home theater system not equipped with headphone output port

[cellist]

My home theater system does not provide output ports for any sort of attached audio device. At certain times of day and under certain circumstances, I'd like to play a dvd or listen to the FM radio without the sound being audible through the system's external speakers. So I want to connect to my wireless headphones RF transmitter, which has input connections for either headphone cable or RCA cable.

Would it be feasible to connect the theater system's speaker cable wires to some sort of device that would pass the signal through to an RCA audio out, to which I could then connect to the RF transmitter? The device would need to be able to switch its output between RCA out and connectors for the normal speaker cable wires. If such a device is feasible, but no such device is commercially available, would it be the sort of project that a total electronics newbie (that would be me) might aspire to undertake?

TIA.

 

[Martaine2005]

Hi cellist,
Yes, there are some ways around this situation if you are capable (no insult) of taking a part and soldering etc.
What unit have you got? It could be as simple as a connector to output RCA's.

Martin

 

[Gryd3]

My home theater system does not provide output ports for any sort of attached audio device. At certain times of day and under certain circumstances, I'd like to play a dvd or listen to the FM radio without the sound being audible through the system's external speakers. So I want to connect to my wireless headphones RF transmitter, which has input connections for either headphone cable or RCA cable.

Would it be feasible to connect the theater system's speaker cable wires to some sort of device that would pass the signal through to an RCA audio out, to which I could then connect to the RF transmitter? The device would need to be able to switch its output between RCA out and connectors for the normal speaker cable wires. If such a device is feasible, but no such device is commercially available, would it be the sort of project that a total electronics newbie (that would be me) might aspire to undertake?

TIA.

It most certainly could be.
Take a look at some car audio shops, they often sell a device which you connect in parallel to your car speakers / speaker outputs that provides a line-level output for use with after-market audio amplifiers. A device such as that connected to an FM transmitter sound like all you need. (With the addition of a switch to turn off the external speaker.)

If the car audio guy doesn't know what you are talking about, just tell him you want to run a sub-woofer, but don't have a line-out on your car stereo xD
If they still don't know . Show them this : http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Auto-...5?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item2a158d6c7b
You can get these as Active (powered) devices, or as passive devices.

 

[swagguy8]

the back should have a line out, if it is a proper receiver unit. use a flashlight and search around.

 

[Gryd3]

Hi cellist,
Yes, there are some ways around this situation if you are capable (no insult) of taking a part and soldering etc.
What unit have you got? It could be as simple as a connector to output RCA's.

Martin

the back should have a line out, if it is a proper receiver unit. use a flashlight and search around.

Haha. I jumped to a more complicated solution than necessary...
Most certainly look for a line-out first... before you go buy that line-level converter I posted about...
You can quite easily take a line-out and simply adapt the plug type to connect to an FM transmitter... no level conversions required. (You'll still need a way to kill the audio to the external speakers though... Luckily enough, most Line-Out feeds are a constant volume and are not influenced by speaker volume, so you could simply turn the speakers all the way down and continue to listen through the FM signal you are now broadcasting.)

 

[cellist]

@Martaine2005 The headphone RF transmitter is a Sony tmr-rf985r. It has red and white audio in and a 2nd
audio in that accomodates a headphone-type of cable. The main unit is an ht-f5500w. I'll attach a pdf of the
specifications page from the manual, if the forum permits attachments. And no insult take re soldering. But
you've correctly picked up on my newbie-ness. I'm an old fart whose first (and only) electronics project was a
Heath Kit (probably you've never heard of) alarm clock 40 years ago. I learned about soldering then. It worked
for many years, so I guess I got it right!
@Gryd3 & swaggyguy There is no line out. VERY proprietary! I'll attach a diagram of the back panel from the
user manual, if the forum permits attachments. As for the car audio shop suggestion, I'll see what I can find out.

After posting here, I talked to the sales guy where I bought the home theater. He thought I might try the TV audio output (with the TV switched to the HDMI from the home theater) into the headphones transmitter. But even if that worked, surely it would only work for the sound from the dvd player, right? Not the sound from the FM tuner, which is a lot of what I'd want to use it for in "quiet mode" Or, only from the dvd player if it was playing a video?

Hmmm, I don't see a way to attach a file. Maybe I need to upload it. If I find a way, I'll upload it.

Thanks.

 

[cellist]

home theater main unit specifications and diagram of front and rear panel uploaded.

 

[Martaine2005]

Hi cellist,
the simplest and cleanest method would be one of these Here.

But have a search on Ebay etc as they will be found a lot cheaper.

Martin

 

[cellist]

Hi cellist,
the simplest and cleanest method would be one of these Here.

But have a search on Ebay etc as they will be found a lot cheaper.

Martin

simple and clean is good! not to mention, safer. (Given my limited experience and 40 years of not using one, in my hands a soldering iron might very well be a lethal weapon.) Thanks for the info.

So at this point, I need to find a way -- short of purchasing that VHD-H2HSAs puppy -- to verify that the home theater unit will pass the audio output of playing an audio cd and of the FM tuner through the HDMI.

 

[Martaine2005]

You would put this unit between the HDMI out and any other equipment. Or simply on the HDMI out.
HDMI carries digital audio so the unit converts it to analog and out the RCA's.
Some have a switch too for 5.1 and 2 channel and headphone out also.
That type would better suit you.
Whatever you play will come out of HDMI out..It's there for recording / amplifying etc.

Martin