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ggmogollon
Enthusiast II
Jun 10, 2020 8:51 PM UTC
Answered

Sonos Arc Muddy/Bottoming out Bass

Beyond thrilled to receive the new Sonos Arc. True played my room and I have loudness on as well connected to LG B8 using Tidal and Spotify. Most of the sound range is phenomenal, aside from the bass. At even half volume the woofers are extremely muddy and sound terrible. Not sure if this is because I have under two hours of use but I wasn’t expecting to have to break-in the speaker. I own set of speakers next to it in the same room (KEF LS50W) and the difference is night and day. There have also been posts on Reddit regarding this issue. It is interesting given no reviewers have mentioned this issue but more than a few recipients have. Has anyone else experienced similar issues? Turning loudness off helps but it is disappointing for such a highly anticipated product. 

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    Scott - SonosAnswer
    Sonos Product Management
    Jul 2, 2020 11:04 PM UTC

    Hello everyone. I’m a product manager at Sonos. Thank you for sharing your experiences with Arc. The development team is monitoring this community and listening to your feedback. 

    As we do with all Sonos products, we’ll continue to improve the experience for Arc through numerous software updates into the future. Last week we issued our first update (12.0.1) to fix a bug some customers were experiencing with low-frequency distortion at higher volumes. 

    If you have specific music tracks or timestamps for TV shows and movies that you want to bring to our attention, please use this form. It is helpful if you can submit a diagnostic when you’re listening to the content. Instructions for doing so can be found here.

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    1406 replies

    arpatil1
    Enthusiast II
    Jun 10, 2020 9:51 PM UTC

    @Ryan S  Thoughts? I haven’t ordered the sub, would be disappointed if this happens to the bass

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    Redraider3403
    Enthusiast I
    Jun 10, 2020 9:59 PM UTC

    Same issue here. Have a sub so didn’t notice yesterday. Disconnected the sub today to test the arc solo and bass is bad. Especially with music. So sad. 

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    danibrandwat
    Lyricist II
    Jun 10, 2020 10:02 PM UTC

    Same issue here.

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    ftm
    Trending Lyricist I
    Jun 10, 2020 10:04 PM UTC

    I agree I am disappointed with the arc as a music speaker.  The play 5 2nd gen that was standing in the same place as the arc is now is a much better music speaker.  

    The bass without the sub is terrible at anything but low sound levels

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      ggmogollonAuthor
      Enthusiast II
      Jun 10, 2020 10:04 PM UTC

      I was hoping to not have to rely on a sub for bass given I’m in an apartment and do not want to not annoy the neighbors. 

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        arpatil1
        Enthusiast II
        Jun 10, 2020 10:15 PM UTC

        If this happens to me, it’s gonna be back in the box real quick. $799 after all.

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        johnny90025
        Lyricist III
        Jun 10, 2020 10:16 PM UTC

        @ftm, how would the Arc be as a music speaker if this problem with the Arc’s bass wasn’t there? Did you try it at lower volumes with music? Thanks!

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        Redraider3403
        Enthusiast I
        Jun 10, 2020 10:18 PM UTC

        @ftm, how would the Arc be as a music speaker if this problem with the Arc’s bass wasn’t there? Did you try it at lower volumes with music? Thanks!

        At low volume it sounds no better than the beam it replaced. Just a wider sound stage. 

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          arpatil1
          Enthusiast II
          Jun 10, 2020 10:20 PM UTC

          @ftm, how would the Arc be as a music speaker if this problem with the Arc’s bass wasn’t there? Did you try it at lower volumes with music? Thanks!

          At low volume it sounds no better than the beam it replaced. Just a wider sound stage. 


          Why none of the reviews mentioned this? It’s like they were paid to say good things. Mine arrives on 12th. Let’s see how it goes.

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          Ryan S
          Ryan S
          Retired Sonos Staff
          Jun 10, 2020 10:22 PM UTC

          Hi everyone, we’d love to look into this more, but we’ll need some more details to look into it better. Have you noticed this sort of sound from all sources of audio or just music? If it’s just music, does that mean all music services you’ve tried, or certain ones?

          Does it sound better with Trueplay turned off?

          How is the Arc set up currently? Do you have it open on a table, wall mounted, is there a surface above it? The more details, the better.

          Thanks! We’ll try and get to the bottom of this together.

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