Use the HomePod to turn on TV and Receiver is there any way to have the Apple HomePod control my receiver? Here is what I am thinking:

I would ask the Siri HomePod to play a playlist and Siri would automatically turn on my receiver (Sony STR-DN 1080) and my TV (a Sony Bravia from 2009 that has CEC). 

The HomePod Apple TV HDMI is hooked up to my receiver Video 2 port and the TV is hooked up to my receiver’s ARC HDMI port. I do have my Apple TV set to play through my receiver.

I’m hoping I can avoid using remotes altogether to listen to music playlists. Is this possible? If so, what do I need to do to ge it to work?
No.  This cannot be done.

The HomePod does not have an HDMI interface (HomePod Technical Specifications), so consequently, this would be physically impossible to do.

In fact, even Mac's with an HDMI interface don't support the CEC protocol.

Incidentally, if you want to connect your HomePod to your Apple TV, this is possible as a (limited) control and as an external audio device.  The latter is self explanatory, so let's look at the former use case as detailed in this article.


  When you connect your HomePod to an Apple TV, you can control it only
  minimally, such as to pause, resume, and adjust the volume. (You can’t
  even turn off your Apple TV.) For more complex voice commands, you
  must use the Siri Remote.


Emphasis Mine

If you want to send complex commands to your Apple TV, you'll need the remote (at least at this time).