A few days ago, I have got my new soundbar from the local shop. I have tested similar soundbar at my friend’s house. The sound quality was very pleasing especially when I had played some of my favorite rock songs. It felt like I am listening to live music. I bought my best soundbar under $200 after listening to my friend’s soundbar. In fact, its brand is the same as his one. However, I found a problem on the first day when I bought the device. There was no optical input in my new soundbar.
No optical input, no use of an optical cable. I thought I need to return the device.
But I was very keen to use it since I bought it. I became so confused like what I need to do right now. Then, after a few inspections on the search engines, I found several ways of how to connect the soundbar to tv without optical cable. Below are the ways which require no optical cable:
But with a few techniques, you won’t require any optical cable.
Using HDMI Port (with ARC)
Of course, the optical cable is the simplest way to connect the soundbar. You can connect it if your TV set has “HDMI ARC (Audio Return Channel)” port. This port allows the audio to move on both sides through the cable. Simply it means, you can use the HDMI port for audio input and output.
When your TV has ARC feature, definitely you can connect any related kits such as gaming consoles, set-top boxes, etc. to the very soundbar. All you need an HDMI cable/
How to do this?
- Turn both of the TV and soundbar.
- Now take an HDMI cable and plug in one end to the HDMI port of the soundbar.
- The other end should be plugged into the HDMI of the TV.
Now you are able to use the soundbar with your TV. The HDMI connection can play Dolby Atmos or DTS :X sound system. It’s suitable for 5.1-7.1 surround sound systems.
Using the Bluetooth
If both of the devices (TV and Soundbar) have the Bluetooth feature, you don’t need any kind of cable whether it’s optical or HDMI. I can’t assure you of the perfect quality of sound transmission via Bluetooth. But not very undistinguishable to HDMI transmitted sound. Make sure you have read the instruction manual or specifications to know that your TV is good to go regarding Bluetooth.
Nothing to worry if your TV doesn’t have Bluetooth option. There’s a way to solve this. You can order the Bluetooth transmitter to pair with the soundbar. After the pairing, you will be able to hear the sound of tv through the soundbar.
Using RCA Port
In the old days of CD or VCD, there were significant uses of RCA cable. This cable has 3 different types of colored plugs at one end of the cable. These 3 colored plugs are plugged depending on their colors. Red and black or white plugs are for audio channel and yellow is for video channel.
While your TV has RCA port, you need to –
- Switch off both devices, soundbar, and TV.
- Plug in the different colored plugs to same colored ports.
- Turn on the devices.
Not only soundbar, but you can also connect the TV to the CD player, cable box, consoles, etc. Weak RCA cable connections will make irritating noises.
Using AUX Port
Take your smartphone and see your earphone port. This is made for using earphone having 3.5mm jack. This is what AUX or Auxiliary port looks like. Bring an AUX cable and follow my instructions:
- Turn the TV and soundbar off.
- Find out the AUX port on your soundbar and insert one end of AUX cable.
- Insert the other end to your TV’s AUX port.
- Switch on both devices.
Now you are able to use the soundbar using AUX port.
Wrapping Up:
Modern devices have a versatile audio input and output options. All these above methods are useful to use the soundbar alongside TV without using the Optical input or output features. Hope this article will help you as I got help earlier.
