have toggled off the surrounds anyway, but that has never been necessary in my own use-case.
It’s pretty clear from this thread that there are a lot of people for whom the lowest volume is too loud, and it is an issue, though.
Given how much I paid to opt for Sonos as a home theatre solution, it seems slightly ridiculous that I would have to turn off the rear speakers, or cut out frequencies using night mode during the day, just to avoid an issue that my previous non-Sonos HT system did not suffer from. I don’t really want to have to sell this kit, but it’s looking like an option currently.
It seems that the volume currently only allows whole 0-100 values, and cannot do decimals. At the lowest end it’s either 0 or 1. When you set a volume limit it just reduces the number of available values, and spreads those numbers across the slider (hence if you were to set the volume limit to 5%, the speakers will be muted until the slider is at 20%). It really should be the case that when a volume limit is set the slider decreases the upper volume limit AND recalculates the volume sent by the slider to allow for extra granularity with the same number of steps (eg. If the default top end is 100, with increments of 1, but I set a volume limit that reduces this to 10, the volume should go up in 100 increments of 0.1, rather than 10 increments of 1).
This is why the ‘Best Answer’ here is not actually helpful, it mentions the additional granular slider control provided by a volume limit, but it doesn’t solve the fact that the granularity of volume control doesn’t actually change. 1% is still the lowest it goes, and that it’s too loud for some users.
If the software cannot handle volume values with decimals for some reason (presumably this is the case as the Sonos Developer docs only allow setVolume to be an integer from 0-100), then an attenuation checkbox (or even better custom input/slider in the settings alongside the upper volume limit) to reduce overall db output by -20db or similar would also help solve this issue.
If I say to my Sonos speakers “Hey Sonos, set the volume to one percent” I find I struggle to hear the audio clearly from 5 or 6 feet away and that’s using the larger Sonos Arc TV speaker, without altering the volume-limiter from its default 100 setting. Sonos have to cater for everyone I guess and one percent seems fine with my level of hearing things.
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 :|
It's troubling that there isn't a software fix for this.
I had issues that my Play 1 was too loud, stupidly I went and got a couple of Ones, and it turns out they are even worse.
I wish there was a finer step in the volume control, or just an -20dB switch that could be activated.
I guess my only option is to open up the speakers and physically add an attenuator that I can switch in and out. An ugly hack, but it would work.
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.
+1
SVC is ‘Sonos Voice Control’ - it’s available to install alongside Alexa via the S2 Sonos App - goto ‘Settings/Services & Voice’ to add the assistant to your Sonos One and/or see this LINK.
See this link too the available SVC syntax:
https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/list-of-voice-requests-for-sonos-voice-control
Thank you.
I installed svc on One and it does provide that granular control. Hey Sonos seems to be a bit temperamental though. Not always understanding commands. Useful to be able to group and ungroup speakers via voice too - although more a novelty with new toy!
Something like Roam is probably the way forward. But for now max volume setting and tv remote is a decent workaround. Thanks again.
Strongly supportive. I have a pair of one SL on my desk and the volume at minimum is still way too loud for background music while working.
I would love the EQ. to offer a “level” option to turn down the minimum volume by 50%. Adjusting bass, treble or loudness strongly affect the tone (as it should).
The same issue with my new Sonos one, the answer selected not fix the problem… impossible that after so long, Sonos has not fixed this yet 
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