Stereo Solutions!

[fidgiegirl]

Ok, I know there are some stereo-heads on here, hoping you can lend a hand.  I can research some stuff if I at least have a starting point, but I don't even know what to call different components and their ports.  It would be nice to use some of these items but wondering if it's even possible.  Last we had them hooked up, we used them for CDs only, and some attempts at radio, but that didn't really work completely correctly.  My DH has a medium sized CD collection - not sure if we'd get rid of it, but we could digitize it.  I am also really digging Pandora but just the laptop speakers or my iPhone speakers are not a real full-bodied music experience.  So I guess I'd like to at least use the speakers somehow to play Pandora . . .

I am skeptical of getting rid of this and starting over, because then the next thing goes obsolete, too (like the Apple connector that just changed).

Any ideas?

The Speakers

Untitled by fidgiegirl, on Flickr

CD player and receiver

Untitled by fidgiegirl, on Flickr

Back of CD player

Untitled by fidgiegirl, on Flickr

Back of receiver

Untitled by fidgiegirl, on Flickr

[kudy]

Is the receiver set up anywhere near the usual laptop location? You can easily attach the speakers to the receiver (in the black and red clips), and then buy a very affordable cable (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=665&seq=1&format=2) to output your laptop sound (from the headphone jack) to one of the RCA inputs on the back of the receiver.

Digitize the CDs, play Pandora, etc. and the computer becomes your audio source, outputting through the better speakers.

[pepper]

That receiver and CD player should be just fine and will probably sound much better then most cheap setups you will find targeted at the computer or ipod/iphone.  The CDs will sound better played from the CD player rather then digitized and played from the computer or the iphone.  Computers and phones don't have particularly high quality audio sections. 

As kudy already mentioned you can hook up the laptop using a 1/8 microphone to RCA cable and you can use the same cable to hook up your iphone (or ipod) if you want to play from that.

Here is the manual for the receiver if you are interested or have questions about the speaker hookup or anything else.
http://www2.yamaha.co.jp/manual/pdf/av/english/AFR/RX300U.pdf

[fidgiegirl]

You guys!  I am so pumped!  Thank you!!!!!

[fidgiegirl]

Ok!  Some of initial elation has tapered, and I thought of two more questions.

Good ideas for making the speakers wireless?  I opened the Pandora's box of Internet Research on this topic a few months ago and got super confused.  Can it be done?  Good ways to do it?

Why might the OTA radio not have come in right before?  Would a new antenna do it?  We haven't tried to hook that up here.  It could have been the walls or something in the other house, right?

THANKS again!  :D

[trammatic]

AFAIK, wireless speakers start to get expensive quickly.  You might be better off getting a blutooth amp/speaker combo.

An antenna would definately help get stronger radio reception.  Your best bet is if another radio nearby gets the station (boombox/alarm clock).

[grantmeaname]

If your laptop, tablet, or other music-playing device has bluetooth, you can buy one of these and connect to the receiver as a bluetooth device. You still would need wires between the speakers and the receiver, but you wouldn't have to physically plug the computer into the receiver at least.

[fidgiegirl]

Ok, giving up on wireless speakers.

I went digging in the cord box:

Untitled by fidgiegirl, on Flickr


Untitled by fidgiegirl, on Flickr

Will this antenna do anything?  Aren't AM and FM antennae shaped differently or something?  Or am I thinking of old rabbit ears for TV?

Can I use the yellow/black/3.5mm cord?  Or is that a computer cord?  We think it might be from the Playstation, but I didn't know if the colors were interchangeable or if yellow will only do video.

That other little adapter looks promising, eh?!  It's got all the right colors - now just to find the RCA cords . . . they have to be around somewhere . . .

I can certainly buy a cable (heck!  it cost all of $0.61!).  But trying to see if something we have will work.  There are enough cables in this house as it is!

:)

[kudy]

That cable looks like it will work, I say plug it in and give it a try.

[Ozstache]

I'm the gadget setup guy in my family, so I may be able to help.

As was previously suggested, the speaker wires plug into those red and black connectors on the back of the receiver. Connect the left speaker to the left red and left black speaker connector and do the same for the right side and right side connectors.

The cable you are holding up looks like one from a digital camera, with the black wire being mono audio and the yellow one for the picture (video), so I don't think it will work for connecting your computer up to the receiver.

To get your CD player connected up, you need an RCA to RCA cable (red/black or red/white) to go between the two units and going in to the CD input on the back of the receiver. An RCA plug looks like the cable you are holding up except is the same at both ends and is red/black or red/white, not yellow/black. Yellow is normally video.

The antenna looks like an AM one. FM antennas are usually just a couple of feet length of a single strand wire.

[fidgiegirl]

The antenna looks like an AM one. FM antennas are usually just a couple of feet length of a single strand wire.

Aha!  That might be why the receiver never tuned to my favorite FM station very well at the old house.  If it obtain one of those, we might be able to get radio.  DH can listen to football, I can listen to news, we could listen to classical.  Radio wasn't that important because we could have streamed anything we wanted if we got the phones set up, but it will save on our phone battery and load on the wifi.  Plus sometimes we get buffering problems, though not very often.

Going to set up this bad boy today!  Thanks all for your help!  Now just to find the rest of the cables from when we moved, like the the one to hook the receiver and CD player together.  We must have it, they were hooked together before . . .

[fidgiegirl]

Well, guess what.  The antenna says AM on it!  :)

I am currently enjoying Pandora Classical Christmas through the nice speakers.  We had everything we needed in order to set it up - just didn't know it.  Thanks mustachians for taking the time!  We didn't have to spend anything to do it, nor get rid of our nice equipment.  The only thing I might still get, maaaaaybe, would be an FM antenna.  Although in the spirit of mustachianism I bet I could find one to make.  :)  Thanks again, all!

[pepper]

Great to hear you got it all hooked up.

As for an FM antenna, if you have rabbit ears (for tv) you should be able to use that since FM is part of the VHF spectrum (same as low tv channels).  You might already have one of these or can pick one up at a thrift store or garage sale.   Alternatively you can make your own, there are lots of great designs on the internet.  Here is a really simple one: http://musser.us/mus-arc/y-ongoing/FMantenna/FMantenna.htm

Have fun and enjoy the music.

[DoubleDown]

I'll let the experts correct me, but I believe an FM antenna is often nothing more than a length of copper wire, possibly even (but not necessary) forked at the end. So try attaching any old length of copper wire about 3' long to your antenna hookup, adjust to optimize reception, and I'll bet you'll be good to go!

[fidgiegirl]

This thread on another website has been the most helpful so far.  When DH gets home, I'm going to have him help me find the spool of speaker wire, and we can split it to make the dipole antenna.  I feel so dang smart after this thread!  Thanks for giving me a place to start from, all!

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message951181/pg1

[fidgiegirl]

You know, someone could make a side business out of this . . . helping people use their existing quality equipment with modern alternatives that weren't around when the equipment was invented.  Charge some $$ for your time, keep some of the common uber cheap cables on hand, voila.  A lot of people could be very happy to get some more life out of their equipment.

[Daley]

I'll let the experts correct me, but I believe an FM antenna is often nothing more than a length of copper wire, possibly even (but not necessary) forked at the end. So try attaching any old length of copper wire about 3' long to your antenna hookup, adjust to optimize reception, and I'll bet you'll be good to go!

You're actually pretty close there, DoubleDOwn. A quarter wave whip antenna for general FM reception is about 75cm or 30 inches give or take, IIRC. Technically, ideal antenna length depends on the chunk of frequency being tuned, which is why a telescopic antenna is so handy. A single length of wire can be sufficient as a whip antenna, but better reception can be had with a dipole (rabbit ears), instructions to which have already been posted.

[fidgiegirl]

IP Daley!  Love the new site!  You should add an RSS feed subscription button somewhere!  Thanks as always for your advice.

[Daley]

IP Daley!  Love the new site!  You should add an RSS feed subscription button somewhere!  Thanks as always for your advice.

Thanks, and thanks for reminding me! It does have an RSS feed, but you know what they say about the shoes of the cobbler's children being the most neglected and all that. I should probably give the thing a tweak and supply a visible RSS feed link.

[fidgiegirl]

Yes, I did subscribe manually with no problem.  Looking forward to future posts.

[fidgiegirl]

Just wanted to make a further report that the little RCA --> 3.5mm adapter dealy was the most useful find in the cord box, and I never had known it was there!  It is also enabling us to use some really nice wireless headphones I bought at our old tiny house for TV watching at this house for laptop watching!  I wondered if we'd ever be able to use them again.

What a little knowledge doesn't do?!

[strider3700]

on the back of the receiver it looks like you have a coax jack  for the FM antenna.  you can but a coax balun which looks like this http://www.summitsource.com/images/products/CO320P.jpg for a couple of bucks at walmart then attach a length of copper to one of the screws. Or if you have cable you can just hook it up to a the cable.  all of our local FM stations are on the cable.

[grantmeaname]

If your laptop, tablet, or other music-playing device has bluetooth, you can buy one of these and connect to the receiver as a bluetooth device. You still would need wires between the speakers and the receiver, but you wouldn't have to physically plug the computer into the receiver at least.

I went ahead and ordered one of these as my christmas present to myself (whoa, big spender over here). It's working great, and the range is really impressive -- I never would have guessed it would work from the next floor up.

If you're looking for a cheap, kludgy way to add a bit more functionality to your audio set up, I'd highly recommend this.