You’d need a converter of multiple types. The 3.5mm audio jack is an analog signal, so you’d need a device that takes the analog and changes it to digital, exporting via an optical cable, which would feed the adapter that comes with the Beam and send the signal to the HDMI ARC that the Beam needs. 

Read that as “it’s not easy, but it can be done”. 

I purchased an audio extender but I can’t seem to make the sound from the projector play on the beam. I may just be hooking it up incorrectly...?

Picture #2

That’s a completely different device than what You were asking about, it doesn’t change a 3.5mm output to anything. What I think that device does is pull the audio off of an HDMI input and send the video to your video device, and the audio out via optical, or the stereo RCA jacks. 

I think what up you want to do is connect your source (cable box, DVD player, what have you) to the HDMI in port. Then another HDMI cable from the HDMI out to your TV/projector/monitor device, and an optical cable from the SPDIF port to the adapter that came with the Beam, and connect that to the Beam.

You'd need to make sure your source device is sending only a Dolby Digital signal via the audio settings for your device, so the Beam would be getting the correct type of signal it can process.

Hello, I’ve got an older Samsung TV (UN55C6300) and it does not have an ARC HDMI port.   My optical port appears to be bad as I can’t use the adapter that came with the Beam.   

Is there another way to connect using the Audio jacks available on the TV?    

Please help!  

Thank you,

Mark

Have you tried connecting an optical cable to your TV and if this works using a coupler (like this https://www.ebay.nl/itm/3620384278400 for the adapter?

I’m still confused on what the adapter will do?  If my Optical Port is bad on the TV, what does using a coupler do?    I would still need to plug something into a bad port.   

I’d try pulling the audio off the HDMI before it goes in to this ‘broken’ TV, using an HDMI switch that has an optical output. There are many threads in the home theater area from folks who have used such a solution.

Similar to what the pictures are above in this thread, although that has a single HDMI input. A switch would have multiple HDMI inputs, so you could have more than one device connected to your TV through it, and get sound from all of them.

My thought was the adapter has a certain form that did not fit your TV. A coupler would make it possible to use a normal optical cable. If the optical port really is broken this wopuld of course not work…...

It does depend on what the definition of ‘broken’ is, certainly. And as I recall, there are some older TVs that have an non-standard size optical port...I think it may have been Panasonic’s, but the TV came with an adapter that you could use to change from the Panasonic’s smaller size to the more common size. Most folks, of course, didn’t store that adapter until they needed it. 

Ah, a quick Google search came up with this. But I didn’t perceive the use of ‘broken’ in the OP’s post to fit that sort of thing. Could be wrong, though, it’s happened before ;)