SWA-9100 rear surround right speakers crackling sound when browsing

[Punnoose]

I got the 5.1 HW-Q850A soundbar system with Dolby ATMOS/DTS:X system.. sounds amazing!! But I’ve been noticing a crackling noise in the SWA-9100 rear surround speakers whenever I’m browsing right in any of the apps like Netflix, YouTube etc.. I don’t hear it when watching a video or anything but only when swiping.. has anyone else had the same issue? Couldn’t find anything for this on the community. Please help.

[Punnoose]

Hey, you are right!! The right surround speakers does slight crackling noise. I thought initially it’s just when swiping in some of the video apps, but the 5.1 Dolby video also produced it. I guess in general there are issues with the right surround speakers!! Dang it..

do you know of anything to fix it?

[Punnoose]

Hi MonkSpunk2, please keep us posted if you hear back anything from Samsung Suppprt. Btw great troubleshooting 

[RonHoward]

Good information, and thank you for sharing this. 

Please keep us posted on what you find out! 

[MonkSpunk2]

Hi All,

Looks like you may have to return your units... Samsung is not helpful so far.

After 10 days of many calls and chat supports, Samsung just scheduled in home service through a third party repair company. Technician to write a report before Samsung will do anything to help me. I've explained to both Samsung and the third party service company that this is my third unit and others online are reporting the same crackling issue.

I've explained that the issue not with my particular unit. Samsung says too bad we still need technician's report. I thought Samsung would be testing at their own work bench with their own HW-Q850A. The third party service company was going to bring a replacement speaker in to test my system. After finding that this my third unit that is crackling, they believe it is a setting issue and going back to Samsung.... 

Sorry guys, but I cant call Samsung any more. I'm being tortured with poor call quality, voice echo's and south American accents. 

I really thought Samsung would take this issue seriously and be testing at their own work bench. This issue is with many units, not just the one I have now! I don't think this will be resolved before I have to return on January 16th.

[RonHoward]

@MonkSpunk2  thanks for all your time spent troubleshooting. That's unfortunate... 

I actually exchanged my unit to see if it'll be any better. I haven't set up the new unit yet, but based on your troubleshooting it sounds like I won't see any improvement. 

Are you pretty confident that the problem can be eliminated when using Youtube with Virtual ON or sound bar mode standard? It sucks to have to use these workarounds... but I may keep the unit since it seems to work well with movies via USB (my main use case). 

[MonkSpunk2]

Hi Ron,

I just spoke with the third party service company today.  They understood my point that this is my third unit with the problem, and that the issue is unlikely to be the hardware. They are bringing a speaker just in case to double check my trouble shooting(required process apparently). More importantly,  they tell me they have new software from Samsung, to try on my sound bar. I think this is a possible real solution. 

I will update you when I find out more. 

As for your questions, 

I hear no crackling when sound mode is in standard or Surround with Virtual ON. Tried this with 3 different YouTube videos that cause crackling. 

[RonHoward]

I really appreciate (and probably others on the internet do too) you sharing your troubleshooting experience on here @MonkSpunk2 . Did the 3rd party service company provide any help?

On my end I think I'm going to return my unit. At this price point it's unacceptable to have these issues or have to resort to workarounds (by turning off surround) when using YouTube or other content that doesn't contain native surround sound. I also tried Spotify via Bluetooth, and the satellites produced some slight crackling.

[RonHoward]

I can confirm that the crackling on the satellite speakers is very obvious on Netflix. Just tested tonight with The Witcher Season 2 and Squid Game, which both have Atmos audio. Returning my Samsung setup and going with a different brand. 

[MonkSpunk2]

Third party service coming today. I will make decision to keep or not today. Please tell me: which season, episode, and time cause the cracking for you on netflix?

I couldn't get it to crackle with any Netflix content.  

Please get back to me today. Tomorrow is my last day to return!

[MonkSpunk2]

Hi all,

The third party service company tried to swap out the wireless speaker kit. Didn't work. They tried this fix despite knowing this was my 3rd unit. 

They tried a "new software update" - was actually not just a firmware update and so had potential of being a real fix. And... it did not work. No change to crackling.

The technician told me that Samsung engineering would have to get involved.  Apparently there some issue with the way the sound bar is communicating to the wireless speaker kit. He says none of the other models Q700, Q800m Q950 etc, have this problem. He says he expects to get more calls to fix this HW-Q850A with crackling. He suggests I return the unit. He would not advise if issue will be fixable or not fixable. Apparently this technician from third party service company has been doing repairs for Samsung for 30 years. 

This should be my last post. This been my worst experience ever trying to receive after purchase support. I spent hours with Samsung support trying to report this problem. - explaining the trouble shooting I was doing and how they have a problem common with many HW-Q850A. I wanted them to help me help them. I was expecting them to test this model at their own test bench.  Acknowledge the issue then give assurance if later fix with a firmware update. Too much to ask?? I bet they wont even acknowledge this thread. @Beth_S 

Two possibilities: 1) They know of this issue and choosing to hide it. Perhaps not an easy fix and they think they can get away with it because crackling isn't constant. 2) They too back logged and inundated with work load to preform.(Short staffing common these days). 

I will be returning my 3rd HW-Q850A tomorrow. I have LG SP9YA on the way.