Tv audio question.

[Brian Ski]

Ok I am going to rant a little. I needed a new tv, Old one is a tube but it worked fine. Out in the garage. But I wanted to hook a tv box to it. So long story short I needed a HDMI input. So I hit the Best buy and get a cheap one. Link for anyone who cares.

Westinghouse 40" Class (40" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - HDTV Black WD40FX1170 - Best Buy

For a quick rant, I looked at wall mounts at BB they go for $100- $250. WTF?? That is more than I paid for the tv. Ok found a good one at Menards $30.

Ok the old tv I hooked up to an audio amp so I can get some sound in the back of the garage. Toss the new flat screen up and there is no audio out. Just a Digital audio out. But there is a headphone out. Great that will work. Get it all hooked up and no sound out of the TV. I guess when you plug in the headphones it kills the tv speakers. Ok, Get in the menu to turn them back on and it is not there. WTF??? You mean if you want to listen with headphones, like you are some old guy who can't hear well, without cranking the sound up loud in the room, you kill all the sound when you plug in the headphones???? Ok even if you wanted to listen to the headphones privately at night, you have to get a ladder and climb up behind the tv mounted to the wall and try to weasel in the the jack that is all the way in the back behind the mount out of reach. Who in the hell thought of that????

Ok next step, try the digital out. So I get something like this.
Digital to Analog Audio Converter,Convert Coaxial or Toslink Digital Audio Signals to Analog L/R Audio Converter 2162533 2016 ? $7.99

Now I need a $10 toslink cable to go with it. Hook it up to the amp and all the cables. Nothing. Switch the tv Audio in the menu from PCM to raw. PCM does nothing and raw gives some buzz.

Basically looking for a cheap way to hook up a couple speakers. I was thinking of using the headphone jack and grabbing another small amp and I have a couple extra speakers and hook up all 4 and skip the tv speakers altogether.

Or maybe a sound bar if it has a way of connect extra speakers. The sound bars I looked at are $100 to $500 and up. I hate to spend that kind of money to just hook up speakers to a tv I paid just over $100 for. Ideas???

 

[indyjs]

return the tv

 

[Brian Ski]

return the tv

Well that is a great help. The other tvs do not have any audio outputs. They seem to have quit using them about 20 years ago. By 2000 they don't have them anymore. I should say no analog audio outputs.

 

[radar8756]

Receivers with HDMI pass-thru are $200 + ... plus Radio & other inputs ... but they do Sound alot better

 

[voodoo304]

Surely you can get Bluetooth speakers and a transmitter pretty cheap, and it would be wireless.

 

[K_W]

Headphone splitter and a small boom box or soundbar. That will let you have sound in the both rooms, although you will have to turn up the volume to counter the higher impedance and lose some dynamic range, but nearly any soundbar or boombox will sound better than the speakers on a flatscreen, especially a second teir brand.

 

[WebSnyper]

For cables and tv mounts, etc, checkout monoprice.com if you can wait a few days to get it.
Their prices are in excellent.

 

[Brian Ski]

Headphone splitter and a small boom box or soundbar. That will let you have sound in the both rooms, although you will have to turn up the volume to counter the higher impedance and lose some dynamic range, but nearly any soundbar or boombox will sound better than the speakers on a flatscreen, especially a second teir brand.

I am leaning that direction. I have a lot better tv for the house and as soon as I hooked it up I realized the speakers in a flat screen are really poor quality. I will have to look at the specs but maybe a sound bar that has external analog outputs would work.

BTW another question for those who know. If you connect a sound bar, is the volume adjustable with the tv remote or are you getting ANOTHER remote to adjust the sound???

 

[Cameramonkey]

Another "return it" opinion. Its Westinghouse. Its the Hi Point of TVs. Go with a reputable brand like Sony, Samsung, or even Vizio.

My mom bought one and she returned it but for different reasons. It was crap.

 

[churchmouse]

Its a $150 flat screen.
What are you expecting from it.
Cmonkey is correct.
You bought a HiPoint.
Take it back and get a good one with the options you want.
My Sony has all the outputs inputs anyone would need.
No knock but it is a cheap flat screen.

 

[K_W]

I am leaning that direction. I have a lot better tv for the house and as soon as I hooked it up I realized the speakers in a flat screen are really poor quality. I will have to look at the specs but maybe a sound bar that has external analog outputs would work.

BTW another question for those who know. If you connect a sound bar, is the volume adjustable with the tv remote or are you getting ANOTHER remote to adjust the sound???

You can use the TV to control the volume if you are using a headphone jack. Most TVs if using dedicated audio out RCA's a lot of times they are TV volume independent, but not always.

All of our recent bedroom TV's have been hooked up to a pair of computer speakers and we used the TV remote to change the volume.

The rule of thumb I used to set the speaker and TV volume is turn the TV between half to three-quarters of the way up and then turn the speakers to your desired volume and then control it from there using the TV remote.

You want to avoid maxing out either the TV or Soundbar volume or you'll get distortion and you may lose a lot of the difference between loud and soft noises.

Audio amping is hard to explain, but think of it like this... Say your TV can only produce sound from 0 to 100 if you set the volume of 3/4 up, the difference between the highest powered signal and 3/4 volume signal is less and the loudest sounds cant get louder, they either get their peaks "clipped" off before they reach your amp and/or they get distorted. So it is better to set your TV at about 50-65% so their is plenty of "range" between between quiet and loud sounds and yet super loud sound still have room to get super loud without getting clipped and the receiver does the work with a cleaner fuller signal.

You can see what I mean and hear it also in this video
that explaims a similar effect when comparing original 1980's CD to a modern pressing of the same CD. The song will be the same but the newer CD will be louder but have less difference between something like a background track and a snare drum vs the old version.

In the video your TV sound at 65% into the amp would be like the original CD and 100% like new CD.

https://youtu.be/3Gmex_4hreQ

 

[Brian Ski]

Another "return it" opinion. Its Westinghouse. Its the Hi Point of TVs. Go with a reputable brand like Sony, Samsung, or even Vizio.

I have a nice one for the house and it still does not even have analog audio out. I guess I don't have the cash to dump $1000 on a tv for the garage like you guys do, and it still won't have an Analog out. Yea I can spend more for something better but for the little I have it it works well. And if it gets hit with a bunch of dirt and over spray oh well. Just trying to find a cheap way to ad speakers to it.

 

[Brian Ski]

Its a $150 flat screen.
What are you expecting from it.

Here are 2 of the recommended brands for 3 times the price, and they still do not have analog outputs. Like I said I am looking for a cheap way to put external speakers on a cheap tv. On a tv that is going to be exposed to the elements. Even when you get a $500- $1000 tv the first thing you do is drop money on a $100-$500 sound bar.

Samsung 40" Class (40" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - Smart - HDTV Black UN40J6200AFXZA - Best Buy

Sony 40" Class (39.5" Diag.) - LED - 1080p - Smart - HDTV Black KDL40W650D - Best Buy

 

[Brian Ski]

The rule of thumb I used to set the speaker and TV volume is turn the TV between half to three-quarters of the way up and then turn the speakers to your desired volume and then control it from there using the TV remote.

You want to avoid maxing out either the TV or Soundbar volume or you'll get distortion and you may lose a lot of the difference between loud and soft noises.

I follow you, I usually run the amps at 3/4 or so.

I do have a pretty nice home stereo that I can run it at 100%. It was the first amp I have ran across that can be ran that high without any clipping at high power.

Thanks for the info.

 

[HamsterStyle]

We have been happy with our Vizio soundbar. Watch amazon especially on the open box deals under the warehouse. They can be had rather inexpensive. We use the fiber optic output for it and it works just fine. I think you can find them for 50ish bucks. Ours came with the cable.

 

[Brian Ski]

Its a $150 flat screen.
What are you expecting from it.
No knock but it is a cheap flat screen.

BTW I miss my tube tv already. At least I can clean the screen with carb cleaner when it gets filthy. Even that tube tv from the 90s I think it was one of the last ones, it had the optic out instead of the Analog audio out. I opened it up and soldered leads right to the speakers. I guess that is an option also.

Like I said in the first post. I am not expecting a lot form it, I just want to know a cheap way of hooking up a set of speakers. I don't need a 7.1 dolby surround. Just a couple extra speakers across the shop.

I just hate to put a lot into a tv that is going get randomly hit with metal grindings, dirt, oil etc. Not even sure how a flat screen will hold up to the temps. I think the max's on the thermometer has been 109 to -14 so far. When you walk in and look at the digital thermostat and it says LO. (I don't keep it heated all the time.) I usually do a lot of work in the garage, its not a girly garage.

 

[Brian Ski]

We have been happy with our Vizio soundbar. Watch amazon especially on the open box deals under the warehouse. They can be had rather inexpensive. We use the fiber optic output for it and it works just fine. I think you can find them for 50ish bucks. Ours came with the cable.

Do any of them have an analog output? RCA jacks?? I looked at a few and most looked like they have optic and RCA inputs but not outputs. Thx

 

[churchmouse]

BTW I miss my tube tv already. At least I can clean the screen with carb cleaner when it gets filthy. Even that tube tv from the 90s I think it was one of the last ones, it had the optic out instead of the Analog audio out. I opened it up and soldered leads right to the speakers. I guess that is an option also.

Like I said in the first post. I am not expecting a lot form it, I just want to know a cheap way of hooking up a set of speakers. I don't need a 7.1 dolby surround. Just a couple extra speakers across the shop.

I just hate to put a lot into a tv that is going get randomly hit with metal grindings, dirt, oil etc. Not even sure how a flat screen will hold up to the temps. I think the max's on the thermometer has been 109 to -14 so far. When you walk in and look at the digital thermostat and it says LO. (I don't keep it heated all the time.) I usually do a lot of work in the garage, its not a girly garage.

I had some great tube TV's but they just wore out. They were also heavy as all get out.
The 60" we have in the family room has decent speakers but for easy on the ears we run the sound through the Yamaha surround.
The Vizio I put in the living room for the G-kids is pretty amazing. It is a smart TV and much smarter than I am.....

 

[churchmouse]

I just hate to put a lot into a tv that is going get randomly hit with metal grindings, dirt, oil etc. Not even sure how a flat screen will hold up to the temps. I think the max's on the thermometer has been 109 to -14 so far. When you walk in and look at the digital thermostat and it says LO. (I don't keep it heated all the time.) I usually do a lot of work in the garage, its not a girly garage.

Did I miss out on this part..??

Not sure the amp in the TV will run a set of aux. speakers. I guess a re-read of the thread is in order...

I put one of the older tube TV's in my shop. It is never below 45* in there. To many things I do not want to freeze or sweat. No girly shop by any measure.
It has A/C but rarely ran. 2 24" pedestal fans.
My daughter has a sound bar and it is amazing.

 

[Brian Ski]

Did I miss out on this part..??

Not sure the amp in the TV will run a set of aux. speakers. I guess a re-read of the thread is in order...

I put one of the older tube TV's in my shop. It is never below 45* in there. To many things I do not want to freeze or sweat. No girly shop by any measure.
It has A/C but rarely ran. 2 24" pedestal fans.
My daughter has a sound bar and it is amazing.

First post tv for garage... But it was kind of long winded. Garage is detached. 4+ car. Worse part no room for cars. Yea I would prefer stuff not freeze or sweat either, but sure don't care to heat it all the time. Trick I learned is when it is warm outside and cold in the garage do not open the door long. Let it warm gradually. It keeps the moisture off the tools.

Actually what I did was run the wires from the speakers inside the tv to a small old radio shack amp (tape input) and ran that to the speakers. Has been working well for years. Until I wanted to upgrade to a tv with hdmi inputs.

I learned years ago what a grinder will do to a glass. At least within a few feet.

BTW had the tube tv on a shelf by the cieling. I don't how the heck I got it up there. About killed my self getting it down with a ladder. Had to be well over 75 lbs.

I guess one reason I picked a westinghouse is wife bought one (flat screen) years ago and it still works fine. A lot heavier and thicker than the new ones. Still use it in the family room for the video games. Will have to see how long it holds up. Just like to get some speakers to hear it better across the shop. Nicer to have more speakers at a lower volume than just the tv cranked up all the time.