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Help! TV audio hookup advice...???

RunOutGroove

RunOutGroove

Addicted Member
Ok...WARNING: this one might go long!

I'm getting my trusty Marantz 2270 receiver repaired at the moment (it had a bit of a him, caps will probably be replaced) and since I just wasn't able to go without my home audio system, I broke down and bought a spare receiver, for while my Marantz is being serviced. It's a Nikko NR-500 and though it doesn't sound like my Marantz, it sounds OK and cost me all of $25.

My issue, I'm certain isn't with the Nikko receiver (I tested all of the inputs prior to buying the thing), but then I don't really know what the problem could be. This new (to me) Nikko thing works with nearly everything, the CD/DVD player, the turntable, the radio in it works. I can't get the TV to play through it though and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with this new amp. I say this because the TV is being routed through the same DAC (a Topping D50s) that the DVD player is plugged into and the DVD player works fine. I had the DVD player running into the DAC via digital RCA and the TV hooked up with an optical (Toslink) cable. Just to trouble shoot I changed the cabling around so that it's vice versa and the DVD player is hooked up via the optical cable and the TV is now hooked up via digital RCA (with a Y cable on the TV side because it's got L/R connections)... and I'm still not getting sound out of the TV. I'll also add that when I had the TV hooked up via the optical cable, the other end of the cable glowed red, as it should.

The only thing that was changed on the TV was that I briefly turned on the built in speakers (which surprisingly didn't sound nearly as bad as I though they would!) when I was between amps. I changed nothing else in the settings. When I got this new amp I turned the setting on the TV for the built in speakers off, of course. Then when I wasn't getting sound I toggled all of the other audio settings that my TV has (an Insignia Roku TV by the way) and nothing seems to work to put sound into my amp and then into my speakers. There isn't really even that much in the way of options for audio on my TV: turning the built in speakers on and off, a few modes like passthrough (what I had it set to to begin with, which worked fine), stereo, auto... and then some settings for Dolby and DST (whatever that is?). I tried every combination of these settings and got no sound happening through the amp...

I wonder what could be the issue because I've ruled out any issue with the cords or with inputs on my DAC. I've tried messing with all of the audio settings on the TV and nothing. The built in speakers work but I can't get anything going with audio out to the amp (with either digital RCA or optical cables)? I've turned everything on and off too, to get everything to reboot. Is there some sort of extra secret audio sub-menu on the TV that's not in the "Settings" menu and is only accessible by some kind of really non-obvious way... which might have a setting that would fix all of this? Any ideas?
 
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If you have L/R cables from the TV y-ed together to a digital input on the DAC that almost certainly is incorrect, if I understand what you said.

A coaxial output is a single connection, often with orange color insulation in the jack. Disconnect all that and put back the optical connection.

In the TV settings be sure the audio output is set to digital (optical if there is a specific choice).

Finally, be sure the digital output signal format is set to PCM, not bitstream, not passthrough, etc. Just PCM.
 
whoaru99 said:
If you have L/R cables from the TV y-ed together to a digital input on the DAC that almost certainly is incorrect, if I understand what you said.

A coaxial output is a single connection, often with orange color insulation in the jack. Disconnect all that and put back the optical connection.

In the TV settings be sure the audio output is set to digital (optical if there is a specific choice).

Finally, be sure the digital output signal format is set to PCM, not bitstream, not passthrough, etc. Just PCM.
Click to expand...

^^^ :thumbsup:
 
whoaru99 said:
If you have L/R cables from the TV y-ed together to a digital input on the DAC that almost certainly is incorrect, if I understand what you said.

A coaxial output is a single connection, often with orange color insulation in the jack. Disconnect all that and put back the optical connection.

In the TV settings be sure the audio output is set to digital (optical if there is a specific choice).

Finally, be sure the digital output signal format is set to PCM, not bitstream, not passthrough, etc. Just PCM.
Click to expand...
Ok... I get what you are saying about the RCA connections, but I couldn't get any of it to work with the optical cable either. There is actually no setting called PCM and the one called "stereo" comes with a note that says that this setting provides uncompressed audio output via HDMI and optical connections. The other setting, "passthrough" was what I had it set to before and which worked then but for some reason, no longer does (when I had it hooked up with the optical connection), This passthrough setting has a note with it that says:

"an HDMI connection is required to detect audio formats.

Available:
Stereo

Select 'Passthrough' to hear unmodified Dolby or DTS audio using ARC. If Dolby or DTS passthrough is not possible, you'll hear stereo

Audio Guide and UI sounds are disabled while playing media"

Other than that, the only other options are "Auto" and "Custom." The custom setting has some options for Dolby and DTS.

Just to be perfectly clear, I've tried all of these settings with both the optical and RCA connections (and I realize now that the RCA method is unlikely to work) and got... nothing.
 
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A plain old stereo DAC is not a decoder so any settings that mention output of Dolby Digital or DTS won't work.
 
whoaru99 said:
A plain old stereo DAC is not a decoder so any settings that mention output of Dolby Digital or DTS won't work.
Click to expand...
Again, I've tried it with and without those settings on. I didn't figure that it would work with those settings myself, but just to rule it out, I did try them...
 
There has got to be some setting for it. What Insignia calls it I don't know and the couple manuals I looked at (not knowing your model) were pretty weak.

Turn off internal speakers and change whatever setting it is from passthrough or auto to stereo. If you already did that, and don't see any setting to force PCM (which they may imply by stereo) then I throw in the towel.

You mentioned L/R jacks. Maybe you can forego the DAC and use plain old analog audio into the receiver.
 
Ok... I switched everything back to the way that it was, with the optical cable connecting the TV to the DAC.... AND I did a software update of the TV as well as doing a procedure that reset the audio and video settings back to the "factory settings" I cycled through all of the options for audio setup, passthrough, stereo, auto, etc and still... nothing.

I also: tried hooking it up plain analog style with with a regular RCA cord which has L/R connections. That didn't work and I didn't think that it would as when I first got the TV, I was told that there was no way to hook up the thing without a "converter box" which I later learned was a very simple DAC, which I used (optical cord into box, RCA out of box) until I got the topping DAC.

AND... I managed to find another Toslink cord and tried that...
 
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Sounds like the tv doesn't have normal analog RCA outputs. A lot of them don't so you have to look at the options before purchase. Does your cable box have left & right RCA outs?
 
cademan said:
Sounds like the tv doesn't have normal analog RCA outputs. A lot of them don't so you have to look at the options before purchase. Does your cable box have left & right RCA outs?
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Whatever they are, they don't work as digital RCA or analog, because I tried hooking them up both ways, one into a DAC and one directly into my amp. Neither one worked. The really important thing to understand is that I was able to use the optical output into a DAC since I've owned the TV (for 4 years or so). I'm really just trying to trouble shoot why it doesn't work now. I'll add here that I'm seeing the characteristic red light at the end of the optical cable from the TV, so there is some indication that the circuit is working.

coonmanx said:
I use the headphone jack with an adapter to RCA jacks. Works great and on my TV that also automatically disables the speakers.
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I pretty sure that my TV doesn't have such an output, though if it did I would try it. Not really crazy about that idea though as I know that I would be getting far better sound quality going through my DAC (that's why I have the thing!) and that's the way that I've had it hooked up before when it worked perfectly...
 
OK... Update: I drove myself a little crazy messing with this thing and in the process, I discovered that it does have a headphone out (not so easy to see with the TV on a shelf were it's impossible to see the back without pulling the thing completely out and I didn't want to deal with that). I think that when I get the TV I had inquired about hooking it up to my stereo and was warned against using the headphone jack and then I guess that I forgot that it even had one of those things. I did try that headphone jack, straight into my receiver, rather than going digital through the DAC. It works, though I see why I was warned against doing so as the sound isn't nearly as good as what I was getting before, using the optical cable through the DAC. Still, it works and for the time being, until I figure out what the problem is (I did send an email to Insignia about it) I'll live with it.

Thanks for putting up with my frustrated madness and giving me all that advice...
 
Please report back what you figure out.

Seems like there should be something in the manual about using optical out but you never know...
 
UPDATE: I just got my Marantz receiver back from getting repaired and swapped it with the Nikko thing that I was using as a temporary thing. I hooked up everything as it was before, including the way that I had my TV ruining through my DAC with a optical cable... and... it worked, just as it did before! I can't imagine any reason why I would have had any issue doing the same thing running through the Nikko, but for some reason the same hookup works with the Marantz. I guess that if I couldn't have gotten the thing working, I could have just hooked it up with the analog output of my TV, but I know that this wouldn't have sounded nearly as good through the DAC. File under: go figure?

Now I have another small issue... There's a minor (it is pretty quiet, but not something that I've had the whole time) bit of distortion, a fuzzy sound this time, not the buzzing that I hear even with the amp volume all the way down (which I had before I had the thing repaired). The tech fixed the buzz and showed me in his workshop how the thing was dead quiet with the volume down. All of this leads me (and the tech guy who's sort of a friend of mine who I messaged about it) to believe that it's some sort of ground loop issue with the way that I have everything hooked up. With a speaker switcher box, a DVD player, phono preamp and headphone amp all connected to the thing and a tangle of AC wires for all of that plus a TV and turntable, running into a power supply thing, there's a lot of connections. I think that at least for a while, I may just end up living with that small amount of fuzz. It's definitely an improvement over a louder buzz type sound (that probably still wasn't loud enough that anyone who's not an audiophile type would care about it) that I had before. After having the two big capacitors replaced and a few other minor tweaks done on the thing, it really does sound different... and I would say better. I hear more high end and a bit more open, less muddy sound. The tech felt that the sound was pretty bright actually, which is something that I would have never said about this amp, but then again, he was running it through some cheaper and probably harsher sounding little bookshelf speakers. It's almost too treblely now, but I think part of that is just my ears adjusting to the reality of the new sound. If I still feel that the treble is too strong later, I can just turn the treble knob down a bit, which is just what tone controls are for.... and why I like them!
 
Question, when you were trying to get the Nikko to work, did you try using a different pair of RCA cables? I wonder if there is something in the RCA cables that wasn’t playing well with the Nikko inputs and is causing the feedback/distortion. I do not know why that would be the case, just a thought.
 
Natertots said:
Question, when you were trying to get the Nikko to work, did you try using a different pair of RCA cables? I wonder if there is something in the RCA cables that wasn’t playing well with the Nikko inputs and is causing the feedback/distortion. I do not know why that would be the case, just a thought.
Click to expand...
Well... I wasn't getting anything like feedback or distortion. I had my CD/DVD player plugged into the same DAC that was plugged into the Nikko and the Marantz and that player worked with the DAC fine...so it seems that whatever was plugged into the DAC should work equally well no matter what the DAC was plugged into.
 
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