Home theater projector and Arc setup

Hello @HighDesertHighlander, welcome to Sonos Community!

Results differ from cable to cable, but the only thing you would need to make sure is having an HDMI 1.9 cable or above for eArc capabilities.

A more expensive one will most likely increase the chances of long-distance working.

I cannot guarantee that whichever cable you purchase will work but it will probably be fine.

With my response, your thread got to the top of the latest activity list in our Community, maybe someone who is currently using a long HDMI cable can provide some feedback to you.

I hope this helps.

A major consideration is that the SONOS ARC requires HDMI-eARC for premium audio formats. Most HDMI switches and extenders do not support this, however, such products are beginning to enter the marketplace. Make sure that your projector supports eARC too. There are premium fiber optics based HDMI cables that can easily run long lengths, however, very few of these cables support eARC. Products similar to ARCANA can deal with the lack of HDMI-ARC capability.

Hi, thanks for the responses.  I should have elaborated on the switch. I was prepared to buy the Arcana but found the U9 which claims to provide the capability to separate out the eARC audio and provide additional inputs (where the ARCANA has only one). Very long story short I was finally able to get the U9 to work after spending time on the phone with the U9 folks and them sending me another unit...but the process is not straight forward at all. I trial and errored my way to find the appropriate sequence to plug in the three HDMI cables (Source from a Roku, out to the projector, and eARC out to the SONOS Arc). Honestly, I’m not sure I could do it a second time in a row. I haven’t confirmed this yet but I don’t think the first switch was faulty. I think the complexity of the switch - which is made for eARC and non-eARC connections - is subject to complexities. I also think my setup does not allow for the SONOS Arc to wake up when the projector is turned on (like it did when it was connected to a TV). We shut everything off last night after it was all working correctly and will turn it back on tonight to see if it is easy to start the system. If not, I may ditch the U9 and get the ARCANA especially since I mostly only run one source (the Roku).

The projector (Epson 5050UB) does not support eARC. I am using it as a “dumb” device to project only the video source.

Back to the original question.  I am connecting the source (Roku) to the switch (currently a U9 but probably eventually an ARCANA) then separating the AV channels with an HDMI cable running from the switch to the projector and one running from the eARC port to the SONOS Arc. Right now the Roku and U9 are in the front of the room near the screen with the long HDMI running to the back of the room to the projector’s location. As I mentioned above, this seems to work for the time being but I’d prefer to have all the equipment in the back of the room, out of direct sight, near the projector. This would mean an short HDMI cable from the switch to the projector and a long cable from the switch to the front of the room that connects to the SONOS Arc. The question is whether one way or another works better or if any cable limitations (type, length) would apply to running the cable from the back of the room to the front to connect to the SONOS.

Appreciate the feedback. I’ve searched through the internet and am having a hard time finding a definitive answer as the topic is not mainstream and the technology is relatively new.  Thanks again.