TV audio output - which tone settings give the purest, most unmodified signal?

drew3945

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Hi all,

I'm using a TV as my Hi-Fi signal source. I use a separate hi-fi amp, fed by the TV's headphone output. (This is the only audio output the TV has.) This setup means I have two sets of tone controls: (a) the ones I can access via the TV's setup settings, and (b) the tone knobs on my separate hi-fi amp.

If I choose to use the tone controls on my separate amp, how should my TV's tone settings be set? Should the TV's bass and treble controls both be set at: (a) 1, on a scale of 1 to 9, - or (b) 5 on the 1-9 scale - or © 9 on a 1-9 scale? Which of these 3 options gives the most unmodified signal?

I ask this because I presume it would degrade the signal if, say, I boost the treble and bass via the TV's tone settings, and then 'unboost' the treble and bass via the separate amp. Am I right?

Many thanks

Al

 

SergeAuckland

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Hi all,I'm using a TV as my Hi-Fi signal source. I use a separate hi-fi amp, fed by the TV's headphone output. (This is the only audio output the TV has.) This setup means I have two sets of tone controls: (a) the ones I can access via the TV's setup settings, and (b) the tone knobs on my separate hi-fi amp.

If I choose to use the tone controls on my separate amp, how should my TV's tone settings be set? Should the TV's bass and treble controls both be set at: (a) 1, on a scale of 1 to 9, - or (b) 5 on the 1-9 scale - or © 9 on a 1-9 scale? Which of these 3 options gives the most unmodified signal?

I ask this because I presume it would degrade the signal if, say, I boost the treble and bass via the TV's tone settings, and then 'unboost' the treble and bass via the separate amp. Am I right?

Many thanks

Al
Not knowing what the TV is, I would expect that a flat output is achieved with the settings half-way. So, set the TV's bass and treble to 5, then adjust to taste using the amp's tone controls.

S

 

cjr

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Drew, have always found the best output from the digital LPCM SPDIF connection on a TV. then sent to a DAC, MD deck (acting as a DAC) or to an amplifier with in-built DAC section. Are you sure your TV does not have a toslink digital output?

 

Radioham

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Does your tv have a scart socket as you should be able to get audio out from there.eBay or maplins have a scart to phono adaptor.

 

drew3945

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Drew, have always found the best output from the digital LPCM SPDIF connection on a TV. then sent to a DAC, MD deck (acting as a DAC) or to an amplifier with in-built DAC section. Are you sure your TV does not have a toslink digital output?
cjr, Thanks for the reply. The only audio output on the TV seems to be the headphone output. Please see my scan of the relevant handbook illustration: http://www.aalife.com/rcacon.jpg

- - - Updated - - -

Does your tv have a scart socket as you should be able to get audio out from there.eBay or maplins have a scart to phono adaptor.
radioham, Thank you for this interesting suggestion. Unfortunately (and surprisingly) the TV has no scart socket. :-(

 

drew3945

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Not knowing what the TV is, I would expect that a flat output is achieved with the settings half-way. So, set the TV's bass and treble to 5, then adjust to taste using the amp's tone controls.S
SergeAuckland, Thanks for the help. What you said is what I suspected, but wasn't too sure.

 

vacdac

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Hi again Drew,

Had a squiz at t' schematic fer your Technika TV & remembered from your previous thread, that you seemed to be tied in to using the h/phone output. :( Yeah it seems you are rather hamstrung in terms of connectivity/flexibility. Although given their miss-labeling of the h/phone output as an input mebbe it's worth checking the stereo audio RCA's labelled as an in input
rcacon.jpg
If your TV had offered a scart output I could have offered to send you a Scart to 2ch Audio*(*on RCA/Phono's) cable of a decent length that I have in my spares drawer & would be happy to donate to a good home. This is what Alan*(RadioHam) suggested, but I see no Scart connectors here?? :(

TBH I'm rather surprised re the total omission of Scart as in many cases some of the cheaper PVR boxes most likely to be paired with cheaper tellies like these, may not feature HDMI connectivity. Like I say then worth trying the RCA/Phono two channel connection shown here.....although I suspect that it is in fact an input to get sound INTO the TV alongside a composite or component video feed.

TBH there is prolly some milage to be had from reconsidering your current upgrade steps & getting a more recent model s/hand TV that has better audio connectivity & would offer you far better flexibility for any future upgrade choices.

However there is actually a far simpler solution staring us all in the face here. :^ Why not get a separate Freeview/Freeview HD set Top box that offers both HDMI & Audio outputs preferably on both flavours i.e. analogue on RCA's + digital via either flavour of SPdif* (Toslink/Optical or RCA/coaxial.

Feed the TV via HDMI & either use the RCA outs on the STB/PVR or for better SQ get a Fiio D3 Taishan DAC. >>> .http://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-192KHz-Digital-Analog-Converter/dp/B005PWPUW6/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1383559960&sr=1-1&keywords=fiio+d3.

31zvTE3f6LL.jpg
Using one of these would bypass your PVR/STB's audio output via its analogue output stage & there's no doubt this would offer an improvement. Both of these options I've just discussed should also offer a hoooooooooooooj improvement over your current arrangement, which is far from ideal as line level into an external source is obviously the better option. If you think about it what you are doing now is 2 amplified stages in series, which in terms of best SQ possible, sounds like a recipe for disaster. Just zero the volume on the TV set itself & preferably for best SQ use the device at the end of the chain to control volume, although thinking on this the PVR/STB's vol. control will prolly be easiest/most convenient. If you ever get to the point of DAC/Pre + a better set of actives, full output into the DAC/Pre & using the DAC/Pre's vol control would offer the best SQ.

I have an i-pod Classic I use for out & about which I use with a little Fiio E05 mini h/phone amp. Rather than hook it up from the i-pods h/phone output using a 3.5mm stereo minijack connection I use an L.O.D.* for exactly this reason, (*Line Out Docking Cable) which fits to the docking port on the i-pod. This allows a proper line level output & sounds a lot better, not to mention a huge improvement in battery life for when I'm on the move. :cool:

ATB Bud

C.

 

Chumpy

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It is not yet April 1st.

Do what suits you from a random-tellie with no track-record of fine sound.

Fine sound from alternative tellie-sources is cheaply available - e.g. cable, or possible satellite.

Quite likely, moby-smartie has great sound if one is aurally impaired.

 

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