Sonos Five not loud enough

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 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”.

Thanks for your input but I’m not quite sure how this helps? Is your point that max volume is limited for the sake of quality? If so, that makes sense. However, given the size of the unit and the prize, I did expect it to be able to play much louder.

It’s still loud, so don’t get me wrong, but I need to play it above 70-80% (give or take) for the volume to even be impressive. I can play it at 100% without it becoming unbearable, which I did not expect. I find almost no use for it below 50% in my living room.

I’m just wondering if this is normal. Opinions seem to be so varied when I search here and google. Some say even at 50% it’s really loud (which I find extremely odd) and others seem to share my experience.

Not only is “how loud” very subjective, it is also heavily influenced by room size, shape, fittings, furnishings etc. as already said, Sonos spends a lot developing matched amplification/enclosure/speaker sets to ensure the sound quality through the volume range. 
If your Five is not loud enough, return it for a refund if you’re within that window of opportunity. 
Out of curiosity, what are the specifications for the kit you were you using previously? Have you used a sound meter to measure actual levels? 

No, I haven’t measured it. I’m over 45 years old with a whole life of experience listening to music. If I feel it’s not loud enough, I trust my instinct. You really only have to do a quick search here or on Reddit to see I am not the only one feeling this way.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the speaker. It’s incredible and the sound is fantastic. The Airplay option is a game changer for me and not having to constantly pair with bluetooth. I have no complaints in that regard. I just expected it to be much louder to the point that I couldn’t push it to 100% without hurting my ears. But then again, it’s not a guitar amp so maybe it’s expected lol.

I agree with ​@nik9669a . No offense intended; but don’t rule out the possibility that your hearing isn’t what it once was. That’s especially so for those that grew up with Bluetooth headphones and ear buds. During my years as a youth and into early adulthood one had to be wired to an AV stereo which limited the use of headsets as there was no portability as there is now.

I can’t help but feel like I’m being gaslit here (although I’m sure you didn’t mean it that way). There is nothing wrong with my hearing. The rest of the family members agree on this point.

Buy another 5 & make a stereo pair.  Then buy a sub to take the burden of low frequency performance away from the 5s.

Definitely aiming to get another one for the stereo sound. A sub is also on the list :)

There are no standards for “loud” and the indicated Volume. A better description of most Volume controls would be “Gain” (amount of amplification). With traditional equipment the output from Tape Decks, Turntables, CD players, etc. varies quite a lot — requiring the amplification equipment to provide enough gain to accommodate these variations. For example, a CD player or Turntable with a low output would require more gain in order to provide the same acoustic output. Therefore, the Gain (Volume) control would be set higher. Hopefully there is enough gain to realize full system output. If the input device has a high output it is easy to drive the system into overload.

When I go through the audio section of big box stores I see people judging the “power” of a unit by observing Volume control rotation. If the unit gets “loud” at a small rotation, then the unit is “powerful”. The cheap equipment manufacturers are very aware of this and make sure that their unit gets “loud” with a very small rotation of the control. I observe the shoppers exclaiming how powerful a unit is when  “you only need to crack the Volume control”, but the unit does not get much louder beyond that initial rotation and the unit is very hard to control at low Volumes. High end equipment tends to have a gentler control characteristic. This often leads to the comment that the high end equipment, capable of much more output, is not as powerful because more control rotation is required.

In the digital world there cannot be any variation between sources with respect to absolute maximum level. The max is all bits ON. Therefore, it is possible to design equipment such that “100” on the Volume control corresponds to maximum safe output. Unfortunately, this is not yet “loud”.

By the way, humans are not linear beasts. Doubling the output results in a barely detectable level change for untrained listeners.

Setting the maximum system output to correspond to “100” is not always the best design idea because some digital content’s maximum level does not correspond to the full theoretical digital level. For some digital content a setting higher than “100” would be appreciated.

Bottom line: As long as the level is high enough to satisfy your concept of “loud”, the equipment is appropriate for your room and personal preferences, don’t pay much attention to the number.

Thank you, you’re making a lot of sense.

I guess what I was most concern about was whether the unit works as intended or if something is wrong since, well, I was expecting the max volume to literally make my windows vibrate lol. If I’d have someone over at my place who also owns a Sonos 5 and told me it’s exactly like his, I would accept it and move on.

The volume is my only concern tbh. I love everything about this product. In fact, the volume isn’t so much a problem since I likely won’t need to blast it at max even when I have parties (because it’s still loud), yet I had this feeling when I tried it out the first time that it SHOULD have been able to play just a little bit louder :)

SUB makes my windows, and other things, vibrate.

Do you currently have a one-speaker or a stereo-pair two-speaker setup, ​@danniee? Two speakers and a wider soundstage can also seem “louder”. 

Only one speaker so far but will try to get another one for stereo :)

I meant in the system you’re replacing with the Five, the kit that you think was much louder. What amp, what speakers? 

I don’t have anything special. I have a couple of harmans which are smaller. Given the size of the Sonos 5 and the price, I was simply expecting it to go a little bit louder on max. I see others have made similar complains, so it doesn’t seem to be an isolated thing.

“Loud” is even more complicated than I’m indicating here. In traditions established decades ago, FIVE’s are small speakers. Small speakers will not deliver as much bass as large speakers. My college speakers required two people to carry and the pair would not fit in some autos. I mentioned that I got constant (stress yelled) requests to “turn it up”, but there was one spot in the room … . Room physics is such that bass varies significantly, point by point, in three dimensions. There was one spot in that room where the bass seemed to explode from within one’s body. That was the favorite chair for males and the sound was satisfyingly “loud” at that spot. If I moved the chair a couple inches the effect was gone.

By the way, my (self constructed on a budget) college speakers would sound terrible compared to FIVE’s, but my speakers could “thump” more than FIVE’s.

Now that I’ve had some more time to listen, the Sonos 5 is impressive as heck! It’s amazing and have exactly all the features I want. It was worth every cent guys.

It IS loud as heck. I can even feel my couch vibrating when some tracks come on. I still feel that it could have been a tiiiiny bit louder but then again it’s so rarely going to be played on max that it doesn’t really matter all that much.

This is by far the best speaker I have ever owned.

the five is an great product from Sonos and it give undistorted sound that is clear.if the room is large than the sound wood seam not loud but the qualityof sound is good try useing  in different spots in the room .I have use mine  in the back yard with a projector and the sound is great not ear popping but clear with detail.dont give up on it..you can get speakers  that are loud with thumping bass but no no no detail..