I received a Beam as a gift but the only TV where it would make sense is an older plasma model with a very bright and nice 720p picture. (My other newer TV already has a Playbar 5.1 setup.) We only watch this older TV using an Amazon Fire Stick so a single HDMI input (the TV has two) was all I needed to use.
I searched through this forum and others and never really found anyone with exactly my set up and just wanted it out there. The answer is a device that’s about $25: Audio Extractor Converter (JTDAT5CH). No doubt other brands would work but this model seemed to have many trustworthy reviews and, at least for me, worked right away as described. The only additional items needed are the HDMI cables, which I already had.
Set up:
- HDMI cable from the Fire Stick to the audio extractor input.
- HDMI cable from the audio extractor output to the TV HDMI input.
- Sonos Beam optical connector to Beam’s HDMI cable.
The only other tasks were to go the TV menu and turn off the internal speakers, then to the Fire Stick menu to set audio output to Dolby (and not Dolby Plus). And, of course, the usual Sonos set up for the Beam which recognized the optical as soon as I told it there was no ARC.
Alexa still works on the Beam and the IR remote for the TV controls audio volume on the Beam.
