Sonos play:1 low bass popping

Lyricist III

Dear friends

I have been testing this issue with Sonos over the phone for over a month and this is whats happening:

The Play: 1 and Sonos One are limited to the amount of bass they can produce due to their compact size. Sonos has added a limiter inside these speakers to prevent them from breaking. This popping/distortion is actually the limiter doing its job when it detects a bass tone to high for the speaker to produce. It's always been there. The reason we are all noticing it more now is that with Trueplay enabled the levels become different causing the limiter to usually trigger between 25% - 50% volume levels on these certain bass tones, anything over 50% the limiter is changing the bass tones altogether so you don't hear it just trying to stop a single bass tone.

So what now? I have just turned off Trueplay and I'm enjoying the way they sound without it. as for a fix, I have been told that a feature request for the way the limiter responses to bass tones have been written up, there was only one downside... I was told that it probably wouldn't happen right away unless a lot more customers were experiencing this issue. So If you experience this call it in and let them know you don't like the way the limiter is causing a popping/distortion sound in the Play: 1 and Sonos One.

I just got myself a new Play: 3 and it does not have this issue. This seems to be strictly a Play: 1 and Sonos One issue due to its size.

If anyone has any questions for me feel free to ask.

P.S. I still love these speakers by the way. Hopefully, Sonos will hear us and figure something out

D

digerata

Lyricist I

Just purchased two Sonos Ones. I have this problem with one of the two. They aren't paired though, in two different rooms. The bass issue is on the speaker in the smaller room. One song is a good example: "The Feeling" by The Knocks. The problem is weird in this song because with consecutive drum beats, not every one triggers the noise. Many times it's every other beat. It's horrendous at low volumes. At louder volumes the problem melts into the background. If you didn't know the song, you would overlook it. You turn off Trueplay and the problem goes away. But then you are left with a poor sounding speaker and that just makes me want to return them. :@

Diagnostic: 1346187291

Lyricist III

Just purchased two Sonos Ones. I have this problem with one of the two. They aren't paired though, in two different rooms. The bass issue is on the speaker in the smaller room. One song is a good example: "The Feeling" by The Knocks. The problem is weird in this song because with consecutive drum beats, not every one triggers the noise. Many times it's every other beat. It's horrendous at low volumes. At louder volumes the problem melts into the background. If you didn't know the song, you would overlook it. You turn off Trueplay and the problem goes away. But then you are left with a poor sounding speaker and that just makes me want to return them. :@

https://en.community.sonos.com/wireless-speakers-228992/sonos-play-1-low-bass-popping-6787879/index2.html#post16207649

I made a post on the issue. It appears that placement of the units will make a difference in how you hear this popping distortion but from all the testing I have done that popping distortion is in every unit due to the limiter going off to prevent damaging the speakers. I’ve even been able to replicate the distortion with Trueplay off. Just out of curiosity, the unit that you notice it happing the most on what type of room is it, where do you have it placed and where abouts do you have it between the floor and the ceiling? If you can I would get your money back and pick up a Play: 3, no limiter issues on these units. I’ve tested

Dear friends

I have been testing this issue with Sonos over the phone for over a month and this is whats happening:

The Play: 1 and Sonos One are limited to the amount of bass they can produce due to their compact size. Sonos has added a limiter inside these speakers to prevent them from breaking. This popping/distortion is actually the limiter doing its job when it detects a bass tone to high for the speaker to produce. It's always been there. The reason we are all noticing it more now is that with Trueplay enabled the levels become different causing the limiter to usually trigger between 25% - 50% volume levels on these certain bass tones, anything over 50% the limiter is changing the bass tones altogether so you don't hear it just trying to stop a single bass tone.

So what now? I have just turned off Trueplay and I'm enjoying the way they sound without it. as for a fix, I have been told that a feature request for the way the limiter responses to bass tones have been written up, there was only one downside... I was told that it probably wouldn't happen right away unless a lot more customers were experiencing this issue. So If you experience this call it in and let them know you don't like the way the limiter is causing a popping/distortion sound in the Play: 1 and Sonos One.

I just got myself a new Play: 3 and it does not have this issue. This seems to be strictly a Play: 1 and Sonos One issue due to its size.

If anyone has any questions for me feel free to ask.

P.S. I still love these speakers by the way. Hopefully, Sonos will hear us and figure something out

Thank you for sharing this and very useful indeed. I have not found a solution so far unfortunately. I experienced the bass popping with 3 different Sonos One speakers as well as an older Play 1. Trueplay tunning seems to make it worse but I have also experienced the bass popping with Trueplay turned off. It happens with certain bass heavy tracks at a volume of around 50% (with trueplay off). If I enable trueplay the bass popping happens at about 40% or 45% volume level. This occurs even with EQ settings to reduce bass (-5 clicks) and loudness turned off. The bass on the One and Play 1 is very pronounced by default so maybe that is the cause. Sonos customer support have been amazing as always but replacing with a different unit did not solve the issue for me. Even with trueplay turned off.

Lyricist III

Dear friends

I have been testing this issue with Sonos over the phone for over a month and this is whats happening:

The Play: 1 and Sonos One are limited to the amount of bass they can produce due to their compact size. Sonos has added a limiter inside these speakers to prevent them from breaking. This popping/distortion is actually the limiter doing its job when it detects a bass tone to high for the speaker to produce. It's always been there. The reason we are all noticing it more now is that with Trueplay enabled the levels become different causing the limiter to usually trigger between 25% - 50% volume levels on these certain bass tones, anything over 50% the limiter is changing the bass tones altogether so you don't hear it just trying to stop a single bass tone.

So what now? I have just turned off Trueplay and I'm enjoying the way they sound without it. as for a fix, I have been told that a feature request for the way the limiter responses to bass tones have been written up, there was only one downside... I was told that it probably wouldn't happen right away unless a lot more customers were experiencing this issue. So If you experience this call it in and let them know you don't like the way the limiter is causing a popping/distortion sound in the Play: 1 and Sonos One.

I just got myself a new Play: 3 and it does not have this issue. This seems to be strictly a Play: 1 and Sonos One issue due to its size.

If anyone has any questions for me feel free to ask.

P.S. I still love these speakers by the way. Hopefully, Sonos will hear us and figure something out

Thank you for sharing this and very useful indeed. I have not found a solution so far unfortunately. I experienced the bass popping with 3 different Sonos One speakers as well as an older Play 1. Trueplay tunning seems to make it worse but I have also experienced the bass popping with Trueplay turned off. It happens with certain bass heavy tracks at a volume of around 50% (with trueplay off). If I enable trueplay the bass popping happens at about 40% or 45% volume level. This occurs even with EQ settings to reduce bass (-5 clicks) and loudness turned off. The bass on the One and Play 1 is very pronounced by default so maybe that is the cause. Sonos customer support have been amazing as always but replacing with a different unit did not solve the issue for me. Even with trueplay turned off.

Out of curiousity what level do you have the speaker placed in your room? Mid wall? What's the room like? And where abouts in the room?

I tried various placements over time:
- Mid wall on a kitchen shelf. Kitchen is 3m x 2m
- Bedside table (so bed height) and near wall. Bedroom size is 3m x 3m
- Free standing on a Dynaudio speaker stand (1m away from back wall) in the living room (4m x 5m)
- In stereo pair mode (2 x Sonos One) 1m away from back wall on a tv cabinet

Lyricist III

I tried various placements over time:
- Mid wall on a kitchen shelf. Kitchen is 3m x 2m
- Bedside table (so bed height) and near wall. Bedroom size is 3m x 3m
- Free standing on a Dynaudio speaker stand (1m away from back wall) in the living room (4m x 5m)
- In stereo pair mode (2 x Sonos One) 1m away from back wall on a tv cabinet

Did any of the results sound better then the other? Did you try them on the floor?

I tried various placements over time:
- Mid wall on a kitchen shelf. Kitchen is 3m x 2m
- Bedside table (so bed height) and near wall. Bedroom size is 3m x 3m
- Free standing on a Dynaudio speaker stand (1m away from back wall) in the living room (4m x 5m)
- In stereo pair mode (2 x Sonos One) 1m away from back wall on a tv cabinet

Did any of the results sound better then the other? Did you try them on the floor?

The bass popping was not affected at all by placement. No matter where I placed the Play 1 (or Sonos One), bass popping occurred with some bass heavy tracks at around 50% volume, Trueplay off, Loudness off and bass reduced by 4 clicks. No issues with other less bass heavy tracks. Trueplay on made it worse.

I found that a solid surface and space from back wall helped with the bass boom (not the bass popping though). I did not try the floor placement but found that the solid dynaudio stand plus space from back wall helped with bass. I still had to keep the bass at -4 clicks though. Please take my opinion as purely subjective as I get the impression that a majority of people prefer a more bass prominent sound.

Cheers

J

jburcaw

Lyricist I

I had this problem.....I only had the problem in my bathroom speaker. I fixed by taking my ONE to my living room and retuning trueplay.....took it back in the bathroom, and no more issue.