I have an unorthodox set-up and a bizarre problem. [REVISITED]?

Question

I'll try to be as detailed and specific as I can.
I macguyver'ed a surround sound speaker set-up using some computer speakers wtith a subwoofer and a vcr. I have my game consoles hooked into it, with a dvd player. The audio is coming out of the tv and into the back of another audio port of a computer speaker, which has a 3.5mm jack for headphones/speakers which are split amongst the external speakers. The issue is, when there is a tape playing in the vcr, or a game/dvd playing on the playstation, the external speakers lose sound whenever there is a dark scene, but returns when the color is back. The xbox however, has no issues with losing sound with the darkness on screen. Sound comes through the tv speakers regardless of what is on screen whilst using any of the devices. Over the course of three weeks Ive been troubleshooting it and trying dozens of configs to make this problem disappear. Who has the answer to make the sound stay on throughout a session of gaming/movie watching?

I have enclosed a diagram. Please excuse the crudeness of the drawing.

http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa283/sentsurugi/diagram.jpg

Answer 1

In complex cases like this, it is always helpful to isolate each component.

So, disconnect all speakers, and connect directly the VCR to your TV. Do you get get all the audio from the VCR? Then, both the VCr and the TV are OK, and the problem is with the speakers.

Problem still there? Try the VCR with another TV, then you know if you have a VCR or TV problem.

Is it a speaker problem? Disconnect a few until there is no issue.

Continue, until you isolate the problem.

TV audio output is intended to drive ONLY an AV Receiver and not the bizarre combination of series/parallel speakers you have.
Most probably your combination of speakers puts a strange load on your TV. Pretty soon your TV's audio amplifier will probably just die.

Answer 2

this is a very odd problem. Have you tried to replace the tv,or the vcr? Or try this first, instead of using the audio outs of the tv, most vcrs have a audio out, try to use those instead, this will cut down on possibilities, if it still does it, i would venture a guess that it is your vcr, if it doesn't I would say it is something with the tv, if you try a new vcr and it still does it, try to hook up the dvd player directly to the tv, it could be a bad dvd player? try to hook the devices up to the tv one by one to narrow it down, of course, the vcr and dvd player might not have learned how to get along and so it will only happen when the two are in the same room.

hope this helps
there should be a link somewhere on the page to email me with any questions that you have if this doesn't solve your problem