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

[podavies]

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.

[abob36]

Just wanted to chime in that I was able to use the optical to get clean 5.1 audio. I was watching shows last night for a few hours without issue. My soundbar did power on with my TV. I will do more testing over the weekend. 

Samsung still needs to get this figured out instead of us having to use this workaround.

[gsevilla]

Add me to the list of dissatisfied customers. I'm in the USA. Purchased my gear in June 2016. K8000 65", K650 soundbar, and two R1 surround speakers. They sounded great at first, but as soon as the firmwares updated, the audio problems you  all describe here started. By the way, I also have constant freezing/crashing of apps (Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now), but I'll stick to the topic. As I stated in the USA forum, I've already spent six hours with Samsung tech support, but no fix yet. I would return everything for a refund if I could.  

[podavies]

Feel your pain. I trashed all the boxes, the speakers came in. But at least with the optical cable things are working now.    Just watched Grand tour in HDR with 5.1 surround the picture was great and sound too. Not seemless but at least it's working 

[Satty]

Hi guys. can i just ask before I start packaging this all back up. Does this still sound the same for you guys for 3.1 as it did prior to the upgrade in firmware. I dont have a basis for comparision now but i have noticed the sound go very quiet when using Optical and as soon as i go back into wifi mode it twice as sound.

thanks

[Robbienobs]

Hi satty

Yes I have the same. When just using the soundbar it's much louder. Also before the firmware issues it was also much louder on wifi connection in surround mode. 

I noticed earlier today that max volume was much lower. Seems that work around fixes the quality issues only. 

Before firmware update it was very very loud and you couldn't hear yourself talk, now it's still good sound quality but not as loud. 

Mainly mid range correction and correction of too much bass with optical lead workaround

[podavies]

For me using optical cable is a bit quieter but the quality is great and the 5.1 works perfectly. The only issues is having to use the another remote. But I'm very happy with the sound quality.

[Robbienobs]

Yes agree with that Podavies. We never really have the volume up too high. More of an observation than a problem for us. 

Sound quality is more important here for now  

[gsevilla]

On wifi, soundbar only (3.1) it sounds as good as before firware issues. I can hear dialogue crisply at volume level 15.

On wifi with R1 surrounds included, it seems that center channel disappears. Sometimes I need to turn it up to 80 to hear dialogue and everything sounds muffled. Sound through optical sounds great also, but I've only tried 3.1 (no surrounds). I gave up on optical because I can't stand using two remotes.

To solve this problem, Samsung needs to enable true 5.1 through wifi, otherwise the R1 surrounds are worthless. And again, this was the case when I initially set up my system in June (2016). By the way, I never noticed any problems with wifi dropouts. In fact, my first tech support call to Samsung was about constantly freezing/crashing apps (Netflix, Hulu, HBO Now, etc.), not wifi issues.

[abob36]

Cannot at all get my Wii U to do 5.1 via HDMI directly to the soundbar or through the TV (bitstream or PCM). Oh well.

For PC: I can get my laptop to do 5.1 when connected to the soundbar via HDMI. Must be AC3 encoded files and I found that playing through VLC or media player classic won't work. Using Windows Media Player that comes with Windows works great. I am trying to install a blu ray player so that I can test my discs, but I think it will work without issue. 

I can confirm that Dolby Digital is working as it should through Windows Media Player and PowerDVD.

When I came home from work tonight and tried listening to 5.1 audio, the surround channels were also coming through the fronts a little bit. I had to regroup the surround to resolve this, so that is an annoyance. 

Anyways, optical is the rough work-around for now. Wi-Fi for 3.1 works and sounds great, so there is that at least.

[leelazer]

Hi

I will try the Wii U later and see if I can get 5.1 working  it took a while to get my Ps4 set up but I got there in the end. it is a little quieter in 5.1 but not an issue for me  

Lee