Since I had my Sonos network going (with occasional problems like Friday's power glitch) for several years before getting an OWLink HDMI network going, I haven't much used the HDMI's audio feature.
But this has always been a pain for several reasons. One is that I have many possible audio sources in Kitchen, and Yamaha receiver doesn't output an analog tape out if the input is digital (such as from Dish box). I have a small 3-way audio selector to select from receiver, Dish, or DVD player to go into the Kitchen Sonos box. But if I am in bedroom, it's a pain to have to get out of bed and go to kitchen to change Sonos input source selection. And worse if, as sometimes happens, a bad cable or such means I have to keep going back and forth to get problem debugged. I think I had a bad cable problem this afternoon; after re-inserting the Dish cable into the selector box a formerly dead channel came back alive. Or perhaps the problem is in the box itself...
In previous post I suggested boxes which can extract the audio from an HDMI signal. But such a box isn't entirely needed, most TV's have audio output that can be connected to stereo. (Yes, I can think of some advantages in having a separate box, but on with the story.)
So with Jazz Traditions from Dish playing, I finally had motivation to try the TV-to-stereo connection in bedroom. That would also make showing movies and Dish in bedroom much easier.
But to be sure I wasn't introducing a ground loop, I needed to find an audio isolation transformer. That meant digging in incredible snarled audio cable box, which took about 90 minutes. As I pulled cables out, I re-wrapped them and used ties or size 33 rubber bands I recently purchased at Office Depot. Until recently, I didn't have a good stash of rubber bands. I always bought those "assorted" bags of rubber bands, which are worse than useless. They always seem to be filled with the most useless sizes, with just a few of the right sizes. As the right sizes get used up, you spend more and more time digging to find a useable rubber band or useable tie. Now you see why my cable box was so disorganized. Size 16 rubber bands look good also for heavier cables, and I got a bag of those too.
Finally I found a Radio Shack isolation transformer, which I put into service with a 6 foot Radio Shack audio cable, connecting the (Samsung 550 series) TV to my Tact analog input, removing the now unused FM tuner connection on Input 1.
I plugged in w/o attenuator first, and it was much louder than Sonos connection, so that worried me. It doesn't say in Samsung manual what the audio output jack level is, I figured it might be 2V, and the Tact analog input only permits 1.6V (intended for old fashioned 1V sources) before clipping. But all I could find were 3dB Harrison Labs attenuators, apparently all my 6dB attenuators are already in use. Well 3dB would probably be enough, but to be sure I got out Fluke 86D peak holding multimeter and tried measuring. On Jazz Traditions, the output wasn't getting much higher than 0.37V for awhile, so I tried some other Dish channels. The loudest one seemed to be a Spanish speaking one, which hit 0.8V.
OK, so probably the output from the Samsung is 1V max, that's safe with older equipment. But I thought it sounded better and more level matched with 3dB attenuators, so I kept them in. From the TV, the signal goes through one 6' Radio Shack cable, an attenuator, a barrel connector, and then the cable for the Radio Shack isolation transformer. The reduced level probably helps with the cheap isolation transformer. It would be better with a Jensen isomax, but my only unused isomax is waiting to be used at work where my Mac Pro has already burned out an Radio Shack isolation transformer, but I figure the Jensen will be more robust.
Purist audiophiles would cringe at all of this, but I think it's adequate for satellite box or similar sources. I thought it sounded quite good, at least as good as through Sonos which has to re-digitize analog inputs.
So I should get more 3dB and 6dB attenuators, and another Isomax.
Now I need to connect DVD player using HDMI instead of DVI, and connect living room TV to the stereo in living room in a similar way. Then I won't have to fiddle with Sonos when watching satellite TV and DVD's.
But this has always been a pain for several reasons. One is that I have many possible audio sources in Kitchen, and Yamaha receiver doesn't output an analog tape out if the input is digital (such as from Dish box). I have a small 3-way audio selector to select from receiver, Dish, or DVD player to go into the Kitchen Sonos box. But if I am in bedroom, it's a pain to have to get out of bed and go to kitchen to change Sonos input source selection. And worse if, as sometimes happens, a bad cable or such means I have to keep going back and forth to get problem debugged. I think I had a bad cable problem this afternoon; after re-inserting the Dish cable into the selector box a formerly dead channel came back alive. Or perhaps the problem is in the box itself...
In previous post I suggested boxes which can extract the audio from an HDMI signal. But such a box isn't entirely needed, most TV's have audio output that can be connected to stereo. (Yes, I can think of some advantages in having a separate box, but on with the story.)
So with Jazz Traditions from Dish playing, I finally had motivation to try the TV-to-stereo connection in bedroom. That would also make showing movies and Dish in bedroom much easier.
But to be sure I wasn't introducing a ground loop, I needed to find an audio isolation transformer. That meant digging in incredible snarled audio cable box, which took about 90 minutes. As I pulled cables out, I re-wrapped them and used ties or size 33 rubber bands I recently purchased at Office Depot. Until recently, I didn't have a good stash of rubber bands. I always bought those "assorted" bags of rubber bands, which are worse than useless. They always seem to be filled with the most useless sizes, with just a few of the right sizes. As the right sizes get used up, you spend more and more time digging to find a useable rubber band or useable tie. Now you see why my cable box was so disorganized. Size 16 rubber bands look good also for heavier cables, and I got a bag of those too.
Finally I found a Radio Shack isolation transformer, which I put into service with a 6 foot Radio Shack audio cable, connecting the (Samsung 550 series) TV to my Tact analog input, removing the now unused FM tuner connection on Input 1.
I plugged in w/o attenuator first, and it was much louder than Sonos connection, so that worried me. It doesn't say in Samsung manual what the audio output jack level is, I figured it might be 2V, and the Tact analog input only permits 1.6V (intended for old fashioned 1V sources) before clipping. But all I could find were 3dB Harrison Labs attenuators, apparently all my 6dB attenuators are already in use. Well 3dB would probably be enough, but to be sure I got out Fluke 86D peak holding multimeter and tried measuring. On Jazz Traditions, the output wasn't getting much higher than 0.37V for awhile, so I tried some other Dish channels. The loudest one seemed to be a Spanish speaking one, which hit 0.8V.
OK, so probably the output from the Samsung is 1V max, that's safe with older equipment. But I thought it sounded better and more level matched with 3dB attenuators, so I kept them in. From the TV, the signal goes through one 6' Radio Shack cable, an attenuator, a barrel connector, and then the cable for the Radio Shack isolation transformer. The reduced level probably helps with the cheap isolation transformer. It would be better with a Jensen isomax, but my only unused isomax is waiting to be used at work where my Mac Pro has already burned out an Radio Shack isolation transformer, but I figure the Jensen will be more robust.
Purist audiophiles would cringe at all of this, but I think it's adequate for satellite box or similar sources. I thought it sounded quite good, at least as good as through Sonos which has to re-digitize analog inputs.
So I should get more 3dB and 6dB attenuators, and another Isomax.
Now I need to connect DVD player using HDMI instead of DVI, and connect living room TV to the stereo in living room in a similar way. Then I won't have to fiddle with Sonos when watching satellite TV and DVD's.
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