Will this play correctly as far as timing/delay/echo, etc? Will it sound right? Trueplay? How is sound processing and distribution handled for ARC Ultra connected to TV? Specifically, in the case of Atmos signal received, would the Arc Ultra send the original Atmos input to the Fives and Fives process it into stereo? Or would the Ultra decode the Atmos and send a PCM Stereo Mix to the Fives? Or would the Arc Ultra decode and only send the FL/FR channels to the Fives and disable its own L/R? Read in another forum someone has this working with option 2.3 but I didn’t see an announcement this was supported yet so am suspicious.

Enthusiast II

Answered

Can I group a pair of Fives as front left/front right with an Arc Ultra system Home Theater System?

24 replies
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Will this play correctly as far as timing/delay/echo, etc? Will it sound right? Trueplay?
How is sound processing and distribution handled for ARC Ultra connected to TV?
1. Specifically, in the case of Atmos signal received, would the Arc Ultra send the original Atmos input to the Fives and Fives process it into stereo?
2. Or would the Ultra decode the Atmos and send a PCM Stereo Mix to the Fives?
3. Or would the Arc Ultra decode and only send the FL/FR channels to the Fives and disable its own L/R?

Read in another forum someone has this working with option 2.3 but I didn’t see an announcement this was supported yet so am suspicious.

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buzzAnswer

Grand Maestro

In a word: No.

The soundbars do not support extra “L/R” speakers. If you Group a stereo pair of speakers with a soundbar, the extra speakers will not be incorporated with surround processing and there will be a time skew. When playing a music source the Group members will be time aligned.

buzzAnswer

Grand Maestro

In a word: No.

The soundbars do not support extra “L/R” speakers. If you Group a stereo pair of speakers with a soundbar, the extra speakers will not be incorporated with surround processing and there will be a time skew. When playing a music source the Group members will be time aligned.

D

D700Author

Enthusiast II

In a word: No.

The soundbars do not support extra “L/R” speakers. If you Group a stereo pair of speakers with a soundbar, the extra speakers will not be incorporated with surround processing and there will be a time skew. When playing a music source the Group members will be time aligned.

Are you 100% on that after the latest firmware release?

How doe Sonos decide what’s music source and what’s not? Stereo PCM? Dolby 2.0?

Airgetlam

Yes, he is sure.

Technically, it isn’t music source, it is input method. The TV input versus LAN connection (streaming). The TV (digital) input has no idea if it is receiving music or something else, but that input is treated as a separate process, and only allows bonded devices to that room to be synchronized.

As soon as you take that data to a second ‘room’, the normal input delay is applied so Sonos can play the data in sync in all other rooms. When using the LAN to stream data, that delay is already paid on the input, and all ‘rooms’ will be in sync.

Bruce

melvimbe

In a word: No.

The soundbars do not support extra “L/R” speakers. If you Group a stereo pair of speakers with a soundbar, the extra speakers will not be incorporated with surround processing and there will be a time skew. When playing a music source the Group members will be time aligned.

Are you 100% on that after the latest firmware release?

That would be a major shift in functionality that Sonos would officially announce, rather than bury in a firmware release. So yes. 99.9% sure.

How doe Sonos decide what’s music source and what’s not? Stereo PCM? Dolby 2.0?

If the source is the TV, coming through the HDMI or optical cable, than is TV audio. Every other is referred to as a music source. The format and quality of the audio played isn’t relevant in that regard.

Danny

D

D700Author

Enthusiast II

In a word: No.

The soundbars do not support extra “L/R” speakers. If you Group a stereo pair of speakers with a soundbar, the extra speakers will not be incorporated with surround processing and there will be a time skew. When playing a music source the Group members will be time aligned.

Are you 100% on that after the latest firmware release?

That would be a major shift in functionality that Sonos would officially announce, rather than bury in a firmware release. So yes. 99.9% sure.

How doe Sonos decide what’s music source and what’s not? Stereo PCM? Dolby 2.0?

If the source is the TV, coming through the HDMI or optical cable, than is TV audio. Every other is referred to as a music source. The format and quality of the audio played isn’t relevant in that regard.

ah, so any device connected via HDMI is considered “Not Music” even if its a DVD player playing a CD? Or is it only the eArc HDMI considered “TV”?

melvimbe

If the source is the TV, coming through the HDMI or optical cable, than is TV audio. Every other is referred to as a music source. The format and quality of the audio played isn’t relevant in that regard.

ah, so any device connected via HDMI is considered “Not Music” even if its a DVD player playing a CD? Or is it only the eArc HDMI considered “TV”?

I was referring to HDMI cables, not HDMI as a protocol. In terms of audio protocols, your TV is going to connect via eARC, ARC, or an optical audio signal. You can’t connect your soundbar to a DVD player directly, as that an HDMI signal, not eARC or ARC, and Sonos can’t ‘read’ that audio.

As @Airgetlam pointed out, it’s more accurate to think of it as the input source rather than the type of content played. It’s just common vernacular to refer to anything coming from eARC, ARC, or optical source as ‘TV audio’, and everything else as ‘music’ as this is the case most of the time, and the way people think of it.

Regardless, the answer to your main question is still no.

Danny

N

nik9669a

Senior Virtuoso

If the audio is played into the Sonos environment via an HDMI input (regardless of what that audio might be), a short delay will occur. Playing that audio to other components via grouping will invoke the longer delay. Hence the rest of the group is out of sync with the soundbar.

D

D700Author

Enthusiast II

“It’s just common vernacular to refer to anything coming from eARC, ARC, or optical source as ‘TV audio’, and everything else as ‘music’ as this is the case most of the time, and the way people think of it. “

This. Thanks.

Thanks all for quick answers. So its back to either waiting on Sonos or using 3rd party tool with its limitations.

N

nik9669a

Senior Virtuoso

“It’s just common vernacular to refer to anything coming from eARC, ARC, or optical source as ‘TV audio’, and everything else as ‘music’ as this is the case most of the time, and the way people think of it. “

This. Thanks.

Thanks all for quick answers. So its back to either waiting on Sonos or using 3rd party tool with its limitations.

Don’t hold your breath waiting on Sonos: it’s been wanted and requested for a long time…

Using a TP tool may let you do it, but you’ll still have the time lag issues. Plus, the stereo pair will play all the audio, including surround data and centre channel data. That’s really going to muddle any Atmos effects.

Airgetlam

Since the first PLAYBAR was released, if memory serves, back in February of 2013.

Bruce

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