[Roger]

I want to wire headphones (with a mini jack) to the RCA audo
jacks on my Comcast DVR cable box. This is for the bedroom,
with most of the wire running under the carpet along the
perimeter of the room. The length would be approximately
25 feet.

Rather than buying the right connectors and extension
lines (that's no fun), I think I have all the necessary stuff
to fabricate a solution:

- RCA cable
- lots of old speaker wire
- lots of headphones (collected from airplane trips)

I will cut off one end of the RCA cable and splice the
wires to a long length of speaker wire. Then at the other
end of the speaker wire I'll splice it together with
headphone wires.

Will it work?

What's the maximum cord length for headphones?

Thanks in advance.

BTW - I tried infrared wireless headphones and
there was lots of white noise - I am returning those
and considering a wired solution now to avoid any
interference problems.

[Arny Krueger]

"Roger" wrote in message
ps.com...
I want to wire headphones (with a mini jack) to the RCA audo
jacks on my Comcast DVR cable box. This is for the bedroom,
with most of the wire running under the carpet along the
perimeter of the room. The length would be approximately
25 feet.

Rather than buying the right connectors and extension
lines (that's no fun), I think I have all the necessary stuff
to fabricate a solution:

- RCA cable
- lots of old speaker wire
- lots of headphones (collected from airplane trips)

I will cut off one end of the RCA cable and splice the
wires to a long length of speaker wire. Then at the other
end of the speaker wire I'll splice it together with
headphone wires.

Will it work?


It will work as well as it would without all the cabling, which is to say
that it probably won't work well at all because other than a few odd pieces
of gear that use RCA jacks for speakers,

RCA jacks are typically used for sources and loads that want at far higher
impedances than a normal pair of headphones.

What's the maximum cord length for headphones?

Thanks in advance.

BTW - I tried infrared wireless headphones and
there was lots of white noise - I am returning those
and considering a wired solution now to avoid any
interference problems.

[GregS]

In article om, "Roger" wrote:
I want to wire headphones (with a mini jack) to the RCA audo
jacks on my Comcast DVR cable box. This is for the bedroom,
with most of the wire running under the carpet along the
perimeter of the room. The length would be approximately
25 feet.

Rather than buying the right connectors and extension
lines (that's no fun), I think I have all the necessary stuff
to fabricate a solution:

- RCA cable
- lots of old speaker wire
- lots of headphones (collected from airplane trips)

I will cut off one end of the RCA cable and splice the
wires to a long length of speaker wire. Then at the other
end of the speaker wire I'll splice it together with
headphone wires.

Will it work?

What's the maximum cord length for headphones?

Thanks in advance.

BTW - I tried infrared wireless headphones and
there was lots of white noise - I am returning those
and considering a wired solution now to avoid any
interference problems.

I was looking in Radio Shack web site. I don't see the neat little stereo
amps they USED to sell. They always do eliminate the neat usefull stuff.
Perhaps something Ipod associated would work?

greg

[Roger]

I see. I didn't understand about the impedence issue, thanks.

I have an old receiver I could use, but that's like nailing a tack with
a sledgehammer.

Is there a small converter that could reduce the impedence to headphone
levels?

Thanks

[Richard Crowley]

"Roger" wrote ...
I want to wire headphones (with a mini jack) to the RCA audo
jacks on my Comcast DVR cable box. This is for the bedroom,
with most of the wire running under the carpet along the
perimeter of the room. The length would be approximately
25 feet.

Rather than buying the right connectors and extension
lines (that's no fun), I think I have all the necessary stuff
to fabricate a solution:

- RCA cable
- lots of old speaker wire
- lots of headphones (collected from airplane trips)

I will cut off one end of the RCA cable and splice the
wires to a long length of speaker wire. Then at the other
end of the speaker wire I'll splice it together with
headphone wires.

Will it work?

It might work, but don't count on it.

What's the maximum cord length for headphones?

Longer than your house, but that's not the issue.

The issue is that the "line level" output from most
consumer electronic devices don't have enough
output power to drive most headphones directly.
Certainly there are exceptions to this rule and you
might get lucky.

Thanks in advance.

BTW - I tried infrared wireless headphones and
there was lots of white noise - I am returning those
and considering a wired solution now to avoid any
interference problems.

I have several pair of Advent AW770 headphones
(the last few bought on eBay) and they work great
for exactly the kind of application you are asking
about. Very good value for the $$.

[Laurence Payne]

On 25 Oct 2006 06:09:44 -0700, "Roger" wrote:

I want to wire headphones (with a mini jack) to the RCA audo
jacks on my Comcast DVR cable box. This is for the bedroom,
with most of the wire running under the carpet along the
perimeter of the room. The length would be approximately
25 feet.

Do the RCA jacks offer a headphone-level output? I think it's more
likely a Line Out. Headphones will detect a faint signal.

[Laurence Payne]

On 25 Oct 2006 07:12:58 -0700, "Roger" wrote:

I see. I didn't understand about the impedence issue, thanks.

I have an old receiver I could use, but that's like nailing a tack with
a sledgehammer.

Is there a small converter that could reduce the impedence to headphone
levels?

It's level as well as impedence. You need an amplifier. If you don't
want to use the old one you have, buy another one.

[Roger]

You guys are very helpful.

So it sounds like I need to use my amplifier, which is an old one with
the
large-style headphone jack, and direct speaker wire connectors (no
RCA).

So my next question is, can I wire headphones to the amplifier's
speaker wire connectors?

Thanks

Roger


On Oct 25, 9:09 am, "Roger" wrote:
I want to wire headphones (with a mini jack) to the RCA audo
jacks on my Comcast DVR cable box. This is for the bedroom,
with most of the wire running under the carpet along the
perimeter of the room. The length would be approximately
25 feet.

Rather than buying the right connectors and extension
lines (that's no fun), I think I have all the necessary stuff
to fabricate a solution:

- RCA cable
- lots of old speaker wire
- lots of headphones (collected from airplane trips)

I will cut off one end of the RCA cable and splice the
wires to a long length of speaker wire. Then at the other
end of the speaker wire I'll splice it together with
headphone wires.

Will it work?

What's the maximum cord length for headphones?

Thanks in advance.

BTW - I tried infrared wireless headphones and
there was lots of white noise - I am returning those
and considering a wired solution now to avoid any
interference problems.

[GregS]

In article .com, "Roger" wrote:

You guys are very helpful.

So it sounds like I need to use my amplifier, which is an old one with
the
large-style headphone jack, and direct speaker wire connectors (no
RCA).

So my next question is, can I wire headphones to the amplifier's
speaker wire connectors?

It will work. usually you want some buffer area so you don't blast
the phones. You can do this with 4 resistors. There is a website
that shows values for various powered amps, which I can't seem to find.
Something like a series 30 to 60 ohm tap. A series string will require
knowing your phones impedance.


greg

[Laurence Payne]

On 25 Oct 2006 08:25:35 -0700, "Roger" wrote:

So it sounds like I need to use my amplifier, which is an old one with
the
large-style headphone jack, and direct speaker wire connectors (no
RCA).

So my next question is, can I wire headphones to the amplifier's
speaker wire connectors?

You can, and if you keep the level low you might even not blow up the
headphones :-)

Why won't you use the headphone output to drive a headphone?

[GregS]

In article , Laurence Payne lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote:
On 25 Oct 2006 08:25:35 -0700, "Roger" wrote:

So it sounds like I need to use my amplifier, which is an old one with
the
large-style headphone jack, and direct speaker wire connectors (no
RCA).

So my next question is, can I wire headphones to the amplifier's
speaker wire connectors?

You can, and if you keep the level low you might even not blow up the
headphones :-)

Why won't you use the headphone output to drive a headphone?

Perhaps it doesn't or they may not know about headphone extension
cords. In my main system, the one thats been apart for some
time now due to a move, I derived my headphone listening from the preamp
which has a separate IC driver for the phones. Its nice when they do
that since most power amps do not have headphone connections.


greg
..

[JohnR66]

"Laurence Payne" lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom wrote in message
...
On 25 Oct 2006 07:12:58 -0700, "Roger" wrote:

I see. I didn't understand about the impedence issue, thanks.

I have an old receiver I could use, but that's like nailing a tack with
a sledgehammer.

Is there a small converter that could reduce the impedence to headphone
levels?

It's level as well as impedence. You need an amplifier. If you don't
want to use the old one you have, buy another one.

Level seems to be about right as I can plug my walkman headphones out into a
line in and set the volume to 5 or 6 (of 10) and get the same output levels
as other line level devices. Of course many devices don't have much in the
way of control for line-out level and impedance matching is still an issue.
John

[Karl Uppiano]

"Roger" wrote in message
ups.com...

I see. I didn't understand about the impedence issue, thanks.

I have an old receiver I could use, but that's like nailing a tack with
a sledgehammer.

Is there a small converter that could reduce the impedence to headphone
levels?

Headphone amplifiers are converters of a sort. See
http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/. Some of these are a
little spendy, but they have quite a range of high quality headphone amps.
Most are designed to be driven from line level outputs, such as you have.

[Arny Krueger]

"Karl Uppiano" wrote in message
news:JBZ%g.11886$iM2.1068@trndny08...

"Roger" wrote in message
ups.com...

I see. I didn't understand about the impedence issue, thanks.

I have an old receiver I could use, but that's like nailing a tack with
a sledgehammer.

Is there a small converter that could reduce the impedence to headphone
levels?

Headphone amplifiers are converters of a sort. See
http://www.headphone.com/products/headphone-amps/. Some of these are a
little spendy, but they have quite a range of high quality headphone amps.
Most are designed to be driven from line level outputs, such as you have.

If you want a good flexible headphone amp, why not check out the world of
pro audio?

Here's some low-priced, good quality alternatives from that world:

Berhinger POWERPLAY PRO-8 HA8000
Berhinger POWERPLAY PRO-XL HA4700 * my pick
Berhinger MINIAMP AMP800
Berhinger MICROAMP HA400

[Roger]

I spliced the tiny little wires of some cheap airplane headphone to
some big speaker wires and connected those to my receiver which
is RCA-connected to my TV. It actually worked, but the sound was poor.

I don't have a large headphone jack in my spare parts collection. I
know I could buy a large headphone jack and extension line and
connect it to the headphone jack in my receiver, but I am afraid that
the receiver may just be too old to produce any good sound, so
I am reluctant to spend any money on that approach because it may just
be money wasted.

So at this point, since I've exhausted all the zero-dollar angles, I am
inclined to spend some real money on some good wireless RF headphones
and connect them to my TV's RCA audio out jacks.

Any recommendations?

Thanks,

Roger


On Oct 25, 2:06 pm, Laurence Payne lpayne1NOSPAM@dslDOTpipexDOTcom
wrote:
On 25 Oct 2006 08:25:35 -0700, "Roger" wrote:

So it sounds like I need to use my amplifier, which is an old one with
the
large-style headphone jack, and direct speaker wire connectors (no
RCA).

So my next question is, can I wire headphones to the amplifier's
speaker wire connectors?You can, and if you keep the level low you might even not blow up the
headphones :-)

Why won't you use the headphone output to drive a headphone?

[Jeff Findley]

"Roger" wrote in message
oups.com...

I spliced the tiny little wires of some cheap airplane headphone to
some big speaker wires and connected those to my receiver which
is RCA-connected to my TV. It actually worked, but the sound was poor.

I don't have a large headphone jack in my spare parts collection. I
know I could buy a large headphone jack and extension line and
connect it to the headphone jack in my receiver, but I am afraid that
the receiver may just be too old to produce any good sound, so
I am reluctant to spend any money on that approach because it may just
be money wasted.

So at this point, since I've exhausted all the zero-dollar angles, I am
inclined to spend some real money on some good wireless RF headphones
and connect them to my TV's RCA audio out jacks.

Any recommendations?

I recently bought a pair of Philips wireless headphones for $13 on clearance
at Target. The orignal price was $50. The sound quality is certainly good
enough for TV. Be careful of what frequency you buy, since existing
equipment like cordless phones may cause interference. This would
especially be true in an environment like an apartment building where you
might have multiple sources of RF on the same frequency.

My daughter is using them with her iPod so she can dance around the room
without the possibility of damaging the iPod's hard drive. ;-)

Jeff
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety"
- B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)

[Roger]

I ended up buying a set of Sennheiser RS-85 Wireless Headphones.

Thank you all for your help.

Roger


On Oct 26, 9:57 am, "Jeff Findley" wrote:
"Roger" wrote in ooglegroups.com...





I spliced the tiny little wires of some cheap airplane headphone to
some big speaker wires and connected those to my receiver which
is RCA-connected to my TV. It actually worked, but the sound was poor.

I don't have a large headphone jack in my spare parts collection. I
know I could buy a large headphone jack and extension line and
connect it to the headphone jack in my receiver, but I am afraid that
the receiver may just be too old to produce any good sound, so
I am reluctant to spend any money on that approach because it may just
be money wasted.

So at this point, since I've exhausted all the zero-dollar angles, I am
inclined to spend some real money on some good wireless RF headphones
and connect them to my TV's RCA audio out jacks.

Any recommendations?I recently bought a pair of Philips wireless headphones for $13 on clearance
at Target. The orignal price was $50. The sound quality is certainly good
enough for TV. Be careful of what frequency you buy, since existing
equipment like cordless phones may cause interference. This would
especially be true in an environment like an apartment building where you
might have multiple sources of RF on the same frequency.

My daughter is using them with her iPod so she can dance around the room
without the possibility of damaging the iPod's hard drive. ;-)

Jeff
--
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor
safety"
- B. Franklin, Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1919)