Contributor I

CD / Bluray player for use with a Sonos system

18 replies
7047 views

Greetings,

My current setup includes a Sonos Beam and a few Play / One models that I would like to put together in my living room. I currently have a CD player and a TV that share the Beam using an HDMI switch. This works, but the drawbacks are:

“TV volume is fixed”, which means I can’t use the remote control to change the sound (so either I walk to the Beam or I have to use my phone);
the CD player outputs is music solely to the Beam, as expected from the setup of course.

I would like to be able to play my CDs in the same way that I play my local FLAC files on my system: selecting which outputs should be use, setting up the volume of each device individually or globally, etc. Is there a reasonably priced CD player that could be used for that? I understand that I could buy a Sonos Port and connect my current CD player, but the price deters me. I don’t care about streaming services. Blu-Ray capabilities would be a plus as I have a few 5.1 records in that format.

I welcome suggestions from everyone, but I live in Europe, so I’d prefer answers from European users since they can point me to items I can find here (I don’t want to think about taxes on foreign items).

Thanks for your help!

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J

John B

Hi. You can play CDs to the rest of your system by grouping to the Beam and (if desired) muting the Beam.

I don't think Sonos can plqy SACD formatted disks.

I don't really understand the "TV volume is fixed" bit

B

barathriAuthor

Contributor I

Hi. You can play CDs to the rest of your system by grouping to the Beam and (if desired) muting the Beam.

How do I do that with my current setup? Or do I need to buy something else?

I don't really understand the "TV volume is fixed" bit

This is the error message that my TV displays whenever I try to change the volume using the remote. My HDMI switch is not ARC-compatible, so I must use the optical output and the Sonos converter on the TV. Same for my CD player, I had to buy another converter and use its optical output although it has a non-ARC HDMI output.

G

GuitarSuperstar

Lead Maestro

Get a Blu-ray player. It can play audio CDs too. Connect the Beam to your TV’s HDMI ARC port. This will allow you to control the Beam’s volume using the TV remote. Connect the Blu-ray player to any of the TV’s other HDMI ports. Then set up two Play:1s to act as surround speakers for the Beam.

NOTE: Depending on your TV model, you may or may not be able to play 5.1 audio from Blu-ray discs. Your TV must support Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS Digital Surround 5.1 pass through.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi

B

barathriAuthor

Contributor I

GuitarSuperstar: thanks, I’ll try that. Does this mean the TV will need to be on if I want to play CDs?

buzz

Grand Maestro

Yes, CD’s and DVD’s will play through the TV’s HDMI connection.

B

barathriAuthor

Contributor I

That’s far from ideal then.

On the other hand: my TV has an ARC port, but the CD player only has an HDMI output and an optical one. Isn’t there an HDMI switch with ARC capabilities that would accept both connections (i.e. ARC and non-ARC)?

Or do I need to buy a Blu-Ray player with an ARC output and a switch that only accepts ARC connections (surely that must exist, in the event that no “mixed inputs” switch exists)?

J

John B

Hi. You can play CDs to the rest of your system by grouping to the Beam and (if desired) muting the Beam.

How do I do that with my current setup? Or do I need to buy something else?

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/group-and-ungroup-rooms

But it has just occurred to me that the Beam will not synch perfectly the other speakers and so may have to be muted

buzz

Grand Maestro

Normally, an input device, such as a cable box, DVD, etc., sends audio and video to a TV or A/V receiver. An HDMI ARC connection allows the TV to send audio back to the A/V receiver when the viewer is watching a TV App. Regular HDMI audio an HDMI ARC audio use a different set of connector pins. The A/V receiver and TV chipsets need to sort this out.

Supporting HDMI ARC connections on input devices doesn’t make much sense because one would rarely need to send audio to a DVD player, for example.

In the specific case of a SONOS soundbar there is some rational for allowing switching DVD audio output to the ARC pins, however, this would create numerous user interface complications. For example, how would the user control the DVD player if there is no video? Yes, the DVD player manufacturer could develop a controller App, but this would be a rather expensive project, simply to support a few SONOS users who want to connect their DVD player directly to their soundbar. The DVD controller App would need to support phones/pads/PC and Mac computers of various generations.

106rallye

For use with CD players Sonos produces the Port. I use a Connect (predecessor to the Port) for exactly this purpose. Any solution that runs via the TV would bring the need to have the TV turned on.

B

barathriAuthor

Contributor I

Hi. You can play CDs to the rest of your system by grouping to the Beam and (if desired) muting the Beam.

How do I do that with my current setup? Or do I need to buy something else?

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/group-and-ungroup-rooms

But it has just occurred to me that the Beam will not synch perfectly the other speakers and so may have to be muted

Oddly enough, groups work fine when the switch’s input is set to TV: multiple and global controls appear and there’s no delay at all. But as soon as I switch the input to the CD player, the only sound controls that appear are the Beam’s …

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