Yeah, mine is an older receiver as well, I think 2009. I'll tinker with the TV menu and see if there's a way to do audio out through the TV eArc/HDMI port.
ARC was first introduced in 2009, so I doubt your 2009 receiver supports the ARC HDMI input unless it was a top of the line. My older receiver doesn't pick ARC up, but my newer one does. Likely have to use the optical input instead.