First of all thanks to KEF and Roon for certifying the new LSX II’s. Works great!
On to my issue. KEF does not seems to have an official KEF user’s forum. I have tried the AVS Forum and Facebook but they are either not really very active, have no official representation, and seem to concentrate on un-powered speakers.
My issue is getting the HDMI input to function properly with my Sony Bravia TV that does support the necessary ARC/eARC and CEC. Basically when I switch to HDMI I get a short burst of music and then silence. I know that the TV sees the LSX’s and works with CEC because my TV remote can(seems to) control the volume and mute even though there is no sound coming through. I rounded up all of the usual suspects and combed the Internet but nothing has worked. 4 difference HDMI high speed cables did not help.
I finally contacted KEF Support. They were great and did mention that the HDMI handshake is problematic with some TVs, including Sony. They have offered to let me try a beta version of software that is supposed to correct this issue for Sony but I am waiting for them to send it to me. Evidently they can send it just to my specific speakers.
You know, of course, that your issue has nothing to with Roon. I don’t blame you for asking for help here, though. I’ve been in situations where you feel like you have no choice but to ask everyone you know if they can help
Like you, I’m a Roon, Sony, and KEF user. I don’t connect my Sony gear to my KEF gear, but I do try to use eArc/CEC between my Sony TV and my Sony sound bar. For what it’s worth, I use a sound bar because I have a long history of frustrating myself and my family with my attempts to put together surround sound systems. Even with help and professional services from high end audio shops, it’s just never been dialed in for me and, for whatever combination of reasons, it’s become so challenging to hear dialogue that I’ve resorted to a sound bar for TV watching.
So my setup is an A90J + HTA700 (+ wireless rears and sub).
I try - oh boy do I try - to use eArc between the TV and the sound bar. The theory is that sound bar should be able to act as a hub for the two (just 2??) HDMI ins and that if I ever want to use apps on the TV (I don’t, actually) as sources, that’ll work, too.
But I just fight and fight and fight with the busted eARC CEC implementation. And this is Sony gear talking to Sony gear from the same model year.
I’m sure you know this but your Sony TV almost certainly has optical out. And your speakers definitely have optical in. I wonder if you’re fighting a losing battle to avoid just moving to optical. I’d like to hope that you could get the Sony remote to control the audio directly on the KEF speakers over IR but I don’t have recent experience with that. Worst case, you could almost certainly do it with a Harmony.
Most of my watching is via an Apple TV and that remote. I know for certain that I can get an Apple TV remote to control the volume on my sound bar over IR.
I wish I had better news here. This stuff is a mess.
Yup. Of course I know that this has nothing to do with Roon. As you observed, I am grasping at straws hoping that someone here has a useful idea for me to try.
I am using optical when I listen but that it frustrating for my wife as it requires either 2 or three remotes depending on whether she is watching TV or is streaming.
Hopefully KEF Dev will come through with the promised firmware update that will make HDMI work with Sony TVs. I have not really given up on the KEFs as the LSX’s sound so good and are fully Roon certified.
I apologize to anyone who might be bothered that I am asking a question that is not directly concerned with Roon. I hope that someday KEF will figure out that they really need a dedicated forum moderated by KEF techs.
Some of those remotes may be able to control the KEFs directly. I believe I’ve read that the Sony remote can. Worst case, you could pull it all together with a Logitech Harmony but that’s additional cost, setup, family training.
I don’t see why anyone would be bothered but it’s a tough thing to help with because you may already be at a dead end.
Sorry I wasn’t able to help more. I hope you figure something out.
KEF got back to me and said that their development team did not think that their updated firmware would fix my issue. In frustration I went out an bought yet one more HDMI cable, this time a certified 2.1 version.
Still no joy. It acts as if it work and show volume being able to be adjusted and the KEF show up as a Bravia sync device but no sound comes out. Digital output is set to PCM as required.
I wish that KEF had their own forum. Sorry to vent here!
I actually have a Sony TV myself (X90J) - there is a PCM volume setting on some of them (the menus aren’t all the same across ranges) which for some reason was defaulted to 0 on mine. I set it to MAX, and had no issues with any of my test pairs of speakers (which are currently running the public versions of the firmware). It did take a little bit of menu diving though. Hopefully that’s the hangup.
Thanks Ben. I wish that was the case for me. That was one of the fixes I came across previously. I have tried it on MAX and on 99 without success. Oddly CEC seems to work and the KEFs show up on the TV Bravia Sync list.
Your TV is slightly newer than mine. Perhaps there is a key to the issue there?
