I have a 2 year old Samsung sound bar (HW-M450) hooked up to a Samsung T.V.
Lately I noticed that I had to turn the volume up from around 25 to 50 just to hear it.
So I put my ears to the right side of the bar and there was volume.
When i tried the left side nothing.
The T.V. speakers are fine.
Just thought of something I need to check the left right balance.
I dont even know if it has a balance function.
Just looked in the sound bar guide and saw no balance function.

What kind of interface is used to hook it up?

Can you check the L-R balance on the TV?

I had the samsung -----350 model.. sub died after 3 years but I got it for 70$ on craigslist so not complaining.

Just picked up a HW-M435/ZA for the parents for Christmas..

$140+tax = 150 -18%= $123

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsun...amp;CampaignID=1030143&eut=689714810

I have heard that Samsung sound bars are hit and miss. I have a Yamaha sound bar that I’ve had no trouble now for two years. They get good reviews on various websites.

It's hooked up with an optical cable.
Will check the T.V. speakers balance.

I have purchased 3 sound bars in my lifetime. I was never happy with any of them. Just getting them to come on and sync up was frustrating. My last sound bar was a $699 Sony purchase. Still disappointed. I sold it for $200 cash.

I finally got fed up and went out and purchased an inexpensive receiver and added a sub, center and 2 front speakers. Even my wife said I made a wise purchase.

Of course, my daughter has a Samsung sound bar and she is happy. My son has a Sony sound bar and he is happy. And many of you are happy with yours.

It's probably me, but I was always getting frustrated. My Sony did the same thing. You would have to go wide open to get the sound up to where you could here it.
I called Sony and there was some setting on my TV that was off. You may call Samsung. Do you have a Samsung TV?

I unscrewed the back off my LG and cut the speaker wires - drilled a couple of 3/16" holes in the bottom of the plastic cabinet and ran wires to a pair of Minimus 7s that sit alongside the TV.
A world of difference in audio quality .....

A receiver and even just the center/L/R will definitely take up more room but I’d venture to say always sound better. I’ve got a 5.0 setup right now (excluded the sub for now since I’m back in an apartment) and it’s fantastic. Can always check Facebook for used equipment too for cheap.
I however am looking into a sound bar for my mom since she finally upgraded her TV.

Those things are a real PITA. Finally got one. If it died tomorrow I’d not chase another. I thought I was smart getting an LG bar because it would sinc right up with an LG TV......🤦🏻‍♂️...ha ha ha send in the 🤡 Lots of issues between which remote controls what and how to set each do they can live🤬 with each other. Most times if you have an issue it’s in a setting . Just don’t lose that remote.......
I just went through a remote battle with the old lady over her piling her Christmas bull💩 so it blocked the IR button. Is it so hard to leave enough gap in the stupid figurines that the laser will hit and make it go up, down and mute! Yea for some of us it really is.

OP: likely you have a damaged internal amp chip or speaker proper as you toslink digital signal cannot be modified from it's S/P delivery protocol.

I have a small one just for convenience in front of the TV with a small self powered "sub" on the floor.
But The Simulated surround or stereo mix down from the optical (S/P dif ) is pretty bad. Lots of resonances, delayed internal reflections and resultant "vowel" colorations on voices along with odd voluem imbalances from senter dialogue hard panned sound effects. I used to be an audiophile but I don't have amuch hearing above 7Khz anymore. But I can still hear problems from mid bass through upper vocal and first overtone range. All soundbar solutions under 400 bucks sound like garbage to me.

MY issue is my analog out on the Xfinity box is not good so i will have to take the audio off the HDMI. The previous box had a good stereo mixdown with ow distortion.

I suppose I should get a small HT receiver that will allow a stereo mix down. I'm not in the mood to have speakers all over the place.

Though Yamahaha amps are just "meh" sounding, they used to do digtal processing well.

Anybody know if any of the smaller, inexpensive HT receiver have a decent mixdown capability where i can strip digital audio off the HDMI ARC input ?

I'm done with toslink. I can appreciate the galvanic isolation, but the optical amps and receivers appear to be poorly implemented in most modest HDTV and cable boxes.

I was thinking of buying a pair of the excellent for the money previous model Wharfedale Diamond 10.1 bookshelf speakers. They are super inexpensive right now. Maybe sold out!

Ah the good 'ole Minimus 7 aluminum cabinet Mini speaker!. A blast from Rat Shack past. Always grabbed a couple pairs when they went on 1/2 price sale.

Surprised the little digital amps in the soundbar had enough oomph to get any decent level out of the Minimi

I checked the balance on the T.V. it's right in the middle.
Both T.V. speakers are working.
The speakers on the Samsung T.V. are pretty good.
I think I'm just going to continue that way.

I'm using the wood cabinet "made in Japan" minis and the audio power is from the TV's internal little 10/10 watt power amp.
Bought a great pair of aluminum mini 7s a couple of weeks ago at the thrift store for $5.00

duplicated due to short edit time allowance

The later ones with the leaf tweeter were pretty good - much better highs. The Minimus 7 had a REALLY good woofer driver but a nasty tweeter.
I used the woofers and re-did the xover using my fave and cheap audax 3/4" plastic dome with phase plug. Nice sparkle and sweet.

IN fact I have a spare NIB 4" Realistic replacement woofer for the minimus 7 in my audio parts cabinet.