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Amp+ARC+AppleTV And Dolby Atmos

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Ive searched and searched but can't seem to find a definitive answer - really could use some expertise from the community. Products in scope for my question:

6 Sonos Amps - One is connect to in ceiling speakers that will be my rear/surround speakers

1 Sonos Arc

1 AppleTV

1 75” Samsung Frame TV (has an HDMI ARC port)

I need guidance on how to connect all these devices to get Dolby Atmos and ideally still use my AppleTV remote.

I think I need to connect the Sonos Arc via HDMI to my TVs HDMI ARC port. But this is where I get confused. Do I connect my AppleTV to the Sonos Amp or to another HDMI port on my TV? Connecting to Amp seems logical (otherwise how would the TV/Amp know what sound to produce?

Sorry if this has been covered in another thread but I can't seem to find one with my exact product set.

THANKS

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melvimbeAnswer

Your Apple TV needs to connect to the TV through a non-ARC port, and the Arc will connect to the HDMI-ARC port. ARC stands for Audio Return Channel...the TV is responsible for sending the audio from HTML sources (Apple TV) and it’s internal streaming apps through the ARC port to your Arc. Your Amp won’t be connected to anything, as it can receive the rear surround channel audio from the Arc wirelessly.

Your 5 other amps can’t be used for this TV room. They can be grouped with your TV room to play music in sync, and play TV audio with a slight delay, but they cannot play specific audio channels for your home theatre.

Also, In order to get an Atmos from your AppleTV, through your TV, to the Arc, your TV has to be able to take the signal it gets from the AppleTV and convert it to a dolby digital + signal that can be passed through the ARC to the Sonos Arc.

Danny

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B

BBH

Avid Contributor I

I know this is getting into tech territory, but couldn’t you put a dummy load on the speaker outputs of one of the AMPs and use the SW output and then group that AMP together with the ARC ?

melvimbe

I know this is getting into tech territory, but couldn’t you put a dummy load on the speaker outputs of one of the AMPs and use the SW output and then group that AMP together with the ARC ?

You could do that for music playback, but with TV audio, speakers in another room, grouped, are going to be delayed aroun 70ms. Your bass will be slightly behind everything else.

Danny

T

TimsTelegram

Trending Lyricist I

All these responses are great! Like the OP, I too have been searching for a better explanation of how the Sonos Amps and Arcs are supposed to integrate with the Sonos family.

To achieve a more discrete setup, is it possible to use the Sonos Arc as a dedicated center channel? Then use 2 Sonos Amps to power 2 discrete pairs of in-wall speakers? (One set for the Front Left/Right and another for Rear Left/Right speakers? Finally, a Sonos Sub would be wirelessly paired with either the Arc or the Amp?

Separately, are the in-ceiling speakers an upgrade over using the Arc alone?

D

Derkomisar

Lyricist I

Looking for a similar situation. Have a pair of ceiling and rear speakers to connect to a Sonos setup.

Planning to get an arc and sub playing audio from the tv hdmi-arc port on the tv.

Question is if I can create a home theater set up with an ARC and sub, along with 1-2 AMP units connected to the rear and ceiling speakers? Or will that be it synced?

Thanks for the help!

106rallye

A home theater set up with an Arc can only be connected to one Amp (for surrounds). Depending on the load the ceiling speakers put on the Amp, you could connect all four speakers to the Amp, but they will put out surround (rear) sound. If you’d use two Amps, one would not be part of the home theatre set up and lag behind when grouped with the HT set up.

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