topic Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups in Speakers and Displays

Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

Tm2 — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 14:11:25 GMT

My setup:

Three Google Nest Routers (one as a primary, two slaves to spread the network)
Two Google Points - both to spread the wifi and for the smart speaker connectivity.
(Had before three more Points, yet disabled them due to the fact Google WiFi cannot handle more that five wifi hotspots.. )
Seven Google Mini -speakers
A Google Nest Hub and a Google Audio -speaker.
Two Chromecasts (for audio only, the Chromecast seems to be only device providing audio out (via HDMI) and therefore feeding audio for my amplifiers and proper set of speakers).
Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 -soundbar
(other misc stuff like some 30ish lights - mainly Philips Hue but also some other brands, two air conditioners and whatnot..)

Like stated in the subject, the current problem is dealing with the speaker groups: The HK Soundbar connects easily and nicely to the Google Home -app and fits nicely in the speaker groups in the app.

However, whenever casting audio (music) to the speaker groups, the soundbar remains idle (not playing audio), it only works when casted only to it directly.

Needless to say, the Soundbar has up-to-date firmware.

Is there any real solulution, or is my only choise to buy yet another (third) Chromecast to join the soundbar into the Google Home speakergroups?

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

mat-maas — Mon, 02 Jan 2023 16:07:13 GMT

I have the same problem. After working for several months (appr 18 months) the HK citation 700 soundbar is not responding anymore in a group.

When I delete the group and make a new one with first only the soundbar and than adding a google home speaker to the group it is working. When I stop streaming and start streaming again the soundbar is not working anymore.

The soundbar is already send back to HK once. Got a new one last week but the same problem exists.

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

amst3l — Tue, 03 Jan 2023 14:48:41 GMT

I have the exact same issue with my MB700.. driving me insane!

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

mat-maas — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 10:59:04 GMT

I probably have found the cause. I have my citation 700 in a group with a google home.

The soundbar is also connected with my TV. As long as I don't use the TV the soundbar keeps responding in the group. But when I have used the TV the soundbar isn't responding anymore in the group. Than I have to delete the group and make the group again.

This could be the cause, but I don't know how to fix it 😞

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

amst3l — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 12:04:22 GMT

Restarting the device from the google home app also helps. But it just keeps hanging in either hdmi or aux. It says it understood the voice command but it just never launches. I contact the support of harman kardon aswell. They send me a list of stuff to check which i'm currently doing.

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

mat-maas — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 16:03:39 GMT

I solved it for my setup.

I connected the soundbar via hdmi AND fiber to my TV. And now everything is working.

Before I also contacted HK. And I also got the email with lots of things I had to check. None of these solved the problem 😞

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

amst3l — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 16:07:48 GMT

Fiber as in optical?

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

mat-maas — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 18:15:17 GMT

Yes a optical connection

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

amst3l — Sat, 07 Jan 2023 19:03:49 GMT

Alright! But how does it work/how do you get it to work?

Do you still select the hdmi for tv audio? Could you elaborate please? If its a valid fix i can share it on some other forum i'm involved with. A few others have the exact same issue

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

mat-maas — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 09:10:56 GMT

And after a night of watching TV it isn't working anymore 😞😞

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

amst3l — Sun, 08 Jan 2023 10:57:56 GMT

Ah thats too bad, i will also report this back to the support

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

amst3l — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 06:12:33 GMT

A thought popped up.. have you tried using only the audio fiber cable?

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

mat-maas — Tue, 10 Jan 2023 16:25:03 GMT

As it is working now for 2 days I won't change anything. Will see if it keeps working

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

amst3l — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 07:08:24 GMT

Alright, keep up posted 😄 HK support wants me to send my MB700 to their support department. I'm 100% certain however this isn't a hardware issue so i won't be doing it

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

mat-maas — Wed, 11 Jan 2023 17:46:15 GMT

I have done the same. Got a new one. But with that one the problem keeps the same.

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

amst3l — Thu, 12 Jan 2023 07:17:22 GMT

After refusing to send HK support my MB700 and asked if they could do a rollback if finally got a somewhat hopefull answer. They acknowledge it is a software issue and are working on it.. no ETA though. So we'll just have to wait it out.

They did note a workaround that indeed does the trick (most of the times😅😞

First ask: "Hey Google, play music" - this enabled the casting

Then ask: "Hey Google, play [radio station X]"

Hope this offers some help to you all

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

Juni — Fri, 13 Jan 2023 20:27:11 GMT

Hi folks,

Thanks for posting here in the Google Nest Community and sorry for the late response.

I’m glad your issue is resolved now. I’ll keep this thread open for 3 more days. If you need further help, let me know.

Regards,

Juni

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

mat-maas — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 08:45:55 GMT

I don't think it is resolved. There is just a work around

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

amst3l — Sat, 14 Jan 2023 14:42:55 GMT

A workaround is not the same as a fix...

Re: Harman/Kardon Citation Multibeam 700 / problem with Goole speaker groups

Tm2 — Sun, 15 Jan 2023 11:19:52 GMT

The issue is freaking far away from resolving.

There are at least two workarounds, yet neither is fixing the actual issue.

The worksaround amst3l introduced is fine, but is not applicaple for all the situations, you're not always near the soundbar and ofter there are multiple other speakers withing the hearing range.

Another workaround, plugging a Chromecast -device to the hdmi-imput of the soundbar, resolves mostly the issue of soundbar not responding in the groups - but is not applicaple for those using the soundbar with a tv, and this workaround also costs money; One needs to buy to one more Google device just to fix up dysfunctioning other google devices.

So, there are multiple partially working workarounds and the problem still persists.