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jsanstil34
Contributor I
January 17, 2025
Answered

Arc Ultra with Optical, will it use all speakers?

  • January 17, 2025
  • 2 replies
  • 226 views

Hello,

One of my rooms has an older TV that lacks EARC/ARC.  I’m going to be upgrading the TV sometime this year, but the soundbar I was using with it died.  I was going to buy an Arc Ultra with the new TV but now I’m considering getting an the Ultra early but I would have to use it with the HDMI to Optical adapter temporarily until I purchased a new TV.  I know the Arc Ultra will work over Optical, just be limited to Compressed 5.1.

My question is in regards to the speakers.  If using Optical and only getting Compressed 5.1, will is still use all the speakers in the Ultra? For example, will the up-firing speakers just not produce any sound at all if the Ultra is receiving a 5.1 signal, or will they duplicate sound from one of the front channels?

Thanks.

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Best answer by GuitarSuperstar

The upward-firing drivers are only used with Dolby Atmos audio. All of the other drivers will be used with 5.1 audio.

2 replies

GuitarSuperstarAnswer
Lead Maestro
January 18, 2025

The upward-firing drivers are only used with Dolby Atmos audio. All of the other drivers will be used with 5.1 audio.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
    106rallye
    106rallye
    January 18, 2025

    Would you want the upfiring speakers to be used in a 5.1 set up? Remeber the system would need to compute any sound going to these speakers, because the 5.1 audiomix does not provide for them. Besides that the optical connection does not support more than 5.1 material.

    Since you want to buy a new TV in the future, I’d go for the Arc Ultra now. I love mine.

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