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HW-K650 and Two R1 Wirelss Speakers in 5.1 With KS7000 TV

(Topic created on: 04-04-2017 05:03 PM)
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podavies
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When using the K650 sound bar and two R1 Wireless speakers in surround sound mode over wifi with the latest firmware, The quailty of the sound K650 drops, sounds very muddy. As soon as you use the sound bar on it own, the sound bar improves. this is happening for a quite a few users.

 

can you help.

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Askarel
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Hello,
Update done on the R3 (version 3112.5) and on the sound bar k650 (version 3111.2) and still no results in wifi on mode 5.1. The sound level of the sound bar is far too high. The sound level of the R3 is non-existent. When the equipment was purchased in December 2016, it worked perfectly. Why Samsung engineers are not able to go back on this earlier version if it was correct? It becomes scandalous !!!!
Sorry for the translation, but English is not my original language.
Go Samsung, find a solution now !!!

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Angelo2002
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Hello,

 

It seems I'm having the same problems everybody is experiencing. Although I have a Samsung J7 series, a HW-J650 and 2 R3 speakers. I've tried a lot of connection options (Multiroom App, Sound Connect, Wifi, HDMI ARC, Optical...) and so far I have had (different) problems every time. Sync-Issues with TV, no real 5.1 instead mirrored front and rear, low volume on center or rears and so on. A quick test with the optical connection was giving the worst result for me in TV. A movie was televised in HD and Dolby and the Center volume was very low compared to the other speakers. Unvortunately I need to try all tests again with Blurays played on a PS4.

 

1) Reading through this thread, the US one and also other sites on the web I stumbled on something I need to clarify. In the Spec of the HW-J/K-650 for Audio Processing ther is given Dolby Digital 5.1ch and DTS 2ch. Does it mean, that DTS will output only Stereo Sound?

 

2) Does it make a difference where I connect my PS4 to, directly to TV or SB? I want a real 5.1 signal to reach the sound bar to know if every speaker is triggered indipendently.

 

3) Regarding 5.1 test material. I need to download some. But if I connect it via USB to the TV or PS4 will it be passed to the sound bar correctly. Or does the TV reduce it to a stero signal?

 

I am really sad about all the time I had to invest so far and not getting sufficient results. Hope that Samsung is working on this problem.

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abob36
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Yes this system is only 5.1 DD and 2.0 DTS. Shame that competitors can get the latest decoding standards and we are stuck with ones from 1995, but I knew that going in.

I had an interesting time last night. I had turned my TV and soundbar on and started playing my game and of course, the rears were super quiet (Wi-Fi multi channel). I go into the TV audio settings and the levels were at -6 and +6 as always, yet when I began lowering the rear level from +6, it suddenly got louder and then moving it back to +6 it was pretty loud. Did the same for the soundbar moving the audio up from -6 and then back down to -6 and it got quieter. It actually sounded balanced. Just strange that the settings were showing one thing, yet clearly it was not correct.

I'll do more testing later
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simon_w
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Hi Angelo2002

 

1) Reading through this thread, the EU one and also other sites on the web I stumbled on something I need to clarify. In the Spec of the HW-J/K-650 for Audio Processing ther is given Dolby Digital 5.1ch and DTS 2ch. Does it mean, that DTS will output only Stereo Sound?

 

Yes - 5.1 Dolby and 2.1 DTS - not really an issue as there is very little DTS content available that doesnt also have a Dolby soundtrack in surround.

 

2) Does it make a difference where I connect my PS4 to, directly to TV or SB? I want a real 5.1 signal to reach the sound bar to know if every speaker is triggered indipendently.

 

Conect the PS4 to an HDMI in on the TV - the TV will pass the 5.1 through to the soundbar via optical (works) WiFi/HDMI ARC (dont work currently)

 

3) Regarding 5.1 test material. I need to download some. But if I connect it via USB to the TV or PS4 will it be passed to the sound bar correctly. Or does the TV reduce it to a stero signal?

 

Yes - 5.1 test material plays fine off a USB stick plugged into the TV as long it is a format the TV can play.  There is lots of 5.1 test material available from https://thedigitaltheater.com/index.php/dolby-trailers/

 

 

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Nick0
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I  have just returned home after a short break and switched on the TV and soundbar.  The soundbar more or less immediately displayed that it was updating and I thought, just perhaps,  Samsung have fixed the issue.  However, for the record, I too can report  that there is no functional improvement in the sound delivered from the rears with my UE49KS8000KS,   HW-K650 and 2R1's when the connection between the TV and 5.1 soundbar+2R1's group is configured through WiFi, that compares at all with that available though the Optical or HDMI cable workaround.

 

Does any one know what this latest update did deliver?

 

 

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Angelo2002
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Hi Simon,

 

Thank you for your reply!

 

Following up:

 

Dolby/DTS: I have found some Block Buster Blurays, e.g. Dr. Strange, that have only DTS audio tracks. This movie would be played as stereo on our setup, right? Would the rear speakers be silent, mirror the fronts or would some mixing happen? I remember watching The Avengers with DTS-track a few days ago. PS4 set to DTS and the Audio settings menu of the SamsungTV (for the soundbar I guess?) were Bitstream and DTS, if I recall correctly. The connection at that time was either Wifi or HDMI ARC. There was definitly coming good sound from the rears. And in combination with the Sound Bar it sounded good. But I could not distinguish if it was real 5.1.

 

optical connection: The optical was giving really bad sound for me in the last test with TV programm (HD movie but I do not remember what Audio format was passed). L/R/RL/RR were good. But I had almost no center (voice). I will however try it again with blurays and the audio formats from the link you gave.

 

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simon_w
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Hi Angelo

 

It sounds as though you may not be running the latest firmware in your K650 soundbar - do you perhaps have auto update off ?

 

Some versions back there was an update to correct muffled sound issues and lack of centre channel.  This was followed by an update to fix WiFi connectivity issues. Unfortuantely one of these two also caused a massive drop in the signal sent to the surround speakers which is what we are all trying to get Samsung to fix.  Current version is 3111.2 for the K650 and 3112.5 for the R1s.

 

Most users in this forum are reporting that with an optical connection from TV to soundbar (and no HDMI-ARC connection), the soundbar set to D-in and the TV set to optical out, the surround performs as it should with the correct levels, quality and centre channel, but somethines not quite in sync with the picture.  The drop in rear channel level occurs when connected via HDMI-ARC or WiFi Multiroom.

 

Not sure what happens with a DTS disc - will have a look through my collection and see what I have to test with.  But I suspect that it will play as 3.1 or possibly "faux" 5.1 with the surround being synthesised by the soundbar, but not true discrete 5.1 - TBC

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Peejay84
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You will only get stereo with DTS content. Some blu rays can reencode DTS to Dolby in real time.

 

As for "real 5.1" sound. I found that every time i turn off the set (or it goes off by itself) and start it up again the channels with bug out (sound from rears will bleed to front L/R accordingly) and it will stay like that until i disband and remake the surround group again.

This is a problem with Multiroom itself, not TV related as it also happens with 5.1 audio file i play through WiFi from my tablet. Right after making the surround group everything is fine, all channels are separated. After turning the set off and on again, channels will mess up. 

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Peejay84
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I just tested it and if you play a DTS5.1 movie (after setting the output to DTS in your tv's audio settings) the rears and the center channel will stay silent, so it obviously downmixes to DTS 2.0 

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Angelo2002
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@Simon_w: I'm on a HW-J650 which is I guess very similar to the HW-K650. But it's a 4.1 instead of 3.1, which means it has 2 center speakers. Then 2x R3, a UE55JU7090 and a PS4 as a bluray player. The R1s have the new firmware 3112.5. The sound bar is 3109.2 and is the newest for my model. Yesterday, I did test with the optical connection and it worked wonders. True 5.1 on Dolby Digital blurays with TV audio set to Bitstream and Dolby Digital. Great sound and the R1s volume was matched perfectly to the soundbar. Balance for all speakers set to 0 in the group. Then tested DTS only bluray with TV audio set to Bitstream and DTS. I can confirm Peejay84's observation. It is a pathetic stereo sound with my center speakers and R3s silent. 

 

@Peejay84: Thanks for the tip with the bluray players, which can transcode DTS to Dolby Digital on the fly. This will be the next thing I will buy.

 

Then my observation with optical connection and regular TV (HD and Dolby Digital audio (sometimes), I've again noticed the sound and lips are not synchronized. I don't remember which comes first and have not played with settings. But I think the default was set to 80 or 90. If the source was real Dolby Digital 5.1 again, I get very good surround sound with the R1/soundbar volumes perfectly matched. But when it the source is only stereo, the front speakers are mirrored to the rear ones. This will lead to very echoy voices at higher frequencies (women speakers). Lower frequencies don't produce this echo effect. I guess it is because they are supported/provided by the sub woofer? Anyway, I have to ungroup the sound bar/speakers with regular TV shows otherwise the echo makes me go crazy.

 

My next tests will be 5.1 test material from USB-stick and check the sound-lip-sync.

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