How to Control a Soundbar With a Firestick Remote (Any Brand)

To control a soundbar with a Firestick remote, open Settings → Equipment Control → Manage Equipment → Add Equipment → Soundbar, pick your brand, and let the Fire TV test the volume buttons until the bar responds.

That is the whole setup, and it takes about two minutes. The reason so many people cannot find it is that it lives under Equipment Control, not under Display & Sounds where you would expect it.

There is one hardware requirement first. Your remote needs a volume rocker and a power button on it — that is the Alexa Voice Remote, second generation or later.

The older, smaller Fire TV remote with no volume buttons cannot do this at all. No setting will add the capability, because the infrared emitter that sends the volume command simply is not in that remote.

Below is the setup itself, what to do when your brand is not listed, the differences between HDMI and optical connections, and the specific fixes for Samsung, Bose, Vizio, Sonos and Polk bars that behave differently from the rest.

How the Firestick actually talks to your soundbar

There are two completely separate methods, and knowing which one you are using explains almost every problem in this article.

HDMI-CEC sends the command down the HDMI cable. It only works when your soundbar is connected to the TV by HDMI ARC, and when CEC is switched on in both devices.

Manufacturers all rename CEC, which is why it looks missing. Samsung calls it Anynet+, LG calls it Simplink, Sony calls it Bravia Sync, and Vizio just calls it CEC.

Infrared is the other route. The Alexa Voice Remote has a small IR blaster in its nose, and it fires the same codes your soundbar’s own remote uses.

Infrared is the fallback that makes optical connections work, and it is the one Equipment Control configures. It also means the remote must be pointed roughly at the bar, with nothing solid in between.

How to control a soundbar with a Firestick remote, step by step

Do this with the soundbar switched on and playing something, so you can hear whether the volume is moving.

1. Open Settings. Press and hold the Home button, then choose the gear icon, or scroll right along the top menu to Settings.

2. Choose Equipment Control. On most current Fire TV builds this sits directly in the Settings list. On older builds, look under Display & Sounds instead.

3. Choose Manage Equipment, then Add Equipment. You will be offered TV, Soundbar, or Receiver. Choose Soundbar.

4. Pick your brand from the list. Fire TV then sends a test volume command and asks whether the volume changed.

5. Answer honestly. If nothing happened, say no. It will try the next code set for that brand, and most bars respond within three or four attempts.

6. Turn off your TV speakers. Otherwise both the TV and the bar respond, and the volume jumps in awkward steps.

Once it takes, the remote controls soundbar volume everywhere — not only inside Fire TV apps, but on live TV and other inputs too, because infrared does not care what is on screen.

What if your soundbar brand is not on the list?

Plenty of bars are missing, particularly smaller brands and anything sold under a store label. This is not a dead end.

Start by picking the brand whose remote yours most resembles, because manufacturers licence IR code sets from each other constantly. Bars from lesser-known brands very often answer to Vizio, Samsung or Sony codes.

If that fails, check whether the bar is on HDMI ARC rather than optical. On ARC you can skip infrared altogether and let CEC carry the volume, which needs no brand code at all.

Switch on Anynet+, Simplink, Bravia Sync or CEC on the TV, enable the equivalent setting on the soundbar, and set the Fire TV’s own audio output to pass through. The chain then runs remote to TV to bar without the Fire TV needing to know your brand.

HDMI ARC or optical: which one are you on?

This single fact decides which fixes apply to you, and it takes five seconds to check at the back of the TV.

An HDMI cable running from the TV port labelled ARC or eARC to the soundbar means CEC is available. A thin cable with a square end and a red glow means optical, and CEC is not available at all.

Optical carries audio and nothing else. There is no control channel in an optical cable, so infrared is the only way a Fire TV remote will ever change that soundbar’s volume.

If you are on optical and Equipment Control still will not find a working code, moving the bar to HDMI ARC is usually the faster fix. Our guide to connecting a soundbar to a TV covers the port swap, and the optical connection walkthrough covers the settings if you would rather stay on optical.

Brand-specific behaviour worth knowing

Most bars follow the steps above. These five regularly do not.

Samsung. Anynet+ must be on in the TV before the bar will answer CEC, and Samsung bars often need their own input set to D.IN rather than ARC for the handshake to complete. If volume moves but the bar keeps switching inputs, that is Anynet+ and the Fire TV both trying to steer it.

Bose. Bose bars are the most common failure in this whole category, because many models ignore CEC volume commands entirely. Infrared through Equipment Control is nearly always the answer, and the Solo and Smart Soundbar ranges respond to it reliably.

Vizio. Vizio’s CEC implementation is switched off out of the box on many TVs, and it is listed as CEC with no marketing name. Turn it on at the TV first, then re-run Equipment Control.

Sonos. Beam, Ray and Arc all take volume over HDMI ARC through CEC and generally need no brand code. If a Sonos bar is not responding, the problem is usually that the TV’s CEC is off, not the Fire TV.

Polk and Klipsch. Both appear in Equipment Control but frequently need three or four code attempts before one lands. Work through the list rather than assuming the first failure is final.

Why is my Firestick remote not controlling my soundbar?

Almost every case comes down to one of five things, roughly in order of how often they turn out to be the cause.

The wrong remote. No volume rocker means no infrared emitter, and no amount of configuration will change that. Amazon sells the Alexa Voice Remote separately, and it restores the capability on any Fire TV device.

Line of sight. Infrared needs a clear path. A bar tucked inside a cabinet, behind a soundbar grille of dense mesh, or below the TV stand will miss commands intermittently, which feels like a pairing fault but is not one.

Both devices responding. If the TV speakers are still enabled, the TV and the bar both act on the volume command. Disable the internal speakers at the TV.

CEC off at one end. CEC has to be enabled on both the TV and the soundbar. It is common to find it on at one end only, and that fails silently with no error anywhere.

The wrong code set. If volume works but mute does not, or power works but volume does not, the code is close but wrong. Re-run Add Equipment and let it try the next set rather than accepting a partial result.

What about power and mute?

Equipment Control configures volume up, volume down and mute together, so mute normally arrives with the rest.

Power is separate and less reliable. Many soundbars use a single toggle code for power rather than discrete on and off commands, so the Fire TV can end up switching the bar off when it means to switch it on.

If that happens, leave the bar on standby and let it wake with the HDMI signal instead. On an ARC connection most bars do this by themselves.

The bottom line

To control a soundbar with a Firestick remote you need an Alexa Voice Remote with volume buttons, and about two minutes in Settings → Equipment Control → Manage Equipment → Add Equipment → Soundbar.

If your brand is not listed, borrow a neighbouring brand’s codes, and if that fails, move the bar onto HDMI ARC and let CEC do the work instead.

If you are setting a system up from scratch and want the volume chain to work first time, an ARC connection with a certified ARC/eARC HDMI cable avoids the entire infrared code problem.

Frequently asked questions

Can any Firestick remote control a soundbar?

No. Only the Alexa Voice Remote with a volume rocker and power button can, because those models contain the infrared emitter that sends volume commands. The older basic Fire TV remote without volume buttons cannot control a soundbar at all, and no software update adds the hardware.

How do I pair a Firestick remote to a soundbar?

There is no Bluetooth pairing involved, which is why searching for a pairing mode leads nowhere. You configure it instead: Settings, then Equipment Control, then Manage Equipment, then Add Equipment, then Soundbar, then your brand. The Fire TV sends test commands and confirms which code set your bar answers to.

Why does my Firestick control the TV volume instead of the soundbar?

The Fire TV was set up to control the television rather than the bar, which is the default when the soundbar was added later. Remove the TV as the volume device in Manage Equipment, add the soundbar, and switch the TV’s internal speakers off so only one device responds.

Does the Firestick remote work with a soundbar over optical?

Yes, but only over infrared, because an optical cable carries audio with no control channel. Equipment Control sets this up in the same way, and the remote has to be pointed at the bar rather than the TV for the command to land.