Connecting Philips MFB 541 to amplifier?

[T Somerville]

Hi, I need some help from the more knowledgeable..

Ive just purchased a set of Philips MFB 541 active speakers in beautiful condition.

Ive never used active speakers before and I was wondering the best way to connect them to my vintage amplifiers?

In my living room I currently have set up a technics turntable with either a Sansui 661 or Sony TA 88 and I would like to add in these Philips speakers

Just wondering the best way to go about it as neither of the amps I own have a main in/pre out function.

I know I can add a pre amp from the turntable directly to the speakers but I want to control the speakers with my amps

Cheers Ty

 

[wmgwizard]

You could use some kind of "line output converter" that will connect to the speaker outputs of your receiver and drop the signal to something the Phillips' can use.

The quality of such devices varies wildly so best to hope someone who has one they are satisfied with chimes in.

 

[Beobloke]

You can plug the speaker output of either of your amplifiers straight into the RH541s with the right leads. Set the sensitivity switch to ‘Medium Power Amplifier 7.5V’.

 

[wmgwizard]

That'll work !!!!

Good eye Beobloke, I didn't even notice that till I expanded the picture.

 

[bowtie427ss]

If you can just find proper fitting raw din plugs, you can find the wiring diagram/schematic online to verify proper pinout, and make your own leads.

 

[T Somerville]

You can plug the speaker output of either of your amplifiers straight into the RH541s with the right leads. Set the sensitivity switch to ‘Medium Power Amplifier 7.5V’.

But won’t that double amplify? The speaker outputs of my amp will be amplified then if I plug it into the speakers then it will be amplified again. Is that correct?

 

[Dswankey]

@T Somerville

I think you're getting ahead of the situation, as @bowtie427ss mentioned you're going to need to find some DIN connectors as these where what they used.

Fwiw I believe these were marketed and sold with a matching pre-amp



First pic is the OEM connects that came with the speakers, 2nd pic just give you an idea of how they connect.

I'm not that knowledgeable about the connects but you're gonna have to figure away to connect them to either the Sansui or Sony.

If it were me I would do some research on how and then figure out if you'll be over amplifying

 

[bowtie427ss]

Service manual: https://www.audioservicemanuals.com/p/philips/philips-rh/13374746-philips-rh-541-service-manual

Images might be cleaner here, easier to navigate: https://www.manualslib.com/manual/909782/Philips-22h541.html?page=9#manual

Looks like pins 3 and 5 are L+ & R+, pin 2 is common/ground.

The service manual shows a cable(P/N 20337) that has the 5 pin din on one end and two 2 pin din speaker connectors on the other end, as well as a few other cables. If you can find a proper fitting 5 pin connector(you'll need 3 of them) you could duplicate that cable omitting the 2 pin speaker connectors for bare wire ends.

You need the other two 5 pin connectors to make the interconnect that goes between the Philips speakers. Same as the cables Dswankey posted above.

 

[Beobloke]

But won’t that double amplify? The speaker outputs of my amp will be amplified then if I plug it into the speakers then it will be amplified again. Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct, but they are designed to operate like this and if you don't have a line-level preamplifier output available, then that's the only way to do it.