Hooking Sub to TV - Headphone port....

[Narsil]

Hey, I've been waiting for enough spare disposable income to buy a new surround sound setup for my TV (after my old receiver kacked it years ago), when suddenly it dawned on me that the subwoofer for my old system is active, and I got the idea that maybe I could use it in conjunction with the built in speakers on my TV to at least get 2.1 audio for now.

It's just a cheap Westinghouse Roku TV, and alas, the only outputs are HDMI, Optical, and 3.5mm Headphone. The sub only has a single RCA input, so I assume HDMI and Optical output are out of the picture without more equipment. I tried connecting it through the headphone port with some old adapter cables I had lying around, and it works, it makes sound, however, as I kinda predicted, when I connect ANYTHING to the headphone port, the built in speakers in the TV immediately cut out.

I had a look through the Roku system settings, not much there. I did find an audio setting that was set to 'auto', and I tried changing that to built in speakers, but it still cuts out (in fact, the menu basically says this when I'm changing the settings).

I think this is a dead idea, but I thought, just in case, I'd ask.

Does anyone know of a way to trick the TV into pushing sound out to both at the same time? I've heard use a splitter, but the splitters I have anyways cause the speakers to cut out, even with nothing connected to the splitter. Maybe a specific type of splitter?

I'm also thinking of looking at how expensive it would be to adapt from Optical or HDMI out, however, I assume I'll have the same problem, probably won't want to put sound out the built in speakers.

I'm guessing I'd be better off to just go by a sound bar with sub that will connect with HDMI, but I'll probably just wait till I'm ready to do a new surround system.

 

[DVDdoug]

I'm also thinking of looking at how expensive it would be to adapt from Optical or HDMI out, however, I assume I'll have the same problem, probably won't want to put sound out the built in speakers.

An adapter will probably work without cutting-off the speakers. But most of those "little adapters" can't decode Dolby so you'll have to make sure your TV has a setting to put-out PCM stereo.

Does anyone know of a way to trick the TV into pushing sound out to both at the same time?

Usually not. There's a switch bult-into the socket and sometimes that's a direct-switch that disconnects the speakers.

P.S.
The sub probably has a low-pass filter but you won't have the high-pass part of the crossover for you main-TV speakers.

Also, without a surround decoder you don't get the "point one" LFE channel and the sub will only get the "regular bass".

 

[Narsil]

An adapter will probably work without cutting-off the speakers. But most of those "little adapters" can't decode Dolby so you'll have to make sure your TV has a setting to put-out PCM stereo.


Usually not. There's a switch bult-into the socket and sometimes that's a direct-switch that disconnects the speakers.

P.S.
The sub probably has a low-pass filter but you won't have the high-pass part of the crossover for you main-TV speakers.

Also, without a surround decoder you don't get the "point one" LFE channel and the sub will only get the "regular bass".

Ok, thanks for the info, I really appreciate it