Speaker and DVD questions (1 Viewer)

[RandyH]

I have 2 probably simple questions/problems:
1. My home came with speaker wire built into the walls. A couple of the wires are too short to connect to my entertainment center. Can I just add same type speaker to the existing wire to lengthen?
2. My DVD Player says it is ideal to use the optical cable hook up to my reciever. My Yamaha reciever doesn't have an optical jack. Can it be converted or should I just connect without the optical?
This site is great.....thanks for the help
RandyH
[email protected]

 

[Drew Eckhardt]

1. Sure. Just stagger the splices by a few inches so that if your electrical tape comes off you don't short them out.

2. If you want to use Dolby Digital and/or DTS, you need a S/PDIF digital connection to the receiver in the form of an optical Toslink connection or coaxial digital connection.

If it has coaxial digital but not optical, you can buy a converter.

Otherwise, you need a Dolby Digital/DTS decoder. If you have 5.1 inputs on your receiver, you can buy a DVD player with it built in. If not, you'll need to upgrade to a newer receiver.

Of course, if you're content with pro-logic you can set the DVD player to down-mix to prologic and use analog connections; although that would be sub-optimal.

 

[Citizen87645]

Consider using those electrical twist caps to add to your speaker length. They won't leave the gooey adhesive like tape does and will also shield wires from making contact. I used to go so far as soldering the wires and using the heat shrink wire covers. Too much work. The caps are great.

 

[Justin Bowser]

On lengthening the cables the best way would be to solder the connections and use heat-shrink tubing over the splice. A crimp butt-connector, or the "twisties", would be easier but not as good an electrical connection.

L8r,

Justin B.