Why is the maximum volume so low?

  • 26 February 2014
  • 62 replies
  • 45568 views
U
I just purchased a single Play:5. I have to turn it about 3/4 of the way up to hear it much at all, and at max volume, it is not nearly what one would expect from a speaker of this quality. I have the volume setting all the way up, plus the bass and treble at max. Nothing seems to help. Is there another setting I'm missing? Thank you.
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62 replies

E
I solved the problem! My turntable used to be connected to a receiver but now that I connected it to my Pay 5 the sound was too low. I remember now that when I had to fix the elastic band on my turntable last week, I noticed a small switch under the plate where the vinyl sits on. I didn’t pay much attention to it then. Well, I was curious today and removed the plate again and I turned the switch to the opposite site it was originally set to. I connected my turntable again to my Play 5 and Voila! It worked and the sound is just beautiful!
I set my line-in source: portable player and it automatically got set to level (8). Perfect!
Please share this fix with everyone!
S
I have this issue of no low volume with the sonos 5, to say I am disappointed is an under statement!
I have the 2 play 5's and 3 play 1's. This is so sad. I wish I could take them back. Diagnostic code is 8488772
A
Just to update this thread -- Sonos didn't stand by their product. After 18 months of ownership (crucially, 6 months after the warranty!) they offered a token coupon to the more expensive version and refused any alternative. If you've found this thread, I hope you're still in warranty!
K
Same issue, only when using the line in from my TV. Volume on all speakers is almost full to get to a normal level. There was a link in an earlier post on how to adjust the line in, but now the link doesn’t work. Any thoughts?
pwt
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Interesting to see the comments regarding lack of volume from the Play5 2Gen. I’ve had mine (in stereo configuration) for nearly a year now and though I do love them there are occasions when I wish they went louder. I have them on Aracama stands in a room approx 4m wide x 8m long x 2.4m high, and 95% of the time they are fine. The problem tends to crop up on those albums which are really high quality recordings such as ‘Flying Cowboys’ by Rickie Lee Jones. Maximum volume is simply not adequate to do justice to the music whether it’s from Spotify extreme, Flac or cd via line in. Is there any way round this?
Might be worth getting a SUB on a returnable basis. I’m skeptical it would fix your issue, but it may be worth a try because it will offload the low frequency heavy lifting from the 5s.

I have a pair of 5s in a room of similar dimensions to yours (my kitchen) and I’ve never used full volume because it would be intolerably loud. Room acoustics will make a difference.
4 x P:5 | Sub | 4 x P:1 | 3 x Connect | 2 x Boost | Connect:Amp | 2 x One | Amp | Move | Port
passopp
Is there any way round this?

If we assume that the Play:5's internal amp delivers its' actual maximum volume when volume in the Sonos app is set to 100/100, I wouldn't think so. Line-in sources could obviously differ due to higher source audio than 'internal' sources.
Z
Badge +2
Interesting to see the comments regarding lack of volume from the Play5 2Gen. I’ve had mine (in stereo configuration) for nearly a year now and though I do love them there are occasions when I wish they went louder. I have them on Aracama stands in a room approx 4m wide x 8m long x 2.4m high, and 95% of the time they are fine. The problem tends to crop up on those albums which are really high quality recordings such as ‘Flying Cowboys’ by Rickie Lee Jones. Maximum volume is simply not adequate to do justice to the music whether it’s from Spotify extreme, Flac or cd via line in. Is there any way round this?
J
I am having the same issue. Both my play 5 used to work perfectly but now I can barely hear anything even at the highest volume.

Diagnostic: 8159506

Please help to look into this.

Thanks!
A
I also have this issue. It started perhaps a month ago or so. I thought a software update caused it, and then I thought a software update fixed it, but now every source and every controller makes it incredibly quiet. The volume control does change the volume, but the available range is silent to nearly-silent. When I plug in headphones they volume seems reasonable, but that's hardly a reassurance.
D
I have had this problem, don't know why but the volume used to be to loud at 50 to 60% now it's only just loud enough at 100%. I have set the app to 10 for the audio line in and haven't changed any other settings. Really disappointed.
M
As John said, what you're describing is quite unusual as the PLAY:5 can get very loud. Local iTunes music could be encoded quieter, and at times Pandora tracks might be low as well. Sonos players don't edit the volume encoded in the tracks themselves, so you could have a few that are digitally set lower than others. This shouldn't be the case will all of your Pandora or local songs however.

If you're using the Line-In on your PLAY:5 will want to adjust the Line-In level as shown on this page. This adjusts the gain level on the Line-In connection to be louder when you have the cable plugged in from your iPad (for example) to the PLAY:5. The higher the value, the higher the volume. 

You can also turn on the Loudness setting inside the Equalization settings. Tracks usually are louder with the Loudness turned on.

If the PLAY:5 still seems low on multiple Sonos sources, can you please submit a diagnostic from your system and reply back here with your confirmation number?

Thanks

Hello Ryan,

I am playing music on spotify and purchased the Sonos play 5 yesterday. I have the Sonos play 5 and the Bose Soundtouch 30 next to eachother for further testing and I can agree the Sonos is not loud at all. The Bose so far is much louder, we pay a premium price for a loudness you can get out of a JBL Xtreme (minus the sound being much better on the Sonos) is there any way I can tweak the volume on this before returning it and making my decision?
T
I have this issue of no low volume with the sonos 5, to say I am disappointed is an under statement!
I have the playbar, sub, connect (B&O speakers) and 3 play 1's but this is really poor in comparision
S
Userlevel 1
Badge +4
I should have added; I presume that you have spent time listening to both versions?
S
Userlevel 1
Badge +4
Thanks LH, glad to see you're as robust in your answer as ever 🙂
T
This thread is two years old and refers to the old Play:5. The new one is a ground up redesign. Honestly, if you can sit in front of a new play:5 on full volume you're a) already completely deaf or b) a liar! It's loud, stop worrying about it.
S
Userlevel 1
Badge +4
It sounds pretty loud, but not what I would consider maximum loudness. It really is that it is very low until 50% or a little past that

I'm about to completely change my system from a Hegel H160 and ATC SCM40 II to a much more simple, less expensive wireless system, as I don't use it enough to justify the silly prices of hi fi gear, but I have a large-ish room, and I like to listen on the louder side. I've read through this thread, but I'm still not convinced that the absolute max SPL is adequate; I can live with a logarithmic approach to the volume control, but only if 0 attenuation is loud enough. How does the max SPL of the 5 compare to a 1, that's the key question that's unanswered in this thread, can anyone make that comparison?

To reference my expectation, of course I don't expect a £400 small box to get close to the silly levels that the ATCs could reach, but that's not what I am expecting, nor require, but it needs to be loud enough to drown out conversation!
jgatie
@sioux,
1) The OP and the rest of the thread said nothing about volume from the line-in. The thread is about volume from all sources.

2) You can adjust the level of the line-in.
S
I've the same issue with play5 2nd. The main problem is, that I need to put very high volume to hear anything and then when change the source to streaming it hurts of course.
I couldn't find any info about the supported range of voltage on the linein, anybody knows about this specification?

The argument for the strange behavoir (I've read on the upper comments) is to make people happy with fine granular adjustments on lower volumnes.
But this should be possible to adjust by the person itself by setting the level of the linein itself.
T
Why does that matter though? It gives more flexibility at the lowest end, which is something many people have been asking for. The relative volume %age isn't relevant, as long as it goes up to the volume you want it makes no difference if it's 30%, 50% or 90%.
A
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It sounds pretty loud, but not what I would consider maximum loudness. It really is that it is very low until 50% or a little past that
T
I definitely have this sound issue -- I really have to turn it up to 50% to hear much of anything on wireless play of my music library. I have a single brand new play 5.

So what does it sound like if you turn it up to 100%?
A
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I definitely have this sound issue -- I really have to turn it up to 50% to hear much of anything on wireless play of my music library. I have a single brand new play 5.
A
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I believe you're incorrect. Factory resetting a speaker does not delete playlist or service account info, that only happens when you reset the controller. Controller meaning Sonos App on your phone or computer.

Correct me if im wrong. I just joined the SONOS family a week ago.

Sorry, but you are wrong. In fact, you have it backwards. Resetting a controller does nothing because the controller app stores no settings, they are stored in the players. Now if you reset a player and add it back to an existing system, you will inherit the existing settings, favorites, playlists, etc. from the other players., You still lose the diagnostics from that player, which is not good, but not a disaster. However, there are many users who only have a single Sonos device, or they are having problems with all their devices, and if they follow the suggestion to factory reset, they will be pretty upset to find all their user accounts, favorites, and playlists are now gone.

Thanks. Good to know. I thought the account held all those info.
jgatie

I believe you're incorrect. Factory resetting a speaker does not delete playlist or service account info, that only happens when you reset the controller. Controller meaning Sonos App on your phone or computer.

Correct me if im wrong. I just joined the SONOS family a week ago.

Sorry, but you are wrong. In fact, you have it backwards. Resetting a controller does nothing because the controller app stores no settings, they are stored in the players. Now if you reset a player and add it back to an existing system, you will inherit the existing settings, favorites, playlists, etc. from the other players., You still lose the diagnostics from that player, which is not good, but not a disaster. However, there are many users who only have a single Sonos device, or they are having problems with all their devices, and if they follow the suggestion to factory reset, they will be pretty upset to find all their user accounts, favorites, and playlists are now gone.
A
Badge
I was having the same problem. Resetting the speaker to factory settings helped a lot.

One should never reset to factory settings unless instructed to by a Sonos tech or a forum veteran. Not only does it erase all your information including playlists and service account info, it gets rid of valuable diagnostic information.

I believe you're incorrect. Factory resetting a speaker does not delete playlist or service account info, that only happens when you reset the controller. Controller meaning Sonos App on your phone or computer.

Correct me if im wrong. I just joined the SONOS family a week ago.
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