DAC required?

[Brian M]

Hi, my uncle has SurroundSound speakers installed in his living room that are wired with a 5-color male AV cable. They were plugged directly into his cable receiver box but he recently upgraded to a new one which does not have AV inputs. He was told he needs a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) but does not know which one to get, or which input to connect it to. Tried to attach pics but of course, file too large. Help? Thanks much!

 

[lovinthehd]

Specific make and models of the gear involved would be helpful, particularly as to what gear the 5 rca cables were plugged into along with the old cable box (which could have a dac already built in). Sounds like you had a combination of what are called component video cables (blue green red jackets usually) along with a pair of stereo rca cables (often red/white). I'm guessing your new cable box has only an hdmi output and maybe optical/coax for audio (all digital connections).

 

[sterling shoote]

Hi, my uncle has SurroundSound speakers installed in his living room that are wired with a 5-color male AV cable. They were plugged directly into his cable receiver box but he recently upgraded to a new one which does not have AV inputs. He was told he needs a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) but does not know which one to get, or which input to connect it to. Tried to attach pics but of course, file too large. Help? Thanks much!

Multi-channel DACs are expensive, very expensive. Typically, folks get surround sound from DACs in an AVR or Pre-Pro, either can be connected to cable box via HDMI.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Hi, my uncle has SurroundSound speakers installed in his living room that are wired with a 5-color male AV cable.

This sounds like it may have been part of a proprietary surround sound system instead of a world-wide industry standard system... Or, it could be banana plugs. Or, it could be something completely different.
It is important to be very specific if you don't know what you are looking at. Take a photo, then post from your phone, or post a link. Find a photo online of the connections, then list the specific make/model of the speakers which are in place in the room. Specifics, specifics, specifics! This way we can help you get really accurate information that is actually useful.

They were plugged directly into his cable receiver box but he recently upgraded to a new one which does not have AV inputs.

This is very unlikely. VERY. It's okay though.
Cable companies don't provide surround sound systems. He very possibly had a home theater in a box kit, and it may have been super proprietary, as I said before.
Specifics matter.

He was told he needs a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) but does not know which one to get, or which input to connect it to. Tried to attach pics but of course, file too large. Help? Thanks much!

You will want to find a way to get pics online and linked. What you are talking about sounds like it could be a few different things that are going on and any answers are just going to be complete guesses from whoever provides them. Myself included.

That said, a DAC is a digital to analog converter. It makes no sense to need this or do this at all for most setups.
If you have a proper 5.1 surround sound setup, then you should purchase a proper 5.1 surround sound A/V receiver with industry standard connections, and industry standard HDMI inputs on it. This way, you plug the speakers into the receiver, and then plug your sources into the receiver, and you get surround sound. There are tons of videos showing how to do this and plenty of reading about it on the Audioholics website.

 

[Eppie]

Hi, my uncle has SurroundSound speakers installed in his living room that are wired with a 5-color male AV cable. They were plugged directly into his cable receiver box but he recently upgraded to a new one which does not have AV inputs. He was told he needs a Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) but does not know which one to get, or which input to connect it to. Tried to attach pics but of course, file too large. Help? Thanks much!

Picture resizing is a pain but necessary. I wish they would simply add a server side script to automatically shrink picture files. On PCs I resize with irfanview. On mobile I use the Photo & Picture Resizer app. Shrink by 50%. Or use Tapatalk on mobile to access the forum.

 

[Brian M]

Ok, these are the pics I was given. They are component cables and it seems like there must have been another audio receiver they were plugged into previously between the speakers and the old cable box. I’ll go over there and try to get more info, and will reply. Thanks for the responses!

 

[Eppie]

Ok, these are the pics I was given. They are component cables and it seems like there must have been another audio receiver they were plugged into previously between the speakers and the old cable box. I’ll go over there and try to get more info, and will reply. Thanks for the responses!

Yes, those are analogue component cables, 3 for video, 2 for audio. I think what we need is the make and model of his audio video receiver (AVR) so that we can look up the connections on the back panel, unless he has one of those all in one 5 speaker systems. Need to see the best possible connection for video on the amp.

FYI, he's only getting simulated surround using stereo audio cables. If the speakers are separate from the AVR might be worth looking into an inexpensive AVR with a digital TV/cable input and true surround.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Okay, here the right answer:
You showed us the OUTPUTS of cable box and the ANALOG Cables which were used to connect to old cable box.
So, the answer depends on what input you have on the SurroundSound speakers system.
If it has digital inputs, then you don’t need a dac, just new cable.
If. That system doesn’t have any digital inputs then , Yes - you Do need a dac. Easiest would be to have spdif optical input and 5.1 outputs.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Ok, these are the pics I was given. They are component cables and it seems like there must have been another audio receiver they were plugged into previously between the speakers and the old cable box. I’ll go over there and try to get more info, and will reply. Thanks for the responses!

Brian - In fairness here, a LOT more information needs to be provided. The make a model of the speakers in use, the equipment that is currently in use. The equipment that WAS in use. There are a lot of descripting words which I understand you may not know how to use and can be confusing, so I'm not going to knock a new guy on things like that. It is reality, and we can help you learn enough to figure it all out. But, we need a lot more information to ensure you get the proper answers.

The cables, as shown, appear to be video cables. They carry legacy component video from a source devices, like an old cable box, or Blu-ray Disc player, to a television, or through an AV receiver. They are basically useless these days. That's because they are analog cables, and we are in a world which is pretty locked into the digital connection of HDMI.

If you have a source which is 100% HDMI (typical) and you need to get analog audio out of that source to feed a set of stereo speakers (or similar) using analog audio, then you may need to get a HDMI audio extractor. This device is a version of a DAC that's specifically designed to take the digital audio off of a HDMI cable and give you stereo red/white analog audio connections. I use these all the time.

It depends largely upon what sources you are using in the system, what your audio capabilities are in the room, and the TV itself which is in use. If cables are run behind the wall and you need new cabling, then this all may come into play. A system installed 10+ years ago may have component video cables in place that simply need to be abandoned in favor of the new standard, which is HDMI.

 

[Leemix]

Blu-ray is HDMI, i think even DVD players were HDMI mainly.(in europe at least, the US kept using component for longer)