We did two jobs this week with the Sonos Amps and on both jobs the output was far lower than what a connect:amp would provide. On one job we had a pair of Bose outdoor speakers and on the other job is 1 Niles planter speaker. I have done both speakers directly off of a connect amp in the past and they sounded great with plenty of power but on both these jobs with the Amp with volume maxed out, you can have a conversation standing next to the speakers. Wiring is correct on both and I see no settings that would cause the volume to be decreased.

What was the music source?

There’s a new volume limiting setting... if this has been changed to lower max volume, the volume slider in the app still goes to 100%, but max output is trimmed back to the level selected.

Not sure what else could be causing the problem. I’ve been using the new AMP at home for 3-4 months and have connected it to several speakers that were previously powered by a Connect:Amp and the new AMP clearly outperformed the old one in all my tests.

Thanks Paul.  No longer on site to check.  I will say that I did not change this setting on either job, so it would only be an issue if set by default.

70 volt speakers on an amp designed to run 8 ohm speakers.
Hidden speaker level volume controls.

How long are the wire runs and what is the AWG?

Today's was maybe 30' with 16 awg. The other one was even shorter.

I have a feeling that all non Alexa Sonos SKUs are going to be coveted items in the very near future.

Since Brendon posted about this today, I thought I would find this thread and add I went back to one of the jobs to look at something else, and while there checked to ensure the volume limit was indeed off.

Have you still only done these 2? Both ordered at the same time?
Like alluded to in the other thread, could be a bad run of AMPs. Have you called and talked with SONOS about the issue yet? RMA a new amp?

Yes, both orderee at the same time. They shipped before they claimed they would be shipping. I was surprised when they showed as early as they did. Brendon ordered his and received his long after I did, but doesn't mean there is not a run of bad amps. I have not called yet but intend to. I will be doing another tv install at the job with the planter speaker and was planning to set some time aside to call Sonos while there.

You'll measure the load while you're there, right?

What do you expect I will find?  What will be different from every other Sonos install I have done with a Connect:Amp with the same speakers/wire compared to these installs with the Amp?  Yes, I can measure the load but I am pretty much certain we have a hardware issue here with the Amp.  I went through all the settings as well and found nothing that would cause the lower power output.  So unless I have physical issues with the speakers on two different jobs, I am pretty confident in saying the issue lies with the Amp.

Without knowing the AMP's design: We do know they are using a digital amp. Many digital amps switch the rail voltage depending on the load.

If I had to take a guess... I would say the AMP is incorrectly switching the rail voltage low, for a low impedance load. That would perfectly explain why it seems you are only getting a fraction of the power you normally would expect. Because you literally are (25% of normal power depending on what ohm the speakers are).

Factory reset and re-setup?