topic HT-ZF9 - subwoofer audio intermittanly dropping in Home Cinema, Projectors & Players

HT-ZF9 - subwoofer audio intermittanly dropping

ch3nks — Wed, 09 Dec 2020 11:19:49 GMT

i am having problems with the subwoofer intermittantly dropping audio playback.

the subwoofer is connected wirelessly and is about 2 feet away from the soundbar.
it happens on all content i am playing regardless of the audio format.

tried the connection type on both settings (audio or connection)- made no difference
tried RF on and off - made no difference
rebooted everything - made no difference
soundbar says all speakers are "connected".

other settings
Auto volume off
drc on
sound mode on
Advanced volume off

the soundbar wifi connection is not being impacted by any other surrounding wifi networks.

Re: HT-ZF9 - subwoofer audio intermittanly dropping

MarminUK — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 14:15:45 GMT

Had mine a year and it has just started dropping the sub and surround a little in the middle of watching something. It just drops out a bit every now and then, but very annoying. Wonder if it's a recent update? Or something interfering with the connection. How do they connect to the bar?

Re: HT-ZF9 - subwoofer audio intermittanly dropping

ch3nks — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 14:21:17 GMT

the sub and rears connected to the soundbar via a 5Ghz wifi connection, the SSID is broadcast un-hidden (which i always thought was a strange decision).

I also believe this has been caused by one of the past firmware updates, as when i first got it there were no issues at all.

getting sony to admit it, or even investigate it is near-on impossible though. i spoke to support and they essentially just said to refer it to a service agent, which i think is pointless as it's unlikely to be hardware issue and unless they take the soundbar, sub and rears and set it up and use it over a period of time they will unlikely encounter the issue.

Re: HT-ZF9 - subwoofer audio intermittanly dropping

Win_88 — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 16:45:47 GMT

Service centres often have access to special diagnostic tools and testing procedures which may not be user friendly or even disclosable. It may sound like a chore, but it beats living with the problem.

Win_88

Re: HT-ZF9 - subwoofer audio intermittanly dropping

andrewchislett — Sun, 11 Apr 2021 14:02:22 GMT

I have spent 2 months trying to fix this problem.

I think I have finally fixed the issue.

The sub and rear speakers use 5ghz WiFi to connect.

I found my BT WiFi router was auto scanning and changing the 2.4ghz and 5ghz channels (when it hit the same band the Sub / Rear speakers where using they would drop out).

I disabled this in the BT router and the connection has been solid every since.

Hope this helps.

Re: HT-ZF9 - subwoofer audio intermittanly dropping

ch3nks — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 15:42:08 GMT

@andrewchislett wrote:
I found my BT WiFi router was auto scanning and changing the 2.4ghz and 5ghz channels (when it hit the same band the Sub / Rear speakers where using they would drop out).
I disabled this in the BT router and the connection has been solid every since.

you've potentially made your own WIFI network worse in the process though.
what you've done isn't a fix, it's a workaround.

however, the sub shouldn't be using channels anywhere near what the BT hub is using.