Soundbar, 4x r1 and surround issues?

[Pilotbob599]

Hello,

I have a Samsung curved TV model number UE65KU6680U and a Samsung Curved Sound bar model number HWJ6501 R/XU and 4 x R1 speakers. I can use the Sound bar and 2X R1 speakers to get 5.1 either using the app or tv menus, (although as the front left,right and centre are all from one unit  the sound does not "surround" the viewer, but instead offers a "pseudo" surround sound).

I thought that as the Sound bar can configure to be used as front left/right and centre, with 2xR1 as rear surrounds,  that I could also use the Sound bar as a central speaker  and use 4x R1 as the front left/right surround, and rear left/right surround.

This is not available in either the app settings or tv menus, however I cannot find any literature that advises that the Sound bar cannot be used as a centre only.

I don't want to go and buy yet another R1 to get the full surround effect just in case the is an undocumented limit on the number of speakers that can be attached. 

The other issue is that by using the R1's as surrohnd and NOT the Sound bar, there appears to be no function for using the wireless woofer attached to the Sound bar. 

Any help or advice greatly appreciated as I've spent nearly £800 on this system so far.

Rob 

[Leg2ion]

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 This is not available in either the app settings or tv menus, however I cannot find any literature that advises that the Sound bar cannot be used as a centre only.

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But why are you assuming you can - just because there is nothing printed stating that you cannot? If you took that stance on most electrical/smart gadgets nowadays the forums would be an (even more) interesting area of debate.  (My DVD player wont play laser discs - nothing in the manual stating it doesn't - you get my drift?)

If you look at the instruction book for the R1s it fairly well leads you down the path of only being able to connect 2 speakers (plus soundbar) in a surround set-up , which is backed up by the multiroom app - in that you cannot drag more than 2 speakers 'into play'.

I believe though you can group all the speakers within the multiroom app, and then select source as your TV - though this will result in all speakers outputting the same audio - and won't be surround as such.

[Pilotbob599 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the reply. Eventually I did buy another R1 and finally achieved a full 5.1 surround from the 5 x R1 without using the sound bar. The assumption of being able to use the sound bar as one of the 5 speakers was only based on the fact that some other systems allow the addition of satellite speakers to soundbars and I believe this is a trick missed by Samsung. When you pay nearly £400 for a sound bar and woofer it would be good for it to be part of a bigger and more integrated system.

Anyways, I can now listen to music via grouping 5 speakers, 5 speakers AND the sound bar and hear the same channel through them all or I can listen to surround and NOT pseudo surround via the 5 x R1s alone. The system when bought like this provides such a clear and well processed sound that films and music are a joy to listen to. 

[Leg2ion]

So how have you configured the 5 speakers for surround, as I cannot for the life of me see this option?

[Pilotbob599]

I'll try to post some screen shots from App and tv.

May take some time so bear with me.

[Leg2ion]

Thanks but don't go out of your way.

I think I have it cracked now....

I have a soundbar plus 2 x R1s connected wirelessly which appear to be working just fine in surround mode. Was certainly getting blaster effects winging past our ears watching starwars the other night.

The only issue I seem to be having now is the occasional sound drop out which I can only put down to my wireless system.

[Pilotbob599]

You'll get to 5 ch by swiping across at the top in app.

First view from the Mroom app. Swipe across to reveal 5 ch

This is what the app will look like when you've linked the 5 ch to your speakers

Tv settings. Selected the 5 ch

Going into the expert settings, you can change each speaker level

I've changed speaker names to reflect where they 're positioned rather than all R1.speaker level at bottom of screen

Speaker levels if you want to change them

[Pilotbob599]

We used to get drop out too, if you have 2.5hz or 5hz on your router, try 2.5 if you're near enough to it to not lose signal.
2.5 allows a great degree of loss of signal without dropping.

[Leg2ion]

Cheers for that.

I read somewhere that 5ghz wifi bands could be problematic, so went through the tortuous route of resetting the speakers and SB and reconnecting them to my 2.4ghz band, as some were on 2.4 and some on 5 (I actually have 4 speakers but one is in the kitchen and one upstairs for streaming music).

Since then it has appeared to get worse,so I will reset them once more and reconnect them back to the 5ghz band - or failing that a repeater I have in the living room - just trying to get a stable connection I guess.