HDMI Mixer (swm16-max) + Sonos Amp + Apple TV for Karaoke?

  • 31 August 2022
  • 7 replies
  • 1448 views

Has anyone used something like this successfully to reduce audio delay? Right now I have a traditional mixer board and have tried several solutions but the RCA input delay/lag is quite annoying!

 

Here is the HDMI mixer I found…

https://www.soundtown.com/collections/microphone_systems/products/swm16-max

 

I was thinking one of these setups below might work to reduce audio delay?

 

Option 1

Apple TV => Mixer => HDMI1 on TV

Then use HDMI ARC output on TV => Sonos Amp

 

Option 2

Apple TV => HDMI1 on TV => Mixer via HDMI ARC 

Then Mixer => Sonos AMP via Optical&HDMI adapter

 

For reference I currently have a Samsung Frame TV (if it matters)… What I don’t know is if option 1 will work since I'm not sure if the mixer is capable of arc passthrough? and then for option 2 I wasn’t sure if this would solve any of the delay issues I have or would it be the same problem with audio delays? I’ve done a bunch of searching on forums + reddit/etc but haven’t seen much new stuff on this topic… Thanks!


7 replies

#1 is your best approach, but any way you slice it, there will be at least a 30ms latency with AMP.

I agree that option 1 is the way to go, but both should work. I have one of these soundtown karaoke devices and it worked ok with a TV and playbar setup, but have not used it in years. I found that I preferred to just connect the mixer to a non-Sonos powered speaker with aux input and use it as a PA system, without worrying about connecting the mixer to an audio source (Apple TV).  You really don’t need to mix the music  and your voice in the mixer unless you’re going to record it or something, it’s fine for just playing around.

Part of the reason why I didn’t want to have this connect with my TV setup as I don’t think this device would properly pass through or process the higher end audio and video that I wanted on the TV and Sonos speakers when not using karaoke.

I agree that option 1 is the way to go, but both should work. I have one of these soundtown karaoke devices and it worked ok with a TV and playbar setup, but have not used it in years. I found that I preferred to just connect the mixer to a non-Sonos powered speaker with aux input and use it as a PA system, without worrying about connecting the mixer to an audio source (Apple TV).  You really don’t need to mix the music  and your voice in the mixer unless you’re going to record it or something, it’s fine for just playing around.

Part of the reason why I didn’t want to have this connect with my TV setup as I don’t think this device would properly pass through or process the higher end audio and video that I wanted on the TV and Sonos speakers when not using karaoke.

 

How does it end up sounding when you use a separate PA system for microphone? I will have in ceiling speakers for the sonos amp and wonder how it would all sound together if I had a separate PA system just for the microphones… 

Overall, SONOS is not a great choice for Karaoke or DJ work because of the latency. DJ’s who work in large rooms learn to deal with latency because large rooms also incur latency. Sound travels approximately one foot per millisecond. A reflection from a wall that’s 30 feet from a speaker will have an echo at 60ms. Of course there are multiple walls and echoes. Amateur home DJ’s, singers, and the audience have a difficult time dealing with the latencies.

I agree that option 1 is the way to go, but both should work. I have one of these soundtown karaoke devices and it worked ok with a TV and playbar setup, but have not used it in years. I found that I preferred to just connect the mixer to a non-Sonos powered speaker with aux input and use it as a PA system, without worrying about connecting the mixer to an audio source (Apple TV).  You really don’t need to mix the music  and your voice in the mixer unless you’re going to record it or something, it’s fine for just playing around.

Part of the reason why I didn’t want to have this connect with my TV setup as I don’t think this device would properly pass through or process the higher end audio and video that I wanted on the TV and Sonos speakers when not using karaoke.

 

How does it end up sounding when you use a separate PA system for microphone? I will have in ceiling speakers for the sonos amp and wonder how it would all sound together if I had a separate PA system just for the microphones… 

 

It was fine for my needs.  Could you tell audio was coming from different places?  Sure.  But it’s just for messing around.  I wouldn’t go this route for a banquet hall or something, but home use is fine.  I wouldn’t use Sonos for a banquet hall anyway.

Has anyone used something like this successfully to reduce audio delay? Right now I have a traditional mixer board and have tried several solutions but the RCA input delay/lag is quite annoying!

 

Here is the HDMI mixer I found…

 

 

I was thinking one of these setups below might work to reduce audio delay?

 

Option 1

Apple TV => Mixer => HDMI1 on TV

Then use HDMI ARC output on TV => Sonos Amp

 

Option 2

Apple TV => HDMI1 on TV => Mixer via HDMI ARC 

Then Mixer => Sonos AMP via Optical&HDMI adapter

 

For reference I currently have a Samsung Frame TV (if it matters)… What I don’t know is if option 1 will work since I'm not sure if the mixer is capable of arc passthrough karaoke mixer with hdmi? and then for option 2 I wasn’t sure if this would solve any of the delay issues I have or would it be the same problem with audio delays? I’ve done a bunch of searching on forums + reddit/etc but haven’t seen much new stuff on this topic… Thanks!

I tried a couple of mixers from sound town and pyle that had HDMI in/out ARC ports as well as wireless microphones. Both systems did not function as advertised nor would they work in a passthrough mode if wanting to just watch TV. Can someone guide me to the equipment I should purchase if wanting to play YouTube videos as the karaoke source but use my existing system with wireless mics? I heard the Xbox has a karaoke game that you can attach a microphone to but it sucks

Has anyone used something like this successfully to reduce audio delay? Right now I have a traditional mixer board and have tried several solutions but the RCA input delay/lag is quite annoying!

 

Here is the HDMI mixer I found…

 

 

I was thinking one of these setups below might work to reduce audio delay?

 

Option 1

Apple TV => Mixer => HDMI1 on TV

Then use HDMI ARC output on TV => Sonos Amp

 

Option 2

Apple TV => HDMI1 on TV => Mixer via HDMI ARC 

Then Mixer => Sonos AMP via Optical&HDMI adapter

 

For reference I currently have a Samsung Frame TV (if it matters)… What I don’t know is if option 1 will work since I'm not sure if the mixer is capable of arc passthrough karaoke mixer with hdmi? and then for option 2 I wasn’t sure if this would solve any of the delay issues I have or would it be the same problem with audio delays? I’ve done a bunch of searching on forums + reddit/etc but haven’t seen much new stuff on this topic… Thanks!

I tried a couple of mixers from sound town and pyle that had HDMI in/out ARC ports as well as wireless microphones. Both systems did not function as advertised nor would they work in a passthrough mode if wanting to just watch TV. Can someone guide me to the equipment I should purchase if wanting to play YouTube videos as the karaoke source but use my existing system with wireless mics? I heard the Xbox has a karaoke game that you can attach a microphone to but it sucks

I’ve also tried a bunch of different HDMI mixers with my Apple TV and they all have pretty bad audio lag… Eventually I just decided to get a separate JBL Party Box (I got this one https://a.co/d/1KG23yo) and got some cheap wireless mics from Amazon to go with it. I play my music via YouTube or Apple Music and just use the JBL Party Box with mics separately or you can optionally connect the party box to the Apple TV as a bluetooth speaker and re-route all audio to it where it mixes in with the mics with no lag… it may not be the most elegant solution but it works! 

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