Polk MagniFi Max Issues

andyrblank

Back in April I sold my Polk Command Bar (I didn't like Alexa) and stepped up to a Polk MagniFi Max.

For the first few months things were great but lately I've had nothing but issues.

For a while every morning I was greeted with a red light in the morning and no sound until I power cycled the unit. I eventually performed a factory reset and that fixed that issue.

That being said just the other day the sound stopped working again on my wife and I had to unplug the unit and turn on the TV speakers so she could watch TV.

Today I called Polk support and they walked me through a factory reset again (which I'm sure is just a required step they have). We also disabled HDMI-CEC/ARC on my TV and re-enabled the feature. The support person also advised that I change the "Digital Out" on my TV from "Bitstream" to "PCM" which doesn't sit well with me since PCM is only stereo but I did it anyway since I expect I'll be calling them again soon to tell them audio has stopped again.

As another note I've stopped connecting the Google Home feature to troubleshoot if that was causing issues (sometimes asking a Google Mini speaker a question lowers the volume on the TV so I thought I'd rule out Google) but I did have it connected before and received firmware updates. On that Does anyone know if a factory reset downgrades the firmware or just resets the existing? Maybe I need to hardwire with ethernet and update again?

I guess my main questions are

• Are other people experiencing these problems?
• Should I really be using PCM!?! It seems like the voice adjust would benefit from a discreet center channel signal and Polk advertises Dolby/DTS support.

Setup Info
TV - Vizio P65F1
Soundbar - Polk MagniFi Max (no surrounds)

Wiring:
All devices (Xbox One S, Roku Ultra, Nintendo Switch) have HDMI to TV. HDMI(ARC) is Connected to Polk Soundbar.

TV Settings:
Speakers: Off
Digital Out: PCM
CEC/ARC: ON

Thanks for your time!

19Mulder49

I have to unplug my Magnifi Max about every other day. And I have two of them that I have to do the same thing to. They simply stop turning on. Nothing works. Not the remote. Not the button on the soundbar itself. Not anything. Power cycle. I'm getting tired of it. I've got one hooked up to a Sony Bravia via HDMI-ARC and another to a Samsung using HDMI-ARC. Both also have Amazon Fire TV sticks and both also have dish network. I'm using the HDMI inputs on the soundbar to handle things. I will say the only reason I haven't thrown them in the middle of the road is they sound good when they're working!

kamandor

Hi, I’m suddenly experiencing issues with my Magnifi Max - when I change the volume (up or down) this will instantly kill all audio. It’s infuriating.

The only solution is to press the “TV” input button on the Polk remote. It seems like the sound bar needs to be reminded which input it should be outputting sound too.

The only thing that I recently changed was that I did configure / add my Google Home to the sound bar. Your original post is making me think that maybe the Google Home has something to do with the audio cutting out issue.

I performed a factory reset (hold the reset button on the back for 15 seconds until the sound bar beeps loudly at you) and the issue has gone away. I won’t be reconnecting it to my Google Home for the first seeable future. This was driving my toddler is crazy ha ha

JGaudio

I'm having Magnifi Max problems as well, exactly the same as @kamandor.
Turn the volume up or down and there is immediately no audio, the only way it will return is by hitting the TV button on the remote.

I've got a 2017 LG WebOS TV, with sound out via their HDMI ARC (LG call it Simplink). I unplugged the 3 HDMI inputs into the soundbar from various devices and the same result.

The only recent thing I did (today) was plug an ethernet cable and get it appearing on Google Home, so I think that's the issue. I'll disconnect it from Home but I think that's the way the soundbar gets firmware updates?

The other option I'll try is to switch to Optical Audio out from the TV to isolate a possible HDMI-CEC issue.

The other (unrelated to this) issue being experienced with soundbar is that the audio is at a bearable volume on nearly the lowest setting (e.g 1 on a 0-10 scale). I shudder to think what would happen if we turned it up to ~50%.

It's pretty annoying. Hopefully a firmware update can solve the problem.

[Deleted User]

I'll forward this to Polk.

jslarge

I have the same issue but it seems to happen after I use AppleAir on my phone to cast
Update: I removed Polk from my Google home and reset my bar everything worked so I used Apple Air and everything worked fine. So it must be a google thing

iaguilera

mine at first had a problem, when I'd change the channel or source, the audio took a bit to catch up, now I turn the volume up or down for that matter, I get no audio, so I grab the sound bar's remote and hit tv an it works again, I have to do this every time, also to start it was not able to connect to google home, so left it disconnected, and hard wired the ethernet, hoping it would update on it's own, but now it is connected to google home, I try to turn the volume up or down and I get the same thing, does anyone have an answer to this problem?

SeleniumFalcon

I recommend sending an email to Kim.Jasper@soundunited.com for help.

iaguilera

I did, and she sent me a new sound bar set up, but I still have the problem, any ideas?

BlueFox

Get a different TV and let us know what happens.

iaguilera

I don't get how a different TV would make the difference, my previous sound bar didn't have an issue at all.

Nova0113

I just wanted to say I just got my poke audio magnify AXSR like 3 days ago I got to be honest with you for the price that they charge for it literally after taxes it came to $953.43 I got to be honest with you for that price this should be bumping like a stereo like for real like there is clarity a lot of clarity but even with the base and stuff all the way up it doesn't thump like that if you have an open house or an open room it's going to be crystal clear obviously and put it this way they say you can listen to everything on it it's definitely not for music it's for TV at best like a upscale like 65-in plus TV and I haven't had any issues yet thank God with the bar I don't use Google home I don't even do anything online I don't do Facebook Instagram none of that stuff anybody who sits there and trusts and I mean this and actually trusts Google to secure your home and you wanted to to control your electronics but then you complain about why you people complain about why commercials show up of things that they talk about and then they get mad about that and frustrated well there's the reason why because you plug the stuff into your life what do you think's going to happen you know what I mean and everybody should know this if you get a sound bar for your TV it's for your TV it ain't for you to plug your entire house into it and sit there and all of a sudden you your doorbell rings ding dong and you hear it on the soundbar and that means that's just corny and it's lazy it really is and it just says a lot about us as human beings and I'm just keeping it real with this so if you can't sit there and you know just connect a soundbar system to your TV and keep it simple like that You're going to have problems it is what it is or don't listen and just keep doing what you're doing and see how that works for you but I haven't had any problems and I just use it the way it's supposed to be used for TV purposes and music hooking anything else up to it no not happening

OleBoot