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connecting Sonos beam gen 2 to a computer monitor that has an Earc connection

  • 3 November 2023
  • 15 replies
  • 2198 views

Hi Everyone

So I was planning on buying an LG32UN880P-B monitor for my HP laptop (I5-ee0002na). Along with this I am going to buy some sort of docking station to connect everything together and lastly a Sonos Beam Gen 2 for the sound. My main needs of this setup is to watch media  (movies using Plex and stream Netflix and Amazon). Since my research my understanding is that to connect the beam to this set up I would need to buy an HDMI audio extractor and connect by optical to get 5.1 but I wound not be able to get Dolby Atmos unless I buy the Arcana HDfury which is a pricy option. 

So looking for another solution, I have looked around and found this LG monitor 32sq780sw which has an Earc connection.

So my question to Sonos is as this monitor has an Earc connection will I be able to connect the beam to the monitor just like a regular smart tv and everything should work, including Dolby Atmos? or will I still have to go down the audio extractor or HDfury route?

Also how would I connect the beam up? Do I connect the beam directly to the monitor earc connector and then run a second HDMI cable from the monitor back to the docking station? What would be the best configuration? 

 

 

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15 replies

Airgetlam

Looking at the LG web page, I see no indication that this monitor contains the electronics needed to create an ARC or eARC signal. It might make sense if it had an eARC pass through, but I don’t see any indication of that, either, on the specs page. 

If you’re going to use any computer monitor, you’re going to need an external device like the HD Fury no matter what, to take the incoming signal, and create an Atmos ARC signal for the Sonos Beam to read. 

it might be important to note that the Beam itself has no speakers that fire upwards, like the Sonos Arc does, and as such, can only send Atmos information to the Era 300s as surrounds to create the true Atmos height effect. 

At this point, I think for this setup, I’d just go with 5.1, rather than Atmos capability. It’s both significantly less expensive, but there is also relatively little content encoded in Dolby Atmos. If that’s your choice, then a relatively simple set up with an optical connector from your laptop to the Sonos adaptor, which plugs in to the Sonos Beam. You would set up the surrounds and Sub in the normal Sonos process. No need for an expensive Atmos creating external box. 

Bruce
J

Hi Bruce

I did look at the LG website and while they have a picture of the ports which show an earc connection they make no mention of it in the specs which I found a bit strange. I can see myself going for 5.1 as its much cheaper and easier to set up. There is not much info about setting up a soundbar with an earc port on a monitor  so I just want to get as much info as possible before I start creating my setup. If I decide to ditch Dolby Atmos then I may choose a non Dolby Atmos bar as as you say it’s much cheaper. 

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

A Ray might be good options for you if the Beam price is a problem.

You give up a lot when moving from Sonos to some other brand so shop carefully.

J

Yeah I do like Sonos. I am torn between the Bose 600 and the Beam. The Bose has up firing speakers which the beam doesn't. On the other hand I do have a Sonos one sl, so it makes sense to go with Sonos and I can pair both speakers up for listening to music and further down the road I can always buy another one sl and bond them to the beam. However that does add up to a big cost factor compared to other systems which offer more for less price. I bought the Sonos one sl as I believe its a great speaker but Sonos seems to be aligned with apple and being an android guy I can’t really use the full functionality of the system (for example airplay or trueplay). But I can always borrow someone's Iphone:)

An update anyway on the LG monitor. I contacted LG about the earc port and connecting the beam or any soundbar to it. They told me that it should not be a problem and that the monitor should allow me to enjoy Dolby Atmos audio when available from your content source, so there you go straight from the horses mouth:) 

controlav
Userlevel 7
Badge +23

Interesting, the picture on the LG site clearly shows HDMI 2 is eARC, but the specs make no mention of it.

 

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
J

I know, why is that? I have copied and pasted the reply from LG below:

The LG 32SQ780SW monitor indeed comes equipped with an eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) connection. You can connect your Sonos Beam Gen 2 soundbar to the monitor using the eARC port. This should allow you to enjoy Dolby Atmos audio when available from your content source.

controlav
Userlevel 7
Badge +23

I know, why is that? I have copied and pasted the reply from LG below:

The LG 32SQ780SW monitor indeed comes equipped with an eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel) connection. You can connect your Sonos Beam Gen 2 soundbar to the monitor using the eARC port. This should allow you to enjoy Dolby Atmos audio when available from your content source.

LG, like frankly every TV maker, do a crap job of listing specs. We have to rely on sites like rtings.com to actually determine what these devices can, and cannot, do.

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Yeah I do like Sonos. I am torn between the Bose 600 and the Beam. The Bose has up firing speakers which the beam doesn't.

I’d look at the long term cost of the different brands, not just the up-front cost. I’ve found my Sonos to be far longer lived than several other brands that abandoned my devices.

J

I agree I picked sonos fir that reason.  It just socks that they don't offer much support for non iPhone users

 

Airgetlam

What difference, beyond TruePlay and AirPlay 2, do you perceive? 

Bruce
J

Not much to be honest.  Under certain circumstances there is content that I can't listen to from my Windows computer but I can on a Bluetooth speaker, but for me that's not the end of the world. The trueplay feature is a big shame as I have never used it yet. Some people say it makes a big difference but I have never tried with my sl speaker. If I buy the sonos beam, I would like to tune it so that would mean to borrow an iPhone from someone. Not a deal breaker but a bit annoying as I wonder why sonos would not include their trueplay feature on a flagship andriod device like the samsung Galaxy for example. 

Airgetlam

So ‘not much’ difference is ‘they don’t offer support’? To my knowledge, those are the only differences between Android and iOS on Sonos, and both are the result of decisions taken by Google, not Sonos. 

Bruce
J

What decisions did google make that affected Sonos?

 

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

The inability to play music stored on your device is the most recent one.

Airgetlam

And the decision to not implement ‘casting’ to a Sonos device. 

Bruce
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