Post #337,040
12/9/10 9:12:11 PM
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attaching external speakers to an LCD television
Wife calls me at work today: "Honey, where's the manual for the TV in the family room" We can't hear the show." Neither one of us remember where one of us put it 3 years ago, so that option's out. She plays with all of the buttons on the unit and the remote - still silent.
Her dad suggested plugging in a set of earphones to see if that works - it does. So he says we probably have a short inside and should hook up a set of speakers. I don't have any available and, without the manual, don't know what will work.
Any suggestions? We're not looking for a full-blown home theater setup, just something simple so we can watch shows and DVDs and hear them.
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #337,041
12/9/10 9:14:46 PM
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splice a headphone cable to speaker wires.
or go to radio shack, Im sure they sell cables like that.
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
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Post #337,044
12/9/10 9:22:04 PM
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Brand, Model of TV?
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Post #337,140
12/11/10 7:45:04 PM
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Dynex 32" LCD flat panel
can't find the manual that came with it.
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #337,151
12/11/10 8:39:39 PM
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Dynex DX-LCD32-09?
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Post #337,152
12/11/10 8:48:41 PM
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Re: Dynex 32" LCD flat panel
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Post #337,154
12/11/10 9:09:31 PM
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The FAQs are very good.
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Post #337,155
12/11/10 9:45:56 PM
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You notice the PDF Titles, once opened?
Also, you know they "Dynex" is a Best Buy brand, right?
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Post #337,157
12/11/10 10:03:56 PM
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Yup. Got my mom a Dynex TV once.
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Post #337,227
12/13/10 8:42:50 PM
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Insignia is the bargain basement house brand
Dynex is a step up from that line, although it is a very small step. Can't complain about the picture quality since it's always been very good. The remote is a true POS though.
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #337,234
12/13/10 10:09:46 PM
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Did those Manuals help?
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Post #337,245
12/14/10 9:02:25 PM
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Yep
Just came back from BB. The sound bar I linked to is not available in the bricks and mortar store. Blue shirt dweeb tried to sell us a home theater system, told him no. Cheapest sound bar in the store was $299 on sale - not much below replacing the whole unit. Will try Frys tomorrow.
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #337,061
12/9/10 10:27:15 PM
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Re: attaching external speakers to an LCD television
A few test-equipment-free things:
1) is set normally on Internal or Ext speakers?
(IS there a menu selection for that, in other words.) Menu could have gotten switched by tiny fingers or Maxwell's Demon.)
2) If Ext normally was used: unlikely a shorted speaker (one only) would halt other channel. Try unplugging one side, then next -- any change? An advantage of stereo, generally, is: how much you can find out by reversing channels at various stages along the way -- but that's about 'components' not about stuff hardwired on a board.
3) IF there is a menu selector for Int. Ext. Maybe try toggling that (even without ext speakers..? yet.)
Any joy on toggling back?
4) As with 3) try your new set of ext. speakers: work? Done. NG?? maybe audio amp (or preamp) has died. (Your headphone amp could be a separate IC, so presence of that output may not indicate health of the main amp.) In that event ... it's troubleshooting time. If anyone still repairs anything.. out there, for a fee. And if it's some mondo integrated circuit on a mobo: luck with that; you aren't likely to be able to proceed yourself unless you do electronics.
5) As suggested -- ya gots sound on headphone amp and a cable for that is pretty simple. BUT it may be only a few hundred milliWatts, so you might be springing for a simple audio amp to drive (maybe better grade speakers than originals.) Or run headphone output through your stereo system for likely better sound anyway?
Luck.
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Post #337,141
12/11/10 7:47:28 PM
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Re: attaching external speakers to an LCD television
1. Always used the internal speakers
2. N/A
3. Tried toggling back and forth - no help.
4. Haven't bought any speakers since I can't find any that don't require being hooked up to an A/V stereo receiver.
5. Looking for any advice/recommendations in that department (that's the reason for the post).
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #337,159
12/11/10 11:15:01 PM
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no old speakers in a closet?
splice them into the headphone jack, hit up a goodwill for speakers
Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 55 years. meep
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Post #337,187
12/13/10 1:17:48 AM
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Re: attaching external speakers to an LCD television
OK.. there IS a menu toggle for 'Internal' and External. From your A/V component comment, I assume that there is no access to the TV-set's audio amp (except headphones and some *RCA jacks on the back for 'Audio Out') -- Right?
* RCA: the standard since forever, re all audio gear not using 'balanced' inputs and special Pro quality connectors.
That means yes, you do need (not a whole A/V Receiver with tuner and mondo input switching, but-) any old 'component' stereo amplifier (usually having bass/treble, volume controls and a low-level preamp (maybe not included in many post-LP-records models.)
Probably on the bargain shelf at Goodwill et al will be several such, or even with tuners you apparently don't want - Cheap. Odds today are against finding any of the great-sounding 'separate power amps' of yore -- they've all been sold for $$ on eBay, maybe several times.
A standard stereo cable-pair gets from your A/V output RCA jacks (ignore the Video one in a 3-set) to an amplifier input, a 'high-level' one like AUX, meaning: ~ 1V max input signals, and not millivolts.
Thence to any old zip-cord (or cut up an extension cord.) Do keep the +/- red/black 'phasing' correct: by following the ribbed wire in the zip-cord pair from AMP [+] output to SPEAKER [+] / Red connector. Out-of-phase gets you less bass.
In my Sony , I have two sub-options, besides Internal/External;
1) Fixed level out == means using the external amplifier's VOL-control.
2) Vol-controlled out == TV set Volume control varies signal to the external amp.
I use 2) into a NAD stereo amp --> decent speakers. Vastly better sound than built-in.
Maybe this failure was a Good thing, once you hear why decent speakers in adequate enclosures blow away something tiny, stuffed into a corner of the TV case. :-)
Luck,
I.
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Post #337,188
12/13/10 5:39:34 AM
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And in case you miss it...
I use 2) into a NAD stereo amp --> decent speakers. Vastly better sound than built-in.
Seriously, very very few TVs have built-in speakers as good as even a very average stereo. Most of them don't sound as bad as they could in part because us humans are very adaptable and the art of making ordinary sound speakers sound better than crap is very well known.
(Myself, I use a full stereo amp with very high quality speakers... driven by a media PC and projector. :-) Big sound and big picture. But I have good hearing, too.)
Wade.
Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers?
A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
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Post #337,078
12/10/10 6:02:12 AM
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Use PC speakers if neccessary
BUT..I'm betting that somehow the setting for the internal speakers was set to OFF...and that going through the menu options will resolve the problem.
Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
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Post #337,142
12/11/10 7:48:33 PM
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Re: Use PC speakers if neccessary
Nope. Checked it myself when I got home from work. Toggled back and forth between the settings via both the controls on the unit and the remote. No help.
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #337,079
12/10/10 6:02:12 AM
12/10/10 6:02:52 AM
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argh...
time to throw this thing away and get a new one....
Sure, understanding today's complex world of the future is a little like having bees live in your head. But...there they are.
Edited by beepster
Dec. 10, 2010, 06:02:52 AM EST
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Post #337,143
12/11/10 7:53:45 PM
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These will do the trick
but they cost more than we paid for the TV - $549 for remanufactured at the local Bose store in the nearby mall. http://www.bose.com/...=cinemate_series2
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #337,145
12/11/10 7:57:13 PM
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Don't know anyone who has one of these
but this might do the trick - and for less than the Bose speakers: http://www.bestbuy.c...600&skuId=8800979
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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Post #337,146
12/11/10 8:16:18 PM
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Some options.
I haven't done this myself. These are just some things that came up in searching Amazon.
More info - http://wiki.answers....akers_to_a_lcd_tv
Roughly $10 - Battery operated speaker for MP3 players - I assume the TV headphone jack is the same (you should check) - http://www.amazon.co...292115782&sr=1-18
Roughly $32 - Amplified 2.1 speakers for MP3 players (same caveat as above) - http://www.amazon.co...292115782&sr=1-22 (75W version for $28 here - http://www.amazon.co...1292116266&sr=1-1 )
If you've got speaker jacks in the back of the TV (red, white RCA connections), then you could use an adapter like this to feed the speakers above - http://www.amazon.co...CI/ref=pd_sim_e_1
Make sure to check the jack and plug sizes first.
HTH a little. Good luck!
Cheers,
Scott.
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Post #337,226
12/13/10 8:28:02 PM
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Interesting stuff to read there - thanks!
"Chicago to my mind was the only place to be. ... I above all liked the city because it was filled with people all a-bustle, and the clatter of hooves and carriages, and with delivery wagons and drays and peddlers and the boom and clank of freight trains. And when those black clouds came sailing in from the west, pouring thunderstorms upon us so that you couldn't hear the cries or curses of humankind, I liked that best of all. Chicago could stand up to the worst God had to offer. I understood why it was built--a place for trade, of course, with railroads and ships and so on, but mostly to give all of us a magnitude of defiance that is not provided by one house on the plains. And the plains is where those storms come from."
-- E.L. Doctorow
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