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.

[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

[leelazer]

After reading about 5.1 from a Wii U it's seems that it's a restriction of the console.  Nintendo do not pay Dolby licence fees and so they use an Un licenced format that is not supported by most equipment. I will still try it but it doesn't look promising  

Lee

[leelazer]

No joy with the Wii U. it seems it only supports 5.1 in Lpcm which is uncompressed. This can't be passed through on optical. Maybe if Samsung fix the WiFi problem it will work although I am unsure if my TV supports Lpcm.

Lee 

[podavies]

Just downloaded and played the division on the PC its support an home cinema mode. Wasn't working but again broke the surround and set it up again, and the games sound was in surround mode. So games on the PC work fine, my PC is connected via hdmi on a 1060 to the TV.

[LeeS]

Hey everyone,

First thing, sorry about the relative radio silence.  It really isn’t our style to be quiet and certainly not how we want the Community to operate.  In an ideal world we would have been able to provide regular updates; from the time your collective feedback landed to the point where we could confirm the new firmware was available. 

That was the plan.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible this time.  Still, lots of lessons learned.

The good news is that this is not simply another (albeit long overdue) update but confirmation that the product team have engineered new firmware to address the volume issue you reported. 

Version 3109.1 is just going through some final checks before being made available on the product support page.  in the coming days.

It may have taken a little longer than we liked, but your feedback directly led to this firmware update; which is exactly how we would like the Community to operate.  Obviously that isn’t always going to be possible, but it is a positive start and very much a step in the right direction for our new Community’.

Thanks for your support and your paitence, both are greatly apprecited.

Lee 

[JCFARROW]

Fantastic Lee..fingers crossed it works! 

[podavies]

that's

great news

[abob36]

I am excited to test this out! I do appreciate the community effort that went into this, but man, it should not be this difficult or take this long for a response and resolution. It was only because some here were being so persistent and patient that we are able to get this fixed.

[JCFARROW]

Just checked the multiroom app and I already have the 3109.1 update?

[abob36]

Hmmm. Try it? I am not at home, but we were on 3108.

[LeeS]

You do.  Excellent.  Sorry I couldn't be more specific, I didn't have an exact time and wasn't sure when the changes would be relfected on the website.

Do continue to let us know how you get on.

Lee

[Robbienobs]

LeeS

Little or no sound from rear speakers now. May or May not be related to recent TV firmware update!

Saga continues for another chapter by the look of it

[leelazer]

I will hard reset everthing this evening when I get home from work and do some more testing. More concerning for me was that this morning when I tried it out with the new TV update is that the TV was losinf connection to the sounbar and rears. Also there was a small buzz everytime I turned the volume up and down. If I have to revert to the optical work around its no big deal as long as its sorted in the long run.

Lee

[JCFARROW]

I've not had these tv connectivity issues - my biggest worry is that we will lose momentum and end up settling for the work around which is not acceptable. It would be nice if the community manager was a bit more active and kept us updated i.e. whether he's acknowledged there are now issues with the rears. If not my next step will be writing to consumer protection because this is ridiculous.