Electronics experts!

Danny Addick

Need some help. Bought a new hd tv at Christmas but the sound was poor on the inbuilt speakers.

Was using the headphone out slot and a pair of dell computer speakers which worked really well the past 9 months until recently. The sound kept dipping in and put of the right speaker so we bought new ones (Logitech as recommended on here).

The 3.5mm to 3.5mm jack wire was providing awful feedback on these new ones so we switched that too. Now the right speakers is dipping in and out on the new set of soeakers too!

What's going on? Have I got it connected incorrectly (if so, why did it work ok for 8 months?) or is the tv broken?

BIG_ROB

This is more electronics/audio than electrics Danny mate, I'd suggest editing the title to attract the right people. Sorry couldn't be of any help.

Danny Addick

Done!

BIG_ROB

Good luck

Saga Lout

Sounds like it could be a problem with the TV. If you've had it less than a year is it still under warranty?

I had a Sony TV years ago on which one of the audio channels went down - got it sorted just before the warranty ran out.

Antse7en

Not sure if its a Samsung, but my TV sound dropped out recently too. Had to do a firmware upgrade, now all is well. It's done via USB.

T

It sounds like the TV is at fault but could be your set top box or cabling. What set up have you got? Connections to set top boxes etc? .

An only fashioned analogue jack won't give the best sound quality. You need a digital input and output for the best sound quality. Something like an HDMI in or digital optical lead out to speakers

Danny Addick

Yes it is Samsung!

Danny Addick

How can I connect the speakers to the tv with a hdmi? There's only a headphone out jack slot?

Saga Lout

Maybe this will do the trick?

ebay.co.uk/itm/HDMI-Input-to-VGA-3-5mm-Jack-Audio-Analog-Video-Converter-for-PS3-Blu-Ray-DVD-/221125582639?pt=UK_Computing_Sound_Vision_Video_Cables_Adapters&hash=item337c1c9f2f#ht_4920wt_1037

Danny Addick

Thank you for looking that up, do you think that will sort it or is there a problem with the tv?

Antse7en

Danny Addick said:

Yes it is Samsung!

Check your software version on this page, just enter the model - worth a shot seeing as it DID work - like you said.

http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/download/supportDownloadMain.do

EastStand

Sounds like maybe the jack socket on the TV is broken mate.
Have you tried jiggling the wire at the point of the TV socket? If the sound changes, maybe the sound in right speaker comes back in, then thats where your problem is.

I'm not sure about that HDMI box. You'd have to mess about with your whole setup as the HDMI is both the audio and the picture signals. You can't separate them.
So if you plugged your telly into that box via a HDMI cable you'll have no picture on your telly.
The box is supposed to be for streaming HD from your computer/HD DVD player into the telly.

Best thing to do, if you really can't hack the inbuilt speakers, is to take the telly into a repair shop mate.

Danny Addick

Thanks so much for all your help and advice. It's a silly problem but seriously annoying.

The other day it was causing all kind of feedback when I wiggled the jack in but not today! So weird.

Saga Lout

EastStand said:

Sounds like maybe the jack socket on the TV is broken mate.
Have you tried jiggling the wire at the point of the TV socket? If the sound changes, maybe the sound in right speaker comes back in, then thats where your problem is.

I'm not sure about that HDMI box. You'd have to mess about with your whole setup as the HDMI is both the audio and the picture signals. You can't separate them.
So if you plugged your telly into that box via a HDMI cable you'll have no picture on your telly.
The box is supposed to be for streaming HD from your computer/HD DVD player into the telly.

Best thing to do, if you really can't hack the inbuilt speakers, is to take the telly into a repair shop mate.

Yea, sorry that may have been crap advice. ;-)

Without seeing the whole set-up, it's difficult. What we're trying to achieve here is to get the sound out using another source other than the headphone jack. My father-in-law had a similar problem and he used a lead with a SCART plug on one end and separate audio and video plugs on the other. But this relies on the TV sending the audio out to the SCART socket.

Danny Addick

I've updated the software now. Fingers crossed it improves.

MOBY DUCK

Like Eaststand was saying - I'd also suspect it's the 3.5mm socket - they are notoriously unreliable and cause exactly the problem you've described - (odd speakers working intermittently or dropping out altogether).

Do you have a sky box/virgin box/any kind of separate freeview box that you've got connected to your TV??
If you do, that will almost certainly have an 'audio out' jack-socket that you can connect directly to your speakers with a cheap lead like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-2m-3-5mm-JACK-TO-2-RCA-AUDIO-STEREO-CABLES-LEADS-AUX-AUXILIARY-AV-PHONO-4-MP3-/150895006312?pt=UK_Computing_Sound_Vision_Audio_Cables_Adapters&hash=item23220b1268#ht_1711wt_1286

Danny Addick

Hmm, yes I do have a sky box but I also have a ps3, Xbox and DVD player connected to the tv too.

MOBY DUCK

All of those devices will have audio-out connections on the back (and probably had audio cables supplied with them).
If you're just trying to get this working as cheap as possible, search the likes of amazon or ebay for a 4-way audio selector. For around £10 you'll get a box that you can plug all your devices into, then output that selector box to your existing speakers via the cable I suggested earlier. You can then select which of your devices plays through the speakers via a simple switch on the 4-way selector box.

If you wanted to spend more money, then buying a dedicated av/processor lets you route all your devices through one box with better overal performance and sound quality. This would probably cost you around a £100 for a budget set-up, £300-£400 for a more solid system, or potentially thousands for high end equipment.

Just a generalisation, but I've found that 3.5mm headphone jacks never really survive rugged/constant use. The connectors and cables always seem flimsy and cheaply made and I would suspect that if you paid out to get your tv repaired, it could easily fail again sometime in the future. Isn't technology great eh?

BrentfordAddick

Does the sound in and out thing happen no matter what you are watching - DVD, X Box etc? If so, start by taking the 3.5mmjack out of the headphone socket. Is the sound still dodgy on the TV speaker? If so, you have a TV problem so get it back whilst it's still under warranty. If it isn't then almost certainly it's one end or the other of the 3.5mm cable. If you can remove it from the speaker end of things, replace it with another one (I think B and Q sell them).

Exactly what kind of speakers do you have?

Danny Addick

Good points BA, seems to be a tv problem as I've tried changing the 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable that connects the speakers to the tv (as well as the actual speakers themselves!) so that would suggest that it's the tv I guess? The speakers are:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003WJR482/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00

Danny Addick

MOBY DUCK said:

All of those devices will have audio-out connections on the back (and probably had audio cables supplied with them).
If you're just trying to get this working as cheap as possible, search the likes of amazon or ebay for a 4-way audio selector. For around £10 you'll get a box that you can plug all your devices into, then output that selector box to your existing speakers via the cable I suggested earlier. You can then select which of your devices plays through the speakers via a simple switch on the 4-way selector box.

If you wanted to spend more money, then buying a dedicated av/processor lets you route all your devices through one box with better overal performance and sound quality. This would probably cost you around a £100 for a budget set-up, £300-£400 for a more solid system, or potentially thousands for high end equipment.

Just a generalisation, but I've found that 3.5mm headphone jacks never really survive rugged/constant use. The connectors and cables always seem flimsy and cheaply made and I would suspect that if you paid out to get your tv repaired, it could easily fail again sometime in the future. Isn't technology great eh?

This sounds like great advice, thanks so much for going to the trouble. Do you think that's a better bet than returning the tv? And will it make the sound any worse going through the box? (Or better even?)

MOBY DUCK

Your TV's still under a year old, so if you can get it repaired or replaced under your statutory 1year manufacturers guarantee, then you might as well try that first. Since you've already replaced the cable & speakers, then it certainly sounds like your tv is the culprit.

Routing your audio feeds through a cheap selector box will probably have a slight degradation in sound quality, but I'm pretty sure that most consumers won't notice any difference.
In writing this though, it has now dawned on me that I didn't pay proper attention to your list of devices earlier.

I haven't used games consoles since the days of the snes & gamecube and was presuming that current machines would still have the standard audio-out connections (the red & white round analogue ports, or phono plugs as they're often called). Your sky box and dvd player will almost certainly still have these, but I've got a sneaking suspicion that the new games consoles only have hdmi and/or optical outputs. I'm guessing that your new tv also doesn't have the traditional phono plugs? -- which is why you're going through the 3.5mm headphone socket in the first place?

If your games consoles dont have the 'phono plugs', then you wouldn't be able to connect and route them through the cheap 4-way audio switcher box that I was suggesting earlier (the switcher box cannot convert digital to analogue signals).

So after all my waffling, the cheapest option is to try and get your tv repaired/replaced under warranty.
Next cheapest - buy an audio selector box like I was suggesting, which would work for tv & dvd, but not for your games consoles.
Next step up is the kind of thing saga lout was suggesting earlier, which can convert an hdmi input, to a 3.5mm output.
Or next step up is a dedicated av processor with enough hdmi ports to connect all your devices and output through your speakers.

My apologies if I've made this look as clear as the birds nest of cables behind your tv.

Chunes

Sounds like it's either your transpondenator or your flux capacitor

Danny Addick

MOBY DUCK said:

Your TV's still under a year old, so if you can get it repaired or replaced under your statutory 1year manufacturers guarantee, then you might as well try that first. Since you've already replaced the cable & speakers, then it certainly sounds like your tv is the culprit.

Routing your audio feeds through a cheap selector box will probably have a slight degradation in sound quality, but I'm pretty sure that most consumers won't notice any difference.
In writing this though, it has now dawned on me that I didn't pay proper attention to your list of devices earlier.

I haven't used games consoles since the days of the snes & gamecube and was presuming that current machines would still have the standard audio-out connections (the red & white round analogue ports, or phono plugs as they're often called). Your sky box and dvd player will almost certainly still have these, but I've got a sneaking suspicion that the new games consoles only have hdmi and/or optical outputs. I'm guessing that your new tv also doesn't have the traditional phono plugs? -- which is why you're going through the 3.5mm headphone socket in the first place?

If your games consoles dont have the 'phono plugs', then you wouldn't be able to connect and route them through the cheap 4-way audio switcher box that I was suggesting earlier (the switcher box cannot convert digital to analogue signals).

So after all my waffling, the cheapest option is to try and get your tv repaired/replaced under warranty.
Next cheapest - buy an audio selector box like I was suggesting, which would work for tv & dvd, but not for your games consoles.
Next step up is the kind of thing saga lout was suggesting earlier, which can convert an hdmi input, to a 3.5mm output.
Or next step up is a dedicated av processor with enough hdmi ports to connect all your devices and output through your speakers.

My apologies if I've made this look as clear as the birds nest of cables behind your tv.

I understood, thanks so much for putting so much effort into sorting out this problem. That's why this forum is so good sometimes.

Danny Addick

The tv only has a headphone out slot, you're right.

MOBY DUCK

I'd still say try and get it repaired under warranty -- but given the amount of toys you want to connect, and the poor sound quality that the tv offers on it's own anyway, you'd probably really enjoy the benefits of a budget av receiver. It's obviously another cost, and another box in the lounge, but it will mean you keep the highest quality signal running from source to screen. Connecting your hd toys via 3.5mm jacks and hdmi convertors is like Vincent Kompany having to use Danny Hollands to reach Sergio Aguero.

If you did want to upgrade, Richer Sounds offer 5 year warranties for an extra 10% of the product price, which I think is a pretty good deal. You can always fish around ebay for something cheaper, but something like these might interest you:

http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/sony/strdh520/sony-strdh520-blk
http://www.richersounds.com/product/av-receivers/denon/avr1312/deno-avr1312-blk

BrentfordAddick

Just to be clear, the sound dips on the internal speakers? Then get the TV repaired.

Richer Sounds are very good but make too much fuss about buying expensive cables.