Amp / Arc and Sonos?

[andyb28]

Hi Guys,

I need some help as I am struggling to get a simple setup to work.

I have a Pioneer AV receiver, which I want to plug in a number of devices via HDMI, that side of it is fine. However, because its for our snug, I didn't want to put big speakers in and figured a Sonos soundbar would be perfect.

The TV is a Panasonic Viera and it has an ARC HDMI port.

I thought that the TV would upstream sound to the Sonos, but that doesn't seem to be happening. I just wanted to check that this would be correct.

I have the Amp going to the TV on the TV's HDMI 1, and the Sonos is plugged into the TV HDMI 2 (ARC). Playing a DVD, I am only getting sound out of the TV speakers, not the Sonos. Have I done something wrong?

[FarmyardPants]

I think for ARC to work, you have to enable CEC on the TV (which might be called Viera Link or something like that).

[Connectors]

You need to set the TV to 'theatre sound'.

[SS2.]

I too have a Pioneer AV amp and Panasonic TV and yes, Viera link needs to be enabled on the TV for ARC to function.

That said, getting the ARC to work reliably on mine has proved impossible. Sometimes Netflix pumps sound out through HDMI-2 and through the amp, but most of the time it doesn't.

Reading various forums, it seems to be a known issue with the manufacturers simply blaming each other and doing little to resolve.

Ultimately, I think it comes down to poor compatibility between the ARC / CEC standards adopted by Pioneer & Panasonic.

My solution ? Fit a Toslink cable between TV & AVR instead.

[andyb28]

Thanks for your replies.

I believe I have enabled both options.
It is an older TV, but I thought as long as it had an ARC port, it would be ok.

I have turned the Viera link on.
When I change it from TV to Theatre, it does stop the sound coming out the TV speakers, but nothing comes out of the Sonos.

Is there something I need to do on the Sonos, other than plugging in the HDMI cable? I have the app setup and confirmed playing music from my phone comes out of the beam correctly.

[andyb28]

SS2. said:

My solution ? Fit a Toslink cable between TV & AVR instead.

Ah, many thanks. I will try that tonight.

[andyb28]

No luck with the optical cable.

However, I tried the TV settings again and via Arc, am getting background sound, but no speaking from the DVD.

[SS2.]

andyb28 said:

No luck with the optical cable.

Check the audio settings on the TV - seem to recall they need a tweak if you're using an optical cable.

[andyb28]

I wanted to be sure that arc worked on the TV.

So I hooked the TV up to Sky and arc into the Sonos beam.
This works, with really good quality sound.

Clearly the issue is when the HDMI signal is coming via the receiver.

[Connectors]

andyb28 said:

Is there something I need to do on the Sonos, other than plugging in the HDMI cable?

Not that I’m aware of, I just plugged mine into HDMI 2 (ARC as yours is) and went through the setup on the Sonos app.