Getting Samsung TV and LG Soundbar to play well together

May 23, 2019 9:07 PM

4 or 5 years ago we bought a Samsung UN50J6300 TV and LG Electronics LAS551H Sound Bar. Originally they worked together okay but over time it's been harder and harder to get them to work together. Details inside.

Originally we had them hooked up via HDMI ARC, but eventually that stopped working (the sound bar would no longer switch to HDMI ARC mode). Then we switched to optical and that worked for a while, but now the sound always comes out from both the TV speakers and the sound bar at the same time.

Does anybody have any ideas for getting them working together well again?

I've tried unplugging and replugging all the cables with no luck. I don't have another sound bar I can try to see if that works any better.

I've confirmed that the TV firmware is up to date, and I can't find any way to update the firmware for the sound bar.

posted by unus sum to Technology (4 answers total)

Is there anything in the TV's audio settings that lets you set the output selection? There's usually some sort of option to switch between internal speakers, optical out, etc... Perhaps that got reset or changed?

If this is the right manual (PDF page 84), there should be a "Speaker List" option under "tools" that maybe will let you set it to use the external speaker (optical out) only.
posted by zachlipton at 10:38 PM on May 23, 2019

I feel a little silly asking this, but is there a reason you can't just leave the TV volume at zero? I do this unless I'm Netflixing, when I can't get any sound from the surround speakers, and have to rely on the crappy TV sound.
posted by kate4914 at 6:39 AM on May 24, 2019

Alternatively, turn the TV volume all the way down, use the sound bar remote for volume (or teach the Samsung remote the sound bar volume buttons).
posted by booooooze at 7:14 AM on May 24, 2019

I use an Amazon Fire TV Cube and it controls both my TV and my soundbar. And it has voice control.
posted by tacodave at 3:29 PM on May 24, 2019