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Hey all,

 

Here’s the setup - I have a very extensive Sonos system...multiple products, multiple upgrades, etc. etc.

In my living room I have a 5.1 setup with in-wall speakers for TV/movies, all driven by an Anthem receiver, which is fed by multiple HDMI inputs (AppleTV, Roku, etc.).

  • In my rec room I have a TV with a Sonos Arc and Subwoofer
  • In another room I have a TV connected to a Sonos Beam

In both of the above rooms I can play the sound from the TV to multiple other rooms. It’s really good for sports and news. But I can’t do that from the living room because the Anthem receiver is in the path.

I’d like to be able to do two things:

  1. Feed the TV audio from my living room to the Sonos network
    1. I tried using the audio outputs from the receiver into a Sonos Port, but the receiver only does that for analog ports.
    2. I tried using the second HDMI from the receiver out as an input into a Sonos Amp, but that HDMI output doesn’t appear to carry the audio signal.
  2. Automatically (i.e., without having to turn on the receiver with a remote) play audio from my Sonos system to the Living room

I don;t want to add a soundbar to the Living room because:

  • My spouse wouldn’t accept it...it’s another piece of tech bolted to the wall
  • I have a perfectly good 5.1 setup already

There’s gotta be something I’m missing. I have a Sonos Port and a Sonos Amp knocking around that I can connect to this project. I’m also willing to upgrade/switch out the receiver to make this work.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions or advice.

Pete

 

What model is your Anthem receiver? Is it AirPlay 2 compatible? Does it have a 12V trigger input?

MRX 520 - not available anymore (but that happens almost every year with these products). I don’t know about AIrplay 2, I did try the 12v trigger, but only output as far as I can tell, and that would only really help with my problem #2 unless I’m missing something.

 

Thanks for the fast response.

 

If you don’t mind using AirPlay, problem 1 can be solved by finding a receiver that is compatible with AirPlay 2.

For problem 2, you could find a receiver with a 12V trigger input or get a Harmony Hub/remote so you can program the Port to play audio through your living room speakers with one button.

Thanks! I’ll look around for an airplay 2 compatible receiver. Open to suggestions on models if anyone out there has any.

Am I understanding you right that you want to play from your receiver (as opposed to to the reciever)? Then an Airplay-capable receiver would, as I see it, not solve problem 1. Those kinds of receivers are made to receive an Airplay signal, not distribute it.

To work with the Port you'd need a receiver that can decode a digital signal to an analogue signal, that would be feeding the Port.

Does your TV by chance have an analogue out you could connect to the Port?

My apologies. @106rallye is correct. There isn’t a receiver that can send an AirPlay signal. They can only receive it.

If your Apple TV is an Apple TV HD or Apple TV 4K with tvOS 11.4 or later, they are both capable of sending an AirPlay signal.

I’d like to be able to do two things:

  1. Feed the TV audio from my living room to the Sonos network
    1. I tried using the audio outputs from the receiver into a Sonos Port, but the receiver only does that for analog ports.
    2. I tried using the second HDMI from the receiver out as an input into a Sonos Amp, but that HDMI output doesn’t appear to carry the audio signal.

 

 

The HDMI port on the Sonos Amp is HDMI-ARC, not a standard HDMI input.  I would bet your receiver is sending out audio on it’s HDMI output, it’s just that the Amp isn’t built to read it.  What you can do is getting an HDMI/optical extractor, then use Sonos optical adapter to feed that audio to the Amp. This should solve problem #1

 

  1. Automatically (i.e., without having to turn on the receiver with a remote) play audio from my Sonos system to the Living room

I’m surprised the 12V trigger didn’t work right,  I would probably look over your receiver product manual, and the Port support docs on this site, one more time to make sure you didn’t miss a detail.  I don’t use the trigger myself, so can’t comment.  I do have a Port and 3rd party amp setup, but the amp has a feature, similar to Sonos, where it comes on from standby mode when it senses audio coming from one it’s inputs. If you have to look for a receiver, you can look for something with that feature perhaps.  Or make sure 12V trigger works, or an onkyo receiver with the ‘works with Sonos’ badge.   

 

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