I am contemplating upgrading my Beam to Arc for the main TV and redeploying the Beam to the smaller TV. I have my Beam mounted to the TV’s wall bracket using the Sonos Beam mount. Whilst I see it is desirable to keep some distance between the Arc and TV but this is not possible in my case as it hangs over a fireplace recess. How much would I be compromising the sound by mounting the Arc immediately under my TV and can the Arc mount be connected to my TV bracket to achieve this as per my Beam setup?
I got a LG Oled C7 with ARC but no eARC. I stream all my media off an Apple TV 4K. Will I be able to get Dolby Atmos?
From the asterisk section of Apple’s Dolby Atmos support page
“Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”
If this had DTS support, I’d buy one today.
Ryan S. - Any issues with pairing the Sub gen 2 to the Arc? Any decreased functionality now? Just ordered 2 Arcs and want to make sure I don’t need to upgrade my subs yet.
Hope you love them! No issues to worry about at all. Arc will need products to be running Sonos S2, which the Sub gen2 is fully compatible with.
Hi Ryan, interested in upgrading to Arc, I have a sub but no idea if it’s a gen1 or gen2 how can I tell?
You can check it when you login into the Sonos website.
Hey there,
@Ryan S
youmentioned earlier that there needs to be some space between the Arc and ceiling for the arc to reach the listener. My Playbar is currently mounted ca. 3ft 7in (110cm) under my ceiling because placing it under my tv on the board would block part of the TV screen. Using the same mount, would this be enough space or should I start looking for a higher stand for my TV?
Also, I am inclined to test it first before. During trueplay setup, will it indicate that the Arc needs to be placed lower in the room?
Thank you!
Hey there, I am an owner of numerous Sonos products plus a Sonos bridge but It been deactivated the last years , am I entitle for the trade in program and the 30% discount? I’m keen to purchase the arc, do you have any idea?
Ryan S. - Any issues with pairing the Sub gen 2 to the Arc? Any decreased functionality now? Just ordered 2 Arcs and want to make sure I don’t need to upgrade my subs yet.
Hope you love them! No issues to worry about at all. Arc will need products to be running Sonos S2, which the Sub gen2 is fully compatible with.
Hi Ryan, interested in upgrading to Arc, I have a sub but no idea if it’s a gen1 or gen2 how can I tell?
You can check it when you login into the Sonos website.
Thanks for this, checked and confirmed it’s a gen2 so all good thanks again for you help
Given that the speakers in the Arc adapt according to what is being played (Atmos/No Atmos) and whether 1's are already used as surrounds, is there a chance that the Arc might play nice in a system that already has fronts (L & R)? Can those redundant front drivers maybe be used for Atmos signals? Just a thought.
I wish theyhad a speaker with a similar form factor, but more up-firing speakers. I already have a Sonos Amp powering some floor-standing front speakers.
Is a separate wall mounting bracket required for wall mounting?
Yes, there is a separate wall mount bracket, or you can use the Playbar wall mount if you have one.
Wow, so I can just swap out my PlayBar?
I got a LG Oled C7 with ARC but no eARC. I stream all my media off an Apple TV 4K. Will I be able to get Dolby Atmos?
From the asterisk section of Apple’s Dolby Atmos support page
“Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”
No, unfortunately you will not. I’m in the same boat with a Samsung QLED from 2018 (the 2019+ versions are eARC capable). With Apple TV you need to plug directly into the sound bar and use the bar as an HDMI switch (which the Arc is not capable of), or have eARC on your TV. From what I can tell, there are no other options, unless there is some type of external HDMI switch that could work.
I got a LG Oled C7 with ARC but no eARC. I stream all my media off an Apple TV 4K. Will I be able to get Dolby Atmos?
From the asterisk section of Apple’s Dolby Atmos support page
“Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”
No, unfortunately you will not. I’m in the same boat with a Samsung QLED from 2018 (the 2019+ versions are eARC capable). With Apple TV you need to plug directly into the sound bar and use the bar as an HDMI switch (which the Arc is not capable of), or have eARC on your TV. From what I can tell, there are no other options, unless there is some type of external HDMI switch that could work.
Thats actually really bad! Then its a no for me.
I’ve heard both. I don't want to knock Sonos, but I think if you really cared about listening to TrueHD lossless audio, you’d be looking at a far more expensive Atmos plan that involved separately placed very expensive wired speakers in your ceiling.
From what I’ve read, the choice of in-ceiling speakers vs up-firing speakers for what works best is also dependent on the rooms architecture. If the sound won’t bounce well off the ceiling, than it’s not good for up-firing speakers. If you have a low ceiling, then ceiling speakers wouldn’t be as good up-firing speakers...the listener will be able to tell audio is coming from the distinct speaker rather than the general location.
For instance, I heard the comparison on a system where each speaker cost more than this entire soundbar and I could barely, if at all, tell the difference. I just don’t see how a soundbar reflecting audio off your ceiling is going to really benefit from TrueHD vs. DD+. It’s an incremental benefit even with a very expensive system (think about lossless audio vs. audio with high bit rates -- it’s very hard to hear the difference unless you are a true audiophile and have the right equipment).
That makes sense...
And sure the streaming services may offer it someday, but it massively expands the size of a movie file. Everyone is going to need 2 gig internet before we are going to be seeing 66-100 gig movies streaming over the internet. Right now a Netflix 4K movie is 7GB per hour (or 14-21 GB for a 2-3 hour movie) max.
True, streaming TrueHD is probably much farther off than I was thinking/implying earlier.
Here’s an explanation:
“Dolby offers two different 7.1 surround versions. Dolby Digital Plus is the “lossy” version. Instead of using matrixing, it applies lossy compression to all of the discrete audio channels, which helps to take up less space on a Blu-ray disc. Dolby TrueHD, on the other hand, is lossless. Since no compression is involved, Dolby TrueHD is intended to be identical to the studio master.”
Anyway this is a long way of saying, I think you will really enjoy this soundbar and get 99% of its benefit from DD+/HDMI Arc, even if you don’t have eARC. I don’t think we need to be sweating that issue too much.
I was about to pre order one until I saw it won't work with the play:1s I'm currently using as rears with my beam. Quite disappointed since I only brought it as set around 9 months ago.
its very unclear whether or not it will work with Play 1’s as Play 1’s are deemed as S2 compatible - would be good of Sonos to definitively say for those of us who have the Play 1’s as rears
This link suggests they might work and sonos “confirming” that an S2 speaker will work:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/getqov/play_1_as_surrounds_with_arc/
Hi
will the arc be included in your trade up programme if you already own the playbar?
The arc is included in the trade up program if you have qualifying S1 products - however the playbar is S2 compatible and therefore not eligible to trade up
I was about to pre order one until I saw it won't work with the play:1s I'm currently using as rears with my beam. Quite disappointed since I only brought it as set around 9 months ago.
its very unclear whether or not it will work with Play 1’s as Play 1’s are deemed as S2 compatible - would be good of Sonos to definitively say for those of us who have the Play 1’s as rears
This link suggests they might work and sonos “confirming” that an S2 speaker will work:
https://www.reddit.com/r/sonos/comments/getqov/play_1_as_surrounds_with_arc/
Sonos confirmed this back on page 1.
https://en.community.sonos.com/announcements-228985/meet-arc-brilliant-sound-for-your-tv-6839863?postid=16425262#post16425262
The FAQ only included products that were currently on sale. Not sure if that’s going to be updated to include all products that work as surrounds, whether currently selling or not.
I have a Playbar mounted on my wall and now interested in the Arc. Any insight if I unmount the Playbar will there be holes visible that the Arc won’t hide?
I have a Playbar mounted on my wall and now interested in the Arc. Any insight if I unmount the Playbar will there be holes visible that the Arc won’t hide?
It was mentioned back a few pages that the Playbar all mount should work with Arc
Is a separate wall mounting bracket required for wall mounting?
Yes, there is a separate wall mount bracket, or you can use the Playbar wall mount if you have one.
I have a Playbar mounted on my wall and now interested in the Arc. Any insight if I unmount the Playbar will there be holes visible that the Arc won’t hide?
It was mentioned back a few pages that the Playbar all mount should work with Arc
Yes, but “should” and “will” are key distinctions when dealing with precise measurements/mounts, etc… It would be helpful if Sonos could provide clarity around the interoperability of the two mounts.
One thing I am interested in, having just ordered an Arc….
Is the move to S2 a one way move, or can the device be added back to an S1 system at a later date by downgrading to S1?
Wondering if I upgrade my whole system to S2, then sell the Playbar once the Arc is set up and working…. would the buyer have a choice of using the Playbar on S1 or S2 or is the playbar now S2 only with no option to downgrade?
I have a Playbar mounted on my wall and now interested in the Arc. Any insight if I unmount the Playbar will there be holes visible that the Arc won’t hide?
It was mentioned back a few pages that the Playbar all mount should work with Arc
Yes, but “should” and “will” are key distinctions when dealing with precise measurements/mounts, etc… It would be helpful if Sonos could provide clarity around the interoperability of the two mounts.
I seriously doubt Sonos would say you can use it if doing so looked poorly on your wall, particularly if that means they lose out on the sale of another wall mount.
Need some advice - really want to order the new Arc but want to see if there is any way to get it to work with my older Pioneer plasma Kuro (still love me some Kuro so I’m not giving it up). Obviously the Kuro has no ARC channel to use. Is there any setup where I obtain the full Atmos audio on the Arc from my devices (cable box, AppleTV, Blue-ray)? I know I can use an digital audio extractor and input into the Arc via the optical adapter but the optical wire has its limitations and won’t transmit an Atmos signal - maybe just a Dolby 5.1 at most. That seems like it may be really limiting the capability of the Arc?
Can I use an HDMI splitter that goes 1 signal into 2 simultaneous outputs (1 to the TV for video and the other directly into the Arc for the audio signal)? Or some other type of audio extractor that utilizes HDMI?
Thanks for thoughts and advice.
I got a LG Oled C7 with ARC but no eARC. I stream all my media off an Apple TV 4K. Will I be able to get Dolby Atmos?
From the asterisk section of Apple’s Dolby Atmos support page
“Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”
No, unfortunately you will not. I’m in the same boat with a Samsung QLED from 2018 (the 2019+ versions are eARC capable). With Apple TV you need to plug directly into the sound bar and use the bar as an HDMI switch (which the Arc is not capable of), or have eARC on your TV. From what I can tell, there are no other options, unless there is some type of external HDMI switch that could work.
Another option is to get a Roku. No Atmos from Netflix, but it will play from Amazon Prime and Vudu. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a problem with the Apple TV. You may also be able to use your TV apps to get Atmos.
Can I use an HDMI splitter that goes 1 signal into 2 simultaneous outputs (1 to the TV for video and the other directly into the Arc for the audio signal)? Or some other type of audio extractor that utilizes HDMI?
Thanks for thoughts and advice.
No, you can't, as discussed on some of the previous pages of this thread.
Sonos Arc needs an ARC or eARC connection to receive audio.
Audio over ARC and the "regular" audio stream of HDMI are two different things. You need a device that can negotiate a handshake with the Arc for the correct signal, not something that simply spits out the entire HDMI signal.
While it sounds counterintuitive, the HDMI port on the Arc is technically actually an HDMI output, that can accept an (e)ARC from the TV - the "R" in (e)ARC stands for "return" So simply splitting a HDMI signal and plugging it into the Sonos' "output" will not work.
You would need a device that can extract audio from a normal HDMI and then re-embed it into an Audio Return Channel. Someone actually found a device that does this, but it is not easy to come by and as of yet not available for eARC.
I got a LG Oled C7 with ARC but no eARC. I stream all my media off an Apple TV 4K. Will I be able to get Dolby Atmos?
From the asterisk section of Apple’s Dolby Atmos support page
“Apple TV 4K uses a high bandwidth form of Dolby Atmos that doesn’t work over ARC connections.”
No, unfortunately you will not. I’m in the same boat with a Samsung QLED from 2018 (the 2019+ versions are eARC capable). With Apple TV you need to plug directly into the sound bar and use the bar as an HDMI switch (which the Arc is not capable of), or have eARC on your TV. From what I can tell, there are no other options, unless there is some type of external HDMI switch that could work.
Trying to think about this more with an AppleTV. Would the following possibly work:
- Apple TV HDMI out to this device: https://www.hdfury.com/product/avr-key/
- Then a HDMI from the AVR Key audio port to the Sonos Arc. And another HDMI out from the AVR Key video port (UHD/HDR) to the TV.
Hoping that achieves both Dolby Vision and full Atmos? According to the AVR Key’s device specs it outputs both.
