New to the site, looking for setup assistance.

[CapeGLS]

Wife and I just moved into our second home, and I am in the process of finishing up the living room system, but have hit a snag.
I want to be able to listen to cable (through the tv speakers) without the receiver being on. I want to have the option to turn on the receiver and listen to the cable (with the tv speakers off.) Firstly, I am not sure if this is even possible. Secondly, if it is possible, can my equipment do it? Thirdly, if my equipment can do it, how do I accomplish this.

TV: Samsung UN50ES6900 LED
Receiver: Onyko TX-NR515
Speakers: Def Tech Cin 600
Cable: Cox HD/DVR (Only 1 HDMI out)

Currently,
Cable box to Receiver via HDMI Receiver to TV via HDMI (Receiver has to be on for audio/video to show on tv.)

 

[CapeGLS]

What I did was run an optical cable from the cable box to reciever, and then ran an HDMI from the reciever to TV and another from cable box to TV. All works as I wanted (even if I have to switch inputs on reciever and TV to watch br, game, etc.)

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

According to some info your avr supports HDMI pass-thru if enabled in setup
see comment from user Federico Di Marco On 12.11.2012 - 11:58
Onkyo | TX-NR515

This means if cablebox->HDMI-->AVR->HDMI->TV - should get you what you looking for

 

[CapeGLS]

Here is another puzzling thing. When I stream to the TV, I can not get the audio to the AVR. I have the HDMI hooked up to ARC on both the TV and ARV.
Any ideas?

 

[Grador]

Have you made sure to enable ARC on both ends? It's not always on by default. Additionally ARC is usually then assigned a specific input (from my experience with a yamaha) so you'll need to set the receiver to the correct input as well.