Why is there no sound from Polk SR1 wireless rear speakers?

iPersian

Hello everyone,

Since two days ago, I have been using the Polk MagniFi MAX SR. I have been trying to connect it to my Sony TV (KD-55XH9005), but I'm not getting any sound from the rear speakers.

I have searched everywhere on the internet, watched YouTube videos, thoroughly read the MAX SR manual, tried possible solutions mentioned on the Polk website, performed a factory reset on my soundbar, synced the subwoofer and rear speakers multiple times to my soundbar, and gathered information about my TV and its settings. I have also tried various settings on my TV to see if the sound comes from the rear speakers or not, but unfortunately, without success.

I am using HDMI, with one end of the HDMI cable connected to HDMI 3 (ARC) on the TV and the other end connected to the ARC TV input HDMI on the soundbar. I have set the volume of the surround speakers to maximum and the balance in the middle.

Here are the settings of my TV:
- eARC mode: Auto
- Digital Audio Out: Auto 1
- Dolby Digital Plus Output: Dolby Digital Plus
- Pass Through Mode: Auto

I used this YouTube video to test if the sound comes from the rear speakers:
Link
(To ensure that this video works properly with a 5.1 audio system, I had to select 5.1 in the settings of the YouTube app.)

By the way, it's worth mentioning that I did get some sound from the rear speakers once, but it was very faint and too loud, and I couldn't lower or turn it off. According to the Polk website, this may be due to router channels, so I placed the two rear speakers next to the soundbar and synced them again, but now I don't hear anything.

Does anyone have any idea how I can solve this?

SeleniumFalcon

I'm afraid I don't have any first hand experience with the complexities of surround sound with soundbars, but I will send your post to some extremely experienced people at Polk. However it might be a few days before I hear back from them since this is a long weekend. But, hang in there help is on the way.

iPersian

SeleniumFalcon wrote: »

I'm afraid I don't have any first hand experience with the complexities of surround sound with soundbars, but I will send your post to some extremely experienced people at Polk. However it might be a few days before I hear back from them since this is a long weekend. But, hang in there help is on the way.

Thank you SeleniumFalcon for you fast response.
I have an update for you:
I finally figured out how to get the surround speakers to work, but as I mentioned before, I'm hearing strange sounds (glitches) from them, and I have no control over them whatsoever. I can't adjust the volume or set the left and right balance.

What I did to get them working was press the Night mode button on the Polk remote, and suddenly I started hearing sound from the rear speakers, and they remain connected. I turned off all devices in my house except for the TV, modem, and these speakers. I also turned off the Wi-Fi through the router settings to minimize signals in my house. I then tried multiple times to pair, reset, and restart the rear speakers with the soundbar, but the issue persists.

This solution didn't work: Delayed sound/strange noises from Polk SR1 wireless rear speakers for the MagniFi MAX sound bar

SeleniumFalcon

I'll send this new information to polk.

iPersian

SeleniumFalcon wrote: »

I'll send this new information to polk.

Update:
Instead of using the TV as the source of sound, I decided to connect this soundbar to my mobile phone via Bluetooth and the Google Home app in order to activate and test the ChromeCast as well.
I disconnected all the cables from the TV to the soundbar and took the soundbar with the back speakers to another room to see if they would work there, as there might be signal interferences in the previous room.
However, it continues to respond the same way. I hear noise and crunching sounds.
I also tried resetting it and syncing it again, but unfortunately without any changes. That's why I made a video of it, hoping that this video will provide you with more clarity.

Link to video on YouTube

You can observe in the video that I adjusted the volume levels, both for the main soundbar and the surround speakers, and even tried adjusting the balance from left to right. However, none of these actions had any effect on the rear speakers.

iPersian

Update 4:
While going through various posts from people facing the same problem, I stumbled upon a post that highlighted something I hadn't paid much attention to. When I tried to install my soundbar, I didn't realize that the rear speakers weren't connected to power. I assumed that the rear speakers needed to sync with the soundbar, which is why no light was coming out. Later on, I connected the soundbar to the internet, and it automatically started updating along with the subwoofer. I believe that because the rear speakers were turned off, their system wasn't being updated.

Back in January 2019, a user named @joesephK mentioned in a post:
"Sounds like a mismatched firmware. I had a similar issue because my surround speakers were unplugged and didn't receive the new update when the soundbar updated to version 103.

Here's what I did: unplug everything, then plug in the soundbar first and let it boot. Next, turn on the soundbar until you see the red light, and then plug in the subwoofer and surround speakers. This should trigger the soundbar to fetch the update if it detects a mismatch."

Link to this post

I followed these steps, but unfortunately, I didn't achieve any success.

My current firmware version is 136.
Now, I have a few questions:

1. Is it possible to reinstall the firmware?
2. Can we downgrade and then upgrade the firmware again?
3. I noticed a USB input at the back of the soundbar with a label that says "service." Can I do something with this to reinstall the firmware?