Configurationg HELP!!!

[rays1074]

Ok, so I am having a heck of time trying to figure out how to do this.

Right now, I have a pair of Cerwin Vega VE12 speakers hooked up to a receiver. This receiver is getting its input from the Digital Audio out port from the back of the TV.

Here is where I get confused.

I am currently looking to add a pair of Cerwin Vega VE15's and a amplifier. The problem I am having is trying to figure out how on earth to hook up all 4 of these speakers so that they are all getting output from the TV.

The TV only has two external audio output. These are a digital audio output and a line out jack, which I think is a 3.5mm jack.

The amplifier I am getting has the following as inputs: XLR, 1/4 inch TRS and RCA input connectors.

I only care about putting the amplifier to the VE15 speakers. The VE12 sound ok on just the receiver and I intend on using them as rear speakers

SO.....how do I get my VE12 and VE15 speakers to all get input from my tv?? I cant figure it out. Complete noob here.

 

[Adam]

Welcome to the forum!

What receiver do you have? If you have a surround sound receiver with a set of pre-amp outputs for the front channels, this is how I'd do it:
1. Connect the TV output to the receiver (like you have it)
2. Connect the amplifier to the receiver using the pre-amp outputs on the receiver and the RCA inputs on the amp
3. Connect the front speakers to the amplifier
4. Connect the rear speakers to the receiver
5. Set the receiver up to use a "phantom" center channel (which means that it will fake one using the front two speakers)
6. Turn a surround sound mode on so that all of the speakers will get used

If the receiver has it, you can also run an auto-setup routine (which would take care of step 5).

If your receiver isn't a surround sound receiver, you can still do this. The best way that I can think of is to use a 3.5mm-to-RCA splitter, then a second pair of RCA splitters - this is so that you can connect the headphone jack on the TV to a pair of RCA inputs on the receiver and to a pair of RCA inputs on the amp. This way, the speakers connected to the receiver and the speakers connected to the amp will be controlled by the TV's volume control. If you use the optical output for the receiver and the headphone jack output for the amp, then only the amp will be controlled by the TV's volume (the optical output isn't affected by the TV's volume setting), and you'd need to change volume on the TV and the receiver to get things to match.