Please help me figure out how to use my built-in home theatre speakers (1 Viewer)

[Ebarwick]

I have an older Sony Home Theatre (Model HCD-C-450) and I am hoping to use the built-in wall speakers of the house I recently bought. The wall plates are incredibly confusing and I'm not sure which connectors/adapters to use. The wall plate looks foreign to me, the jacks look like they require a cross between a coax and a banana plug. Could someone help me understand what these plates are and what inputs are required?

MANY THANKS!

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

I don’t know what the panel is with the cable hanging out if it is.

The othe panel has five pairs of banana plugs for speakers and an RCA jack that would be for a line-level signal to a powered subwoofer (which you do not have). The red stripe on the banana plug means speaker positive (+) connection. The black striped plug is the speaker negative (-). You can use standard banana plugs like these. You can find them on Amazon, Parts Express, Best Buy, etc.:

http://i.ebayimg.com/images/i/331183463016-0-1/s-l1000.jpg

The banana plugs on your wall panel aren’t marked, so you’ll have to connect them to the Sony one at a time to see which speakers go with which banana plugs.

The main issue is that the Sony’s built-in amplifiers are expecting a 3-ohm load. Your built-in speakers are probably 8-ohm. This will drag the Sony’s power rating from 80 watts per channel to less than 40 watts.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[Ebarwick]

WOW! Thanks so much! That helps a lot! I thought that banana plugs wouldn't work because it looks like the inside of each plug looks threaded like the connector has to be screwed in. But I will try the banana plugs. MANY THANKS!!

 

[JohnRice]

The collar around the outside is threaded, so you can use bare wire, but the center shouldn't be.