Settings for my Sonos Arc

There’s unfortunately a lot of things that could be an issue here. The Sonos is just the tail end of things….it relies on a good signal coming in through the ARC connection (the HDMI cable) to play what it’s handed. 

So, without much hard data to go on, here’s a list of things to look at. 

Make sure the TV’s firmware is up to date. Which means connecting it to the internet, and checking for and applying any updates from Sony. 

Make sure you’re using a correct cable to connect the Arc to the TV. Sonos cables are best, but if you need a longer run, something like HDMI 2.1 is better. HDMI 1.4 introduced the ARC capability, and it’s really hard sometimes to make sure which version of cable you have, although it is supposed to be printed on the actual cable. And this applies to all HDMI cables, not just the one that connects the Sonos, you’d want similar cables connecting the Apple TV. While ARC is carried only between the TV and the Sonos, making sure the connection between the TV and all devices is important.

Again, reboot both the TV and the Sonos. Unplug both from the wall at the same time. Plug back in the TV first, then wait two minutes, and then plug in the Sonos. If you’re not unplugging them from the wall, you’re not actually rebooting them. 

Check, and apply any updates to the Sonos. While the sound doesn’t go ‘through’ the controller app, there could be firmware updates to your speakers that need to be applied.

Check the audio settings on the TV. I’m not familiar anymore with Sony’s, but ensure they aren’t doing anything to alter passthrough of the sound. Make sure CEC (I think Sony calls this BraviaLink) is turned on.

Oh, which reminds me…make sure the Arc is connected to the port labeled ARC on the Sony. It is supposed to be the only port that is sending sound back out.

Check the audio settings on the Apple TV. I have as little filtering or modification of the sound as possible. Make sure it isn’t altering the output format, for instance. Turn off the feature for ‘always send Atmos’, or whatever that’s called. Unless you’re having an issue (which I don’t, and you’re not likely to either), I’d recommend that stay off. I tend to use Hulu and Apple TV mostly, Hulu uses Dolby Digital, mostly, and Apple TV tends to use MAT, both which work well with my Arcs 

Finally, if none of this helps, and I may have forgotten something, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it. Don’t post the resulting diagnostic number here.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the Support staff, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

System is Arc-Sub-300s

I have a Sony Bravia that on occasion fails the HDMI handshake.  Some time back I made sure the HDMI cables were separated from each other.  I did have them neatly bundled.  Separating them did help minimize the handshake failures, but it still occasionally happens.  Here the TV does not switch to TV speakers instead there is no sound.  A TV reset ( Hold power ON/OFF button until Reset appears on the screen ) gives me the sound back.

Of course your situation is different if the TV switches to TV speaker while you’re watching TV.  Never had that issue. 
 
 ​@Airgetlam has the best solution.  Sonos service has improved greatly.  It no longer takes forever to get someone to answer.  Send a diagnostics then call.  

Interesting. That suggests some ‘bleed’ of interference between cables. It’s been a while since I read specs on cables, but that does sound odd. Of course, there is no guarantee that the remaining handshake problems is due to  that…

Cable quality is a real worry these days, too many with fake compliance stamps and stickers.

When buying on-line always check the latest reviews as some folks sell good cables to collect good reviews then switch to shipping junk to make a bigger profit. Stick to brands you trust. 

Is something else, such as a cable box or Blu-ray player,.connected to the TV? If so, as a test run with only one box connected to the TV.

I have two Beam 2 soundbars: One with an older Sony & one with a new LG.  Both using the HDMI cable that came with the Beam.  No problems with either.  The source for both TVs is a Fire Stick.

The bigger Sony Bravia has been a pain at times.  Used to turn itself on at times along with the HDMI handshake issue.  Want to go bigger anyway so bye bye Bravia.

Also, when this happens are you watching a TV App?

WOW! Thank you all for your inputs.

The HDMI cable from the Apple box to the TV is a HDMI 2.1 (Cratree HDMI, 8K/4K 48Gbps,HDCP 2.3 Dolby Atmos Vision eARC) that I got from Amazon and the HDMI from the TV to Arc is a the same as the Apple box to TV as the original Sonos cable was chewed by my dog (left the cable on the floor and my dog is a ninja, lol.) so thought a 3rd party cable would be fine.

The Sonos ARC is connected to the eARC port on my TV, The Sonos is always up to date as its set to auto update via the app, same with the Apple TV. I will reconnect the TV to the internet to check for software updates too.

I will be ordering an original HDMI cable to run from the TV to the ARC or should I look at getting the Sonos Optical Audio Adapter? As for the HDMI cable running from my Apple box to my TV, any suggestions? It does need to be 6 metres long due to the way the cable is routed to keep everything neatly.

I will look at all the settings on my Apple box, see what needs enabling/disabling to get the best audio. As for when this happens, its at random times, regardless of what’s been watched and on what app (YouTube/Netflix etc) so its hard to lockdown if any certain condition is common.

Again, thank you all for the support so far, it means a lot when this has been driving me nuts for ages. lol. 

That cable should be, I’d think, OK, assuming it does what it says. How long is it? There is a limit to how far a cable can carry an appropriate electrical signal without degradation. 6 meters is fine, but 25 meters can be dicey. Check the cable that connects the Apple TV to the TV, but I suspect it is fine. You want something similar to your other cable, but it doesn’t need to be the same. Essentially, don’t use a five year old cable. 

No, you don’t need or want the Sonos adapter. You shouldn’t need to purchase the Sonos cable, either (especially given the dog’s desires to eat it), I think your current cable should be fine. 

YouTube, unless you’re paying for it, tends to be stereo, not Dolby Digital, no matter what the video says. They compress uploaded videos to stereo for size, but people assume they’re not doing that, so uploaded videos often claim to be 5.1 (Dolby Digital or Atmos) when they aren’t. You can check what is being passed by the TV to the Sonos by looking in the controller’s settings, in ‘About my Sonos System’. I’d encourage you to use pretty much anything but YouTube for testing…

I suspect we’ll discover something in the Apple TV’s audio settings. They’re fairly deep, and can be complex and intimidating, but you shouldn’t forget the individual app’s setting either. My Hulu app also allows me to set the downloaded audio quality, before it gets passed to the Apple TV for ‘modifying’. The key is to allow software little to no modification of the audio stream, in my opinion. 

6 Meters is ~24 feet, which is on the edge for good HDMI transport over standard copper cables.  Look into an Active HDMI Optical cable.  They are copper connections on both ends and optical in the middle.  Optical has no real limit for transmission and are better for longer HDMI runs (not that 6 meters is long, but 30 feet/10 meters is about the limit for passive HDMI).  You can get a 9 meter Active Optical HDMI for about $30 on Amazon.