HDTV external speaker question?

Question

Hello, I had a question about using external speakers with an HDTV. I have an Insignia NS-LCD32, and I was interested in using external speakers, instead of the TV's bult in speakers for better sound. I had my eye on some Sony bookself speakers ( http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8289167&type=product&id=1172277277943) at Bestbuy. But I'm not sure what is involed in the whole hookup prosess.

Can you just hook the speakers up to the optical audio jack? Or do you need a subwoofer, or some other equipment. I don't really care about the whole surround sound thing. I just want some external speakers for better, loader sound. I would think you could just hook the speakers right up to the TV, but I've been wrong about things in the past. Thanks for any help you guys can offer.

Answer 1

If you don't want surround sound, you still need to have a stereo receiver to hook up from your TV output via RCA cable ( red & white ).

Answer 2

No you can't drive a speaker with optical audio output.

The simplest way is to buy a pair of powered speaker. Connect audio line-out ( usually RCA type) from TV to a powered speaker's RCA line-in.

Example:

http://www.jumbotvdepot.com/DVD_Players_...

note: powered speaker = speaker with built-in amplifier

Answer 3

You will need an amplifier to power the speakers.  The easiest way is to get you a pair of amplified (i.e. active or powered) speakers, and then you can just plug them into your HDTV's audio outputs for better, louder, more full-range sound.

Here are some examples linked below...

H a p p y

L i s t e n i n g !

Answer 4

well I will actually answer your question! If you have a HDTV and

and you want to use external speakers then you need a stereo receiver and 2 speakers. run a rca cable from the audio out on your tv to the audio input of your stereo receiver. you can use any input really as long as it says (audio). video 1, video 2, cd,

doesnt matter as long as its connected to ((audio input)).

turn on stereo receiver and select the input on the fron of the receiver that you have used. hook up speakers and your done.

wait theres more!! If you want digital sound instead of analog,

locate the optical digital audio output on the back of your receiver , connect a fiber optic cable from the output of tv to input of receiver. you can purchase a fiber optic cable at any radio shack,bestbuy, or walmart as well. if your tv is a sony then you will need a sony receiver or they may not be compatible digitally as sony products do not interface face well in the digital realm with other components as they use spdif (sonyphillipsdigitalinterface) and most other brands use standard digital code. make sure your speakers run at the same impedance as your receiver you can find the impedance  by looking at the back of your speakers and receiver . impedance is measured in ohms and will look like this (8 ohms) or (6ohms) etc match 8 with 8 . or 6 with 6 etc.

do NOT mismatch impedances this is dangerous and can destroy electrical equipment and circuits etc. many receivers can be used with 6 or 8 ohm terminating impedances (speakers in this case) and must be switched manually to each impedance. I recommend kenwood and yamaha as the better choices from 20 years of my experience in this field.

Answer 5

This is very gray area in my experience.  Everything I work with involves a digital output.  My cable box has audio output.  My DVD and PS3 all have audio output.  And you also need some kind of amplifier or receiver for your speaker to transfer the sound.  Everything I have hooked up now is through HDMI, and if you have an HDTV I would suggest getting something with HDMI input and output to utilize what your tv has to offer.  Just plugging into your optical may not work, at least it didn't for me.

If your not interested in surround, I suggest getting a 2.1 sound system.  It's basically just the 2 speakers left and right externally.  I don't think it has a subwoofer, but I haven't researched the 2.1's much.