SurroundBAR SDA stops working

[ncoligan]

I ordered a Polk SurroundBAR SDA from Crutchfield's Canadian website and it arrived today in good order via Puralator. The setup for the system was easy to say the least. I hooked the RCA interconnects from the back of the SurroundBAR to the RCA output of my Sony Bravia LCD, set the channel ID to match that of the wireless subwoofer, plugged everything in and turned on the power. So far, so good. The system detected my remote so I could adjust the volume of the SurroundBAR. I went into the Sony's menu and turned off the TV speakers. Then I popped in the BluRay edition of Master and Commander to check out some scenes with dynamic sound effects and dialogue. As the unit played the audio for the first scene where HMS Surprise comes under cannon fire, the SurroundBAR suddenly stopped working. I could see the light was green on top and the subwoofer was pumping out the low bass signal, but everything else was gone. I paused the scene, turned the SurroundBAR off, then back on and the sound was restored. That is until a few minutes later when it stopped again. I went into the TV's menu to see if anything was amiss and could detect nothing obvious.... I had adjusted the volume of the television per the Polk instructions and turned up the volume of the SurroundBAR to a reasonable level. Volume adjustment was accomplished using the remote. All connections seem fine and there is no loss of power from what I can detect. Is there anything else I haven't considered? Could this particular SurroundBAR have a switch that protects it at high volumes in order to avoid blowing speakers? I don't think I was blasting it that loud, but with cannon fire you never know.

Neil in Winnipeg

[treitz3]

How loud did you have it and does it always quit working during heavy transients?

[ncoligan]

Forgive me if I sound new to this, but I am.... yes, I gather cannon fire produces heavy transients. Certainly the sub is working overtime during these scenes. I even reduced the volume somewhat but it repeated the shutdown.

[TECHNOKID]

Not physically seeing the problem, I am not sure but if turning off the SB solves the problem but comes back after a while, I suspect the SB might be defective (cold solder joints). Cold solder joints will work while the unit is cold and as soon as it warms up, the solder expands to a point were contact isn't made anymore and thus you will loose sound. First, try mellower music at lower level (should take longer to loose sound at lower level with smoother sound), try different interconnects. If problem persit, contact Crutchfield Canada and describe the problem to them, they'll more likely get you to try a few things and eventually provide you with an RMA number to authorize return and exchange.

[treitz3]

Hmmm. Is there any way to verify that the TV isn't losing the signal going to the SB? Maybe hooking the SB up to a receiver or other device that offers an RCA out and is in known working order?

[Topper]

check your gain setting bud (little switch at the back of your surroundbar IHT). This happens when your gain setting is set too high and not properly matched with your TVs audio output.

If its at the highest setting, drop it down one notch and see how it goes.

(the audio goes out because its reached 'protect' mode which is designed to tell you theres a problem. you can turn it off and on again to get it working normally again)

[ncoligan]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I will hook up the SurroundBAR to a different source just to check if there is an issue with the tv. I will also try to the suggestions regarding volume and source materials to check out the cold solder issue.

But I must ask...

"Is there any way to verify that the TV isn't losing the signal going to the SB? Maybe hooking the SB up to a receiver or other device that offers an RCA out and is in known working order?"

.... is the signal delivered on a different circuit path to the sub since I can still hear the sub?

Neil

[Eric W]

Neil, since you are in Canada, please contact our Canadian service manager for help. Walter wmoser (at) polkaudio (dot) com or call 519 853 8244.

[Krazyz1]

Try a standard speaker on TV out put and play at a reasonable level. Maybe a TV show vs movie and see what happens. There may be a safety circuit in your sound bar to keep from blowing a driver. Try a comedy movie turned up and see what happens. Cannon blast just may be more than sound bar can handel