TV Amplifiers and attenuators

[oskarbr]

Hi all,
After searching for a while for a solution I taught I give it a try and see if anybody has a good solution.
The TV, Samsung un46b8500. At the time it was darn expensive but the sound is really lousy. 2 Tweeters firing down 2 bigger ones firing towards the metal back wall. 2x10 watt. I also got a Yamaha SR-300 soundbar. I connected them together and the sound improved somewhat but now I need to operate 2 remote controls. I have 2 different universal remotes but neither one will control the Yamaha soundbar and I tried every code that supposedly works, none of them do.
TV has 1 audio out but it is not volume controlled by the remote. RCA are only in and no headphone either. HDMI yes, but no HDMI ARC.
Now my question, what attenuator could I use to bring the TV amplifier from the speaker connection out to line-level and then bring this signal into the Yamaha. The idea is having the Yamaha at a certain volume level and then with the TV remote reducing the line level into the Yamaha to control the volume or even mute the signal from the TV remote to the Yamaha soundbar and disconnect the speakers in the TV completely.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Maybe there is toslink out? Some amps can use that directly, maybe your soundbar can too? If not, a cheap DAC can convert toslink to line level and can cost very little.

 

[oskarbr]

Thanks for your input, no toslink either.
At the time the TV was "only" $2700.-, I guess you can't expect to much for that price and of course discontinued in the meantime. Sarcasm included.
With attenuator I would have to combine first the 2 left channel, then the 2 right channel (each tweeter and the lousy bass speakers) in the TV and then attenuate the left and the right channel for stereo out. Another hurdle.
BTW Like your picture

 

[TheBatsEar]

Thanks!

Sad story tho, the cat was stung by a spicy bee. No permanent harm, but must have hurt.

As for your problem, i really don't see any option that could do what you need, let's hope someone else comes up with something.

 

[Chrispy]

What universal remotes? Both units are listed in the Logitech Harmony universal remote database....

 

[ZolaIII]

I don't think Toslink will charge that you need to still use two remotes. You could try to use phone apps for them on well single phone but it would still be two different apps or just get a mentioned Logitech remote if you still can find one (they are disconnected unfortunately).

 

[antcollinet]

Hi all,
After searching for a while for a solution I taught I give it a try and see if anybody has a good solution.
The TV, Samsung un46b8500. At the time it was darn expensive but the sound is really lousy. 2 Tweeters firing down 2 bigger ones firing towards the metal back wall. 2x10 watt. I also got a Yamaha SR-300 soundbar. I connected them together and the sound improved somewhat but now I need to operate 2 remote controls. I have 2 different universal remotes but neither one will control the Yamaha soundbar and I tried every code that supposedly works, none of them do.
TV has 1 audio out but it is not volume controlled by the remote. RCA are only in and no headphone either. HDMI yes, but no HDMI ARC.
Now my question, what attenuator could I use to bring the TV amplifier from the speaker connection out to line-level and then bring this signal into the Yamaha. The idea is having the Yamaha at a certain volume level and then with the TV remote reducing the line level into the Yamaha to control the volume or even mute the signal from the TV remote to the Yamaha soundbar and disconnect the speakers in the TV completely.

Are you saying you have direct speaker outputs available from the TV? With power level signals?


If so, you could just use a pair of resistors to reduce that to a line level - but what resistors will depend on what voltage level is coming out.

 

[Inner Space]

Are you sure about the available outlets? According to the manual it has both optical out and fixed line-level out on a 3.5mm jack. I would be amazed if it didn't have one or the other, if not both.

 

[AdamG]

Thanks for your input, no toslink either.
At the time the TV was "only" $2700.-, I guess you can't expect to much for that price and of course discontinued in the meantime. Sarcasm included.
With attenuator I would have to combine first the 2 left channel, then the 2 right channel (each tweeter and the lousy bass speakers) in the TV and then attenuate the left and the right channel for stereo out. Another hurdle.
BTW Like your picture

Are you using a cable box? If so it probably has the audio out you can connect to the soundbar and use the cable remote to control? Just a thought.

 

[oskarbr]

Thanks for all the questions
1 universal remote is a MX500. I searched lots of websites, including Harmony for the codes and got about 30 different ones for the Yamaha, none of them worked. Where as the TV was picked up by my remote very fast. Does not help much since I need both of them on the remote. Second remote was a much simpler one, my wife had it. Would pickup TV but not the Yamaha.
No cable box or any other box, I use the old Radio Shack Antenna, I get 24 channels OTA, can only watch one station at a time.
Yes, it has optical, HDMI, 3.5 but none of them are volume controlled by the remote. I have to use the remote of the Yamaha, means I have to switch back and fort between the TV remote and the Yamaha remote.
Resistors to bring the signal down to line level (Attenuator) seems to be the only option left. Since I really like to control everything with just the TV remote. Wonder what takes more standby power. Yamaha or a separate 100 watt stereo amplifier after the signal is on line level.
Thanks all for tonight

 

[Beershaun]

The only way I know to do it without a Harmony remote is a TV with HDMI ARC support.

 

[antcollinet]

Thanks for all the questions
1 universal remote is a MX500. I searched lots of websites, including Harmony for the codes and got about 30 different ones for the Yamaha, none of them worked. Where as the TV was picked up by my remote very fast. Does not help much since I need both of them on the remote. Second remote was a much simpler one, my wife had it. Would pickup TV but not the Yamaha.
No cable box or any other box, I use the old Radio Shack Antenna, I get 24 channels OTA, can only watch one station at a time.
Yes, it has optical, HDMI, 3.5 but none of them are volume controlled by the remote. I have to use the remote of the Yamaha, means I have to switch back and fort between the TV remote and the Yamaha remote.
Resistors to bring the signal down to line level (Attenuator) seems to be the only option left. Since I really like to control everything with just the TV remote. Wonder what takes more standby power. Yamaha or a separate 100 watt stereo amplifier after the signal is on line level.
Thanks all for tonight

Your MX500 has a learning function. It should be able to learn the volume commands from the Yamaha remote. See page 19 here:

Universal Remote mx-500 User Manual - Page 20 of 80

mx-500 - read user manual online or download in PDF format. Pages in total: 80.

manualsbrain.com

 

[oskarbr]

Beershaun: Thanks, No HDMI ARC on this TV. I guess to cheap of a TV.
Tonycollinet: tried that too without success.
My latest, opened TV, took the speaker cables off (tweeters) and connected them directly to the Yamaha soundbar. Not the bass speakers, I just soldered additional wires to it to find out how they would sound but left them connected to the internal speakers. They still sound muffled.
Now the sound improved a lot. The "new" tweeter bar seems to work fine even though I can't make out the impedance of the original tweeters. I tried to measure from the disconnected speakers but my meter (Fluke) is jumping around between 24 and 48 Ohm measured on the terminals where the wires where connected.
What is left? Maybe I go and connect one of the bass speakers over the additional wire to the middle speaker of the soundbar and see if it does anything.

 

[oskarbr]

Ripped off the dampening material of the speakers 16 Ohm, 2 together in parallel so 8 Ohm out of the amplifier. Soundbar has 8 ohm speakers. I leave it like that and have now external speakers for the TV.
Yamaha? probably goes into the dumpster, hardly ever used it anyway. BlueRay player connected to the Yamaha, tested it once and never used it again. Since I am more into computers, you can get pretty much everything over the internet.
The sound out of the TV is fine enough with the soundbar.
Problem solved. Thanks everybody.