AMP will NOT remain on Line In

I am quite angry about this issue and it’s been discussed at length in this topic, where I was provided with instructions on how to deal with this issue. I’ve done that. Done it many times. IT DOESN’T WORK!

I have two entertainment systems, a nice 5.1 and 134” screen in the barn, where we have a lot of room, and a smaller one in the house. They’re both projection TV systems, which makes ARC almost impossible to use with them. I have to keep the one in the house on Line In to hear music from the TV.

My main issue is that I have to keep this AMP on Line In. (And I loathe that Sonos will ONLY work with ARC and not just an HDMI signal - that would solve m problems, but it’s more important Sonos do things their way than allow a few options to make their expensive hardware work with different setups.) Often the AMP resets to HDMI.

I’ve gone through settings and turned on Autoplay for Line-In. I’ve done it about a dozen times a this point. IT DOES NOT WORK. I said, in the other thread, it wasn’t working, but there seems to be no solution.

At first I thought the issue was that the AMP reset whenever we had a power flicker. The entire entertainment center is on a UPS and everything else has always been okay, but the AMP would go back to HDMI. However, after watching it for weeks, and having to redo it over and over, I’m now sure the problem is NOT power flickers. First, the AMP is on the UPS, as I mentioned. Second, if it’s power flickers causing this, they are so brief that NOTHING in the house or barn is impacted by them. I mean NOTHING. No flickering lights, nothing going off. NOTHING. So it’s not a power flicker issue.

We only use this AMP for watching TV. The only time my wife uses the Sonos app is to set the AMP back to Line In. (And she’s not a fan of intrusive technology - I hear about it whenever she has to fix this!) It’s so frustrating, I find it’s gotten to the point where I avoid Sonos more and more and just listen to music on my phone.

Sometimes we’re lucky and turn on the entertainment center and the AMP is on Line-In, but most of the time we turn the system on and start it, we get no sound and the AMP is on HDMI. I have no idea how it’s switching to that setting.

I’m not just frustrated, but angry about this issue - angry enough it’s got me rethinking my home audio, since the AMP is not a low cost price of equipment! For what I paid for it, I feel I have a right to expect it to just work when I turn it on and for it to be in the same state when I turn it on that it was in when I turned it off. I can think of two ways this could be solved:

1. Make sure the AMP STAYS on Line-In when it’s been set to that. AutoPlay either doesn’t work or doesn’t do it on this unit.
2. Add in a setting or option so it’s possible to use “normal” HDMI with this unit. Hell, bury it somewhere if you’re worried about sync issues - stick it way down in the settings and add  warning when someone turns it on. Even without my issue, this is really something Sonos should do anyway, in considering of and knowing that they can’t foresee every system setting out there. For many of us, ARC is not available on projection systems unless we’re going to do significant rewiring of our house.

It boggles the mind that such a simple issue as an expensive device maintaining a particular state between uses is simply not possible.