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Official Nakamichi Shockwafe 9.2 and 7.2 dts:x dual subwoofers soundbars thread

975K views 7K replies 549 participants last post by  Daverey06 
#1 ·
The 9.2 sound bar caught my eye when it was announced during CES 2017, together with the Sony htst5000.

Currently for pre-order, with another 7.2 model available.
Nakamichi Shockwafe Ultra 9.2 DTSX: www.nakamichi-usa.com/shockwafe-ultra-preorder
Nakamichi Shockwafe Elite 7.2 DTSX: www.nakamichi-usa.com/shockwafe-elite-preorder

I have pre-ordered the 9.2 and it is expected to be delivered in October. Will be using it with my new 65” LG 4K OLED in my 24x24 living room.

I will post opinions on it when I receive it
 
#4,593 ·
HDMI Audio extractor to use with 9.2

I am currently running the 9.2 with no problems but here is what I need to do. I need to extract the audio from the HDMI signal before it gets to the sound bar so I can use a blue tooth transmitter for my sons hearing aids, but still allow the Atmos signal to pass through to the sound bar.
Has anyone used an audio extractor with the Nakamichi 9.2 and if so, which one?
 
#4,603 ·
I am currently running the 9.2 with no problems but here is what I need to do. I need to extract the audio from the HDMI signal before it gets to the sound bar so I can use a blue tooth transmitter for my sons hearing aids, but still allow the Atmos signal to pass through to the sound bar.
Has anyone used an audio extractor with the Nakamichi 9.2 and if so, which one?
Ok, not sure if I got your question right - but here is what I've tried: used my HDFury AVR-Key to send audio from Apple TV 4K to Nakamichi 7.2 and Audio+Video to my Samsung TV.
 
#4,602 ·
I tried mucking around with the settings on my 7.2, when I was running firmware 3.2. But, after 3.3, stock settings seem best.

- Pure Direct: Dolby Surround
- DSP - Off (I have mixed feelings about "Movie" - sounds good at times, but I more or less turn off DSP)
- SSE - 2
- Room Size - Medium
- Volume: I stay between 18 to 26 - never had to go beyond 26 for my bedroom. 26 is reserved for Youtube TV which seems to have a lower volume than Netflix or Hulu.

After 3.3, I think the back surround speakers do sound louder - when I get some time this weekend, I am thinking of turning them down a notch and see if that sounds better..
 
#4,595 ·
HI All,


I have just picked up the 7.1 from Amazon and wanted to check 3 things

1. Planning to buy a Nvidia Shield and wanted to know if there is any compatibility issues . I'm getting this as i use Plx and for now i understand this is one of the very products that can so Uncompressed Audio passthrough


2. I Have a LGC8 55 inch and wanted to know a combination of nvidia shield to NAKAMICHI SSE 7.1 to LG OLED C8 work smoothly


3. What Version of FW should i use for the above combo and where do i get access to it


Thanks in Advance
 
#4,601 ·
1. I don't have any issues with Nvidia and my Nakamichi 7.2. I prefer using Apple TV/Infuse as it does frame rate matching but for any movie in my Plex library that has Atmos audio, or DTS:X, Nakamichi handles it well through Nvidia. I have personally not tried lossless formats though - like True HD

2. Can't speak for LG as I have a Samsung TV

3. Latest is the best - v3.3 - https://www.helpdesk.nakamichi-usa.com/71-dtsx-to-sse-firmware-upgrade
 
#4,596 ·
Does anyone know how necessary it is to follow the recommended settings when it comes to setting the room size and then also for choosing the SSE number?

If I have a small room does that mean I need to keep it on small and SSE 1? Is there a disadvantage to going higher for both if the room size is smaller?

Any help explaining just how these modes work would be greatly appreciated

Thanks,
Andrew








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#4,614 ·
My 7.1 Pro just arrived this evening as well. I'm wondering if yours came equipped like mine:

The 7.1 Pro I just received is shown as being the DTS:X model on the box as expected...NOT the newer SSE version like the 7.2 and 9.2. No mention of Dolby Atmos on the box anywhere meaning I should need to update to the latest firmware. Yet, when I opened my box to check the arrival condition, I noticed the remote is the newer SSE version (which is a pleasant surprise). Anyone else order a DTS:X model 7.1 (or 7.2) and get the newer remote bundled in? Looks like they might be shipping it with the remaining DTS:X soundbars before the Atmos SSE ones arrive.

I won't be able to test the soundbar for a little while as I'm finishing remodeling the living room but I'm very excited.
 
#4,604 ·
So I got over my hesitation (better judgment?) and went ahead and took the Prime Day deal on the new 7.1 to replace my old non-DTS:X 7.1. Setting it up now. Something odd is happening and I'm still messing with it, but maybe it rings some bells here...

Old setup:
TV = LG C7
HDMI 1 = PS4
HDMI 2 = (old) Naka 7.1 with a rarely-used WiiU and OSSC on the 2 HDMI inputs
HDMI 3 = Oppo 203
HDMI 4 = nVidia Shield
Inputs 1/3/4 all ARC from the TV to the (old) Naka 7.1 via HDMI 2.

Got the new Naka in and did the firmware upgrade without issue. Reset the bar. Disconnected the HDMI connection to the soundbar at both ends, powered down, and waited 10 minutes. Connected everything up and verified that CEC volume control through the ARC channel worked. Verified the basic channel setup with the Demo function. Rerouted the Oppo into the Naka's HDMI 1 input to get lossless audio. The PS4 is still on 1 and the Shield is still on 4. HDMI 3 is now empty. I haven't reconnected the WiiU or OSSC yet - it's only the Oppo routed into the Naka.

Here's the weird part... on the C7, sub-inputs from a soundbar or a receiver are shown in a tree form when you hit the Input button. When I do so, I see the HDMI 2 label as the "trunk" (expected), the UDP-203 as a "branch" (expected), and SHIELD as another branch (totally *not* expected). The Shield is still hooked up directly to the TV, not to the Naka. Selecting that entry just leaves me on the Oppo. And whatever's going on seems to have broken CEC - I can no longer control the Shield with the TV remote like I used to, even though it's still connected in *exactly* the same way as before.

Is there some way for the Naka bar to "hijack" CEC commands to a device that's not even connected to it? I looked around a bit in the manual but didn't see anything that would let me tweak CEC behavior. Any suggestions for how to tell my setup that the Shield is in fact *not* connected to the soundbar?
 
#4,608 ·
Here's the weird part... on the C7, sub-inputs from a soundbar or a receiver are shown in a tree form when you hit the Input button. When I do so, I see the HDMI 2 label as the "trunk" (expected), the UDP-203 as a "branch" (expected), and SHIELD as another branch (totally *not* expected). The Shield is still hooked up directly to the TV, not to the Naka. Selecting that entry just leaves me on the Oppo. And whatever's going on seems to have broken CEC - I can no longer control the Shield with the TV remote like I used to, even though it's still connected in *exactly* the same way as before.
I disconnected the Shield for a bit before reconnecting and that seems to have cleared it up. No more spurious device under the Naka input node and CEC works again too. Strange. CEC is a fickle mistress indeed.

I may still end up connecting the Shield through the Naka instead of the TV. It wouldn't matter as far as my Plex library (the main purpose of our Shield) goes, since I don't include lossless surround audio there. But it might be better for Vudu or other streaming services. But then I also do some arcade/console emulation on the Shield. Anyone have experience with gaming through the Naka bars? Any input lag added?
 
#4,615 ·
I tried to do some basic channel calibration with my new 7.1 bar (3.3 firmware) tonight using an inexpensive sound meter and I wasn't thrilled. Used the DTS 5.1 calibration video here (but not really there... used the real file linked in the comment, played through Kodi, with the bar flashing "DTS" appropriately). Maybe I don't have the settings right... I tried a bunch of them, trying to get the channels relatively balanced. The best I seemed to do was with Direct = Native and the Center and Rears turned down all the way to 01. That got me Left = ~72 dBA, Right = ~74 dBA, Center = ~78 dBA, and L/R Back = ~72 dBA at Volume 50. Using the DTS Digital setting, Neural X setting, or Movie DSP resulted in even more wildly unbalanced level readings (sometimes over 10 dBA delta between channels).

I'm not sure what to make of this. The delta between the Center and the Front L/R channels was extremely audible. I know it's common to amp the center channel a little higher, but +5 dBA is a *lot*, and that's with the center channel turned down to minimum. That doesn't seem correct or accurate. The Right measuring 2 dBA higher than the Left is weird too since the right side of the room is somewhat more open. I'd think it would go the other way if anything. My old pre-DTS:X 7.1 bar got very consistent readings across the channels after some tweaking.

Any thoughts or suggestions here? I have to admit that my first thought is that these bars are tuned to deliver big center and rear levels for "oomph" at the expense of accuracy. But I hope I'm just misunderstanding the options available to me. The upgrades in the drivers compared to my old 2016 model are apparent, but I don't like what I'm seeing in accuracy so far.
 
#4,627 ·
I tried to do some basic channel calibration with my new 7.1 bar (3.3 firmware) tonight using an inexpensive sound meter and I wasn't thrilled.
I had time to test a variety of content today. While I'm still not thrilled with the center running +5 dBA over the other channels on test tones (on the lowest center setting), it doesn't sound objectionable in actual content. (For reference, this is the 7.1 on 3.3 firmware in an approximately 12' x 15' room with the screen on the long wall, open on one side... so sort of small/medium.) Testing with the included Atmos demo disc and some modern action movies (e.g. Mad Max in TrueHD/Atmos) sounded great with Room Size = Medium, SSE=2, and Dolby or NeuralX upmixing. Quieter, more dialogue-oriented movies (e.g. BlacKkKlansman) also sounded fine and natural with those settings. Somewhat older (80's/90's) films (e.g. Blade Runner) felt a bit too expansive/active on SSE=2. SSE=1 felt more appropriate to the film's era. Older, pre-surround films I usually prefer to hear in stereo or mono as appropriate, so I switched to Native there. Stereo films sounded fine, while old mono films sounded a bit blown out - perhaps due to the high center channel? But taking the volume down a few notches helped. Volume = 54 put the levels in my room around 75 dBA (80 dBA center), with mono films sounding better at Vol = 50.

I still have the sub set to the default 07. That doesn't sound objectionable, though I may still drop it a notch. The single sub fills up our modest room rather well. I'm happy not spending an extra $300 for another sub in the 7.2, but it depends on your tastes in movies - we don't watch a ton of action films here. I can see how an extra sub could be more immersive.

Overall, it's awfully hard to complain about the system's sound quality for less than $600 out the door and the general convenience of the form factor. I very much doubt I could build a 5.1 AVR system that would sound so good, not to mention the hassle of wiring and adding another remote control or CEC annoyance. Compared to the old 2016 7.1 bar, there's a notable increase in detail and sound stage that I don't *think* is just confirmation bias. It sounds great and I didn't observe any distortions/bugs/glitches. That being said, I was really only testing with my Oppo and Plex on my Shield - we don't stream a lot on our main TV, so there may be some problems with streaming services as others describe.

Question #1 - Does SSE do anything if you're not upmixing? For example, if I'm playing 5.1 DD/DTS on Native, does it matter what SSE setting I pick? I tested a little bit but couldn't hear anything obvious. It would make sense if this setting only mattered on upmixed content that would really use all the speakers.

Question #2 - Does Dynamic Range Compression (Night Mode) operate independently of the other upmixing/SSE settings? And, if I understand the manual correctly, it only applies to AC3/EAC3/TrueHD/DTS:X content, not PCM or DTS? I vaguely remember there are some DRC controls built in to the Dolby codecs natively, but it would be nice if the bar could at least do something similar with PCM.

(I'll ask the above questions to Naka as well.)

Complaint - I like that the bar includes two user-customizable "favorites" presets (I wish our family car had those), but it's really stupid how few settings those apply to. They basically only save the volume and speaker balance settings - the former of which is easy to change with the TV remote and the latter of which probably don't need to change at all. I had hoped to have one setting for modern surround movies with upmixing and SSE and another one for old-school movies with Native mode and no SSE. But the upmixing mode and SSE aren't saved in the user favorites. That seems really dumb and easily fixable.
 
#4,628 ·
I pulled the trigger last night on the Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1 since it was on sale for Prime Day and wanted to catch the lower price before it was over at midnight. I am going to be pairing this sound bar with a LG OLED C9 and looking for greater sound and dialogue in shows and movies. I am going to using a Nvidia Shield/Apple TV Gen3/PS4. Should I buy new HDMI cables for better sound quality and Atmos? Any other reviews of the bar with C9?
 
#4,630 ·
anybody having issues with lip sync? was watching stranger things tonight on fire 4k plugged directly into naka bar. seems like the show starts out fine and then slowly gets worse, but when i press pause and then play again it works fine.... for a while, until it needs repeated again...

anyone have this issue? i have fire 4k plugged into naka input 2 and then ARC out to oledb7a. thanks
 
#4,638 ·
Does anyone know if the angled speakers on the Soundbar are called Left Surround and Right Surround in the 7.1 manual?


I am trying to figure out if LSURR and RSURR controls the balance of all speakers on each side or only the Rear Surrounds.


I have my Right Rear Surround speaker offset about 6 feet away from center and Left Rear Surround 3 feet away from center and the soundbar dead center of listening position. For now I set LSURR at default 0 and RSURR to +1.


The perfect situation in my case would be for only the Right Rear Surround to get the balance adjustment and not the soundbars Right Surround (angled speaker).



Screenshots of manual attached below.
 

Attachments

#4,644 ·
Before the purchase I would like to clarify a couple of points:
1. Is it possible to shut off subwoofers? When watching TV at night I would like to have Clear voice option ON and Subwoofers OFF. Do they have zero volume level?
2. Regarding the four surround speakers, how do they work? Is it variant 1 or 2 (picture attached)?
 

Attachments

#4,645 ·
I recently got the Nakamichi Pro 7.1 DTX soundbar. I updated the firmware with Dolby Atmos.
I am having a hard time trying to get the Dish remote to operate the volume/mute levels. I can manually get the Dish remote to learn to raise the volume, but not to lower or mute. Dish tech support is of no help (they don't have the 4 digit code or even have the Nakamichi brand listed under brands/models).
Nakamichi never answers the phone and voice mails get no response.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks
 
#4,646 ·
No fw

I've never had trouble updating firmware but for the 9.2 when I downloaded the firmware 3.3 it says to put both bin files on the USB drive. I did. Soundbar says NO FW. Am I only supposed to use one of these? Or do them back to back? They are the same file size, one with u92 and one 92sse... I like my sse. Are these even different? On the download page is specifically says but both .bin files on the drive which I am sure is confusing the soundbar.

Help please?
 
#4,647 ·
I've never had trouble updating firmware but for the 9.2 when I downloaded the firmware 3.3 it says to put both bin files on the USB drive. I did. Soundbar says NO FW. Am I only supposed to use one of these? Or do them back to back? They are the same file size, one with u92 and one 92sse... I like my sse. Are these even different? On the download page is specifically says but both .bin files on the drive which I am sure is confusing the soundbar.

Help please?
Same question. I put just the single file on the non sse because I assume the sse is the 2019 version of the soundbar and the non is the 2018. But it did not seem to see it either (dont know if its the flash drive since I used others before).
 
#4,651 ·
Just tested DOLBY ATMOS 7.1.4 Test Tones on my Pro.

LCR= Good
LR SIDE = Sound comes from the soundbar/subwoofer,not good
LR BACK = Sound comes from the 2 rear speakers and subwoofer,not good
FHRL= Good
RHRL = Rear speakers with subwoofer, not good

Anyone tested this?

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
#4,679 ·
Yes it is compatible with 3D. I’ve got my Oppo 203 connected directly to my 9.2 sound bar and it passes through and plays 3D discs just fine.
 
#4,703 ·
Dolby Atmos

I have the Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1 with the SSE/Dolby Atmos upgrade installed. When I'm using Amazon Prime and watching Jack Ryan with Dolby Atmos, the sound bar only displays Dolby Digital. Shouldn't it say Dolby Atmos? I have an LG OLED 55C8 tv and use the HDMI ARC port to the HDMI ARC port on the soundbar. I have noticed on the tv menu, that when I use the tv internal speakers, Dolby Atmos is highlighted. When I use the soundbar, the Dolby Atmos on tv menu isn't highlighted, so it seems it's not able to be used. What am I missing?
 
#4,705 ·
I have the Nakamichi Shockwafe Pro 7.1 with the SSE/Dolby Atmos upgrade installed. When I'm using Amazon Prime and watching Jack Ryan with Dolby Atmos, the sound bar only displays Dolby Digital. Shouldn't it say Dolby Atmos? I have an LG OLED 55C8 tv and use the HDMI ARC port to the HDMI ARC port on the soundbar. I have noticed on the tv menu, that when I use the tv internal speakers, Dolby Atmos is highlighted. When I use the soundbar, the Dolby Atmos on tv menu isn't highlighted, so it seems it's not able to be used. What am I missing?


You cannot get Dolby Atmos through your tv ARC. You’ll need a device that will support Dolby Atmos such as Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV Stick. Apple TV will support Netflix Dolby Atmos while the AFTV Stick does not.
 
#4,713 ·
I placed an order for the 9.2 2019 system. My living room likely won't be able to run 4 surrounds at all times, so will run in dipole mode. Is it correct that I cannot achieve ATMOS height sounds in this mode? I figure I'll separate the L/R and place on end tables when we watch something with an ATMOS soundtrack. The sheer amount of positive reviews is what drove my purchase. I currently have both a Bose 700 system and Sonos 5.1. If this delivers on its promise of true theater sound, I'll likely sell off the Sonos, as resale is high on it and the Playbar is dated.

I picked up the $30 Belkin cable (though it's painful to pay such high prices for an HDMI cable) to be sure the Apple TV works properly. Will use an Nvidia Shield for Plex movies that have ATMOS options.

My wife is used to the smallish Bose satellites. She's not going to be thrilled with the quad-surrounds. I plan on hiding the dual subs behind the couch. Hoping the sound more than compensates for the influx of large speakers in our living room.
 
#4,715 ·
Dolby to PCM to Dolby

So last night watching DirecTv we may have gotten the "washing machine" noise. It sounded like garbled electronic noise. When we watch tv sometimes a show is in Dolby but commercials are in PCM and when the show goes from Dolby to PCM back to Dolby sometimes the tv show sounds...hollow maybe. Voices aren't at a consistent level and the audio just doesn't sound right...But the loud noise last night was the first experience with that. We tried rewinding it back to the commercial to see if that would "fix" it but like others have mentioned, only pressing the "Pure Direct" button and changing sound modes actually resolved the issue. I am on the Atmos firmware on the 7.1 setup.

Also, i notice slight audio delay when watching DirecTv which is the only device not connected to the soundbar. I am wondering if the extra audio processing the soundbar is doing is creating the delay. Would there be any disadvantage to setting my cable box to output PCM rather than Dolby?
 
#4,716 ·
So last night watching DirecTv we may have gotten the "washing machine" noise. It sounded like garbled electronic noise. When we watch tv sometimes a show is in Dolby but commercials are in PCM and when the show goes from Dolby to PCM back to Dolby sometimes the tv show sounds...hollow maybe. Voices aren't at a consistent level and the audio just doesn't sound right...But the loud noise last night was the first experience with that. We tried rewinding it back to the commercial to see if that would "fix" it but like others have mentioned, only pressing the "Pure Direct" button and changing sound modes actually resolved the issue. I am on the Atmos firmware on the 7.1 setup.

Also, i notice slight audio delay when watching DirecTv which is the only device not connected to the soundbar. I am wondering if the extra audio processing the soundbar is doing is creating the delay. Would there be any disadvantage to setting my cable box to output PCM rather than Dolby?
I solved the washing machine noise issue with DirecTV by changing the audio output from my C61K client box from Dolby to PCM. No washing machine noise incidents at all since making the change.

I don’t hear any differences in audio quality from changing to PCM, but having said that I only use the rear speakers and subs when watching blue ray/UHD disks with high resolution audio tracks. Roughly 90% of my viewing is DirecTV with only the sound bar powered on...
 
#4,717 ·
Can someone please tell me under what circumstances should I be able select Dolby digital plus? Bc I have never gotten it to work on any source.

It’s either greyed out or when I’m able to select it I get a pop up message saying Dolby digital plus option is only available via arc for external devices that support the format.

For reference my tv is the q8fn which is hooked up via arc to Apple TV 4K and Samsung m8500 Blu Ray player.

Thanks



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#4,720 ·
Dd plus works on arc on q8fn on newer titles in the built in Netflix and amazon prime tv apps. The Nakamichi recognizes jack Ryan as being dolby Atmos over dd plus in my setup eventhough I used the arc port. Have you had any issues with playback of standard dolby digital content over arc? I get sound drop outs with my q8fn unless I use the optical connection for that content.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
 
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