Skip to main content
Hi. I have an LG C8 OLED TV and a Beam, connected Via HDMI Arc. I also have some Sony Bluetooth headphones. Whenever I try and play the TV audio via Bluetooth after 2 seconds it switches back to Arc. Is there anyway to prevent this? I have to pull the HDMI lead out of the Beam, but can it be disabled via the app or some other way? Thanks.

Hello, I think I solved the problem, I went into the sound options and select E-ARC mode, and  my Bluetooth headset was working well after that without having to unplug the hdmi arc!


Same issue with the LG C9 and a Samsung QLED.

With the Samsung it's even worse since very often when switching source (from cable TV to PS4 to some TV app like Netflix) the sound is completely lost, and I either have to change output to TV speakers (which jumps back immediately to the beam gen 2 and sometimes fixes it), or completely turn off and on the TV and sometimes this also works.

Extremely random and very disappointing for such a premium product.

It's unacceptable that I have to play around with the output settings every time I switch source because the Sonos beam goes silent on certain sources randomly.


I have the same problem, brand new LG 65CX OLED with Sony Bluetooth headset, everything was working well before I add my new Sonos ARC plugged with ARC-HDMI. As soon as I put it on my Bluetooth headset it automatically switch back on HDMI ARC… really frustrating. I have to unplugged HDMI ARC each time I use my Bluetooth headset… that’s not normal 

I don’t wan’t to plug the Sonos with IR connection because the sound of my tv won’t be automatically Controlled. 

is there anything to do?

 


Because people have reported not experiencing the same issues with non-Sonos products, i.e. Bose soundbars.

 

So what?  People have reported it working fine with other brands of TV's too.  That tells us nothing.


Appreciate the feedback.

Though switching off cec should also not be necessary in my opinion. Probably will tryout a Samsung audio set-up and if that sounds satisfactory without problems switching to headphones (and no cec workarounds) , I'll probably move away from sonos (for Tv at least, already have a 2.1 sonos for many years for music which i'll keep) 


In very simple setups HDMI-CEC can work well, however, in more complicated setups it is a hazard. You can get into a situation where the order of commands is important. For example if one turns OFF the TV, then turns OFF the Blue-ray player, the TV is likely to turn ON again and switch to the cable box. This can create interesting dramas if one partner is sleeping and the other had been watching a disc. This becomes worse if the viewing partner falls asleep without properly shutting down the system. Eventually, most Blu-ray players will automatically turn OFF after a disc ends and there are no further commands. Another drama unfolds if the cable company updates their firmware in the middle of the night because the TV might turn ON after the update is complete.

Overall, Airgetlam’s solution of using an optical connection for Bluetooth is the most practical, but I can imagine misadventures here too. Eventually there will be cost effective add-on control systems that can manage CEC, but I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for these.


If I switch off Simplink, the TV seems to re-enable it anyway, so even that isn’t a solution for me. I need to unplug the Arc altogether.

 

I like the smart plug idea further up the thread - thanks for that. That’s at least a semi-nice solution. 

That’s strange, I have two LG TV’s here and if I toggle off Simplink to use Bluetooth - it stays off with either a Beam or the Arc attached?

I just double checked. Definitely re-activates for me, after a couple of seconds.

This is on an Xbox Series X → LG C1 → Sonos Arc. 

 


Same here, Samsung TV, no issue with a bose bar, problem is sonos which keeps reconnecting itself... Really annoying not to see any fix after all this time 


I have the same issue with LG C9 and Arc, infuriating. Was fine with Playbar as was over optical :(

Sonos, please fix this! 


I just double checked. Definitely re-activates for me, after a couple of seconds.

This is on an Xbox Series X → LG C1 → Sonos Arc. 

 

The Xbox is not relevant. This is the first time I’ve ever come across s TV where the HDMI-CEC protocol can’t be switched off - the LG C9 and B9 models both work fine - and once ‘off’ it should also disable ‘auto-power-sync’ and the user can then go to the sound out menu and select the sound out options - internal TV speaker, Optical, WiSA soeakers, Bluetooth etc.. I accept those outputs can’t be selected until CEC is off, but never seen a TV that re-enabled CEC by itself - that sounds like a faulty TV to me. 


Because people have reported not experiencing the same issues with non-Sonos products, i.e. Bose soundbars.

 

So what?  People have reported it working fine with other brands of TV's too.  That tells us nothing.

What do you mean by “so what”? If other brands work fine with the same TV then clearly this product has a problem working with this TV. And since we're talking about a very wide range of problematic TVs (LG and Samsung being popular as they are) then this is clearly an issue that needs to be resolved. And the fact that other manufacturers have solved it shows that it CAN be solved by the soundbar manufacturer, or else none would function properly...


Same issue with the LG C9 and a Samsung QLED.

With the Samsung it's even worse since very often when switching source (from cable TV to PS4 to some TV app like Netflix) the sound is completely lost, and I either have to change output to TV speakers (which jumps back immediately to the beam gen 2 and sometimes fixes it), or completely turn off and on the TV and sometimes this also works.

Extremely random and very disappointing for such a premium product.

It's unacceptable that I have to play around with the output settings every time I switch source because the Sonos beam goes silent on certain sources randomly.

I have the LG C9 OLED - all you need do there is switch off Simplink in the TV settings. I assume the same with Samsung, just switch off AnyNet+.

I believe these things are for the TV manufacturers to resolve as HDMI-CEC will stop the "output switching" once any ARC/eARC Receiver is connected. I don’t believe this is a Sonos issue.

Will switching Simplink off prevent me from using the soundbar until simplink is re-enabled? If so then it isn't a solution, and this is what the other posters here describe, from what I manage to gather.


I’m not sure Sonos thinks anything needs fixing. Though I can see the problem for you.


I have the LG C9 OLED - all you need do there is switch off Simplink in the TV settings. I assume the same with Samsung, just switch off AnyNet+.

I believe these things are for the TV manufacturers to resolve as HDMI-CEC will stop the "output switching" once any ARC/eARC Receiver is connected. I don’t believe this is a Sonos issue.

Will switching Simplink off prevent me from using the soundbar until simplink is re-enabled? If so then it isn't a solution, and this is what the other posters here describe, from what I manage to gather.

Yes, but this is something that the TV manufacturers need to resolve with the CEC protocol - the solution by the TV manufacturers at the moment is for you to use the TV optical port instead for the audio out, rather than the HDMI audio return channel.. If Sonos fixed this, you would likely see a solution that means toggling off/on CEC control by having to go into the Sonos App settings - so you may aswell just toggle off Simplink/AnyNet+ instead, as that option is easier and it already exists, so it’s best to leave things as they are, or get the TV manufacturers to sort this... easiest thing would be to toggle off CEC with a button press on the TV remote, perhaps🤔?


I have the LG C9 OLED - all you need do there is switch off Simplink in the TV settings. I assume the same with Samsung, just switch off AnyNet+.

I believe these things are for the TV manufacturers to resolve as HDMI-CEC will stop the "output switching" once any ARC/eARC Receiver is connected. I don’t believe this is a Sonos issue.

Will switching Simplink off prevent me from using the soundbar until simplink is re-enabled? If so then it isn't a solution, and this is what the other posters here describe, from what I manage to gather.

Yes, but this is something that the TV manufacturers need to resolve with the CEC protocol - the solution by the TV manufacturers at the moment is for you to use the TV optical port instead for the audio out, rather than the HDMI audio return channel.. If Sonos fixed this, you would likely see a solution that means toggling off/on CEC control by having to go into the Sonos App settings - so you may aswell just toggle off Simplink/AnyNet+ instead, as that option is easier and it already exists, so it’s best to leave things as they are, or get the TV manufacturers to sort this... easiest thing would be to toggle off CEC with a button press on the TV remote, perhaps🤔?

Yeah I got this. Strange that it's been going on for so many years, and even stranger that some soundbars don't suffer from it. I wonder how other companies do it…

What bothers me much more is the loss of sound when switching source on my Samsung tv. My sister wants to remove the beam cause every time she wants to watch Netflix there's no sound unless she plays around with the settings and gets lucky...


Think I understand the issue now. I was disabling HDMI Simplink, but I still had eARC enabled in the sound settings - it evidently re-activates it if eARC support is enabled.

With eARC disabled, Simplink stays off. 

 


Chucky999’s fix worked for me.  I was having same issue on a Samsung TV.  When swapping TV audio to Bluetooth headphones with a Beam connected to HDMI ARC, the Beam would hijack the connection back after about 2 secs.  Turning off HDMI CEC on the TV “fixed” the issue. However there should be a more elegant solution than this.  One “option” is to use the adapter with the Beam and go to the Optical output on the TV instead of HDMI ARC. The Beam won’t hijack audio when connected that way bu you loose some functionality like TV remote control of Beam volume. 


I have the same issue with Sonos Beam connected to a Samsung TV model The Frame 2019.  
I can’t use Bluetooth headphones, unless I disable HDMI-CEC. 
Sonos, please fix this issue 🙏


I'm in the same boat, recently purchased an LG-Cx 65" and invested in the sonos arc to replace my my sonos playbar for  the dolby atmos experience which works great with my sonos sub (gen2) and two play 1's, this all works great together, unfortunately my blutooth Sony m3 headphones keep knocking off after 2 seconds and and the sound source switching back to the sonos arc. Will this bug ever be fixed? I have seen this problem all over the place now after a little Googling around. I know there is a workaround by switching off the hdmi cec but we shouldn't have to do this, starting to regret my sonos purchase, it's the little things like this that bother me. 


Reply