Home audio people help

**grandkodiak** · 06-12-2007, 08:42 AM

I know how to hook up most audio/video connections, but my friend asked me the other day how he could get surround sound out of his system. He only has a coax connection to a basic cable line, no cable box. He ended up buyng an all in one dvd/surround sound system, however it doesn't have a coax in, and his TV dosent have any outputs that he could mention to me. The only inputs on the DVD/sound system he could find was RCA. Now, without any outputs on the TV, and no coax input on the DVD/audio system, is there any way to extract the audio out of that coax cable line without a cablebox or TV with the correct outputs? guess I'm asking for a coax to rca adapter of some sort.

***Ed Blown Vert*** · 06-12-2007, 08:56 AM

If he is just watching regular cable TV. They don't broadcast Dolby Digital.
I have a HDTV cable box which I use to feed my Home Theater.

**grandkodiak** · 06-12-2007, 09:01 AM

granted, but he still wants to use the speakers in the system over his lil tv speakers, they are quite old i would imagine.

***Ed Blown Vert*** · 06-12-2007, 09:02 AM

He is better off getting a cable box.

**94z28l** · 06-12-2007, 10:38 PM

+1, unless he upgrades his tv or gets a cable box or some other kind of external tuner that has outputs for composite connections on it its not gonna work

**my5thNewUsernameHere** · 06-13-2007, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by Ed Blown Vert

If he is just watching regular cable TV. They don't broadcast Dolby Digital.
I have a HDTV cable box which I use to feed my Home Theater.

You can still get surround sound without digital cable, it just won't be "Dolby 5.1". You can still get the other formats, such as Dolby Pro-Logic with basic cable although it won't sound anywhere near as impressive.

Once you go digital, you need to feed the signal over optical or coaxial lines in order to get the 5.1 effect.

***Ed Blown Vert*** · 06-13-2007, 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by my5thNewUsernameHere

You can still get surround sound without digital cable, it just won't be "Dolby 5.1". You can still get the other formats, such as Dolby Pro-Logic with basic cable although it won't sound anywhere near as impressive.

Once you go digital, you need to feed the signal over optical or coaxial lines in order to get the 5.1 effect.

True, but he would still need a box or TV with audio outputs

**my5thNewUsernameHere** · 06-13-2007, 04:40 PM

Originally Posted by Ed Blown Vert

True, but he would still need a box or TV with audio outputs

Not necessary, you could use a Hi-Fi VCR and plug the cable into it and that will give you RCA outputs too. That's what I did back in the days before digital. Having it straight out of the box does work best though.

**DaveHo** · 06-14-2007, 11:30 AM

Time to pony up for a new TV.

**DrMilhouse** · 06-14-2007, 01:35 PM

Easy, cable into VCR, use VCR outputs to the TV and for sound, us the sound outputs (RCA type cables) to the input for your surround thing. If he doesn't have a vcr, get one. Otherwise, don't bother.