Volume. I want it to work over HDMI without relying on anything IR-based so when I use my Apple TV remote or phone-based app or whatever to adjust volume - I don’t want to need IR blasters and such pointed at the Beam. It’s not a real problem - but CEC control over HDMI has been working well with cross-manufacturer devices for several years now - don’t like to go backwards just because the Sonos gear has this relatively obscure exclusive dependency on ARC.

I agree with others that it’s too bad that Sonos won’t just put a darn HDMI pass-thru solution on their offerings or at minimum accepted normal HDMI input audio (pretend to be a TV so that normal multi-output switches could send them the necessary signal).

Right, and even with my 2020 model TV, I’m not going to be using the built-in apps..  I have an Apple TV 4K for my streaming.  Would’ve been nice for Sonos to add at least one HDMI input to the Sonos Arc.

Am I going to be able to control the volume with my Apple TV remote still or will I need to get a Harmony remote to change the Sonos Arc’s volume?

I had to change to a harmony elite to control everything via a single remote and it works quite well. 

No LPCM support is incredibly strange. Especially when it has the bandwidth to support it via eARC and is royalty free and natively supported across all gaming consoles.

@Ryan S,  Simple question I haven’t seen asked or an answer provided anywhere.

What ceiling heights are the Arc tested and optimized to work with the up firing speakers/ Dolby Atmos? Was it work properly if the room it is in has vaulted ceilings?  Where is the limit?  10ft, 14ft? Etc. 

thanks. 

Great question. I’m very interested in this too. I know the recommendation with standard height flat ceilings is to place it below the TV (as discussed on this forum), but I’d need to place it above my tv. However, in my room ceiling is vaulted (tv is parallel with the slope) such that peaks at 14 feet high about 6 feet in front of TV. That’s not a standard room design, but all that space above the TV, along with whatever auto tuning the ARC does, makes me hope that it works well in that configuration. Probably will just need to try it and see. 

otherwise, I’m buying 4 Sonance/Sonos speakers for the ceiling (which would sound better but I’m not sure by how much).

I’ve got a query on whether I’ll be able to get Atmos on my tv; a 2016 Sony KD55XD9305BU. I’ve already got a playbase, a sub and 2 play 1s and this tv can pass on 5.1 dependent on source. The 3 sources are sky, Xbox one and ps4. The tv support says that it can output Dolby digital plus so am I right in thinking I’ll be able to get Atmos (albeit compressed) if I get the new Sonos arc and connect via the HDMI arc port?

You cannot be sure until the TV manufacturer confirms it.  It certainly has all the right specifications, but having the correct specs and actually doing it are two different things.  

I’m in a similar situation. I have a. I’d-49xe7073. The guide says that it supports Dolby Digital,Dolby Digital Plus,Dolby Pulse   So, it should support compressed Atmos.  Shame I use an Apple TV 

I do wonder if there is any value in petitioning Apple. I’ll wait to see how things go on my Arc through HDMI ARC on my Vizio.

SONOS ARE YOU LISTENING

LPCM support would be a good halfway house in order to support DTS, but simple CORE DTS would be a doddle to implement and satisfy a large proportion of owners and bring in NEW CUSTOMERS; whom cannot compromise on lack of DTS because 90% of Blu-ray Disc utilise this; as nice and simple as SONOS is, it should just work and decode the industry standards

PLEASE

@Ryan S this is another good example of why the Arc needs  LPCM support.

LPMC would be great. It your TV will need eARC to pass it. 

I was a sonos fanboy, but then we all know what happened.   I never wanted to buy another Sonos product again ($10k in obsoleted units here).  Yet here I am in with a remodel and in the market for a discrete 7.2.4 system with atmos support.  I was looking at a sonos-ready receiver that switches to sonos when the S1 app triggers the connected CONNECT.  However - despite the exceptional sound, that solution is quite expensive as a whole package with processors and in-wall speakers etc. 

The atmos-capable arc has me thinking about a SINGLE room on S2 for TV alone - it is just cheaper and simpler overall.  I will not need to use two sonos S1/S2 systems, because I don’t need to stream music from the tv location.  I probably wont need to access the S2 app very often.  Against my principles, just maybe I can tolerate one more sonos purchase.  

In the first gen surround setup using a connect:amp / playbar /sub I was able to set the connect:amp to drive in-ceiling speakers as surrounds (LS/RS) to create pseudo-5.1.  It was a sort of hidden setting in the connect:amp.  Anyone know if the second gen amps and ARC can do this?  What another amp driving left and right rear, in addition to the left and right surrounds?

The Amp can drive rear speakers if you use a Sonos soundbar. If used for surround the Amp loses the possibility to drive a third party subwoofer.

In your situation you would have the S1 app for your older speakers and the S2 app for the new set up. That should work since Sonos says it will be possible to use split set ups.

What about this product to fix eARC. A long thread so dont know if it as been said allrdy. 
https://www.amazon.com/product-reviews/B083QPCNQN/ref=psdc_3213035011_r0_B083QPCNQN?_encoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
 

Regards
Christian

That device appears to accept an eARC signal from the TV and pass it to other devices. But you still need the TV with eARC, as near as I can tell from reading the description. 

This as so many other adapters works the other way around, converting the eARC signal from the TV to a regular HDMI signal for older receivers.

It’s really starting to make me frustrated how many products does this but that there’s none at all doing the exact opposite! Or maybe we can count the ARC01 mentioned earlier in this thread as half a count. But seriously, such a product can’t be impossible to manufacture, hopefully someone will identify the need for this and present a good quality adapter for such setups. Wouldn’t mind at all if Sonos themselves were to develop such an adapter for the Arc.

@skraddah and @cue003, Trueplay for the Arc includes tuning for ceiling height, so even in not ideal setups, you should still get some great sound. As rooms get more any more complicated with skewed architecture it can be hard to say how it’ll sound for the vertical channels. I know some testers with vaulted ceilings have been using their speakers without issue and say it sounds great, but this may be one of those things you just have to try out at home as every space is different.

I’ll add your support to the LPCM request. I don’t have any details or feedback on if it’ll happen, but I’ll make sure the team knows you’re interested.

If the beam and ARC both have the same drivers and what makes ARC sound better or bigger as they are saying?

More speakers and drivers, better stereo separation, different codecs supportted, etc.

By ‘same drivers’  do you mean the class D amplifers?

By same drivers I mean same sized speakers same class d amps… beam has 4 drivers that cover front LR and center, ARC has 4 drivers from front LR and center with additional side and upfiring drivers that will only make a difference when atmos is working? My question is how would it sound better or bigger when playing 5.1 content and using a sub and rear speakers with both the systems?

For one, the Arc is almost twice as wide as the Beam, giving a wider soundstage. 

You’ll get part of your answer by googling the exploded views of the Beam and Arc.   You can see that the layout is different, 2 of the driver’s you’re counting are actually side firing on the Beam.  There is also only 1 tweeter in the Beam, compared to the 3 in the Arc.  As well, it’s my understanding that the up firing speakers and side speakers aren’t dormant during non-Atmos playback.  What that means exactly, couldn’t say.  And of course, there’s more stereo separation.

If you look at how far apart the left and right speakers are on both you’ll see there isnt much difference. I think the only way you’ll notice a difference is when you play atmos content and thats it. Those side firing speakers dont work when you have rear speakers attached.