Quick Speaker Connection Question

[Phil Taylor]

Well actually -- not knowing what cables you already have and exactly how far you want to run them -- I don't know exactly what you need or how many of them. So - just lay out your cables and connectors and fill in the blanks.

BTW - prudent choice - MonoPrice has way better prices than RatShack or Wallyworld.

 

[aville44]

honestly... im not 100 percent sure. prolly not even 50. lol. lets see...

im going to need to somehow join the tv output with the xbox 360 output, then split it to 2 sets of speakers... right?

well heres what i have: i have plenty of rca a/v cables. i have a Y splitter for the tv output. i have my speakers.

right now i have all 4 speakers playing my tv's sound, and its working great. all ive done with this is take the speakers and plug them into the Y splitter. thats pretty simple. But im not sure how to get the xbox 360 in on this.

i dont have anything to place the xbox 360 into the speaker system. i need a cord or splitter to do this

 

[Adam]

i dont have anything to place the xbox 360 into the speaker system. i need a cord or splitter to do this

You are very close to being there!

In post #8, the things that I mention in items 4a, 4b, and 5 were meant to handle this situation.

You could go about it by using the AUX inputs, too. I think that route would be more tedious than what I mentioned in the last sentence of item #5 (of post #8), though.

 

[aville44]

ive ran into another problem. i need to somehow extend the distance between the speakers. but the cord that connects them is only so long, and theres not really a way to do it make it longer. so how could i do it?

 

[Adam]

ive ran into another problem. i need to somehow extend the distance between the speakers. but the cord that connects them is only so long, and theres not really a way to do it make it longer. so how could i do it?

You could splice in an extension cable. The cable that runs between the two speakers should have two conductors inside of a plastic sheath. The conductors are probably braided copper wire. If you were to cut that cable, you could strip off the plastic sheath near the ends and then put another two-conductor wire in between to make the whole thing longer.

That's the general idea. Let us know if you have questions about how to go about doing it.

 

[aville44]

ok thats what i was thinking about doing. how would i do it? i know how to cut it, but i dont know what kind of wire to use to extend it, and i dont know how to join it together

 

[Adam]

Doing a Google search on "how to splice speaker wire" brings up a number of good references. Here's one, and here's another. There are others out there. I would give you instructions, but those sites already have them all written down.

 

[Phil Taylor]

The left speaker is connected to the right with a black and white speaker wire of rather thin guage - I'm guessing 18ga. Just use a length of speaker wire (or any two conductor wire of at least the same diameter) and making sure you keep the polarity correct (be sure the wires you connect keep the black/white | pos/neg) relationship - and cut the wire and extend it with the added wire.

The quick and simple way to join the wires is to twist the ends together and wrap the connections with tape. Or you can use butt-splice connectors, wire nuts etc. However you do it just be sure you keep the phase correct and the connections insulated with tape.

 

[Adam]

Ah, you put another question in your post regarding what kind of wire to use. Any wire that has two conductors would work. The original wire on your speakers is probably pretty thin, so you don't need anything real thick. You could use speaker wire if you have some around, an old power cord from a lamp or other device, or outdoor electrical cable.

Connecting them together can be easy. You could twist together the old braided cable and the new extension cable (one conductor at a time, of course) and then isolate each conductor with tape. Electrical tape (the black stuff) is best, but I've used regular desk tape without any issues.

EDIT: I swear that Phil is my twin or something.

 

[Phil Taylor]

EDIT: I swear that Phil is my twin or something.

Great minds think alike

 

[Adam]

Great minds think alike

Scarily, I almost posted that in this thread yesterday.

 

[aville44]

where could i get the wire at?

 

[Phil Taylor]

where could i get the wire at?

RatShack or Wallyworld should have it.

 

[aville44]

RatShack or Wallyworld should have it.

haha. ok ill stop by tonight

 

[aville44]

hey guys. i havent got a chance to buy the stuff yet. we're moving, so its caos around here. and i lost all the stuff i needed to buy offline, i had it saved to my favorites but i had to format the laptop... so its gonna be alot of fun finding what i need all over again

 

[Phil Taylor]

hey guys. i havent got a chance to buy the stuff yet. we're moving, so its caos around here. and i lost all the stuff i needed to buy offline, i had it saved to my favorites but i had to format the laptop... so its gonna be alot of fun finding what i need all over again

Wow - that's gotta suck... sorry dude. The good thing is all the advice we gave you is still here in this thread so just browse through it and glean the tidbits you need. Sure hope you get things sorted out. I know moving is not much fun at all... from personal experience... hang in there...