Am trying to connect my fairly new Panasonic TV to external speakers using an old Technics amp.
Have connected the TV to the AUX socket on the amp using the red and white audio out socket on the TV but can only get one speaker to work , in fact whichever of the two cables I connect only the right speaker will work.
Am I doing something fundamentally wrong?
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Check the speakers work via an other source. Most likely one of the channels in the amp have gone bust. Check both cables work e.g if you swap L R round does the same speaker not work? This elimates the cable.
The most importanty question does it work on both channels via another source?
Have you checked the balance pot is at the central mark?
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Just connected CD player and same problem. Have tried swapping LR and still no sound from right speaker. Balance is at centre so your diagnosis that one of the channels in amp has gone bust must be correct. It is 20 years old so time for a new one
Thanks for the help Rattle - much appreciated
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what type of cables are you using? Phonos?
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Red and white audio socket = phono :).
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wouldnt be the first person I know to stuff a 3.5mm jack plug into a phono socket.
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 28 Jul 10 at 17:39
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>>>wouldnt be the first person I know to stuff a 3.5mm jack plug into a phono socket<<<
is this a true technical comment, or a coded message that would be more suited to Rattle's dating thread?
;)
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Depends if your socket is red or white.
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Its a technical message :) I think Zero must work with some very dim people to think of that :). Actually I have known a lot of people plug RJ11s into RJ45 sockets but that is a bit more obvious.
Check the fuse in the amp, sometimes the power supplies of the amp have two fuses for each channel one of them may have blown. Be careful though as those capacitors can hold a lot of current. Most likely though one of the transisters have simply failed.
Go to a car boot and get a nice 30 year old Pioneer amp for £10. You might be able to get something like an Ariston AX for around £20. Fine cheapo amps for virtually no money.
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My house clearance friend often offers me amps from deceased clearances so might be worth an ask ,they cant sell them due to wee regulations ie they need checking by a competant man and as you have to pay for disposal a max of a £10 could buy you anything
or you could buy on the bay,theres lots of cheap stuff on there
be aware that old stuff can catch fire though if its not been plugged in for yonks
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...be aware that old stuff can catch fire...
Friend had an unfortunate experience with a secondhand telly which caught light while left on standby.
The fire spread and gutted the ground floor of his house.
I imagine most of the amps on ebay are perfectly OK, but I wouldn't risk it.
A basic good quality amp can be had from Richer Sounds for £80.
www.richersounds.com/products/hi-fi-separates/separates/amplifiers-receivers
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>Go to a car boot and get a nice 30 year old Pioneer amp for £10. You might be able to get something like an Ariston AX for around £20. Fine cheapo amps for virtually no money.<
Absolutely right Rattle! I'm still happily using a 1978 Aiwa tuner amp that even looks nice when it lights up the room. All the rest of the kit isn't much younger.
Last week I showed a visiting Scots friend my Fergus Fons turntable/SME arm/Shure V15-3 and he was amazed. Then I took him to the attic where all my other old kit lies around and he said 'do you know you're sitting on a fortune here?'.
Who needs stuff that looks and sounds like a Dalek?
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My ebay receiver amp (Denon DRA435R for the geeks) hasn't caught fire yet even when running both sets of speakers.
It does have a lovely warm sound though...
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Try turning the balance control knob to and fro for a bit - if such controls are not used fairly regularly they can build up resistance and if this is the case it may well clear it.
My 1979 NAD 7300 tuner/amplifier is now a bit prone to this if I don't use it for a while.
Last edited by: Stuartli on Wed 28 Jul 10 at 22:52
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A Denon DRA435R is a 93 product not a classic hi fi product in the true sense,you have to go back to the mid 1970"s to achieve hi fi heaven
the reason i mentioned fires was due to transformers breaking down internally or capacitors exploded these problems should be ignored at your peril and i most certainly wouldnt leave these products connected to the mains whilst i wasnt at home
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>>> in the true sense,you have to go back to the mid 1970"s to achieve hi fi heaven
Ah yes... time the ScanDyna 2400 had an outing from the loft.
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im always twiddling my knobs so my old stuff doesnt crackle when i fire it up again
that scan dyna looks so right for its era doesnt it,proper engineered
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>>>that scan dyna looks so right for its era doesnt it,proper engineered.
Indeed. It's so large only comes out of the box now and again in our small house. Built like a tank with cast alloy casing. Add some 70s speakers (Altec Lansing with 12" bass units were its last partner) and the sound is perfect for my 70s rock LPs... really brings out the best sound in a relaxed way.
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followed your suggestion Iffy and bought myself a basic amp from Richer sounds.
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...bought myself a basic amp from Richer sounds...
If it's one of their Cambridge Audio ones, I think you'll be pleased with it.
Good, reliable kit which is simple to operate.
Worth getting 'branded' phono leads and multi-stranded speaker cable to go with the new amp.
The thin phonos that come with some equipment are rubbish.
For an £80 amp, there's no point in paying more than a tenner for the leads and £1 a metre for the cable.
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>>>>The thin phonos that come with some equipment are rubbish.
no point in paying more than a tenner for the leads<<<<
A tenner = 10pence?
What technical aspects of cheap phonos make them rubbish? Please explain.
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...bell wire...What technical aspects of cheap phonos make them rubbish? Please explain...
pmh,
Decent leads give better reproduction - I can hear the difference.
The technical aspects are irrelevant, I'm listening to the music, not the cable, but I suspect the greater cross-section of the more expensive leads means less resistance and therefore less degradation of the signal.
To use bell wire as an example.
The law of diminishing returns applies, so I can easily tell the difference between bell wire and £1 a metre speaker cable.
But the difference between £1 a metre cable and £15 a metre cable would be much less apparent.
If you wire standard hi-fi speakers to 10m of bell wire, the sound will be muffled to the point of inaudibility.
That is an exaggerated example, but the bell wire will lose some of the signal over two or three metres.
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I bet, on lengths of 3 metres, you couldnt tell the difference between speaker wire and bell wire. Oh you may say you can, but in a blind test you couldnt.
Its a hoax.
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...I bet, on lengths of 3 metres, you couldnt tell the difference between speaker wire and bell wire. Oh you may say you can, but in a blind test you couldnt...
Of course, I'm going to say I could, but since we are not in a position to do some auditioning, there's not much point in taking it any further.
I think it's accepted a person's hearing declines as they get older, so an older person may not be as able to tell the difference as a younger one.
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Am pleased with the Cambridge Speakers which do the job nicely. I paid £116 for the slightly dearer than basic version for which I go a slightly more powerful amp with bass/ treble control and most usefully a socket for connecting my mp3 player on the front of the amp.
I already had some proper speaker cable and phono leads which seem fine.
Out of interest I had a look at at the following HiFi site to see what they say about cables. This is what you're not understanding zero - seems clear to me:-)
www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/spkcbl_e.html
I quote:
"So what makes the average High-End Cable tick and what can be considered as "universally" good?
I divide audible effects affecting the performance of the Cable into three Orders. They are the First, Second and Third in order of Importance and sonic impact. See " The Naked Truth about Interconnect-Cables" for a more detailed description of these orders of effects.
It should be noted that depending on external and interface conditions second order effects and first order effects can sometimes change places in terms of magnitude....
I would propose, that the usual RLC parameters (as with Resistance [R] , Inductance [L] and Capacitance [C] ) should be viewed as first order effects, though not in all situations each parameter carries the same weighting.
Let's have an example for the different weighting in RLC Parameters, due to the relevant source and load impedance's. In Interconnects the source-impedance is between a few ohms and a few kilo-ohm and load impedance between 10 kilo-ohm and about 1 mega-ohm (both usually mostly resistive).
As a result the Capacitance (C) is a prevalent characteristic with Resistance (R) and Inductance (L) relegated usually BELOW most second Order Effects in their magnitude of sonic impact.
A second order effect, the Dielectric Absorbtion (DA) becomes here a first order effect in audible magnitude. So the main parameters for Interconnects are C and DA as long as R and L are kept in sane regions (see "The naked Truth about Interconnects").
The Skin effect remains relevant (but firmly in the second Order Camp) as does the Maxwell Effect (more on both later).
The limitation in bandwidth is mostly effected by the Lowpass Filter composed out of the source-impedance and the cable's capacitance. A Bandwidth of about 100 kHz is desirable for this interface to make sure that the phase-shift and frequency response drop at 20 kHz remain acceptable.
The DA will determine time-smear and distortion of the Cable together with further second order effect and the third order effects....."
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...the Dielectric Absorbtion (DA) becomes...
Yeah, well, I was going to post about the old Diabetic Extortion, but I didn't want to confuse everybody.
...I already had some proper speaker cable and phono leads which seem fine...
Sure they will be.
I don't believe it's worth paying hundreds, but using giveaway leads is like putting remoulds on a new car.
Cambridge Audio deliberately don't supply leads with their products to encourage the customer to give the matter some thought.
My 'Lotto lifestyle' includes a simple system on which I would spend thousands.
But in that dream scenario, I'd be spending just as much on room acoustics.
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Have you seen this month's what hi fi iffy with the top kit supplement? There's a set of B&W theatre speakers in there for close on £70k!! They say the same as you, you'd be spending as much on getting the room right. Not to mention amp, source, projector, screen, cables, Kia Ora lady...
JH
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...Have you seen this month's what hi fi iffy with the top kit supplement?...
Not seen What Hi-Fi for a while, but as I've got a few days off and therefore some time to read it, I might just pick up a copy.
Thanks for the info.
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>>>Cambridge Audio deliberately don't supply leads with their products to encourage the customer to give the matter some thought. <<<<
They don't supply leads to allow the retailer to sell overpriced (even at Richer prices) leads. Richer probably make a greater profit on 2 or 3 sets of leads than on an amplifier!
From Wiki.....
Audio Partnership Plc is a British manufacturer of hi-fi, home cinema and home automation products, which was founded in 1994.
The company’s brands include among others the following:
* Cambridge Audio, which produces amplifiers, AV receivers and DVD players and recorders
* Mordaunt Short, a manufacturer of loudspeakers and subwoofers.
* Opus Technologies
* Gale Loudspeakers
Closely associated with Richer Sounds due to the exclusive distribution of its many of its most well known products in the UK through the chain, Audio Partnership has produced many products over the years. However, Richer Sounds does not own Audio Partnership (although Julian Richer, the owner of Richer Sounds, owns 51% of Audio Partnership), and other distributors are responsible for the distribution of Audio Partnership products outside the UK.
Draw your own conclusions why Richer staff will tell you how good CA products are.
I am not knocking all CA products, mostly they represent good value, just be aware of vested interests.
However tinyurl.com/richervalue must reveal the true nature.
Last edited by: pmh on Sat 31 Jul 10 at 18:08
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...I am not knocking all CA products, mostly they represent good value, just be aware of vested interests...
Manufacturer and retailer try to make money from selling products.
Hardly earth-shattering news, is it?
I rate my Cambridge Audio products as good as, but probably no better, than similarly priced gear from other manufacturers.
When I bought mine, they were made in the UK, which I regard as another selling point.
I think I read somewhere CA stuff is now 'researched and developed' in the UK, but made elsewhere.
As far as I am aware, Richer Sounds is the only hi-fi store with a decent number of branches.
So all other things being equal, I tend to link to them on here, because the OP probably has a branch near to where they live.
I've always had decent service from them, but since the stuff rarely breaks down, 'service' amounts to one visit to the shop to buy the item.
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thats the "Bandwidth Outer Limit Length On X-over" effect.
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amplifiers like speakers i partially asses by weight
big magnets in speakers and they should throw above their weight without breaking down
nice big transformers for doing crescendos in the amplifiers,piddly modern electronic devices will just not do
take the top off your amplifier and post up a picture of its doings
as for speaker wire 3 amp electric lighting cable is more than adequate and available in nice long lengths on a cardboard roll at a diy store near you
phono leads ,the ones in the box are good enough for the manufacturers so good enough for me and my now imperfect ears, but one time the business ears to bore the pants of an opera singer
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Cable wars already... the forum really has come of age!
My cousin is a musician, small studio music producer, electronics engineer and an old gear nut.... very useful contact when you like buying old hi-fi. Tell him the amp power and cable run and he'll tell me the size of cable required based on the electrical needs.... I go with that and have never needed to exceed £3/m.
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...My cousin is a musician, small studio music producer, electronics engineer and an old gear nut...
What does he think of bell wire for speakers?
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>>>What does he think of bell wire for speakers?
Fine for PCs and 5w IPod amped speakers on short runs but not for 150W/ch hi-fi into 4ohm speakers with 4m cable lengths.
Last edited by: Fenlander on Sun 1 Aug 10 at 12:54
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I find all the above fascinating. Every debate on hi-fi I have seen in the past 30 years has eventually got down to whether or not you believe that electrons behave differently according to the quality of the conducting material. I don't really.
I have a pair of original Quad electrostatics here (and the rest...). You don't need big magnets at all - just big transformers. ;-)
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Connecting TV to HiFI - RattleandSmoke
