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Combining vintage stereo gear with modern digital cable/flat panels

Posted by DavidLD (A) on March 28, 2016 at 06:34:48

I got to thinking that I am on to something pretty interesting here, and maybe not that obvious. So here goes.

I know a lot of you have vintage audio gear that you would like to be able to continue to use both for music stereo and with modern TV sets. The TV manufacturers, making ever thinner and lighter screens, end up with less and less space for speakers, and sound quality of built-in speakers suffers particularly at the low end of the range.

Most of the new flat panels I looked at have an audio out in the form of a 3.5 mm mini-jack. This is something to check for, however, if you are shopping for a flat panel.

In addition, most of the boxes from the cable companies in addition to having HDMI out still have a composite video and audio out, in case you are trying to feed an older TV lacking HDMI.

As I indicated in my previous post, I am driving a JVC VR 5541 from about 1971, as well as a separate mid 80s JVC receiver. The speakers I have for each receiver are my own DIY, but they could just as well be vintage . I also have an Advent self-powered Sub 12-inch, 100 watts, dating from about 2000.

The other connected equipment I have is a Toshiba combo DVD and VHS that also plays audio CD's.

Conveniently, the VR 5541 has two separate AUX ins.

The TV also has an optical out on the back, but only if I opt for a HT surround sound receiver, I am not using that.

The first thing I did was split the mini jack audio out with a 3.5 mini jack to two female plugs. Then I Y that again and then recombine one of those for a mono line level signal that I send to the sub. The beauty of that arrangement is that the sub will play with just the TV speakers on if I want.

The other connection goes to the Aux 1 input on the 5541. The Aux 2 input on the 5541 is the audio output on the Toshiba DVD/VCR. The component video outputs on the Toshiba feed the video component video signal input on the TV. I can listen to CD's on the Toshiba w/o the TV on by simply putting the 5541 on Aux 2. I can listen either to the DVD sound coming off the TV or straight from the Toshiba depending on the Aux 1 or Aux 2 setting. The line level input on the sub is connected to the Speaker 2 terminal on the VR 5541, so yes, I can run the Advent sub with an audio CD with the TV off by simply putting the speaker setting on the VR 5541 at A+B.

Meanwhile, the cable box has composite video and red and white audio out. I send the red and white audio out to the inputs on the newer JVC. The sub is still being driven off the TV directly. The newer JVC drives a completely different set of DIY speakers, so I can switch between systems on a whim.

The TV speakers still work. They function as a center channel in all of this and I adjust the center channel volume using the TV remote. Since neither audio receiver has a remote, I set the volume manually on the receiver, and then adjust the center channel to fit.

The sound out of all of this, something of a 3.1 system if I treat the TV speakers as the center channel, is pretty awesome. I don't miss the surround sound at all. All the deep bass really complements the upscaled 4K UHD picture on the flat panel. There is probably a way to adjust the volume going to the systems using the TV or cable box remote from the cable box or TV, but then I would lose the flex of being able to control the volume of the TV speakers as a center channel.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Sonic Craft

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