Skip to main content
Contributor I
Sep 27, 2026 4:48 AM UTC
Answered

my Play 1 speakers aren’t loud enough

My speakers don’t seem to be loud enough 

Stanley_4
Stanley_4Answer
Grand Maestro
Sep 27, 2026 5:28 AM UTC

In addition to the above.

 How loud do you expect them to be?

They are fairly small speakers, what are you comparing them to?

4 replies

Airgetlam
Sep 27, 2026 4:54 AM UTC

What is your source?

Translate
Bruce
Stanley_4
Stanley_4Answer
Grand Maestro
Sep 27, 2026 5:28 AM UTC

In addition to the above.

 How loud do you expect them to be?

They are fairly small speakers, what are you comparing them to?

Translate
AjTrek1
Sep 27, 2026 2:50 PM UTC

Furthermore how long have you owned the Play: 1 or Sonos One as many get them confused? Both have been discontinued for quite some time. So when did you discover the speakers aren’t playing loud enough?

Translate
Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.
buzz
Grand Maestro
Sep 27, 2026 5:45 PM UTC

There are no standards with respect to Volume percentage and “loud”. Further, we humans have been conditioned to equate distorted with “loud”. As level is increased beyond a unit’s design limit, distortion increases rapidly and the unit gets “loud”. SONOS units are designed not to enter into this high distortion mode and will therefore never become “loud”.

In my college apartment we could run at levels that made verbal communication very difficult, but we were not anywhere near the distortion threshold. Yet guests would approach our ears, hands cupped around their mouth, asking us to “turn it up” because it did not seem “loud” yet. This same crew in another apartment, running a cheap, struggling compact unit, would never ask “turn it up”, conversation was easy and it was “loud”.

Translate