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projector with apple tv 4k 2nd gen with apple 2 homepods plus airplay 2 to sonos beam and sub issues?

  • 28 May 2021
  • 5 replies
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My setup is an Apple TV 4K 2021 version with an optima UHD50 4K projector, 2 homepods in stereo setup with Dolby atmos and wirelessly connecting to a sonos beam and sub via airplay 2.   
 

  1. On the previous gen Apple TV 4K I was able to use my stereo homepods as the default speakers and then select the sonos beam and sub through the Audio menu of the streaming content.  However the newest version creates issues whereby when I use the homepods as the default speakers it doesn’t allow me to add the sonos beam and sub like before.    I called sonos and they said it isn’t an issue on their end because when I select just the sonos beam and sub for the sound and remove the homepods the sound works.  I also contacted Apple support but they indicated that there might be a new kind of spatial sound update that may conflict with the sonos beam.    
    I have tried to connect the Apple TV to a hdmi splitter and use optical cable directly to the sonos beam but these splitters reduce the quality of the video content and even then when I choose Apple homepods as the default it creates the same issue of dropping     The sonos beam and sub audio automatically.    
     
  2. I finally removed the Apple homepods from the same room in HomeKit from the Apple TV 4K and the sonos beam which then allows the sonos beam and Apple homepods to be selected separately and work in tandem though only at Dolby digital 5.1 instead of getting Dolby atmos. 
    my understanding is that the sonos beam only supports Dolby digital on not atmos so maybe there is some software conflict there?  

     
  3. First does anyone else have this setup and if so have they found any other work around to get Dolby atmos to work from homepods in conjunction with the sonos beam.  
    honestly the stereo homepods with Dolby atmos is an amazing sound especially with most recent update and if Apple just made their own subwoofer it would have been great to have Dolby atmos work as intended with homepods and a subwoofer since the deep base is still lacking with just the homepods when watching movies. 

 

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Best answer by Corry P 31 May 2021, 11:43

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5 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @ashiq 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

I’m afraid the Sonos Beam does not support Atmos playback, in any way. If your Apple TV is outputting Atmos, don’t expect to hear anything from the Beam.

If you were connected to a TV, the TV would (probably) convert any Atmos to Dolby Digital which the Beam would play. As projectors typically don’t support HDMI-ARC, this may not work for you but it is the only method by which Sonos supports playback of multichannel audio, other than via the supplied optical adaptor. 

 

I heard there is an adapter that can convert hdmi to hdmi e arc called the HDfury as I was thinking upgrading to the sonos arc from the beam.  Would this work from my projector to the sonos arc so that I can get Dolby atmos from my Apple TV 4K 2nd gen.  

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @ashiq 

The HDFury Arcana (as with all other HDMI switches) is unsupported by Sonos. It is likely to be the only way you’ll get Atmos from an Arc in conjunction with a projector, however.

As it’s unsupported, you’ll not be able to get any help from our technical support team if things don’t work (though you already lost that option by using an projector, so no harm there), but there are plenty of users in this community who use an Arcana and can help, and HDFury provide their own (apparently excellent) support.

Aesthetically and practically, an Arcana would also make it easier to have the projector, source devices and the Arc where they need to be, while still being connected.

OTOH, I’ve never seen any system that allows you to split a home theater signal amongst different sets of speakers. 

Yeah I was wondering that myself since the default audio for Apple TV 4K is set to the Apple homepods wirelessly to get Dolby atmos from them but also hoping that the HDfury splitter will allow the sonos arc paired with a sonos sub to be hardwired via hdmi e arc wires to also play sound at Dolby atmos in conjunction with my homepods.   This device says there are no lipsyncing issues.