Beam audio output is Stereo only

7 replies
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Hi, I'm having problems getting Surround Sound working with my Sonos Beam and 2 x Play 1s. I've gone through the initial setup and all is playing fine, however, when I am playing audio through the TV, whether it is iPlayer, Netflix or Amazon Prime, etc, the Sonos App is reporting that the audio is being received as STEREO. I am getting audio out of the surrounds, but I think that's just the stereo feed being sent out to them. It's getting very frustrating, does anyone have any ideas? TV is a Sharp LC-40LE831E connected to the Beam via the ARC port.

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AirgetlamAnswer

That's a question your should be asking Sharp, but it's not a crazy one, I've seen other TVs talked about here that aren't capable of returning a Dolby Digital signal out....which to me, defeats the entire purpose, or a large part of it, of HDMI-CEC. Ah, but that does suggest that you double check to make sure the firmware on your TV is up to date, if you can. It might be something they "fixed" in a later release that you can download and apply to your TV...or it might not, but something to look in to .

At the end of the day, you may be a candidate for one of the HDMI switches that is talked about in many places on this forum. I don't use one myself, but here's an example:

https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Switcher-Selector-Extractor-Splitter/dp/B01HM1RP6G

There's dozens of makers of these, so be sure to pick the one that fits your needs and budget, if you go that route. Then you'd plug all your sources in to it, and plug it via HDMI into the TV, and take the optical output from it and send it to your Beam, using the adapter.

But it might be worth talking to Sharp before taking that step, and get a definite answer about getting Dolby Digital out of the TV via HDMI-ARC.

Bruce

controlav

Lead Maestro

Firstly check what the Sonos Beam is getting (this is buried in the About page in the Sonos app).
Secondly check the Audio options on the TV to see what it thinks it is emitting.

Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.

Airgetlam

If the controller is saying that the Beam is receiving stereo only, that's what your TV is sending to it.

Is this Aquos Link turned on on your TV? (Page 27 or 28 of the manual)

What is generating the signal that you're watching? Is it the TV, or a cable box, or a DVD player? You'll need to look at the audio settings on every device that you have connected to the TV via HDMI to ensure that they're all set up to send a Dolby Digital signal to the TV set. If each device is Aquos link (also known as HDMI-CEC) compatible, that wouldn't be an issue, but there's no guaranty that they are.

Bruce

D

daylelunnAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Thanks for the replies, yes the Aquos Link is turned on. It doesn't matter whether output it from DVD player, Amazon Fire stick etc, all audio is reported as stereo on the Sonos App. I know the DVD player is fine, as I have used it downstairs with my Playbase and 2 x Play:1's and it does surround sound. It just seems that the TV seems incapable of sending out Dolby Digital? Once Aquos Link is enabled, other other audio options on the TV are disabled....

AirgetlamAnswer

That's a question your should be asking Sharp, but it's not a crazy one, I've seen other TVs talked about here that aren't capable of returning a Dolby Digital signal out....which to me, defeats the entire purpose, or a large part of it, of HDMI-CEC. Ah, but that does suggest that you double check to make sure the firmware on your TV is up to date, if you can. It might be something they "fixed" in a later release that you can download and apply to your TV...or it might not, but something to look in to .

At the end of the day, you may be a candidate for one of the HDMI switches that is talked about in many places on this forum. I don't use one myself, but here's an example:

https://www.amazon.com/Tendak-Switcher-Selector-Extractor-Splitter/dp/B01HM1RP6G

There's dozens of makers of these, so be sure to pick the one that fits your needs and budget, if you go that route. Then you'd plug all your sources in to it, and plug it via HDMI into the TV, and take the optical output from it and send it to your Beam, using the adapter.

But it might be worth talking to Sharp before taking that step, and get a definite answer about getting Dolby Digital out of the TV via HDMI-ARC.

Bruce

D

daylelunnAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Thanks, yeah I have messaged Sharp but no reply as of yet...I may have to look into the switch, but I will see if there's a firmware upgrade, and see what sharp say first.

Interestingly in the audio setting there are options for Surround Sound (Normal, Movie, etc) but they are not available when using the ARC/Sonos for Audio...so I would have expected it to work....

Thanks for the help!

D

daylelunnAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Update didn't make any difference. Also tried connecting using the Optical Output instead of ARC, but same results, still stating as Stereo in the SONOS app. Grrr....

I

ildefonso

Contributor I

I had the same issue. The reason was that a decoder I was using to get a pay tv signal was sending stereo to the Beam and this was affecting also any Tv signal including Netflix etc. I changed the decoder output settings to Dolby Digital and now I get a great Dolby sorround sound from my Beam and 2 Ones including Netflix. Also read this (in Spanish sorry): https://barradesonido.es/conectar-barra-sonido-tv/

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