Do you have poor range and lost commands? Consider my solution here at Reddit. I've copied my text here, pictures are at the Reddit link. What do you think about my multiphase signal theory, Sofabaton? Have you observed this in the lab?
Hi there.
I have a Sofabaton X1. I've been trying to get it working for about two months. My #1 complaint is that commands sent to my preamp (Emotiva XMC-1, specifically) are frequently not recognized by the preamp. The preamp responds fine to its original remote, as well as my old Harmony 890s -- I'd say those are 100% solid, as I never notice dropped commands.
The Sofabaton (SB) X1 has been incorrigible in its flakiness around this issue. I've tried all the commands in the SB database, learning commands, and all of the "repeats" available in the app. SB has been somewhat helpful in email in that they respond to my emails with some words. However, nothing they have done has addressed this problem in any appreciable way. Furthermore, I don't expect them to address my particular issue; at this point, I'm not sure if they even can.
I saw on the SB "Community" page that someone had cut out a little window in the plastic such that one of the IR emitters would have less obstruction in that it no longer has to transmit through the plastic. A reasonable idea in general. In an effort to start down the same path, I opened my X1 hub up. Inside, I found that they are using what appears to be six IR emitters. If the X1 hub is sitting on a table, there are two on top, two facing forward, and one on each side.
I tried using the hub in this "open" configuration to see if commands at my preamp were received any better. I'd say there was a slight improvement, but the problem wasn't solved. I thought back to my days of graduate school and a phenomenon in communications that can cause difficulties at a receiver: multipath. Maybe this isn't exactly the same issue, perhaps it's more of a multi-signal out-of-phase thing. Or maybe it's a HW issue in which some of the emitters are slightly out of phase. In any case, I theorized that somehow all of these IR emitters pointing in different directions is causing the signal received at the preamp to get "confused". I Googled around for IR multipath, and while I didn't read any of the lengthy white papers, it does appear to be a thing. I do note that multipath as I recall it is from a single transmit source bouncing off of walls, buildings, whatever, so that multiple delayed signals are received; it's not so much about sending out six signals and receiving delayed versions of some/all of them. My point is that I'm not here to get into a fight about the finer points of multipath, just that I had a thought that somehow my preamp is receiving delayed out-of-phase IR signals.
In order to get all of these emitters pointing at my device, I simply bent them up so they are literally pointing in the same direction. I've tested it for about an hour, so I don't have anything close to long-term data, but my problem does seem to be resolved. I replaced the top and have it mounted on my wall about 20' from my preamp and TV, which is the same position it was in earlier. This is great news for me!
My process:
1. Remove rubber feet on bottom. The adhesive on mine remained on the plastic, so I'll need to re-adhere them some other way.
2. Remove screws under rubber feet that were removed in step 1.
3. Pry open on one side of the hub. There are two attachment points on each side of the hub, about 2 cm from the corners. It's pretty tight, and I slightly damaged the plastic when using a screwdriver to leverage it. You can see the attachment tabs in the picture below.
4. Once one side is opened, pry around the rest of the hub with fingers, avoiding further damage by the screwdriver.
5. Find the IR emitters. They are LEDs, are clear, and look like tiny old-school cop car lights (see pic)
6. On the four around the perimeter of the board, bend them so they are facing the same direction as the two on the top of the board. Pics below show them in this bent position.
I imagine that this will naturally void my warranty, but I couldn't care less. The X1 barely works for me, my Amazon return window is long gone, and I have little hope for true support from Sofabaton. Anyway, maybe this will help someone else that's utterly vexed by this particular problem.
