Noob speaker question.

[Lyceum]

Hoping someone can advise me on how to set up a new speaker system I was given.

I've been given an Alban 3.1 speaker system and from what I can tell I'm only able to connect it to my dvd player and I can't even remember the last time I used the DVD player. I have a WDTV so any movies I watch, I watch on that, and I can't connect the speakers to that without an AV receiver (unless I've read wrong) and not having the cash for one I'm hoping there's a way to connect the speakers so everything shown on the TV comes through them, not just when I play a DVD.

Hope that makes sense, I'm not the greatest at explaining things.

Any help at all is appreciated.

Thanks.

[MarkTaylor]

Can you give us a little more detail about the connections on your speaker system?

What you have written would only make sense if your DVD player is actually an 'all-in-one' system including a build in amp.

If the speakers are passive with just normal speaker wire connections then you really can only use these with an amp of some sort.

[Lyceum]

Thanks for the reply.

Sorry, haven't actually taken the speaker system out of the box, just had a read of the instruction manual.

Won't be able to set it up for a few days at least since I'm stuck in bed with a bad back.

If it's any help the speaker system is the Alba AS122.

According to Amazon it has 2 x RCA input for connecting two audio sources, sorry but having never even thought about getting a surround sound system before, I have zero idea what RCA means.

[MarkTaylor]

Good news is, ignore the comments you may have seen about 'only connecting to DVD' this is wrong.

You have an active speaker system which does not require another amp and has the ability to connect to and switch between 2 RCA inputs.

RCA is the plug you usually find on the red/white audio cables that ship with almost everything these days.

Check your TV and see if it has similar red/white output sockets. If not you may be able to use a SCART output convertor if you have a spare SCART socket on the TV.

You can also connect another device directly to the speakers if it has the required RCA, red/white outputs.

[Lyceum]

Excellent. Thank you.

That's the connections at the back of my TV. I assume I should plug the speakers into the red and white 'audio' sockets? I assumed because it was a 3.1 that there would be three connections, but then as I said, I've no idea what I'm talking about lol. Haven't been able to get them out of the box yet.

I should just be able to plug in the speakers and I'm off? I should be able to hear all audio from the TV through them when they're on?

[CJPowers81]

Originally Posted by Lyceum

Excellent. Thank you.

That's the connections at the back of my TV. I assume I should plug the speakers into the red and white 'audio' sockets? I assumed because it was a 3.1 that there would be three connections, but then as I said, I've no idea what I'm talking about lol. Haven't been able to get them out of the box yet.

I should just be able to plug in the speakers and I'm off? I should be able to hear all audio from the TV through them when they're on?

The 3.1 refers to the 3 speakers and 1 amp, hence 3.1.

You should get some phono leads (red/white) with the system, just plug them into the audio part of the component section on the back of your tv as pictured in your link, and you're away

[ben.bayliss]

Wouldn't 3.1 refer to LCR + Sub?

Referring to the amp as the .1 seems weird to me and bound to confuse lots of people!

[Lyceum]

Thanks It's greatly appreciated.

Hopefully I'll be able to set them up in a few days.

[MarkTaylor]

No, those red/white connections are inputs, you need outputs.

Have a look elsewhere on the TV for similar sockets marked 'output'.

Failing that get a SCART adapter but make sure it is for 'output' as SCART uses different pins for inputs and outputs.

Also be aware that TVs will not always send sound signals received over a digital connection such as HDMI back out over analogue outputs.

[Lyceum]

Originally Posted by MarkTaylor

No, those red/white connections are inputs, you need outputs.

Have a look elsewhere on the TV for similar sockets marked 'output'.

Failing that get a SCART adapter but make sure it is for 'output' as SCART uses different pins for inputs and outputs.

Also be aware that TVs will not always send sound signals received over a digital connection such as HDMI back out over analogue outputs.

They're pretty much the only connections on the back of the TV. On the side there's the red/white/yellow ports that I use to connect a gamecube too.

I don't actually have a spare scart, the TV only has two. How would I tell the difference between input and output when buying an adaptor?

According to LG's website, here's a list of my TV's connectivity.

Connectivity
• 3 HDMI, 2 SCART (1Full)
• Component(Y,Pb,Pr) + Audio
• AV In
• S-Video
• PC Input
• Composite
• Headphone

[MarkTaylor]

Your TV is designed to use a digital optical cable for output.

This is increasingly common as the predominance of digital inputs grows so making digital output a preferred option.

If both your SCARTs are in use then that just leaves the headphone output which is hardly ideal.

If you can use one of the SCARTs then just look for a SCART to Y/R/W output adapter. These are common and often have a selector switch for input/output just make sure you don't buy one specifically listed as 'input only'.

[Lyceum]

Originally Posted by MarkTaylor

Your TV is designed to use a digital optical cable for output.

This is increasingly common as the predominance of digital inputs grows so making digital output a preferred option.

If both your SCARTs are in use then that just leaves the headphone output which is hardly ideal.

If you can use one of the SCARTs then just look for a SCART to Y/R/W output adapter. These are common and often have a selector switch for input/output just make sure you don't buy one specifically listed as 'input only'.

Thanks, grabbed one of THESE from ebay, hope it's the right one. I just set it to output and I'm away?

[MarkTaylor]

That should be fine.

Whatever sound your TV can send out of the SCART socket will be available to you with that device.

[Lyceum]

Thanks, worked a treat, all set up now.

Edit: Spoke to soon. All the sound from the TV comes through the speakers when watching TV (Sky), but when playing anything from the WDTV I'm not getting any sound from the speakers. I have the WDTV connected via HDMI.

Any idea what the problem might be?

I watch all my movies using the WDTV, so I'm hoping to get it working with that.

[MarkTaylor]

See post #9 above

Originally Posted by MarkTaylor

Also be aware that TVs will not always send sound signals received over a digital connection such as HDMI back out over analogue outputs.

Does the WDTV have analogue outputs as well as HDMI and can it use both at the same time?

[Lyceum]

Sorry, I missed that part about digital sound signals.

This is the back of the WDTV, it does have analogue connectors but I've no idea if they can be used in conjunction with he HDMI

[MarkTaylor]

Now would be a good time to find out

[Lyceum]

Gave it a try this morning, no luck. I assume that means it's just not going to work with tha WDTV.

So, my next question being, is there any way of buying a new amp that I can connect the WDTV to, but keep the speakers I have now?

Thanks for all your help with this, it really is apprecietd. Especially since I've no idea what I'm doing lol.

[MarkTaylor]

Don't give up too quickly.

Did you change the configuration of the sound output on the WDTV ?

Looks like it has an option to switch between digital and analogue according to the manual.

If you do decide to go for an amp then I really wouldn't recommend using your current speakers. They are very low cost units are not designed to be used with a normal amp. There are ways to get them hooked up but it really wouldn't be worth the effort.

I'd suggest looking at similar speaker systems but a little more expensive and make sure you get one that has the right inputs for what you need. The ones you have cost around £40 new so you are not wasting much looking at better options.

[Lyceum]

Originally Posted by MarkTaylor

Don't give up too quickly.

Did you change the configuration of the sound output on the WDTV ?

Looks like it has an option to switch between digital and analogue according to the manual.

If you do decide to go for an amp then I really wouldn't recommend using your current speakers. They are very low cost units are not designed to be used with a normal amp. There are ways to get them hooked up but it really wouldn't be worth the effort.

I'd suggest looking at similar speaker systems but a little more expensive and make sure you get one that has the right inputs for what you need. The ones you have cost around £40 new so you are not wasting much looking at better options.

The sound was already set to stereo, not digital on the WDTV. I searched through all the settings and there was nothing else, couldn't get the sound to come through the speakers unless I set the WDTV to connect via composite instead of HDMI, and then the picture suffers greatly, so not really worth it.

Sadly the system was a birthday gift and I'd feel like a right a**e ditching them to buy new less than two weeks after they were given to me lol, So I'll keep them for a while at least.

For future reference can you point me in the direction of a system that's suitable, but doesn't cost the earth?

[MarkTaylor]

We have an entire forum suited to just that question :

All-in-one Systems - AVForums.com

This is the next step up the ladder from where you are at the moment.

[Lyceum]

Thanks. I'll go have a read.

[Lyceum]

Just been doing a bit of googl-ing and was wondering if THIS would be do the trick?

Says it converts Toslink to Coaxial. Sorry if I'm WAY out here, still not sure what all the correct terms are (Toslink, RCA ect..). But I thought I'd try looking for a converter.

[MarkTaylor]

Sadly not.

TosLink and Coax are both digital connections and your speakers are analogue only.

What you would need is a digital to analogue converter and these are not cheap. A solution would end up costing more than your speakers are worth and maybe even more than the cost of a low end system that could handle a digital input.

[Lyceum]

Thanks. I miht post in the WDTV threat see if anyones figured out a way to do this, I know there's a few third party firmwares about to allow you to do various things with the WDTV, so maybe one of those has the option.

Once again, thanks for all the help.