Arc ULTRA - lack of bass with sub Gen 2

Hi ​@DerekMc171, 

I’m sorry to hear that your Sub isn’t performing as you’re expecting.

At +10 sub level, then it should be more than barely noticeable. If you’re running the latest version then I’d suggest un-bonding and re-bonding the Sub to your Arc.

A lot of our users recommend a ‘sub crawl’ to find the best location for your Sub. While you didn’t have to do it for the Arc, it would be worth doing for the Arc Ultra if you’ve never tried this before. The following threads have some useful information: 

If this doesn’t help or you’ve already tried the above, then I’d recommend contacting our support team for further troubleshooting support.

I hope this helps!

We are stuck with the laws of physics. Subwoofer and listener placement are very important -- in three dimensions.

In my college apartment I discovered a spot where the bass seemed to explode from within one’s body and I placed a chair on that “peak”. That was the favorite location for males. If I moved the chair a few inches the effect was gone. About midway between two peaks is a “null” where bass will be minimized.

If you want to explore the physics, search for “room modes”.

I will try to unpair and re pair the sub, but I don’t think moving locations is my solution. This sub has been in this location for years and the response only dropped off with this newest upgrade. The sub is the oldest part of the system and has always been in this location. It was paired with a playbar and 2 ones, then an upgrade to an Arc. Next was an upgrade to 300s. Now the next upgrade to Arc Ultra. The sub has always had great response in its current location. I really feel it is the processing of what frequencies are being sent (or not being sent) to the sub channel now that it is paired to the Arc Ultra.

I’m not ruling out that SONOS has made some changes in system equalization

You can experiment with changing the “phase” of SUB. The ARC ULTRA emits stronger bass than ARC. There could be some interference between the ULTRA’s bass and SUB. Phase and location will have some effect.