LG forum: LG HB954WA wireless rear speakers not working

Hi all,

I recently bought an LG HB954WA 5.1 channel home theatre system (http://www.lge.com/au/tv-audio-video/home-theatre-systems/LG-HB954WA.jsp). It has 2 x 2.4ghz wireless rear speakers which only need to be plugged into a power point to function.

The problem is, I can only get the wireless rear speakers to connect to the player (or 'mate' with it as the instruction manual calls it) within a range of less than 50cm from the unit. This renders the rear speakers completely useless.

I can 'mate' the speakers to the unit (by powering off the rear speakers, holding STOP on the unit and pressing MUTE on the remote control to bring up 'remate' on the OSD, and then powering on the rear speakers) with the unit right next to both of the rear speakers, but once I move them back to their normal position in the room (which is 3.5m from the unit), they lose signal from the unit and stop responding. The blue LED on each of the rear speakers blinks once every second and then goes off completely after about 10 seconds.

I've been on the phone to LG support twice so far today and have spent hours trying to fix this problem. I've tried positioning the player unit in different places around the room, and I've tried switching off all lights and electronic devices around the house, including my wireless N router and 'wireless-safe' uniden cordless phone. This has not fixed anything.

LG are telling me to contact the retailer for a replacement, but packing everything up and then unpacking an installing a new system would be a real pain.

Does anyone have a magic bullet to make this work, or is my home theatre system DOA?

Thanks!