The Beam isn’t designed to be used with an AV receiver. The Beam is also not Bluetooth compatible.
You could, possibly, connect your Denon to your TV, then the Beam would play whatever the TV’s HDMI ports are receiving.
@GuitarSuperstar - It does work via Bluetooth with my iPhone. I mentioned that in the beginning of my question. I was able to play Pandora music from my iPhone through the Beam 2. The Beam 2 is Bluetooth compatible. But I do appreciate the reply.
@Airgetlam - That’s interesting. But I assume that the TV would have to be on?
Joe
Did you try turning off Bluetooth on your phone first before trying to get the Beam 2 to connect to the Denon? Does the Heos app show Bluetooth connection?
According to the tech specs, @GuitarSuperstar is correct, there are no electronics in the Beam (and Beam gen 2) to receive a Bluetooth signal, although it can receive an AirPlay 2 signal from an Apple device.
In order for it to receive an ARC signal from the TV, the TV’s CEC computer would need to be powered on, which means the TV would need to be on.
Just read that the Beam is not Bluetooth compatible. That surprises me.
What do you have connected to the Denon amp that you are looking to keep and play through the Sonos?
Just read that the Beam is not Bluetooth compatible. That surprises me.
Why? A soundbar’s principal use is as a speaker for a tv. The fact the Sonos ones can also received streamed music is great but the more inputs, the more electronics, the more dev-and-test, the more support, the more cost.
I guess the only reason some would like to see Bluetooth support on their soundbar would be if a friend came over and wanted to play something he has on his phone. Of course this would probably be a rare case.
Samsung soundbars let you connect to a TV via Bluetooth or WiFi if you don’t wish to see the HDMI cable running from the TV to the soundbar. They also have multiple HDMI inputs incase you want to connect a CD player and be able to play CDs without the TV on.
Just read that the Beam is not Bluetooth compatible. That surprises me.
Why? A soundbar’s principal use is as a speaker for a tv. The fact the Sonos ones can also received streamed music is great but the more inputs, the more electronics, the more dev-and-test, the more support, the more cost.
I find the principle reason people like soundbars is that they look a lot neater than traditional AV amps and speakers. This is a big factor for a lot of people. If you understand that, then using it for more than just TV makes sense (to me anyway...), it’s a speaker after all…
@YuCalJoe
The Beam is not Bluetooth (BT) compatible for connection to audio devices. Although it uses BT_Low energy during setup. BT-Low Energy is not designed to carry audio.
However, if you say you are able to connect it via BT please open you BT settings on your device and post a screen shot of the devices that are or can connect via BT. If what you say is true the Beam should show as connected or waiting for a pairing.
There are plenty of other brand soundbars starting at the £300 range which have Bluetooth receivers built in, so they are a general bluetooth speaker, not just a tv audio system.
As you get further up the ranges you find they add Spotify, Amazon music etc and even bluetooth transmitters for headphones and other speakers.
When people are adding a soundbar it’s not limited to just being for tv in most brands.
Okay, I need to correct myself. I “ASS”umed that the JOIN button was for bluetooth. The salesman at Best Buy even said it had Bluetooth (maybe other brands do, but this one doesn’t). It even looks like a bluetooth symbol somewhat. But it really looks more like a “infinity” symbol after looking closer.
I can play Pandora from my iPhone, but it’s only after I add the Pandora SERVICE to the SONOS app, and giving the app permission to my Pandora account. It doesn’t use bluetooth for this. How it works is not known to me right now. I’m guessing that the SONOS has a computer like feature with a processor and memory for apps (just a guess right now), and it uses the network to talk.
So, this explains clearly why I can’t connect to the SONOS Beam 2 via bluetooth. The only way to connect my TV is via HDMI earc. This works fine. The documentation states that I can use Apple AirPlay to connect and play music as well. I haven’t tried this, and I don’t see a need to given that the SONOS app handles it for me.
So my receiver is still mute at this point (At least in the room it is located. Other speakers work fine). And will be until I get either a soundbar that supports bluetooth, or a new set of speakers (small ones, bookshelf size) that have good sound. I’m not really excited about using a HDMI earc switch. The prices for a good one are more than speakers. At least I can go to Best Buy and listen to some speakers, then order them from Amazon.
Given the aforementioned, I will terminate this post with an apology for not paying attention to the symbol on the back of the soundbar, for trusting the kid at Best Buy, for not pulling my head out of my (you know), not trusting the replies to my question, and not using basic logic and problem solving skills.
Thank you for tolerating my ignorance.
Joe
