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How to connect a laptop to an Arc

  • March 15, 2021
  • 8 replies
  • 3006 views
A

We purchased a Sonos Arc to connect to an Asus laptop. The plan is to project the pictures through a projector and play the sound through the Arc. When I connected them with an HDMI cable it didn’t work. I googled it and the problem seems to be that I need an HDMI Arc output (which the laptop doesn’t have). I phoned Sonos and they suggested that I should post the problem on here to see if anyone has found a solution. An option could be to get an HDMI to HDMI ARC adaptor but I’m not sure if this would work. Another option could be to return the Arc and replace it with a different product. Ideally we want something that can be wall mounted next to the projector rather than an amp and speakers.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Al

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8 replies

J
  • John B
  • March 15, 2021

Do you really want something to mount by the projector? Surely it has to be by the screen? That is where the sound needs to appear to come from. That requirement definitely rules out any soundbar.

Airgetlam
A
  • Al Black
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • March 15, 2021

It’s in the dining room at school and the laptop, projector and powerpoints are all at the back of the room so we are stuck with that unfortunately. The wall we will be projecting onto protrudes above a doorway and is about 3m above the ground so it’s not your usual ‘home’ set up.

J
  • John B
  • March 15, 2021

IMO having the video at the front of the room and the audio at the back would be awful.  Especially for dialogue. Or think of watching the iconic dance scene from "Singin' In The Rain" with Gene Kelly's voice and the splashing of the water coming from behind you. It shouldn't be allowed.

A
  • Al Black
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • March 15, 2021

Maybe we’ll go with something else. The primary reason was for playing music and our main source of that is through Youtube but I can’t rule out that folks might want to use it for showing other videos too at some point. Back to the drawing board...

J
  • John B
  • March 15, 2021

A Sonos Amp and passive speakers, with One SLs for surrounds would be better,  although that means speaker wires for the front speakers.

You would probably have to add a digital optical out of the laptop and connect using the Sonos optical to HDMI-ARC adapter. 

A
  • Al Black
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • March 15, 2021

Thanks for engaging John and the advice. The money we spent on the Arc would go some way to covering that. I only went for it as I’ve got a Beam based surround sound system at home and it sounds great. I though the children at school might benefit from something similar!

J
  • John B
  • March 15, 2021

It's a fine ambition and I hope you can make it work. Another option,  which you sort of refer to in your original post, is an HDFury Arcana,  but that is not cheap. It would convert HDMI to HDMI-ARC,  but doesn't solve the positioning of the Arc.

A
  • Al Black
  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • March 15, 2021

I’ll get there in the end. We currently play music on a quite dated (but pretty powerful) cd player but as we change music themes every couple of weeks it’s far easier to stream music. It’s Irish folk this week, which replaced Aretha Franklin and will be followed by Mozart so Youtube unlimited is the way forward along with a decent sound system...

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