Want to hear the TV sound in Zone 2?

Multi-zone receivers tip: audio sources

by Crutchfield's Benn Grant

Let’s start with a scenario.

You’re watching a ballgame in your home theater. You go outside to do some grilling, and you want to hear the TV sound from your outdoor speakers. So you turn on your A/V receiver’s Zone 2 audio and select Cable/Sat as the sound source. When you go to the patio, there is no sound.

What gives? And what’s the solution? We asked our tech support team for the answers.

Digital vs analog connections

Your television and cable box are connected to your receiver via HDMI cables. HDMI cables transmit audio and video as digital signals. But your receiver’s Zone 2 audio only works with analog signals. That’s not a defect. Lots of receivers have this limitation.

Run a parallel analog connection to your receiver's cable box input

The simple solution is to run a parallel analog audio connection from the cable box to the receiver’s Cable/Sat input. It’s an easy fix. Add one inexpensive RCA patch cable. Now you can listen to the ballgame while grilling on the patio.

Make HDMI and analog audio connections from your cable box to your receiver. Then, when you select CABLE/SAT as the source for Zone 2, you'll hear the TV sound through the Zone 2 speakers.

Or buy a new receiver

The other solution is to buy a new receiver that can play HDMI audio in Zone 2. This is the best solution if you have an outdoor TV and you want to hear the TV sound through the outdoor speakers. The Zone 2 audio and video will be perfectly synced up.

What if my external source doesn't have an analog connection?

Say you want to enjoy Zone 2 audio from a Roku, or other source that doesn’t have an analog audio output, just HDMI and digital audio. There’s a widget for that. If your source device has an optical or coaxial digital audio output, the Metra ethereal CS-DAC will give you the analog output you need.

Ethereal CS-DAC

98 reviews

$37.99

View product

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Problem solved! When you can hear the ballgame audio on your outdoor speakers, you can pay more attention to what's cooking.

Sandy

Posted on 2/3/2026

What a simple and easy solution to get TV audio on Zone 2!!!! Thank you so much.
Daniel from Denver

Posted on 12/6/2022

The parallel analog audio connection from the cable box to the receiver soledad my problem. Thank you.
Jack from Dana Point

Posted on 11/1/2022

Thanks so much. Such a simple solution on a subject that I had a hard time in finding. Always have appreciated Crutchfield.

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Want to hear the TV sound in Zone 2?