Hello everyone. I am having some technical problems and would appreciate some help if anyone has any ideas. I have a 60 inch Mitsubishi big screen (model # WD 60638, serial #400171) that I’m trying to setup with a pair of headphones so I don’t have to listen to my family bickering all the time. Silly me, I’d rather let them bicker amongst each other and go enjoy a good movie off on my own instead.
In any case, I have a 3.55mm stereo coupler as well as a 3.5mm stereo male to 2 RCA stereo female cable. The problem is that when I plug it into the red and white sockets in the back of the television, I don’t get any audio through the headphones. I also have a separate inline volume cable that allows me to increase/decrease the volume with this arrangement but again, regardless of whether or not I use this with the coupler and male/female cable it still gives me no audio. Would I need an amplifier, or perhaps something else in order to use headphones with this television?
Am I doing something wrong? Am I missing a certain kind of cable? Should I just pack my bags and head to Tahiti so that I’m out of earshot of family squabbles? Either way, I appreciate any help I get. Thanks so much for your time!
The RCA jacks are intended for line level audio, to be sent to an amplifier. Your headphones will not work with them, as they need a different level of signal.
Doesn’t your TV have a headphone outlet (usually a mini-phone jack)? Sometimes it’s labeled with a speaker symbol. If not, you can get a headphone amplifier and take the line outputs.
No it doesn’t have a headphone outlet. I just googled a headphone amplifier and found this:
I might just check in with my local Radio Shack tonight and see if they have something so I don’t have to wait for an amplifier by mail. Anyway, I just plug the headphones into this amplifer and the amplifier has the red/white that I plug into the TV? Is that all I need as far as cables and stuff go? If so, woohoo! Thanks for your help.
what Musicat said. Headphones are far too low impedance for a line output to drive. They’re at the most a couple hundred ohms, and the line-output is designed to be connected to a component with an impedance of at least tens of thousands of ohms. a small headphone amp will do what you need.
That model should work, but the four channels might be overkill in your case.
I can’t find out what the connections are on that model from the picture. You might still need a cable adapter from RCA phono jacks to whatever input jack the amp has. Shopping at Radio Shack might be easiest, as you can get everything you need right there.
You might also consider wireless headphones. A few bucks more, but it gives you the freedom to move around the room and not trip over a cable. Unless you are a hi-fi purist or have golden ears, you don’t need to spend over $100 for good ones.
Many modern flat-screen TVs don’t have any analog audio output. I just read the specs for yours, and it seems to be one of those. The RCA connectors on the back are for input, not for output.
It does have a digital audio output, apparently. This system, often called “Toslink”, uses a little rectagular hole in the back of the unit where you plug in a dedicated fiber optic cable (example). The other end goes into your stereo system, if it has a digital audio input. Otherwise, you can get various adapters, such as this one, to get a good old analog signal on RCA connectors.
This was my understanding when I assembled such a system for my in-laws. Eventually I found out that the analog signal coming out of that little converter box was too faint, and I had to add a headphone amplifier to the mix.
Oops, sorry, I just looked at the back panel on page 15 of the instruction manual, and the digital audio out is not a Toslink: it’s a coaxial digital output (so you use an RCA cable, not an optical cable). I have no experience with those, although I see the converter box I linked to does have a coaxial input.
RCA connectors are standard in the consumer and pro-sumer world for line-level connections, in or out. Line-level means between components, like preamps, receivers, tuners, and power amplifiers. It does not mean headphones, microphones or speakers.
And just in case someone wants to challenge that on modern grounds, it is an analog signal, not digital.
If you are NOT using headphones, where does the TV sound come from? The built-in speakers?
Most people I know run the audio out of their TV into some sort of home theater amplifier to run a constellation of speakers. This amplifier will no doubt have a headphone jack on the front of it.
Actually, I don’t use an official “home theater” unit; I just use an old stereo amplifier. You might have one of those gathering dust somewhere. If not, used ones are easily obtainable at Craigslist or eBay for a few dozen bucks.
This TV, according to its manual, has no headphone analog out and no RCA analog out.
RCA connectors are also used for S/PDIF . This seems to be the only audio output on this TV. Look at pages 15 and 18 of (the manual). (Warning: PDF link.)
I had the same problem as you, trying to compete over the family nose while watching TV. Also, when my wife went to bed, I listened to the TV at a volume level that would bother her. So, one day we were at Ross, the discount clothing store. Each Ross has a small isle of “man good”, cheap tools and various electronic gadgets. On the shelf for an amazing $20 was a wireless headset with the Sharper Image brand on it. I bought it, spent about 5 minutes hooking it up (the audio uses the RCA connectors on the back of the TV) and can say that I have been happy ever since. The audio isn’t bad and the reception is quite good, it picks up the signal out to 75’or so. Another nice feature is that you can use the headset and the TV speakers at the same time. So if I am having trouble hearing a show I can put on the headset while the rest of the family listens to the TV speakers.
The brand name is really unimportant, but what is important is that you can solve your problem with very little outlay. I have seen premium wireless headsets that run $100 or more, but I am very happy with my discount set. It works and the sound quality us more than acceptable.
Yes, it looks that way. Very unusual, in my experience, but maybe that’s the wave of the future. I guess they expect you to connect the TV to a receiver and run headphones or speakers from that.
Yeah, I am currently using the built-in speakers but it sucks because my family is really loud and they drive me crazy so I need headphones in order to live here. lol
I appreciate all of the suggestions so far. I had looked at the manual and the specs on the Mitsubishi site earlier but wasn’t really coming up with any answers on my own. Like I said, I had the male to female cable and the coupler which worked on one of my other TVs (well, the volume wasn’t the best . . . but it worked!) so I was pretty much out of ideas at that point. I see most of you are leaning toward the idea of an amplifier and/or headphones, so I might give that a try. I called Radio Shack earlier and asked the woman on the phone what would be the best fix but she sounded pretty frightened and confused so I didn’t torture her any further with my questions. I know what it’s like to work in a store and get questions you just don’t have the answer to. It’s really awkward and it sucks.
obbn, I would like to get some wireless headphones soon. I go through a lot of headphones due to the sound going out in one ear or the other after awhile so I think wireless might be the answer for me. It’s definitely a big help to be using headphones when everyone in the house is sleeping. I have the TV hooked up to my PS3 so I’d like to be able to get the sound from my PS3 through the headphones as well as my other stuff like my X-Box, etc. Would hooking up wireless headphones to the TV be able to do that? Or would I still need an amplifier or some other cable or adapter?
Musicat, you’re right about tripping over all those wires . . . It’s too much! I am assuming that with wireless headphones I would still be doing the same thing, just hooking the amplifier to the television’s RCA connectors and then to the headphones or to its base? Sorry, I’ve never had wireless headphones before so I’m not entirely sure what the best way is to get some working headphones with this television. Technology is difficult.
I may go to Radio Shack tomorrow and see what they have to offer as far as an amplifier and some good wireless headphones go. Then again, I may go bargain hunting online. Always tryin’ to save a few bucks . . .
Thanks again for all your help guys. I appreciate all the ideas you’ve given me! I was this close to just selling the thing and taking up a new hobby.
TO add to the above. Your TV is one of the coming trend to remove a lot of connectors from TVs. The intent being to rely upon the AV receiver. The TV is just too old to have used HDMI 1.4 -TVs that use that send the TV’s audio back to the AV reviver over a back channel in the HDMI connection - saving yet another cable. Since yours is not HDMI 1.4 it uses a S/PDIF over coax connector for the reverse link - see page 19 for the diagram.
So, if you want headphones on the TV you need a DAC with coax input and a headphone amplifier output. Radio Shack is about the worst place to look for such a thing. I stuck “dac headphone amplifier coax” into the search box for Amazon and came up with pages of them, starting at $30 and going up. For simple TV use you don’t really need to spend much.
You will have the same situation connecting the wireless “transmit box” to the TV as you do now, but that hardware can be stashed near the TV, out of the way, and it doesn’t take up much space. Meanwhile, you can roam free anywhere in the room, and the better ones will go a little farther.
