Attaching standalone CD player to Beam

  • 14 November 2021
  • 6 replies
  • 2067 views

I have a Beam (1st gen) and two supporting One SL speakers left and right of my TV, in a compact set-up in a small room. I also have a Blu-ray player connected to the TV. I recently dug out my old CD collection and realised I’d like to play them again through my Beam and One SL speakers, but independently of the TV i.e. not using the Blu-ray player. The idea is I’d like to play my CDs without switching the TV on, or to have something else on the screen without needing to keep it on the Blu-ray input for the sound.

Is there any way I can do this, if I was to purchase a small standalone CD player which could just connect directly to the Beam? I realise I only have the HDMI port at the back of the Beam, which is currently connected to the ARC-compatible port on the TV.

Ideally I wouldn’t want to disturb my existing set-up too much, as it’s a compact space and hard to access at the back. 

I appreciate there’s probably not a workaround for what I’m looking for, but thought I’d give it a chance on here anyway. I’m relatively new to all this, so please excuse my ignorance if there’s an obvious answer :).

Thanks in advance


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6 replies

You would need to add a Sonos product with a Line-In for the CD Player to connect to and then that would allow the playing audio to be sent to your Beam as a music source. There are several available options with such ports:

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Another option is getting a CD player that is compatible with AirPlay. This will allow you to AirPlay the audio directly to the Beam without having to turn on the TV. But these CD players tend to be expensive.

If you were prepared to go over to a optical feed to the Beam from the TV (losing DD+/Atmos, HDMI-CEC control and using infra-red remote instead for volume) you could insert an optical switch to flip between the TV and the CD player. Plainly this would also require the optical-HDMI adapter to connect to the Beam.

If the CD player lacked an optical socket you’d need either a coax-optical converter or analog-digital converter, depending on the CDP’s output options. 

Thanks for your help and suggestions, will look into each of those.

Or you could just subscribe to a streaming service and play the music from there.  I doubt that many - if any - of your CDs will be unavailable.  Plus you get lots more music to listen to!  I realise that doesn’t suit everybody but thought I’d put it out there.

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Just to add, unless it’s bottom of the range your Blu-ray player should have suitable audio outputs and can play CSs