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Post by jcisbig on Feb 5, 2014 12:21:38 GMT -5
Hey All,
My UMC-200 is going in for an RMA, so now I'm being treated to the glorious sound from my TV speakers! Yay!
Quick question, could I theoretically run a 3.5mm (from TV) to red/white rca (to amp) cable into the back of my XPA-2 to power my tower speakers? I'm assuming that the TV volume would then control the volume for the system?
Thoughts? Thanks!
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Post by Boomzilla on Feb 5, 2014 12:23:40 GMT -5
Yes you can. Just remember that if someone turns on the TV at high volume, you're likely to get some damage.
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Post by jcisbig on Feb 5, 2014 12:31:18 GMT -5
Thanks boomzilla!
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Feb 5, 2014 12:45:15 GMT -5
Is the 3.5mm output on your TV designed to drive headphones? If so you may not like the result as the level could be high enough to cause distortion.
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Post by jcisbig on Feb 5, 2014 12:58:26 GMT -5
Hey DYohn,
I'm not sure if the 3.5mm on the back is for headphone use or not, but the level is very high. I have to have the volume turned down to almost nothing to achieve a low to moderate listening level through the XPA. I'm not planning to run things through the XPA most of the time since there's a wife and kids around who might forget to turn things down! So we'll be using our TV speakers most of the time until I get the UMC back. But every couple days I'd like to be able to listen to some decent music and for that I'll run it through the XPA. It's not as good as using the UMC 200 of course, but it's a whole lot better than TV speakers!
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Post by paintedklown on Feb 5, 2014 13:08:14 GMT -5
I would advise that while this idea technically works, you may be risking serious damage to your speakers by doing so. Even the level of distortion coming from an ipod headphone output has been known to damage (destroy) speakers. Please be cautious when doing this. Personally, I would simply live with tv speaker sound for a bit, just to be on the safe side. Good luck!  |
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Feb 5, 2014 14:07:08 GMT -5
Hey DYohn, I'm not sure if the 3.5mm on the back is for headphone use or not, but the level is very high. I have to have the volume turned down to almost nothing to achieve a low to moderate listening level through the XPA. I'm not planning to run things through the XPA most of the time since there's a wife and kids around who might forget to turn things down! So we'll be using our TV speakers most of the time until I get the UMC back. But every couple days I'd like to be able to listen to some decent music and for that I'll run it through the XPA. It's not as good as using the UMC 200 of course, but it's a whole lot better than TV speakers! What is your normal source? Are you saying that normally you connect the TV audio output to the UMC-200? |
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Post by Percussionista on Feb 5, 2014 15:02:05 GMT -5
Quick question, could I theoretically run a 3.5mm (from TV) to red/white rca (to amp) cable into the back of my XPA-2 to power my tower speakers? I'm assuming that the TV volume would then control the volume for the system? As per others be very careful if you do, turn volume to zero first. I have actually tested connecting a pair of Stealth-6's directly to the headphone out from our bedroom TV since I would otherwise would have had to run them first through a surround processor (the tv only has toslink out). The sound was incredible!! (I turned off the TV speakers in the setup menus). I was not able to turn the volume up a lot - at most to the 12th increment, so be careful if you try this. The increments of volume increase on the native tv speakers via the volume control are likely to be much smaller than when going out the HP jack. Be careful - do not fry your tweeters! |
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Post by aud on Feb 5, 2014 18:04:50 GMT -5
I would advise that while this idea technically works, you may be risking serious damage to your speakers by doing so. Even the level of distortion coming from an ipod headphone output has been known to damage (destroy) speakers. Please be cautious when doing this. Personally, I would simply live with tv speaker sound for a bit, just to be on the safe side. Good luck! I'm with paintedklown on this one. |
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Post by jcisbig on Feb 5, 2014 21:54:58 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies guys. I will live with the TV speakers for now. No need to damage anything by being impatient!
Thanks!
Oh, and DYohn, no, I don't usually run my audio out of my TV to my UMC. I plug all my sources into the UMC and only run video out of it to the TV via HDMI.
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Post by jcisbig on Feb 6, 2014 12:09:41 GMT -5
Would plugging my Android phone straight into the XPA-2 also introduce unwelcome distortion like the TV would, or is that different?
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Post by jcisbig on Feb 15, 2014 12:08:57 GMT -5
I'm still hoping to get an answer to the question I asked just above about plugging my phone directly into my XPA-2. Would that introduce unwelcome distortion just like my TV would?
Also, another question that's kind of related to this issue:
I've often thought about picking up some Airmotiv speakers for another room in my house or my work office. If plugging my TV audio into my amplifier (XPA-2) is not a good idea, would plugging my TV into a different amplifier (Airmotiv) still be a bad idea? If so, can someone please list an acceptable range of sources that WOULD be ok to plug into an XPA-2 or Airmotiv speakers?
Thanks!
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Post by jcisbig on Feb 17, 2014 12:12:42 GMT -5
Bump.
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Feb 17, 2014 12:20:33 GMT -5
No one is saying it is not acceptable, only that it might not produce optimal results. You'll always get better results using a preamp, but as long as you create a line-level signal you can plug it into any line-level input and see what happens. The point I was making is a headphone output is not a true line-level signal and that can cause issues. Bottom line: use a preamp.
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Post by jcisbig on Feb 17, 2014 13:01:33 GMT -5
DYohn, from some of the comments above it sounded like certain things were very unacceptable, and would result in damage to my speakers?
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Feb 17, 2014 13:05:09 GMT -5
DYohn, from some of the comments above it sounded like certain things were very unacceptable, and would result in damage to my speakers? If there is a bad level mismatch that causes lots of high frequency distortion, yes you could blow a tweeter. But the solution to that, if you want to try it, is start with very low volume level and slowly turn it up. If you start to hear distortion, stop and turn it off. It's one of the many dangers of trying to drive an amplifier with a headphone level signal. Like I said, you really should just use a preamp, or wait for your UMC (which is a preamp) to come back. |
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Post by garbulky on Feb 17, 2014 13:25:01 GMT -5
I'm assuming your TV changes the volume on your headphone output? Because if it doesn't then it could send a fully turned up in volume signal to the power amplifier which could damage your speakers.
As to the android phone. YES it will work. No it's not ideal. A lot of these devices don't have stellar distortion specs. For instance my iphone sounds pretty aweful after halfway volume. Amplifying it through a 500 watt amplifier would increase this distortion even more and risk damaging your speakers.
So the idea will work, you may not have any damage (or you may). It's just not the very best idea. (I wouldn't do it).
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Post by jcisbig on Feb 17, 2014 13:29:32 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies guys.
Does all of that work exactly the same when dealing with active speakers like the Airmotivs? If I were to run a 3.5mm to RCA cable from a phone or laptop into them, what would be the right way to listen to music through them whilst minimizing the chance of introducing unwelcome distortion?
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Post by garbulky on Feb 17, 2014 13:32:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the replies guys. Does all of that work exactly the same when dealing with active speakers like the Airmotivs? If I were to run a 3.5mm to RCA cable from a phone or laptop into them, what would be the right way to listen to music through them whilst minimizing the chance of introducing unwelcome distortion? What you are asking leaves almost no other options. So with no other options but that, I would run the phone at half volume or less and use the gain knobs on the airmotivs to get them into an acceptable range. Then control the volume with the phone just don't go above half volume. I think the risk of damage with airmotivs is less but it cannot be ruled out. |
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Post by yves on Feb 17, 2014 13:37:24 GMT -5
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