Here's kind of a complicated question for electronics experts....?

Question

My husband has 2 big speakers that he bought from a friend. The hookups in the back of the speakers are the kind that you stick wires into, you know the blue and black tabs where you lift up the tab and stick the wire that is running off of the main stereo into. These are the only types of jacks that are on the speakers. But since we don't have a stereo to hook up to the speakers, I would like to hook them up to my tv or dvd player. But my tv/dvd player has the jacks that have to have the red/white/yellow audio cables running from the tv/dvd player to the outside source. Is there such thing as an adapter that I can buy that can convert these kinds of cables into the kind I need for the speakers? Or will it work if I just take the audio/video cables that are coming out of my tv/dvd player and strip them and put the wires into the speakers? I hope I explained this clearly enough, it's kinda complicated I know.

Answer 1

I sure do wish people who don't know what they are talking about would STOP ANSWERING TECHNICAL QUESTIONS!!! Although this scenario won't hurt anything, one of these days these fools are going to give advice to someone that will:
A) Ruin someone's expensive electronic equipment
B) Cause someone to get electrocuted
C) Cause someone's house to burn down

END OF RANT

The last few answers are correct; without a receiver, hooking speakers directly to a DVD player/TV will not work. Components with "RCA" jacks (the red, white, yellow plugs) only deliver what is called a "line level" signal designed to feed a receiver. If your TV has provisions for external speakers, you could hook them up that way, but from what you have described, I don't believe yours does.

Since you are obviously new to home audio, I would suggest saving your pennys and investing in a cheap two channel (as opposed to surround) receiver which can be had at Best Buy for less than $100 to get your speakers working.

If you have any questions feel free to send me a message.

Answer 2

Those speakers need more than a base level signal, which is all that the RCA type cables can offer. They need actual amplification, and unless your TV or DVD player has a built in amplification for external speakers, your only option is to go out and purchase a Home Theater Receiver. Considering the types of speaker leads you mentioned, the speakers themselves aren't very expensive, so a receiver of around $200 or less would be more than adequate to drive them. A key factor however will be making sure that the impedance of the speakers and amplifier are compatible. That is determined by a marking on the speaker, usually near the connectors, and it will usually be a value of either 4,8,16, or 32 followed by the Greek Omega symbol (looks like a horseshoe with the round end at the top). Then once you know the value of your speakers, you can go to a local store and look for a receiver that has an impedance rating (Receivers can usually drive multiple different impedance loads) which your speakers match.
Yes, you CAN drive a lower impedance speaker with a higher impedance amp, and vice versa, but the outcome is either too much or too little power sent to the speakers, or overheating amplifiers depending on how loud you try to drive them.

I know this sounds confusing, but if you want a basic breakdown, feel free to email me and I will try to make it more clear for you.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

the red white and yellow cables are (not necesarily respectively) video left and right audio.

You need to figure out which is which first (usually they're labeled on the tv or dvd player and color coded). Each color of wire is actually two wires, a signal and a ground. The two wire in the left audio wire can run one speaker, the two wires in the right audio wire can run the other.

Most of those wires are made like a coax wire (a wire core surrounded by insulation surrounded by a mesh ground). These look like a single thick wire. Some are two-wire (two wires next to one another). These look like two wires insulated separately and stuck together side by side. Ideally you'd want the two-wire variety. If you've got one of those you can simply cut the end that's not going into the tv/dvd player off, strip the wires a little bit and stick the ends into the speakers. If you have the coax variety I don't recommend trying it. the mesh ground doesn't stand up to abuse well and it's more likely to fall apart than to hold together and carry your signal.

Answer 4

Connection the speakers directly to the RCA (red, white and yellow) jacks on the TV or dvd player will not work. BTW red and white is the audio and yellow the video.
You will however need to buy an amplifier that connects to your speakers and the TV or DVD player.
The TV and DVD player only have sufficient audio output to supply and amplifier. The speakers will need much more audio Watts to be able to make any sound and this Watts it gets from the amplifier.

Answer 5

You need to get a receiver or stereo to power the speakers, at least some sort of amp. The dvd player or tv does not have the power or ability to power your speakers. A cheap solution would be to buy a used stereo from a pawn shop, try e-bay, etc. See the back of the speakers for some sort of power spec., that would tell you how much watts you need to power your speakers.

Answer 6

Agree with Blue too, you need an amplifier. You probably would not fry anything by connecting the speakers to the TV/DVD output, you just wouldn't get much (if any) audible sound coming through the speakers because the signal is so low.

Answer 7

Blue's answer is correct. You would need an amplifier to drive these speakers which an RCA (red yellow white) will not have. Hooking up the RCA's to a speaker will probably fry out your DVD player. Not a good idea!

Answer 8

you should be ok to just cut the end of a RCA cable (the plugs that go into the tv) but honestly if you want to do something like that you may as well just go get a 5.1/2.1/4.1 system there not that exspensive anymore...

one other way would be if your tv has a space for headphones... if it does u can use the cable from a set of headphones... but this way will switch off your TV's sound and run it via the speakers.. which would be better cuz your tv is probably mono (one speaker) set up.

Answer 9

Lisa: The problem here is that you MUST have a receiver in the middle (so to speak). The TV, DVD player, etc are "inputs", and the speakers are your "outputs". They will not work together without a device (receiver) in the middle to amplify the signal, and allow you to control it (bass, treble, volume, etc.)

You can find good, reasonable AV (audio-video) receivers at www.crutchfield.com. Onkyo & Denon are the best.
Good Luck

Answer 10

Try using the red/white/yellow audio cables from your TV. If they dont fit or thhey don't work, I think you should just take the wires to a local electronics store and asking there.
I doubt that stripping the wires and stuffing them into the sockets will do any good. It'll just break the wires.