Is it possible to get a Philips 2003 surround sound system to work with modern day devices?

J

JazzyKat

Audiophyte
Hello, my name's Jazzy.
Kind of a unique situation here, audio equipment noob and Robotics/Automation college student. Driving to work the other day before a rainstorm was a Philips MX3660D amp, a Philips sw/3660/17 subwoofer, and 4 surround sound speakers in someone's yard with a free sign. Me being the absolute nutcase that I am salvaged them into my van and brought them home. The amp and subwoofer appear to be in working condition. My questions are these.
Is there any possible way to hook my cellphone up via aux cord to the amp and subwoofer to play music that bumps? Was it worth taking given the technology is so outdated? What kind of cords would I need, and perhaps setting up procedures, to get this feat off the ground? If I were not able to set my phone up to play music, would it be possible with the correct wires and troubleshooting to make it the surround system for my television it was meant to be? (Even tho it's a 2020 TCL 4k) I have the manuals and schematics downloaded but I can't move forward until I know what kind of cords I need for the subwoofer to amp connection and possibly the speakers. Any specific advice is greatly appreciated !! I'm always looking for ways to improve my home on a budget because I have 2 kids and two teenage stepsons on a part time assembly job income. Thank you!
 
BMXTRIX

BMXTRIX

Audioholic Warlord
You have a number of ways of connecting standard audio to the unit. Be aware this isn't a proper surround system at all. A proper surround system is an Audio/Video Receiver (AVR), which has industry standard connectivity on it.

This thing is a DVD player with some internal amplification and almost no standard connectivity.

Almost, doesn't mean none.

So, the connections you must focus on are the "AUDIO IN" connections, page 7 of the manual (it looks like) shows them. These are standard red/white RCA jacks.

To connect your phone, use a headphone adapter jack, then plug in a 1/8" (3.5mm) stereo to RCA cable like this one:

They are all over Amazon for under 10 bucks.

For iPhone, the Lightning to 3.5mm headphone adapter is this thing...

Not sure what/if it is sold for your specific phone.

If you want to add Bluetooth instead and do it that way, you would need a Bluetooth receiver. These are sold all over Amazon...
A bunch under $30 are out there, read reviews.

If you want to connect your TV to this unit, it doesn't appear that there is a (once again) industry standard optical audio INPUT into the unit, so you need to convert the optical audio output from your TV to RCA stereo using a digital to analog converter (DAC) (unless your TV has a 3.5mm or RCA audio output on it already... most don't).
Once again, via Amazon...
Under $20

This has RCA audio outputs on it, so you would use a RCA to RCA cable to connect to the Phillips unit...
Under $10

A lot of this functionality is built in, and will sound better, using full featured AV receivers, but those will all cost some additional money. This may get you going into the world of audio, but be aware that the unit really isn't a proper AV receiver and lacks standard connectivity and most of all standard inputs that a AVR has on it.

If you look at the back of a standard AVR, you will see that it is all about the inputs into it. Lots of HDMI connections, but also industry standard digital optical, digital coaxial, and RCA connections for a host of different devices. They also have internal features like Wi-Fi built in as well as wired networking and have internal streaming services like Pandora and Spotify available to use. But, speakers and other sources aren't included. This way you buy those devices as you need them as opposed to what someone else figured you would need.
 

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