...the speaker is going off and on it will have some static then will go silent (no sound at all) then it comes back on and works a while and staticy again
For the audio cutting in & out problem, it would help to understand how your using the TV.
Are you using it along with an STB from cable or Sat provider via HDMI cable, or are you using it with an antenna for OTA reception (i.e. - no external boxes connected to it)? If using it with an STB from provider / via HDMI, can you connect it to an antenna, tune to a good channel and see if the audio problem goes away? eg. Temporarily eliminate any external boxes, HDMI from the equation if possible.
if the audio trouble turned out to be HDMI related, you might be able to use the Component Video connections, and analog audio inputs in addition to HDMI that ya could try and use as another test to further isolate.
We have a Samsung in the house also (LCD though), and I recall the audio never really worked right when using one of the HDMI inputs.
Don't recall which one. Wound up just using the Component video cables plus audio in, it's only in the kid's room.