Sunday night I was sitting back on my couch, enjoying my new surround sound system, when I realized that I was getting any sound from the rear speakers. I understand that those are the ones that give you the ambient noise … the splash in an ocean … a gun shot whizzing by … but I was pretty sure they were giving me nothing.
So I took them down off the bookcase and held the speaker up to my ear like a seashell. Nope. Still nothing.
Sigh. Once again I got on the horn and called thSunday night I was sitting back on my couch, enjoying my new surround sound system, when I realized that I was getting any sound from the rear speakers. I understand that those are the ones that give you the ambient noise … the splash in an ocean … a gun shot whizzing by … but I was pretty sure they were giving me nothing.
So I took them down off the bookcase and held the speaker up to my ear like a seashell. Nope. Still nothing.
Sigh. Once again I got on the horn and called the Samsung customer support hotline, and after 30 minutes of being transferred around, I finally got somebody on the phone who knew what they were doing. Jim was a good guy. I relayed to him my set up, we went through all of my settings … again … and still, no sound. Jim put me on hold to check something out, and while he was away, I figured I would experiment.
The rear speakers were wireless–one of the reasons I bought the system–but I figured I’d hook them up to the wires, just to see if that did anything. I wanted to make sure that he speakers at least worked. And once I hooked them up to the wires, I was in action. Bingo! We have sound. Okay. We know the speakers work, so it must be a settings problem.
I relayed my "discovery" to Jim, and awaited congratulations on my ingenuity. Instead, I was met with awkward silence. And then:
"Uh … yeah … you know … you kinda need the wires to be hooked up, Russ."
I was confused. "But I thought they’re supposed to be wireless?"
Well … not exactly. Turns out that the [i]router[/i] to connect the back speakers is wireless. The [i]speakers[/i] are not. They need wires. The way system is set up, the front three speakers and the subwoofer are all hooked up to the main surround sound system device. The rear speakers need another port. That’s where the router comes in. The [i]wireless[/i] router.
The wireless router which is now on the opposite side of the room. With the rear speakers attached. By wires.
Okay. So maybe I’m not the sharpest bulb in the chandelier … but at least I’ve got sound now.
