Solved: Re: Regular popping sound from HW-J6500 subwoofer when in surround group

martyfp · ‎05-09-2017

I use a J6500 soundbar plus 2 R1 speakers for surround sound on my Samsung TV. In general, everything works well and I am very happy with the sound quality etc. I use the multiroom app to setup surround group.

Recently, however, I have started to notice a semi-regular "popping" or "tapping" sound coming from the soundbar's subwoofer when working in surround mode. The popping noise is not loud ( probably around 50% of the peak audio volume) and increases/decreases in volume with the audio level. The sound lasts a fraction of a second. If I mute audio the popping stops.

Out of curiosity, I timed the interval between the pops and found them to be at 5s or 10s intervals. Almost spookily accurate...

If I switch the soundbar stand-alone with the TV, there is no popping sound. As soon as I regroup the R1s the popping resumes.

If I power soundbar and speakers off at the mains and start again, the popping sound disappears but comes back after a few days.

I have recently changed our wifi router and this only started occurring a few weeks after that.

Any ideas on what can cause this and why it should only occur when in surround group mode ?

JonD · ‎10-09-2017

I'm having the same problem

martyfp · ‎11-09-2017

I'm not sure if it is coincidence or not, however, I found that all my devices had connected to the 2.4GHz wifi instead of 5GHz. (My current setup has the same SSID for both).

I forced them to reconnect to the network and this time they connected to the 5GHz channel and have so far remained on this. (you can check the channel they're attached to from inside the multiroom app).

Now, when they're in a surround group attached to the TV, the SSID broadcast by the TV is also 5GHz.

The popping has disappeared. However, I found that after a power cycle of the soundbar the popping sometimes disappears for several days before returning. It's been a few days down and so far so good. Who knows, it may come back though.

Xnetdude · ‎18-09-2017

Hi - haven't got a solution I'm afraid but do have a question as I have a similar setup.

Voices come from soundbar and R1 pair all at the same time and not splitting the sound so voice front centre and ambient sound R1 speakers, did you experience this and, if so, how did you solve? Essentially unusable currently as get a horrid echo.

Thanks and I hope you get a resolution to your issue.
James.

martyfp · ‎19-09-2017

My issue is now solved - ensuring that devices are on 5GHz band fixed it.

Hi James. Your issue sounds slightly different and quite possibly the source audio is somehow not properly 5.1 encoded or being passed properly through the system. I did have a similar issue after first installing the R1s.

Do you get this problem from all sources or just from one in particular?

My system is set up something like this ...

Humax Youview box : Audio set to surround mode for HDMI.

TV : Audio settings set for bitstream on HDMI (not PCM) <-- This I think is important. Dolby mode set to Linear and not RF (not sure if that makes much difference)

Blueray : Audio settings set to bitstream. I also use a mode where it recodes bitstreams into 5.1 otherwise 7.1 discs sound very odd.

Surround setup via the multiroom app. I make minor adjustment to the R1 speaker levels to balance them properly (due to asymmetrical placement)

If you are able to, run YouTube app on the TV and search for "5.1 surround test" and you should find various test videos that will show you if the 5.1 is working properly. You should be able to hear a very clear distinction between the channels.