I’ve got a question regarding the new eARC feature on the Sonos Arc & a new eARC compatible TV. With these two components it is my understanding that I should be able to achieve Dolby Atmos playback. My main question involves my set up. I’m building a new house now and am in the planning stages of my AV set-up. Can someone please confirm or correct my thoughts here. I’m going to have a eARC compatible TV in my living room with a Sonos Arc connected to it below. I will connect the Sonos ARC to the TV via a eARC compatible HDMI 2.1 cable for my audio. The TV will then be connected to a HDMI splitter in another room; the splitter will be connected to the cable box. The splitter is so I can get the same picture on multiple TV’s in different rooms that I’m not going to be trying to utilize eARC or Dolby Atmos. All other HDMI connections will all be standard ARC compatible 2.0 HDMI’s other than the HDMI 2.1 from the Sonos Arc to the Living room TV. I will also have two Sonos In-Ceiling speakers in the rear connected to a Sonos AMP for the rear surrounds. With this set up am I 100% taking advantage of the new Dolby Atmos playback for the Sonos Arc or are all of these other connections/components going to effect it? My understanding is simply having the eARC compatible HDMI 2.1 from the eARc to to the Sonos Arc is all I need, but wasn’t sure. Thanks in advance!
Hi @sn9086.
Thanks for reaching out and welcome to the community!
I appreciate your detailed post here outlining your concern, let me help and try to figure this out.
Arc supports HDMI ARC and eARC connections. ARC and eARC are protocols responsible for sending audio over an HDMI cable to home theater sound systems like Sonos Arc. Sonos Arc must be connected to HDMI ARC or HDMI eARC to play any Dolby Atmos content. You may check this support article that outlines the main factors that determine if your Sonos Arc can play Dolby Atmos audio: Listen to Dolby Atmos on Sonos Arc.
To sum it up, every ingredient in your home theater setup has to support Dolby Atmos, to get Dolby Atmos on Sonos Arc.
Yes, you can add Sonance in-ceiling speakers that are connected to a Sonos Amp as rear surround, it can be bonded with Arc to create an immersive, surround-sound experience. For more information on using your Amp in a surround setup, see our article on adding surround speakers.
The only supported configuration for a Sonos Arc when using an HDMI connection to output sound is to connect directly to the TV's eARC/ARC port, and using a splitter is unsupported and not recommended, for it may, or may not work on your set up.
I hope I was able to answer all your queries, and if you have any questions, please feel free to let us know, we’re always here to help.
The ceiling speakers will not be used as Atmos speakers, but as rear surrounds.
As for Atmos: most cable boxes are not Atmos capable anyhow. To get Atmos you need a proper source, such as Netflix with a premium subscription on a supported device (e.g. Apple TV 4K).
As for your setup: the HDMI spec does not support more than 3 players connected to a TV. So, make sure you do not exceed this number. (There should be support for a fourth or fifth player in the newest standards, but chances are your TV does not implement the standard correctly, so I wouldn’t try more than 3 players.)
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