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Doug Freyburger Doug Freyburger is offline
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Default Using PC speakers on a TV?

We have a new TV (finally replaced the last non-HD set in the house)
and it has speakers in the back. The sound echoes in the cabinet and
it sounds off. That and TV speakers blow even to my uncritical ear.

Since PC speakers are cheap I took a pair off the shelf figuring I'd be
able to get a Y cable to convert from the separate red and white RCA
jacks on the back of the TV to the stereo 3.5 mm headphone/PC jack on
the back of the speakers.

No luck, the Y cable only gave me one channel. I hoped the wiring would
be there for both channels but apparently it's not. I tried a lot of
stations in case that one happened to be broadcasting in mono. Still no
luck.

Are there specific Y connectors I should get to be able to do this? I
don't think it should take a mixing circuit because I start with two
mono signals on the RCA jacks and end with a stereo signal on the 3.5 mm
jack. That should be 4 conductors.

I know my Tivo is putting out stereo because I've listened to plenty of
stereo shows through it. It's an SD Tivo but I'm not giving it up
because it has a DVD burner. Not until I can add a Blu Ray burner to my
HD Tivo anyways. I haven't checked lately if there's a hack to do that
yey.
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whosbest54[_2_] whosbest54[_2_] is offline
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Default Using PC speakers on a TV?

In article , says...
We have a new TV (finally replaced the last non-HD set in the house)
and it has speakers in the back. The sound echoes in the cabinet and
it sounds off. That and TV speakers blow even to my uncritical ear.

Since PC speakers are cheap I took a pair off the shelf figuring I'd be
able to get a Y cable to convert from the separate red and white RCA
jacks on the back of the TV to the stereo 3.5 mm headphone/PC jack on
the back of the speakers.

No luck, the Y cable only gave me one channel. I hoped the wiring would
be there for both channels but apparently it's not. I tried a lot of
stations in case that one happened to be broadcasting in mono. Still no
luck.

Are there specific Y connectors I should get to be able to do this? I
don't think it should take a mixing circuit because I start with two
mono signals on the RCA jacks and end with a stereo signal on the 3.5 mm
jack. That should be 4 conductors.

What make and model TV? If it has a stereo pair of line level outputs
then that should work with the proper adapter for stereo amplified PC
speakers, provided the speakers use a male 3 conductor (common ground)
mini plug, like the plug for most headphones these days. So, the proper
Y-adaptor is 2 RCA plugs to a single female 3 conductor mini plug.

Perhaps the Y-adaptor is the wrong one and it adapts to a 2-conductor
mono female connection or there's an issue with the plugs not making a
good connection. Did you try reversing the connection to the TV and see
if it changes channels? If it doesn't change channels, then you know the
problem isn't with the TV but with the adaptor or the speakers.

You can test the TV line level outs by connecting them to a stereo line
level input on an amp or receiver if you have one available.

whobest54
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Don Pearce[_3_] Don Pearce[_3_] is offline
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Default Using PC speakers on a TV?

On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:54:26 +0000 (UTC), Doug Freyburger
wrote:

We have a new TV (finally replaced the last non-HD set in the house)
and it has speakers in the back. The sound echoes in the cabinet and
it sounds off. That and TV speakers blow even to my uncritical ear.

Since PC speakers are cheap I took a pair off the shelf figuring I'd be
able to get a Y cable to convert from the separate red and white RCA
jacks on the back of the TV to the stereo 3.5 mm headphone/PC jack on
the back of the speakers.

No luck, the Y cable only gave me one channel. I hoped the wiring would
be there for both channels but apparently it's not. I tried a lot of
stations in case that one happened to be broadcasting in mono. Still no
luck.

Are there specific Y connectors I should get to be able to do this? I
don't think it should take a mixing circuit because I start with two
mono signals on the RCA jacks and end with a stereo signal on the 3.5 mm
jack. That should be 4 conductors.

I know my Tivo is putting out stereo because I've listened to plenty of
stereo shows through it. It's an SD Tivo but I'm not giving it up
because it has a DVD burner. Not until I can add a Blu Ray burner to my
HD Tivo anyways. I haven't checked lately if there's a hack to do that
yey.


Frankly, PC speakers are going to be very little better than those
already in the TV. Do you not have a Hi Fi in the room that you could
connect the TV to?

d
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Doug Freyburger Doug Freyburger is offline
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Default Using PC speakers on a TV?

says...

We have a new TV (finally replaced the last non-HD set in the house)
and it has speakers in the back. The sound echoes in the cabinet and
it sounds off. That and TV speakers blow even to my uncritical ear.


Since PC speakers are cheap I took a pair off the shelf figuring I'd be
able to get a Y cable to convert from the separate red and white RCA
jacks on the back of the TV to the stereo 3.5 mm headphone/PC jack on
the back of the speakers.


Don Pearce wrote:

Frankly, PC speakers are going to be very little better than those
already in the TV.


To me uncritical ear they are better than the TV speakers. If I get
this working then I spring for $30 speakers which will be plenty good
for this particular purpose.

Do you not have a Hi Fi in the room that you could connect the TV to?


In another room. Since it's partially working I'm already far enough
down the path I am unlikely to move it to check.

No luck, the Y cable only gave me one channel. I hoped the wiring would
be there for both channels but apparently it's not. I tried a lot of
stations in case that one happened to be broadcasting in mono. Still no
luck.

Are there specific Y connectors I should get to be able to do this? I
don't think it should take a mixing circuit because I start with two
mono signals on the RCA jacks and end with a stereo signal on the 3.5 mm
jack. That should be 4 conductors.


whosbest54 wrote:

What make and model TV? If it has a stereo pair of line level outputs
then that should work with the proper adapter for stereo amplified PC
speakers, provided the speakers use a male 3 conductor (common ground)
mini plug, like the plug for most headphones these days. So, the proper
Y-adaptor is 2 RCA plugs to a single female 3 conductor mini plug.


At Frys I only found one type of Y connector. I will check at another
store to see if they have others. It does appear that I purchased a
mono Y with the wrong number of conductors.

Perhaps the Y-adaptor is the wrong one and it adapts to a 2-conductor
mono female connection or there's an issue with the plugs not making a
good connection. Did you try reversing the connection to the TV and see
if it changes channels? If it doesn't change channels, then you know the
problem isn't with the TV but with the adaptor or the speakers.

You can test the TV line level outs by connecting them to a stereo line
level input on an amp or receiver if you have one available.


Will do. Also thanks to Dave Platt for the response.

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Arny Krueger[_4_] Arny Krueger[_4_] is offline
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Default Using PC speakers on a TV?


"Doug Freyburger" wrote in message
...
We have a new TV (finally replaced the last non-HD set in the house)
and it has speakers in the back. The sound echoes in the cabinet and
it sounds off. That and TV speakers blow even to my uncritical ear.

Since PC speakers are cheap I took a pair off the shelf figuring I'd be
able to get a Y cable to convert from the separate red and white RCA
jacks on the back of the TV to the stereo 3.5 mm headphone/PC jack on
the back of the speakers.

No luck, the Y cable only gave me one channel. I hoped the wiring would
be there for both channels but apparently it's not. I tried a lot of
stations in case that one happened to be broadcasting in mono. Still no
luck.


This should work. If one channel works, both should work.

What happens when you pull the headphone jack plug out a notch?

Is it fully seated when set up normally. If its not fully seated, I've had
the symptoms you mention.




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Doug Freyburger Doug Freyburger is offline
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Default Using PC speakers on a TV?

Doug Freyburger wrote:
whosbest54 wrote:

Perhaps the Y-adaptor is the wrong one and it adapts to a 2-conductor
mono female connection or there's an issue with the plugs not making a
good connection. Did you try reversing the connection to the TV and see
if it changes channels? If it doesn't change channels, then you know the
problem isn't with the TV but with the adaptor or the speakers.


You can test the TV line level outs by connecting them to a stereo line
level input on an amp or receiver if you have one available.


Will do. Also thanks to Dave Platt for the response.


Contact cleaner is like magic. ;^) So is inspecting the cables with a
magnifying glass to confirm the number of conductors to make sure I
really did have the right cable.

There was even better news than I expected - The volume control on the
TV works to set the volume on the audio line-out jacks. It's intended
to plug a real stereo and use its volume control but the PC type
speakers do work fine. Since it works, time to get "nice" speakers.
Where "nice" is in comparison to TV speakers not in comparison to real
stereo speakers.

Thanks everyone!
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gregz gregz is offline
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Default Using PC speakers on a TV?

Don Pearce wrote:
On Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:54:26 +0000 (UTC), Doug Freyburger
wrote:

We have a new TV (finally replaced the last non-HD set in the house)
and it has speakers in the back. The sound echoes in the cabinet and
it sounds off. That and TV speakers blow even to my uncritical ear.

Since PC speakers are cheap I took a pair off the shelf figuring I'd be
able to get a Y cable to convert from the separate red and white RCA
jacks on the back of the TV to the stereo 3.5 mm headphone/PC jack on
the back of the speakers.

No luck, the Y cable only gave me one channel. I hoped the wiring would
be there for both channels but apparently it's not. I tried a lot of
stations in case that one happened to be broadcasting in mono. Still no
luck.

Are there specific Y connectors I should get to be able to do this? I
don't think it should take a mixing circuit because I start with two
mono signals on the RCA jacks and end with a stereo signal on the 3.5 mm
jack. That should be 4 conductors.

I know my Tivo is putting out stereo because I've listened to plenty of
stereo shows through it. It's an SD Tivo but I'm not giving it up
because it has a DVD burner. Not until I can add a Blu Ray burner to my
HD Tivo anyways. I haven't checked lately if there's a hack to do that
yey.


Frankly, PC speakers are going to be very little better than those
already in the TV. Do you not have a Hi Fi in the room that you could
connect the TV to?

d


My old 32 inch had front firing speakers. Did not sound bad, especially
with added sub. My new 42 inch has downward facing speakers. I still have
pieces of cardboard acting as reflectors to get some kind of decent sound.
These sets are made for wall flush mounting sound. Any other configuration
is much worse. And god forbid, installed inside an entertainment center.

Yes, some day I'll get around connecting real speakers.

Greg
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Doug Freyburger Doug Freyburger is offline
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Default Using PC speakers on a TV?

gregz wrote:

My old 32 inch had front firing speakers. Did not sound bad, especially
with added sub. My new 42 inch has downward facing speakers. I still have
pieces of cardboard acting as reflectors to get some kind of decent sound.
These sets are made for wall flush mounting sound. Any other configuration
is much worse. And god forbid, installed inside an entertainment center.


I'll take a close look at the internal speakers and consider a cardboard
reflector, thanks. It's in an entertainment center so it can share
space with the Wii, the Tivo and cable converter, the drawers of discs
and parts for the Wii.
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gregz gregz is offline
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Default Using PC speakers on a TV?

Doug Freyburger wrote:
gregz wrote:

My old 32 inch had front firing speakers. Did not sound bad, especially
with added sub. My new 42 inch has downward facing speakers. I still have
pieces of cardboard acting as reflectors to get some kind of decent sound.
These sets are made for wall flush mounting sound. Any other configuration
is much worse. And god forbid, installed inside an entertainment center.


I'll take a close look at the internal speakers and consider a cardboard
reflector, thanks. It's in an entertainment center so it can share
space with the Wii, the Tivo and cable converter, the drawers of discs
and parts for the Wii.


If it's boxed in, I would add foam sheet on back wall, to get rid of
boxiness sound.

Greg
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