Need advice for getting Apple TV audio out to receiver

I have a unique and maybe janky setup, but it's in my "man-cave" (hate the phrase but you get the idea) and I want to maintain current gear. Problem is, my projector has no audio output. Here is what I have:

- Apple TV HD (4th Gen)

- Epson EX71 projector

- Old Sony HT-DDW740 receiver, with 5.1 connected speakers, all working great

The problem I'm having is that there is no audio output on the projector (besides the tiny built in speakers), and the only audio output from the Apple TV (I believe) is HDMI or Airplay.

My previous solution which worked fine for a long time, was an old Airport Express 2nd Gen that was set up to send airplay from the AppleTV to the receiver via Aux. This has become increasingly unreliable as updates are pushed for the AppleTV. I've had to manually change sound output for a long time now, and lately it has begun dropping audio Airplayed from the AppleTV and even just from my phone.

I just bought this HDMI audio extractor with a Toslink cable and it does send sound out to the receiver, but no matter which settings I use, I am unable to adjust the volume, even with the receiver remote. I could tolerate this setup even if volume adjustment worked with the receiver remote, but right now I weirdly have to use the dial on the receiver. Complicating things is that the receiver is about 15 feet away from the projector and AppleTV, but I have all sorts of cabling that reaches. I have tried changing the audio settings on the Apple TV, including setting "Change Format" to on, which sets it to Dolby 5.1

Any thoughts on how to get audio out to that receiver? I'm not even that worried about audio quality or great surround sound, although that seems to work when the Airport Express solution is working.

TIA