I have a Beam gen1 with two One SL’s in a bedroom and enjoy it. I have never converted my living room to Sonos but with the recent sale I’m considering it.
The reason I never converted my main living room were:
- DTS:X & DTS-HD … I have a Sony X700 and still play a lot of discs that require codec’s Sonos still don’t support.
- I have a 2022 Sony OLED with only two HDMI 2.1 ports, one of them being the eARC. That only leaves me with 3 HDMI’s and I have 5 devices/inputs total. A passthrough port on a Sonos would be nice as I don’t want to deal with HDMI switchers, which is why I currently use a receiver.
Question
I’m considering getting a Beam v2 and two Era 300’s. I know the Era 300’s are overkill for the Beam v2 but I read all about the AppleTV popping issue with the Arc. The AppleTV 4K is my main streaming device and I don’t want an Arc. The plan is I’d eventually replace the Beam v2 with their next flagship soundbar (Lasso?) when it is released that hopefully supports DTS:X/DTS-HD, and maybe has a passthrough port or two, solving all my current issues. (Or even better maybe their future roadmap will allow building your own system. I’d love a Beam like device as a center channel with multiple in’s and 5’s or Era 300’s as true Right/Left).
Is anyone aware of any devices that would allow me to split my eARC between the TV and the Beam? So the picture from the eARC output of the receiver goes to the TV, and the sound to the Beam, basically allowing me to keep my receiver as a glorified HDMI switch? I know things like this exist but I’m not sure if they would actually accomplish my goal and work with Sonos.
Thanks.