An A/V Question

[Crash]

<p>This has been bothering me for a long time and I'm not sure there's an answer, but here goes...</p><p>Is there a way to connect, say a radio tuner with standard speaker wire connections, to a speaker or some other piece of equipment that uses RCA jack inputs?</p><p>I've been all over the web as well as RadioShack.com and can't find anything. I would think this is a fairly common problem, but maybe I'm wrong. There must be some kind of adapter available with speaker wire input on one side and RCA connectors on the other. Right? No?</p><p>I think it's a conspiracy. Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>

[KCfromDC]

<a href="http://www.davidnavone.com/adaptor_products.htm">http://www.davidnavone.com/adaptor_products.htm</a>

[Crash]

<p>KC,</p><p>You rock. I never would have found this. Looks exactly like what I've been looking for. </p><p>Anybody have any experience with this kind of thing? Anything I should be aware of in mixing the two connection methods?</p>

[PaulF]

<p>Those would work ok. Just do a search for &quot;line output converter&quot; Crutchfield has one for $19.99 that can handle up to 80 watts. Make sure you know how many watts the tuner is capable of putting out.</p><p>Actually, in re-reading your post, the convertors would be useful if you needed to plug the receiver into&nbsp;another stereo or a power amp. If what you really need to do is use the receiver with unpowered (the receiver will be supplying the power) speakers that have BANANA plugs -- they kinda of look like RCA jacks, but are longer and bulge out in the middle like a banana, you can buy the plugs at Radio Shack. See below.</p><p><a href="http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103796&cp=&kw=banana&parentPage=search">http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103796&amp;cp=&amp;kw=banana&amp;parentPa ge=search</a> </p><p>You just need to connect the bare wires to the terminals in the plugs, and then plug into the speakers.</p>

<span class=post_edited>This message was edited by PaulF on 2-13-06 @ 6:15 PM</span>

[SatCam]

Expanding on what Paul said, the device with the RCA connector is expecting a line input. Something with speaker cable outputs most likely has an amplified output. Make sure you're not going to blow the device on the receiving end.

[Crash]

<p>The reason this came up is because I bought a set of wirelss speakers for my home tuner so I could hear music upstairs. The base unit that transmitted the signal to the speakers was supposed to connect to the line out from my tuner with RCA jacks, but the line out from my tuner is a straight speaker wire connection.</p><p>That's what's so confusing. Is technology going to RCA connections instead of speaker wire? Or did I confuse an RCA input for a banana plug connection? And if it's going the way of RCA connectors, how do you keep from blowing your speakers?</p><p>I know I'm going on about this and probably making it more complicated than it actually is, but it seems that there should be a simple solution to this.</p><p>I probably have way too much time on my hands.</p>

[SatCam]

The base unit that transmitted the signal to the speakers was supposed to connect to the line out from my tuner with RCA jacks, but the line out from my tuner is a straight speaker wire connection.

That's what's so confusing. Is technology going to RCA connections instead of speaker wire? Or did I confuse an RCA input for a banana plug connection? And if it's going the way of RCA connectors, how do you keep from blowing your speakers?
Does your tuner have any line-level output? I believe even a headphone output would do (although you'd still need to convert a phone plug to RCA (which is much more common)). Speaker wire outputs are almost always amplified, and your wireless speaker system most likely has its own amplification system contained within each speaker. I'm not sure of the risks or dangers of connecting an amplified source to something expecting a line-level source, but I do know that you shouldn't do it.

[PaulF]

<blockquote dir="ltr" style="margin-right: 0px"><p>The reason this came up is because I bought a set of wirelss speakers for my home tuner so I could hear music upstairs. The base unit that transmitted the signal to the speakers was supposed to connect to the line out from my tuner with RCA jacks, but the line out from my tuner is a straight speaker wire connection.</p>[/quote]<p>There is a difference between line out and speaker out. Line out is at a fixed (relatively low) level, while speaker outputs are drive by the poweramp and are controlled by the volume knob. This is where your &quot;watts&quot; rating of the receiver comes into play.</p><p>The transmitter of the the wireless speakers is expecting a line-level signal and DOES have RCA jacks on it. If the receiver has TAPE OUT or AUX OUT&nbsp;RCA jacks on the back and you are not using either one, then run RCA cables from this jack to the wireless transmitter.</p><p>If you don't have TAPE or AUX OUT, your best bet is to run a line from your headphone jack on the receiver into the transmitter. This will still vary as you adjust the volume knob on the receiver, but it won't put out anywhere near the power of the speaker outputs. To do this, you need a 1/8&quot; stereo plug to RCA cable. 1/8&quot; is the size of the headphone jack on a Ipod or other portable device. If the jack on your receiver is bigger, it is 1/4&quot;, and all you need is an adapter to go from 1/4&quot; to 1/8&quot;. All this is avaible at Radio Shack.</p>