I’m not following how this would work to get audio to the Beam through an ARC channel.  If for example, you had the switch set to Apple TV, then video from the ATV goes to the ARC01 through HDMI, and audio goes to the ARC01 via optical.  The ARC01 passes the video onto the projector, no problem there.  If the ARC01 injects ARC audio into the HDMI input, how does that get to the Beam?  The  switch is pointed to the ATV as input, not the Beam.

I’m betting that your actual setup is slightly different.

• AppleTV + Blu-Ray player  → HDMI 4x1 switch inputs 
• HDMI switch output → Projector HDMI input
• HDMI switch optical extract (output) → ARC01 optical input
• ARC01 HDMI input  (ARC) → Beam HDMI-ARC

That seems like it would work to get an ARC signal, but I don’t see how that would get CEC controls in play, and as pointed out, it would not get you better than optical quality audio.  I’m confused to as the images of the ARC01 don’t show all the ports?

Thank you very much!

same here, i thought this was it… @JeffDs - if i could trouble u, if u have the chance, would the ARC01 work in this layout:

PC HDMI Out -→ HDMI Switch/splitter (1x2) → ARC01 Converter → Beam 

Just exploring whether its possible to pass through PC audio that way. 

Honestly after reading the forums the past few days, i’m likely to give up and just live with optical / DD5.1 instead. probably won’t have a perceiveable difference vs using HDMI. 

Come on sonos, take my money, make the damn device...

MY TV is a 2016 Samsung (UE55KS7000 or UN55KS8000 in the US). The HDMI audio format is currently set to Dolby Digital and is working fine with my BEAM connected via ARC. The only other options I see in the TV settings  are PCM and DTS Neo 2:5. 
 

I guess this means that this TV does not support Dolby Digital Plus via ARC? Is that correct?

Like a lot of us I’ve been searching high and low for a magic box that will allow me to listen to Atmos from my ATV via my TVs ARC. (My TV is a Sony Af8). Anyway on another forum someone mentioned the thenaudio SHARC EARC audio converter. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B083QPCNQN#Ask

I don’t know if it’s what’s required but from my limited understanding it might work? Could someone with more technical knowledge than me could look into it?

This definitely does look interesting. It looks like could sit between a uhd player and the arc to feed audio into the bar via the players audio out hdmi. 

Well I am no expert on this stuff, so i definitely would not treat what I say here as reliable! But, the strapline for this device is:

“Converts TV EARC audio to a suitable format for your current sound system”.

So it seems to be designed for TVs with eARC working with sound systems that don’t support eARC.  Whereas anyone buying the Sonos Arc is likely to be in the opposite position.  Unless they have a very recent TV with eARC, in which case they are sorted anyway. No?

Reading pages and pages of questions, whether TV’s work with the Arc, or not.

I think, making some kind compatibility chart would a be a wise thing to do for Sonos (if this is, by all means possible).

I am afraid a lot of people will be disappointed, possibly not getting what they expected to get.

I think you might be right. That was me too keen and not reading it properly. 
Oh well back to searching...

While there’s no doubt that such a chart would be useful , I’m not sure Sonos can really do this.  Sonos is following the industry standards and guidelines for ARC/eARC and all the various audio codecs and formats involved.  They don’t own these standards and guidelines, and really don’t have the authority to certify that a specific product is meeting a standard properly.  For the standards they do own, such as the interface music streaming apps, they absolutely can and do certify what works.

That’s not even considering the volume of various content sources, services and TVs out there that would need to be tested, and the possibility that anything can change at any time through firmware upgrade and/or service policy changes.

In the past such data has been collected and organized, in a way, by users in this forum and elsewhere.  Something that would need to happen again. It would never cover all possibilities and combinations, but could be rather useful for the most common situations.

I doubled checked the web page of the Sonos Arc mount, and this is what it states:

“For the best sound, mount Arc four inches from the bottom of your TV"

Sure sounds like 4 inch (10cm) is the optimal distance between Arc and bottom of the TV.

Anyway, I'll wait for your answer to be sure. 

I’ve heard back from the team on this one. Short answer is that they’re both correct. If you have the mount 4 inches below the TV, the Arc’s speakers should be hanging about 5.5 inches away. There’s a bit of open space created when on the mount. Along with the wall mount is a template you can use to ensure the best distance and easiest install.

That sounds good! thanks a lot Ryan, appreciated!

I guess the space underneath does not matter as much as long as there is no surface directly under, that possibly causes reflections?

Definitely going to wall mount then, 10cm under TV and about 7-8cm above cabinet. Clean install, no cables in sight.

can I unplug my sub and move it somewhere else and plug it back in and it will still work without having to re pair or re set up?

Yes.  But it will still be bonded to the room you took it from.

Does the Arc support playing SACDs via a DVD player connected directly to Arc by optical to HDMI Converter?  If so, would out play them in surround?

 Thanks!

Assuming the signal was in a format that the Sonos could read, any Sonos sound bar could. Right now, that’s Dolby Digital. However, since the optical bandwidth is restricted, it would still be Dolby Digital, even when feeding the optical to an adapter and then to the Arc. 

This thread gives useful info regarding the current position.  I’d be very surprised if this changed under S2. Sonos is surely looking to the future with the Arc, and SACDs are something of a failed past.

https://en.community.sonos.com/setting-up-sonos-228990/surround-from-sacd-dvd-audio-6821863

No; as you noted - this wouldn’t accomplish anything (the ARC01 would basically be doing exactly what the Sonos optical adapter does).

I specifically have this switch: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07XKBR79W/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza

In general consider what ARC does on a TV … it takes audio either received as normal audio on the active HDMI input to the TV or audio generated in the TV itself (e.g. smart TV apps, etc) and sends it backward on the ARC (return) pins of some *other* input. The whole point is to send the audio to an input that isn’t active (the device feeding the active input would also be sending the normal HDMI audio and wouldn’t need the audio to return from the TV).

The switch works essentially the same except rather than generating an ARC signal from an input it takes it from the real TV upstream (which is connected to the output of the switch so the TV receives the video and audio from whichever input is active). It then takes that ARC signal and sends it back to a particular input (I think input 4) just like a TV has a specific HDMI port that supports ARC. That way input 4 will always get the returned audio which is useful when the audio is coming from anywhere except port 4. Either generated in the TV itself (e.g. smart apps); or from one of the other HDMI inputs send to the TV as normal HDMI audio; then returned to the switch via ARC which is passed on by the switch to a beam/receiver/whatever on input 4.

In my case; the ARC01 is doing what the TV would normally do by taking the audio from the switch (extracted as optical - since the ARC01 won’t do HDMI-audio → ARC-audio directly) and return it to the switch HDMI out port. All so I can try and take CEC work. But it shows that a device like we’d all like is very viable at a reasonable cost if an HDMI accessory manufacturer would put the pieces together (since the HDMI switch + ARC01 together are doing the needed conversion - just not eARC compatible and and using optical to bridge the two devices).

As others correctly noted; because the ARC01 has to use optical input - it’s only advantage over Sonos’s optical adapter is potentially getting CEC to work - it can’t do the audio any better.

Does the Arc have any kind of on-screen OSD?

It will likely have a screensaver image, same as the Beam.  I haven’t heard an official word from Sonos on this.  If if it provided something more than a screensaver, Sonos surely would have advertised it as a feature.

Can you verify what you’ve stated in the last paragraph?  Specifically that your switch can take the audio coming through one of the HDMI inputs (1,2, or 3), convert it to an ARC signal and send it back along HDMI input 4?  If that were the case, this would be rather useful for TVs that are not ARC capable.  My understanding was that switches like this would primarily take the audio from inputs 1-4  and send it to the audio output (analog or optical).  The ARC feature would, as you stated, take the audio from the HDMI output along the ARC channel and send that to the audio output.  I’ve not seen  one that can send an ARC signal back along an HDMI input, except perhaps where it’s passed through from the HDMI input.  I’ve not seen a device that can generate an ARC signal from an HDMI input.

I did try and research this a bit, looking at the amazon page and the OREI’s product page (looks like they’ve updated the product), but it does not say you can send audio via ARC channels back to an input.

I’m still not sure why we need an ARC signal. The optical to hdmi Converter currently sold with the beam gets audio into the beam without generating an ARC signal. It merely transfers the audio data to the ARC audio input pins of the beam. 
 

Surely all we need is a hdmi lead that transposes the the audio data from the standard hdmi pins across to the pins reserved for the ARC Audio on the end that fits into the arc hdmi port ?

To me,’generating an ARC signal’ and ‘transfer the audio data to ARC audio input pins’ are pretty much the same thing.

Essentialy yes.  Maybe more complex than that, I don’t know.  Problem is we don’t see a device that can do this...other than an actual TV.