ATV to Stereo with optical cable. No sound with tv off. WTF? Help!

[cptpowder]

I want to run my Apple tv to stream music from iPhone, iPad and MBP but I don't want to have my actual tv set on to do it. I plugged my optical cable into the ATV and ran it to my receiver. I don't get any sound unless the tv is on. And even then its only giving me sound because I have regular audio cables plugged in to my tv and run to my receiver. Anyone have any ideas?

ETA Never mind. I had to enable the optical setting on my receiver

 

[PAPO]

I had a similar problem with an old sound system I had that even though it had optical, and the manual talked about using it, it never worked with ANYTHING; are you sure the optical in works on your stereo? or you just need to change your output settings on your TV