How to Connect Your Soundbar to External Components

It only takes a few minutes to connect your soundbar to your TV and get it running. But what if you want to set it up for another device, such as a gaming console or a Blu-ray player? Here, we go through the details such as the cables you need and settings you may have to change in your TV’s menu.

Option 1: Connect to your TV

If you don’t have the time to tinker with cables and whatnot, connecting to your television is the easy way to do it. Instead of connecting the components directly to the soundbar, you can just connect them to TV and have the TV hooked up to your soundbar.

Step 1: Connect your Blu-ray player or your cable box (it can be both) to the TV through the HDMI input.

Step 2: Use an optical digital audio cable to connect the TV to the soundbar.

It’s really that simple.  The TV will still control the input selection, and you can continue to use your TV’s remote to switch between sources.

To make sure the soundbar is working, just go to the TV audio menu and select “external speaker” or any option that says to turn off the built-in speakers. Now, you can enjoy watching Netflix with a better soundstage.

Just note that the goal for the soundbar here is just to provide better sound than your TV speakers. While there are high-end and expensive soundbars in the market, there are also soundbars that are good for your budget if you want something that does the job well without
the hefty price tag.

Option 2: Connect the components to the soundbar

This will be useful if your TV is wall-mounted and your soundbar is placed on a table below it. You wouldn’t want wires running from your TV to the components.

But more importantly, the sound quality will be much better when you do this, especially for multi-channel formats. Many television sets are unable to send the format of digital surround sound through the optical input, which then takes away a lot of the sound you should be hearing.

Here’s how to do it:

Step 1: Connect the HDMI cable to the HDMI IN at the back of the soundbar.

Step 2: Connect the other end of the HDMI cable to the HDMI OUT which is on the back of your device (cable box/Blu-ray player/gaming console).

If you want, you can connect two devices to the soundbar, just repeat steps 1 and 2.

Step 3: Connect the soundbar to your TV by plugging one end of an HDMI cable to the soundbar’s HDMI OUT and the other end on the TV’s HDMI IN.

After that, turn your devices on to see if everything is working well.

Final Words

Technology is changing our homes with devices such as smart speakers and soundbars. With that, you can make the best of it by learning how to connect your soundbar to various components. Although installation takes
a bit longer, it allows you to experience better sound quality.