Sony HT-Z9F Owners and Discussion Thread

I'm guessing you have auto sound on the SB switched off.

did you try changing the Rf setting that you had?

In my job I often do fault investigations and rule out what may be causing an issue to find a solution.

I havent had any issues with my connection, apart from on prime a couple of times I did notice sub dip. But on other sources I have never experienced this. And I don't ever loose the connection completely.

I do switch SB, sub and rears off at wall every night. Not sure if that would make any difference?
And I restart the tv once a week, and I did notice restarting tv and sb fixed lip synch issues in bbc iplayer app.

I wonder if it's something else causing the issues.

Does it happen on all sources or just some. Eg tv app, 4k player?

Do you loose the connection completely until you resynch or is a momentary loss of connection?
Does it do this on 1 specific sources eg prime tv app or on all sources?

What wireless devices do you have or could a device be interfering with the SB?

I would test by switching off any wireless doorbells etc to test. Though if you have neighbours using a device that possibly has interference you would not know.
I checked manual and wireless speakers use one of the frequencies below.

5150 - 5250 MHz < 18 dBm
5250 - 5350 MHz < 18 dBm
5470 - 5600 MHz < 18 dBm
5650 - 5725 MHz < 18 dBm
5725 - 5850 MHz < 13.98 dBm

The bottom range is in same range as 5g wifi channel 36

Channel 161 uses 5815 to 5795, which nest wifi such as bt hub, orbi etc will use for their back channel to link the individual satellites to the main router hub.

Try using a WiFi analyser to see if it is a possibility that something may be causing interference?

What tv model do you have connected to the SB?

Hi, thanks for the comprehensive response, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I don't often get chance to change the settings etc, kids start moaning that it's boring as soon as I press the menu button. However the connection was particularly bad last night, for whatever reason, on the Youview app and digital TV, then the input on HDMI 2 (Vero 4K+).

So to answer your questions:

TV model: Sony Bravia KD55XH9005 connected via the eARC port (latest firmware)
HDMI 1: PS4
HDMI 2: Vero 4k+ box
Auto sound off.
RF channel off.
Wireless playback quality: connection
DSEE HX off
Audio drc off
Sound effect Dolby speaker virtualizer
Advanced auto volume off

eARC on (although didn't realise this wasn't active on TV until latest firmware update last week)

Don't usually turn the units off at the wall, just leave on standby.

No wireless doorbells installed.

Main router is in the same room

Soundbar and TV network connections are wired.

No wireless network appears to be in the range of the soundbar signal (see image)

It's a intermittent dip in sound. Most noticeable when the sub drops out as the overall sound quality suffers. Rear speakers drop out less so, only really noticeable when on PS4.

If I go to the menus the system says the speakers are connected, and if I run the test tone, there is no loss in sound.

Replaced all HDMI cables also.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

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Hi I just found this forum I have been having some sound drop issue with my sound bar, so I tried to use the wired connection to fix it however when I tried the buffer is working fine but there is no way I can make the bar detect the rear speakers are connected.

Any configuration that I need to do in the device??
I was looking around and couldn't find something to enable the rear speakers without having to connect them wireles.

Any help is really appreciated!!
 
interesting point, but how do you know that the sub is using the wired connection and not still using wireles?? there are no physical settings to say to use cabled.
 
Hi, thanks for the comprehensive response, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, I don't often get chance to change the settings etc, kids start moaning that it's boring as soon as I press the menu button. However the connection was particularly bad last night, for whatever reason, on the Youview app and digital TV, then the input on HDMI 2 (Vero 4K+).

So to answer your questions:

TV model: Sony Bravia KD55XH9005 connected via the eARC port (latest firmware)
HDMI 1: PS4
HDMI 2: Vero 4k+ box
Auto sound off.
RF channel off.
Wireless playback quality: connection
DSEE HX off
Audio drc off
Sound effect Dolby speaker virtualizer
Advanced auto volume off

eARC on (although didn't realise this wasn't active on TV until latest firmware update last week)

Don't usually turn the units off at the wall, just leave on standby.

No wireless doorbells installed.

Main router is in the same room

Soundbar and TV network connections are wired.

No wireless network appears to be in the range of the soundbar signal (see image)

It's a intermittent dip in sound. Most noticeable when the sub drops out as the overall sound quality suffers. Rear speakers drop out less so, only really noticeable when on PS4.

If I go to the menus the system says the speakers are connected, and if I run the test tone, there is no loss in sound.

Replaced all HDMI cables also.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Have you tried with rf changed to on?

And can you try rebooting tv and power cycle the SB, by switching off at wall.
(My sb and speakers are switched off at wall every night and tv is restarted once a weeK)

TV should restart by holding down power button on remote.

If none of above work, you could try changing wireless connection setting from sound quality to connection.

And also raise a support ticket with sony if nothing else works, as if everyone experiencing the issue does that Sony will Hopefully find a fix and release a firmware patch for it.
 
interesting point, but how do you know that the sub is using the wired connection and not still using wireles?? there are no physical settings to say to use cabled.

The led in the sub is orange and when you check the wireless speaker connection the sub doesn't show it as connected, but you can hear sound coming out from the sub as normal, you can see in the picture
IMG_20201019_232802.jpg


However when I connect the rear speakers I cannot get them to work with the sound bar, they just disappear from the menu and only the sub appears there.

I also was playing with my 5ghz wifi as I just realized that the sound bar use 5ghz to communicate with the speakers, I manually set a channel in my AP trying to reduce the interference and I think it has improved a lot however I just wanted to check if someone of you knows any way to have the system completely wired.
 
what kind of cable did you use?
 
I used a standard 3.5mm cable to connect the sub, the sub change automatically to wired mode changing the led to orange and even thought the bar doesn't detect the sub as connected it sends audio through the 3.5m port and the sub works.

However this doesn't happen with the rear speaker, when you disconnect them as they are optional for the bar they just disappear from the bar menu.

I was able to get 1 rear speaker wired connected, if you let the other one wireless connected the sound bar thinks you have both available and the sound will be send to the one disconnected via the cable, however I could hear some little noise in the wired rear speaker, not sure if it could be due to the cable, I tried different cable but no change and even try to use a noise passive filter, however when I used this the rear speaker goes directly to red instead of orange.

So I give up and used the rear speaker via wireless and the sub is currently via a wired connection, at least with this I have avoid the sub to drop that is normally the more noticeable when it failed.

I also had some smart plug near to rear speakers, even that they use wifi 2.4Ghz I decide to move it away from sound bar and I seems it helped as well.

I think there is no way to use wire connection in this sound bar however if you only have the sub is possible to use this workaround for drop audio issue.
 
Have been monitoring the system for a while, it seems to be getting worse over time, the subwoofer is now also disconnecting frequently and there is also a kicking noise all the time. Will be taking the soundbar and subwoofer back to the shop where i bought them. I do not believe the problem lies with the rear speakers but within the soundbar itself. Would not have bought the sony set if i knew this up front.
 
Have been monitoring the system for a while, it seems to be getting worse over time, the subwoofer is now also disconnecting frequently and there is also a kicking noise all the time. Will be taking the soundbar and subwoofer back to the shop where i bought them. I do not believe the problem lies with the rear speakers but within the soundbar itself. Would not have bought the sony set if i knew this up front.


Have you raised a ticket with Sony?
 
Have you raised a ticket with Sony?
I did, they told me to reset the soundbar, which I did. But this did not change a thing. Also tried a lot of config changes mentioned in this topic before. I am afraid the soundbar itself is broken, or the software is really crappy at the moment.
 
I did, they told me to reset the soundbar, which I did. But this did not change a thing. Also tried a lot of config changes mentioned in this topic before. I am afraid the soundbar itself is broken, or the software is really crappy at the moment.

I would go back and raise a support ticket saying it didnt work, asking them, to please investigate, did you go through support website to raise a ticket?

Use the written option, rather than phone.

Get in touch
 
Thanks for your quick replies.

So when i contacted them by phone, this guy sent me a mail with the instructions. I am able to reply to the mail (it's a ticket) but the mail itself already mentions if that didn't work I should bring the soundbar back to the store where i bought it, and then they will forward it to their servicepartner.
 
Thanks for your quick replies.

So when i contacted them by phone, this guy sent me a mail with the instructions. I am able to reply to the mail (it's a ticket) but the mail itself already mentions if that didn't work I should bring the soundbar back to the store where i bought it, and then they will forward it to their servicepartner.

I would use the box for written option to contact using the boxes on link I sent.

That way it should go to 2nd/3rd line support.
 
I would use the box for written option to contact using the boxes on link I sent.

That way it should go to 2nd/3rd line support.

Have just send them a message, will reply here with the answer if this could provide help for others.
 
my only issue at the moment is that the soundbar sends a signal to the TV when it detects no input from the selected HDMI input.

example, i have my shield on (via HDMI1), after a period it goes to sleep (as it should). the TV detects this and applies its built-in screensaver. 5 seconds later tha soundbar goes, hang on i don't like this, and sends a static message to the TV saying no input detected on HDMI1.

such a static message could cause screen burn (on an OLED TV), which is why the TV has its own screensaver, but the soundbar forces this static message on screen overriding it.

there is no way to disable the soundbar telling me that it's not detecting an input on the selected HDMI input.
 
my only issue at the moment is that the soundbar sends a signal to the TV when it detects no input from the selected HDMI input.

example, i have my shield on (via HDMI1), after a period it goes to sleep (as it should). the TV detects this and applies its built-in screensaver. 5 seconds later tha soundbar goes, hang on i don't like this, and sends a static message to the TV saying no input detected on HDMI1.

such a static message could cause screen burn (on an OLED TV), which is why the TV has its own screensaver, but the soundbar forces this static message on screen overriding it.

there is no way to disable the soundbar telling me that it's not detecting an input on the selected HDMI input.

I wonder if it's worth reporting, to see if they could add it as a feature in a firmware update?
 
i did start a thread on the sony community, but most didn't even understand the problem and others just said turn off the TV!
 
My set has been sent to a servicepartner of sony to be investigated. Will keep you informed whether they can fix the issue of swap the set for a new one.
 
Hi, i recently bought a ht-z9f and the saz9r rear speakers. THe rear speakers are connected and work but when i chromecast music, i cant seem to get anything on the rears. Would anyone know how to make this possible or if it is even possible.
 
Why would you want anything on the rears when playing music? It's stereo audio so nothing should be coming out the rears
 
I think it has to do with the sound setting on the remote, if you put it on cinema it will go 5.1, if you put it on music it will only come from the sb and sw.
 
An update regarding my HT-ZF9 which lost connection to the subwoofer and rearspeakers. It is currently at the repair centre and they did order a new part. I don't know what it is but they seem to know that something is indeed not working properly in the soundbar itself.

So for people experiencing the same issue, it is very likely that your soundbar has a malfunction and can be repaired.

Will let you guys know if I receive information about the replaced part, and also will let you know if it has solved my issue properly after i have it returned from repairs.
 
I'm still getting drop-outs on my sub and (less often) rears. It's so random when it happens, it can be solid for a week then constantly drop in and out for the next few days. I used a wifi analyser app to confirm no interference in it's 5ghz channel range, and tried all the other settings (connection quality / rf etc).

I don't really want to send it off to be serviced right now, especially with the new lockdown about to start, so I tried connecting the sub via cable as detailed much earlier in this thread.

I can't seem to get it to work though, the light on the sub is supposed to turn orange, but mine is still green and I've observed at least one drop out since. Has anyone had any success with that method? Is there a setting I'm missing?

I've had so many issues with this and my Sony TV, I've really lost confidence in them.
 

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