Magnifi Mini issue

vcwatkins

Received the Mini on Tuesday. No problems in setting up Wednesday for optical setup. Tested for a half hour without issue - no loss of connection to sub, no sound delays, no random power off/on, reasonable temperature, sounds good.

Wed night it started intermittently dropping sound for a fraction of a second to several seconds at random times. Happened with Dolby and non-Dolby programming, DirecTV broadcast and Fire TV streaming of Netflix & Amazon. Complexity of video and/or audio signal didn't seem to matter. No recognizable pattern or cause/effect. The internal TV speakers played normally.

Thinking it may relate to the distance from the sub (bedside 12' away), I moved it to the side of the armoire that holds the TV and Mini, maybe 4' away. Seemed to fix the problem in my brief listen. I thought all was well; but last night I started streaming a show and the issue recurred.

Today I attached to my network via ethernet, downloaded and opened the Google Home app, and watched the firmware update automatically install. Tried again. Worked fine for 10-15 minutes then started cutting out again, sigh.

Any ideas?

Thanks for any help,
Craig

motorhead43026

Defective unit.

DaveHo

Seems like a common theme these days...

vcwatkins

Last night I watched the last half of a movie that I never finished a few weeks ago and it played without issue. Weird. Wife is testing again now...

lightman1

Sketchy Bluetooth.....

msg

Man, this thing's getting a bad rep. Has there been an official statement from Polk on this/these issues? Seems like every other week I see one of these posts surface.

heiney9

Ours drops audio when changing channels or sources. It comes back after about 5-8 seconds and it's random, but I have mine hooked through the HDMI (ARC) output. It's annoying but it never drops in the middle of a show. Only when we change sources/channels or ff/rew the dvr. The girlfriend gets really annoyed, I've learned to live with it. But it is a PITA and not up to Polk's usual problem free products.

No one seems to have an answer as this has become a fairly common issue.

Disappointed, but it fits my needs and does sound good when it's not dropping audio or having lip synch problems. I won't recommend them to friends or family.

H9

[Deleted User]

I believe Polk has suggested that it's important to have your MagniFi Mini's set up on your home network so it can receive any firmware updates automatically.

vcwatkins

Thanks guys. My son tested briefly while we escaped to the beach. No problems in his 10-15 minutes of listening. Maybe it had to power cycle after the update?

After I did the update, Google Home indicated firmware version 20. This morning after the error free listening, I looked again and it was still v20. So That's why I wonder if it just needed some downtime to reboot to the newer version?

I'm pleased with the sound and value, so I really hope it continues to work without hiccups.

mdaudioguy

heiney9 wrote: »

Ours drops audio when changing channels or sources. It comes back after about 5-8 seconds and it's random, but I have mine hooked through the HDMI (ARC) output. It's annoying but it never drops in the middle of a show. Only when we change sources/channels or ff/rew the dvr. The girlfriend gets really annoyed, I've learned to live with it. But it is a PITA and not up to Polk's usual problem free products.

No one seems to have an answer as this has become a fairly common issue.

Disappointed, but it fits my needs and does sound good when it's not dropping audio or having lip synch problems. I won't recommend them to friends or family.

H9

Very likely an HDMI handshake issue. This can be a problem when connecting equipment from different manufacturers with different firmware. It might work great connected to one person's Samsung, but suffer from delays when connecting to a Vizio. Or last year's LG vs this year's LG... It's almost impossible to figure out what will work well and what won't. It just takes longer for some devices to recognize each other.

heiney9

mdaudioguy wrote: »

heiney9 wrote: »

Ours drops audio when changing channels or sources. It comes back after about 5-8 seconds and it's random, but I have mine hooked through the HDMI (ARC) output. It's annoying but it never drops in the middle of a show. Only when we change sources/channels or ff/rew the dvr. The girlfriend gets really annoyed, I've learned to live with it. But it is a PITA and not up to Polk's usual problem free products.

No one seems to have an answer as this has become a fairly common issue.

Disappointed, but it fits my needs and does sound good when it's not dropping audio or having lip synch problems. I won't recommend them to friends or family.

H9

Very likely an HDMI handshake issue. This can be a problem when connecting equipment from different manufacturers with different firmware. It might work great connected to one person's Samsung, but suffer from delays when connecting to a Vizio. Or last year's LG vs this year's LG... It's almost impossible to figure out what will work well and what won't. It just takes longer for some devices to recognize each other.

Perhaps, but it does this as well using the optical connection, so that sort of takes the HDMI issue out of it. I know the ARC setting can be tricky, but I shouldn't have the same issues via optical unless it's the unit itself (or software) and not the TV.

All in all, it's not perfect, but livable compared to the alternative, which would be TV speakers.

On mine I also have to turn the bass down 2-3 notches, otherwise it's very boomy and the bass is overwhelming. I don't have it placed in a corner. It's on the same wall as the TV about 4 inches out into the room on the right 1/4 of a long wall.

One positive feature of using HDMI-ARC is I can now control the volume and the power of the Mini w/my DishTV controller and the onscreen info comes up. WIth the optical I don't remember being able to do that.

H9

heiney9

When I first got the system up an running it was a solid 4.5 stars out of 5. Now after break in and the various issues it's closer to a 3 out of 5 stars. It's lost some of it "sheen" in the past 6 months.

Because of the various issues that I have (which are the same reported here) that don't seem to have a solid fix, I no longer recommend this unit or any Polk Soundbars to friends and family.

H9

DollarDave

heiney9 wrote: »

When I first got the system up an running it was a solid 4.5 stars out of 5. Now after break in and the various issues it's closer to a 3 out of 5 stars. It's lost some of it "sheen" in the past 6 months.

Because of the various issues that I have (which are the same reported here) that don't seem to have a solid fix, I no longer recommend this unit or any Polk Soundbars to friends and family.

H9

These problems are unfortunate, and untimely. I was just considering one of these as a gift to someone else...that would not only reflect badly on Pok, but myself.

heiney9

You should consider all that have been sold that don't have issues, but there seems to be at the very least compatibility issues with some of these products and the TV's they are used with.

I can only comment on my situation. It's a great sounding unit and the ability to raise the voices separate from the rest of the signal is a huge plus.

But I can understand not wanting to have it reflect poorly on you if the recipient has issues.

H9

heiney9

Also as some will attest I am probably pickier than the normal user and perhaps the extra bass I am noticing after break in is a non-issue for most or all of the users.

motorhead43026

The only issue I have with mine is it does not always come in when tv is turned on, I use the ARC connection. I am forced to pick up the mini and turn on manually, no problem. I would recommend these with no hesitation at all.

vcwatkins

Mine seems to be working without issue now.

heiney9

I'll check and see if I have the latest firmware updates as Ken suggest. Maybe that could help.

mdaudioguy

heiney9 wrote: »

mdaudioguy wrote: »

heiney9 wrote: »

Ours drops audio when changing channels or sources. It comes back after about 5-8 seconds and it's random, but I have mine hooked through the HDMI (ARC) output. It's annoying but it never drops in the middle of a show. Only when we change sources/channels or ff/rew the dvr. The girlfriend gets really annoyed, I've learned to live with it. But it is a PITA and not up to Polk's usual problem free products.

No one seems to have an answer as this has become a fairly common issue.

Disappointed, but it fits my needs and does sound good when it's not dropping audio or having lip synch problems. I won't recommend them to friends or family.

H9

Very likely an HDMI handshake issue. This can be a problem when connecting equipment from different manufacturers with different firmware. It might work great connected to one person's Samsung, but suffer from delays when connecting to a Vizio. Or last year's LG vs this year's LG... It's almost impossible to figure out what will work well and what won't. It just takes longer for some devices to recognize each other.

Perhaps, but it does this as well using the optical connection, so that sort of takes the HDMI issue out of it. I know the ARC setting can be tricky, but I shouldn't have the same issues via optical unless it's the unit itself (or software) and not the TV.

All in all, it's not perfect, but livable compared to the alternative, which would be TV speakers.

On mine I also have to turn the bass down 2-3 notches, otherwise it's very boomy and the bass is overwhelming. I don't have it placed in a corner. It's on the same wall as the TV about 4 inches out into the room on the right 1/4 of a long wall.

One positive feature of using HDMI-ARC is I can now control the volume and the power of the Mini w/my DishTV controller and the onscreen info comes up. WIth the optical I don't remember being able to do that.

H9

If you have similar issues with optical, that's not good. I've never experienced a bad optical connection... Hopefully, a firmware update will improve the situation.

heiney9

I really should sit down and make notes of when these glitches occur. I time shift everything on the DVR so I can FF through commercials. It seems when we FF/REW/PAUSE recorded material that's when the sound drops for approx. 2-15 seconds when we re-start the recording before it returns on its own. Doesn't do it every time, but let's say 6 out of 10 times.

If I am watching a DVD and do the same thing (FF/REW/PAUSE/Change Chapters, etc) it doesn't seem to happen A) at all or or much less. If watching live TV it doesn't seem to drop sound at all but what it does do is occasionally it has lip sync issues, with some channels being far worse than others (Comedy Central and TNT being the worst). Simply turning the Mini off for 10 seconds and back on re-syncs until the next time it happens.

H9

heiney9

Also with HDMI ARC the volume of just about every commercial and TV program fluxuates, in some cases, A LOT. Don't seem to have that issue with the optical connection.

Optical isn't ideal for me since it's hooked to my main rig's dac. I was swapping cable between the dac and Mini in the beginning but it was too much trouble so I decided to use the HDMI ARC function for the Mini. That seemed to be when some of the issues started popping up.

H9

motorhead43026

My girlfriends, I set up on optical and she has zero issues. Mine is ARC and I have some turn on issues and I also experience the lip syncing on occasion. This happens sometimes when the Mini does not turn on at the same time as the TV. All I do is turn off, and back on @ same time.

guyrab

I just got my polk mini Magnifi, audio quality is great, everything works via the optical connection, google cast, bluetooth. I cannot get my ARC HDMI to work (and this is how I need the polk to work through). as i said everything works via the optical (so handshake with my LG SJ850 SUPER UHD TV works via optical). but I cannot get my ARC to work... the ARC does work with other devices so the TV is not the problem.

I tried disconnecting and connecting a million times doesn't help. i got it to work after 50 times for 20 minutes via ARC, but that's that. any ideas?

I read there is also the matter of FW. how do i upgrade the firmware on the polk? I just attached it via the ethernet cable to my network.... maybe this is going to solve something..... any help will be appreciated.