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Placing a sound bar or beam behind the sofa - Samsung Frame dilemma

  • 18 January 2019
  • 3 replies
  • 4275 views
S
Currently have a Sonos 3 and a couple of 1s in the house. We have invested in a nice new TV (Samsung Frame) but don't want to go down the route of buying a Samsung sound bar - i'd rather keep all my music on one platform. Besides i'm blown away by the quality of Sonos and am happy to stick wtih them.

One of the features of the Samsung Frame is that all the TV gubbins (e.g. HDMI, Audio, Scart, Coax/Sky) are in a separate box which is connected via a proprietary Samsung fibre optic "invisble" cable to the TV screen. So we took the decision to place our Sky box and our Samsung TV gubbins on a book shelf snug down the side of the sofa. The invisble cable is routed along the ceiling/wall to the TV screen at the other end of the room. All very minimalist.

Now my dilemma is - the Sonos Beam needs an HDMI cable from the TV. Which means if we want to put the Beam underneath the TV then we will have to route a lengthy HDMI cable from the corner of the room by the sofa (from the TV gubbins) to the Beam. Or we move the TV Gubbins and the Skybox to the TV and then have to route two ugly coax cables across the room for Sky. All of which negates the reason for having a fancy tv with an invisible fibre optic cable and a minimalist looking TV screen.
So the question is - is it sensible (or stupid?) to place the Beam behind the sofa, hidden from view, but easily connected via HDMI to the TV gubbins.
Any thoughts??

I'd really like to get the Beam because it will integrate with the other Sonos i have in the living room and keeps all the music on the Sonos platform as well as the TV.
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Best answer by ratty 18 January 2019, 16:36

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3 replies

ratty
So the question is - is it sensible (or stupid?) to place the Beam behind the sofa, hidden from view
It's not remotely sensible. The acoustics would be appalling, and the channels would be reversed compared to the TV picture. (You could point the Beam at the wall, so as to orient the channels correctly, but the acoustics would be even worse.)
S
pffft. yeah unfortunately that's what i figured. I don't want ugly HDMI routed all along the newly decorated walls (should have plastered them in but it's too late). Any other suggestions? Presumably the HDMI is mandatory connectivty for surround sound etc?
ratty
HDMI or optical is required for 5.1. A very long optical cable run could cause excessive signal attenuation. But I'm rather mystified as to what kind of 'surround' is envisaged, if the primary speaker -- the Beam -- is already behind you.
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