The problem, which you probably realized as you read through those setup steps, is that the HDMI signal from the Fire Stick carries the audio signal too. This is a great example of home theater technology that solves one problem for you, but in doing so creates another.
The Main Issue With Connecting a Fire Stick to a Projector
The unit is tiny, about the size of a small candy bar, which means it’s easy to mount with the projector. This means you don’t have to run wires. And the Fire TV Stick even comes with its own remote control, but in case you lose it, you can control it with a regular remote as well (our tutorial). What’s not to like? The only hard part is figuring out the audio.
Getting the Sound to an External Audio System
Well, the problem here is one that isn’t caused by the Fire Stick itself, it’s caused by the fact that you’re using a projector. Projector audio comes in two flavors: the projector will either have onboard speakers, serving as its own audio solution, or it will have no on-board speakers meaning you need to create the audio solution yourself. This means you instantly have a much larger problem to solve. If you want to actually use that Dolby Atmos sound that the Fire Stick pumps out, you’ll need surround sound speakers, and those speakers need to somehow get they’re sound from the projector. This is already starting to sound like a lot of work and, more worrisome, a lot of wires that will need to be run. There’s no getting around that: a proper surround setup that isn’t powered by a wireless speaker solution is going to require wires, but specifically, to accommodate the Fire Stick and a projector, we do have a few options to solve the speaker issue.
Your Options for Managing Sound from Fire TV to Your Speaker System
There is one comparatively easy option here, and a couple more off-the-beaten-path solutions. You should definietly try to make the Bluetooth option work first, to save yourself the headache of figuring out the HDMI Audio Extractor or wireless HDMI Kit.
Using Bluetooth
If you have wireless Bluetooth speakers you’d like to hook up, this will be a piece of cake. Simply navigate to the Bluetooth pairing settings on the Fire TV, put your speaker in pairing mode, and then test the system to make sure it works. If you run into any hiccups check out our more detailed instructions article. If your goals are a little more advanced, like using the Dolby Atmos to run a surround sound system, you’ll first need to make sure you have a Receiver that has Bluetooth built-in. Then, the instructions are the same as for wireless Bluetooth speakers. As you can see, using Bluetooth is the simplest option.
Using and HDMI Audio Extractor
The HDMI piece is simple: plug the Fire Stick into the HDMI in, and run a short HDMI cord from the HDMI out to the projector. There is some added complexity around running power to the extractor itself and the Fire Stick, but nothing too crazy. So, now that you have your audio extracted, what do you do with it? This is where things might get a little more complicated. If you’re trying to run the Dolby Atmos sound to your surround sound system, you’ll need to use the Optical cable, and that optical cable will need to be run to a receiver allowing you to split the audio channels up to your speakers. If the whiz-bang of Dolby Atmos isn’t your goal, if you just need to get the sound somewhere you can hear it like a playbar, you can easily run a 3.5mm jack cable wherever you need to, although that might require some extensive cable management. You can see the theme here: an audio extractor will allow you to solve this problem in a specific way, but that solution gives you a new problem in that you now need to have a plan for the 3.5mm jack cable or the SPDIF/Optical cable that now needs to be managed to the right place. So if you now have to run a 3.5mm or optical cable, then it doesn’t That new problem isn’t true for the next solution on our list.
Using a Wireless HDMI Kit
Wireless HDMI Kit Setup with a Projector
So now we’re in a different position: with the HDMI receiver mounted at the projector, we can put the Fire Stick wherever we want, so long as it’s plugged into the HDMI Transmitter. This solves the speaker issue in a different way: you’ll still need the HDMI Audio Extractor to get the audio in a usable form, but, you’ve now solved the main problem caused by using only the extractor: you don’t have to run the cable somewhere crazy, because you get to pick where the cable starts. In fact, once assembled, this setup has an interesting feature: if the transmitter is set up so that the HDMI is transmitted to the projector, and if you’re using an audio extractor off that HDMI line that feeds an audio receiver or some other audio solution nearby, you’ve now developed infrastructure to support any HDMI source you plug into it. For this reason, if you’re going this far to simply support a Fire Stick setup running your projector, it might be worth your time to consider upgrading that component of your home theater and running a more robust content box.
Final Thoughts
While the Fire Stick is a robust home theater solution, providing a huge library of streaming content and access to apps that can deliver you video in 4k and some audio at Dolby Atmos levels, it also gives you this new speaker problem to solve. You know from reading this piece that there are ways to solve this problem, but the level of complexity involved is just enough to make you hesitate, I’m sure. It will go a long way, then, for you to first think about the sound quality of your home theater system. You need to decide if what you’re going to be using your home theater for requires really high quality surround sound (movies, prestige TV shows, video games, etc.) or if you’ll simply be streaming cable channels, sports shows, and your favorite shows on Netflix. If the system can get away with being simple, there’s no need to complicate it, so don’t feel like your only option here is to go off the deep end into surround sound that’s going to require wires piped all through the walls. As always, then, plan before you act, figure out what you’ll be using your home theater for and let that drive the decisions.
