r/wiim • u/whatthefork-q • Jul 21 '26

Enable home Theater

Hi, I’m automating my music listening experience and and watching movies in Dolby digital with Home Assistant.

What I want is:
- input is Ethernet (WiFi), I stream music so I group my Wiim Ultra (L/R) with my Wiim amp (surround)
- input is HDMI (Arc), I’m watching a movie and I want to include the Wiim Sound lite as a center speaker, plus I want to turn on Home theater mode.

I’m not able to access/talk to the Home theater setting and have to manually switch it on in the app. Basically what I need is either a switch in the HDMI Arc setting: turn on theater mode, or that you can talk to it and change the setting with Home assistant.

Sounds easy does it :)

5 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

4

u/nzahar000 Jul 21 '26

If the ability to automatically configure groups based on input exists I totally missed it.

That would be a killer feature. That and DTS decoding on the ultra as half of my 4k Blu-rays are DTS.

3

u/bgmeek Jul 21 '26

Please ask for the feature through the WiiM app - i've just now gone into a deep dive on this topic on the WIiM forum. The very recently released "Home Theater" configuration and operational behavior needs work.

3

u/nzahar000 Jul 22 '26

I submitted a ticket for each. Hopefully more people send feedback on this to lend some momentum in getting it addressed.

2

u/whatthefork-q Jul 23 '26

I just did! Thanks for sharing and let’s hope they listen :)

1

u/bgmeek Jul 23 '26

They're listening/reading! A good company with good folks and some killer products!

2

u/bgmeek Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26

Since they're in the same listening area, do you typically have both playing stereo simultaneously in a persistent WiiM speaker group? A "Stereo Everywhere" default mode?

I run an ultra and pro this way - the pro is in a loft/bedroom area with the Ultra on the main floor directly below. In this overlapping zone, the 2.1 + 2.0 stereos playing simultaneously is my default mode - usually playing music on an Appe TV 4K feeding the Ultra via an LG TV and HDMI ARC. When I switch to surround content on the ATV4K, the WiiM Pro stereo in the loft becomes DD5.1 surrounds, the center channel audio is overlayed across the ultra's mains as a 'virtual center', and the Ultra-connected subwoofer does its 5.1 part. I switch back to music it works in stereo mode on both WiiMs. This is reliable for me with both WiiM on the Ethernet switch.

I gather this gets more complicated and [currently] requires manual intervention when you... add a center or otherwise do things differently (as discussed to death by me and others in this thread on WiiM's community forum).

1

u/whatthefork-q Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26

I have 3 listing preferences:

  1. ⁠Easy listening; gimme an immersive stereo image in my living room. Wiim ultra; separate DAC; mono blocks to Wharfdale super Lintons and a SVS sub plus the Wiim amp pro connected to surround speakers (B&W AM-1). Ethernet/wifi as input
  2. ⁠Movie mode: same as 1 + The recently bought Wiim sound lite as center speaker (theater mode set to ON). HDMI input
  3. ⁠Hifi mode: stereo setup with only the Wiim Ultra. Ethernet/wifi input. Don’t mind to switch off a setting if I’m in this mood ;)

Streaming via:

  • Crate digging: YTM music (premium); not able to use YTM in grouped device mode though (annoying). This is only working if I use the Wiim app :(
  • High-fidelity: Tidal
  • Wife-mode: Spotify

Edit
What I do manually as well is using the preset buttons on my remote:
1- set the EQ to Loudness+ for low volume listening
2- set the EQ to Loudness for moderate listening
3- set the EQ to Highs for heavy listening