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Working with stereo sound in receiver (1 Viewer)

Josh_Slade

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Feb 18, 2003
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I was wondering if anyone could help me to get the best sound results from a system whenever I use a 2.0 input source.

I have a standard 5 speaker and 1 sub system, the receiver is a Sony STR-K402 to be exact. I have a device that gives only output in stereo using a headphone type (mini plug?)jack. No RCA, optical or coaxial outputs in the device.

So when I listen to the sound from that source, in "normal surround" mode I get mainly the center channel doing everything. No activity from the rear channels or sub. In the "digital cinema sound" modes I get alot more activity from the left and right channels. Still nothing in the rear or from the sub.

My question is can I somehow get the system to have any activity from at least the subwoofer? I have the small type speakers so use of the sub is definitely needed. I'm wondering if perhaps I have it hooked up incorrectly since I am using a standard mini-plug to RCA jack adapter, then a 1 to 2 plug RCA Y-connection going to the 2 RCA cables. Is there a better adapter that may translate the stereo mini-plug output directly into a double RCA output? I think a big problem is that I'm most likely getting mono sound with the way it's hooked up.

Any help at all on this one? I know it sounds kind of whacked but the basic idea is that I want to connect a device which only has a mini-plug output to my home theater system and get as good of sound as possible from it.
 

Ted Lee

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if i understand you correctly, you'll need to go to radio shack and get a mini-to-rca adaptor. that will allow you to send the output from your device (what is it anyway?) to the rca jacks on the back of the receiver.

note: it sounds like if you use the mini-output on your device, then the volume will not be fixed level -- in other words, assuming this device has volume control, it will control the volume to the receiver.

then, simply set your receiver to stereo (small speakers). that should allow the receiver to send all the lfe stuff to the sub.

at least that sounds like it'll work to me. :)
I am using a standard mini-plug to RCA jack adapter, then a 1 to 2 plug RCA Y-connection going to the 2 RCA cables
it sounds like you may be using a mono adaptor. check the tip of the mini-plug. if it has two black lines it's a stereo one, if it has only one black line then it's a mono one.

[edit] check out this link - it may be what you need.
 

John Garcia

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Most portable units are intended to power low power headphones off of the mini-jack only, which means the output voltage is often too low to get good signal to an amplifier. This will not get you the best sound.
 

Josh_Slade

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Feb 18, 2003
Messages
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Thank you for the suggestions. I looked at the mini-plug adaptor and it does only have one stripe so I will get a two-stripe one. I didn't know about the stripe thing on the mini-plugs, thanks for informing me about that.

Using a stereo mini-plug adaptor then will that get sound to the sub? Because in 2ch mode right now I don't get anything from the sub but I'm hoping that's just because it's transmitting in mono right now.

What I'm trying to do is get sound from my computer to the home theater system. I realize there are specialized sound cards that have digital outputs but I'm not looking for amazing DVD-quality surround from my computer (that's what my DVD player is for). The only things I'm doing with the computer are in stereo anyway, I'm just trying to get the best stereo sound from my computer that I can get.
 

DougPr

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May 22, 2003
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10
Do you have your speakers set to "small"? Some receivers don't send any sound to the Sub channel if the speakers are set to large.
 

Josh_Slade

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Feb 18, 2003
Messages
6
Ah yes stupidity wins again, turns out when I shifted the reciever a little to plug in the RCA cables the plug for the sub got pulled out. That explains why nothing was getting sent to it haha. I probably would have realized this sooner had I actually used it for DVDs or games during this time. But all is good now, stereo adaptor and all, sounds as good as I can ask for given it's coming originally from a mini-plug. Thanks for all the help.
 

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