Sonos beam with tv without HDMI ARC or optical

  • 20 September 2018
  • 8 replies
  • 8803 views

Hi,

I am interested in making sure that I can use the Sonos beam with my hdtv. My tv does not have either a HDMI ARC or optical. However, I stream my content with an AppleTV. Can I use an HDMI ARC converter to use the Sonos beam on either my hdtv or AppleTV.

If it helps, my tv serial number is 37MF231D/37 Magnavox. Phillips-Magavox calls it a legacy tv.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

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8 replies

That TV has a coaxial digital output. You can get a coax to optical converter for less than $20 on Amazon.
jgattie - that solution worked! thank you. How can I flag your response as a solution?
I have kind of the same question. I have a Samsung UE40d5000 and a Apple TV. Can’t figure out if, and on what way I could connect the Beam. Would love to upgrade to the beam instead of upgrade to a new tv 😳.

Hope someone can tell me what my options are! Thanks!
Userlevel 7
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Hope someone can tell me what my options are! Thanks!
The info I can find on that model from retailers shows that it has an optical output that you could use with the adapter that comes with Beam. I also see that it has four HDMI ports, so I'd be surprised if one of them doesn't support HDMI-ARC, but it's entirely possible. Either way, you shouldn't have a problem connecting Beam to your TV using at least the optical connection.

Userlevel 2
Badge +2
Have you tried selecting the Beam as speaker on the Apple TV? I got this working on my One.
Thank you so much MikeV! So glad to hear.

@danjruchards: I haven’t bought it yet. At the moment I have a theatre set up with the playbar. But since I would really like to use AirPlay, and because I like the design of the beam much more, I think I’m gonna replace my playbar. The sitting room where I’ll use it is 4x3 meters. So the playbar has always been a bit of an overkill I guess. I’ve never hated turned the volume louder then let’s say 40%.
I have a Element eleft406 TV and it doesn't have arc or optical. Will I be able to hook up my beam to it?
Not likely, no. The Beam needs some sort of digital signal to read. Perhaps you could get an external HDMI switch that has an optical port?