How to Hook Up a Soundbar to Multiple Devices

If you recently brought home your Soundbar, then you are likely experiencing the bliss of the sound quality that it can provide for your home media room. Perhaps you are wanting to extend the benefits to multiple devices in your home.

How to hook up a Soundbar to multiple devices?

One of the easiest ways to hook up a Soundbar to multiple devices is to pair the devices with your TV and then connect the Soundbar to the TV with an HDMI ARC cable. Then, be sure to adjust the settings on your TV so the Soundbar is the preferred speaker option as opposed to the TV speakers.

Of course, there are always new ways to try to connect your multiple pieces of technology. You could also add a Bluetooth receiver to your various devices and connect them all in this way, or you could run various optical and HDMI cables from your devices.

But, with the fewest number of wires and cabled connections possible, using the TV as an intermediary is a great and practical solution. Let’s take a closer look at how to do this.

Also read: 3 Easy Ways to Hook Up Your Roku TV to a Soundbar

How to Connect a Soundbar to Multiple Devices

When you begin to benefit from the heightened sound quality that a Soundbar produces in your home (especially in comparison with your TV speakers, for example), it becomes obvious that you will want to pair any device that you own to the Soundbar.

But, if you are newer to using audio equipment, or you are just not sure how to connect multiple devices at once, doing so can seem a bit overwhelming.

Fortunately, with the continued advancement of modern technology, there are several ways that you can configure your system so that you can connect a Soundbar to multiple devices.

However, although there are many different ways to do this, one of the most simple ways is to connect your devices to your TV and then use the TV as an intermediary that will connect with the Soundbar.

In this way, you can limit the number of devices that have to be connected to the Soundbar manually at any time. Especially if you are using a Smart TV that can connect to your smart devices via WiFi, this process can become a breeze.

So, to make this possible, consider following these steps:

Review your TV connectivity specifications

Depending on the make and model of your TV, there will be different requirements that you will need to adhere to when completing this process.

If you keep up with the latest technology and have a Smart TV, this will obviously make your feat much more reasonable and simple. However, even if you are using an older model of TV, you can still make this process work.

The most important part of this step is to figure out what you are truly dealing with. Are you working with a Smart TV that can connect to other devices in your Smart Home through a shared WiFi connection?

Perhaps you will need to add a Bluetooth receiver to an older TV to connect with a Soundbar wirelessly? Or, maybe, you will have to connect your devices with multiple cables?

Find the connection requirements for your devices

Now that you know what the connectivity specifications are on your TV, you will need to review what these requirements are for the devices you intend to connect.

For example, if you are attempting to pair a DVD player with your Soundbar compared with a WiFi compatible laptop or another streaming device, this will change how you connect the devices.

Realistically, you will have two main options for the connection requirements for your devices. One of these options will include the requirement to physically connect the device to your TV with a cable- most likely an optical cable or an HDMI ARC cable.

This option can become a bit cluttered if you are using multiple devices simultaneously, so be sure to review ways to hide your wires and make it more aesthetically pleasing.

The second option will be to connect the device to a shared WiFi network and pair the device with your TV or Soundbar in this way.

This option will be much less physically cluttered, but it can take a bit to figure out how to connect your devices if you have never done so before.

Regardless of how you will end up pairing your devices, it is simply important to begin to understand how each of your devices works so that you can effectively plan for setting them up. This will likely even change how you place your devices in the setup of your home media room.

Pair each device with your TV

Now that you know the connection requirements for your devices, you can begin to pair them with your TV.

One of the main reasons that it is easier to go through your TV as an intermediary to connect multiple devices to your Soundbar is that the connections will be relatively apparent, so the process can be much more simple.

More, your TV will likely have more input/output options available for multiple connections, and there are general setup options for connecting your devices to this.

Plus, more likely than not, when you are using your Soundbar and your TV, you will be streaming the same audio and video from both devices simultaneously as opposed to streaming different sources.

So, to pair each device with your TV, you can connect the device with an HDMI ARC cable or an optical cable, or whatever other connection is required for your system. Just be sure that you have the audio and video ready to stream “through” the TV to make it to the Soundbar.

If you are pairing the device wirelessly, simply connect the device to a shared WiFi network that your Smart TV is connected to. Then, go into your TV settings and “Add Device” to include this device in your TV’s setup.

Once you have done this, you will then choose the audio preference in your TV’s settings to stream through the Soundbar.

Connect your Soundbar to the TV with an HDMI ARC cable

Now that your multiple devices are all paired with your TV, it is time to complete the physical connection process by connecting the Soundbar to the TV with an HDMI ARC cable.

Connecting your Soundbar in this way will allow the audio to stream through the TV and “catch” the audio that is coming from the device you are attempting to use.

It should be relatively simple to complete this step. You will look at the back of your Soundbar and find the HDMI (ARC) input/output and do the same for your TV.

Then, run the cable between the two devices. If your TV does not accept HDMI (ARC) cables, then you might need to purchase an HDMI cable converter to match your TV’s compatibility.

Either way, this step is what will allow you to use the Soundbar to stream the audio from multiple devices that are connected to the TV.

Adjust the TV settings to ensure the Soundbar is the preferred speaker option

Finally, as all of the devices and the Soundbar are connected to your TV, all that is left is to adjust the TV settings to ensure that the Soundbar is selected as the preferred speaker option.

Sometimes, your TV may default to the HDMI input. However, this is not always the case.

So, it is best to review the settings on your TV to ensure that the Soundbar is selected as the preferred speaker option.

From here, you can ensure that there will be high-quality sound streaming from this device rather than simply through your generic TV speakers.

If you have any issues at this point, be sure to review the connections that you have made between the devices and your Soundbar to make sure that these connections are stable.

Check the WiFi network to make sure that it is allowing a strong connection, and be sure to physically check that the cables are plugged in all the way.

After this review, if you are still unsure, you can check with the product manufacturer or review other options for connecting your devices to your Soundbar.

There are plenty of methods that you can try, but the above method is one that has been tried and true for many and allows for a “clean” setup with relative ease of connection for most users.

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