B50 - low HDMI "pre-amp"?

As a quick note - I have set-up my B50 with the HDMI from my TV. The ARC is working fine, and I am getting good sound quality overall. The only issue is that I have to turn my TV up noticeably higher than normal to about a 45-50 level (0-100 scale on a TCL TV) to get even normal volume. I have to get up to about 60-70 for where I would really want volume for a Movie.

It simply seems that the “pre-amp gain” is low for HDMI compared to the other inputs. This may just be the fixed level of output for HDMI from my TCL TV - I wish this was variable. For comparison on the Bluetooth input, with my phone at only half volume (half gain) the volume level is much higher than the HDMI input. Is anyone else seeing this?

1 Like

Hi, I’m not sure for the reason that caused this attenuation on audio signal. But this device has standalone volume for each input, so you could use high volume for TV, and won’t affect other inputs.

What brand of TV are you connecting it to?

I’ve also been encountering issues with the HDMI input on my B50. Both of my televisions are TCL brand. On the newest TV (a 2022 6-Series) the HDMI Arc simply does not work with the B50 - despite being able to connect three different soundbars without issue.

On the second TV, which is also a TCL but from 2020 or 2021, the HDMI Arc works but the volume output is very low. There is no such issue with the line in, optical, or bluetooth - but the HDMI Arc volume output is so low that I have to turn it up to 90ish% for modest listening levels.

The b50 has so much potential but the HDMI experience has been buggy thus far.

@tylancaster I’m running into the same thing. I have a TCL as well. Bluetooth sounds amazing, but even when I max out the volume in ARC mode it seems like I’m only achieving 70% of the sound output compared to the bluetooth streaming. I was looking at whether the ACPWorkbench might have some input gain/level adjustments that could help this situation, but I don’t see any documentation that explains that specifically. I didn’t really want to blow $20 on non-refundable software for some hardware I may send back. The only thing I plan on using this for is a passive soundbar in ARC mode.

Anyone have any personal experience with the ACPWorkbench and can speak as to whether it has input level adjustments specifically for ARC?

Yes, the ACP tool could adjust the input gain. And please note that the audio might have distortion when you increase the gain.