I hate summer because of high school kids tend to wait on me more often in the summer; high school kids who often don’t know WHAT the hell they’re doing, DON’T try to help, who are hired by people who don’t adequately train them and aren’t around themselves to answer my questions. It wastes my time and annoys me silly, especially when I TAKE the time to jot down specs about my equipment and you STILL can’t help me. So you can tell my little jaunt to Radio Shack and Wal-Mart didn’t go so well just now.
ANYWAY.
The clerks at Wal-Mart and Radio Shack didn’t know what to recommend. I have a Gateway 2000 with wimpy, tinny, Boston speakers. I want to take those off and use a 3 CD Sharp stereo to replace them. What kind of cord do I need to buy to connect the stereo and the computer?
The aux/video plugs on the back of the stereo have two little input holes big enough to stick a pencil tip through. THAT’s the best description of the size I can give, okay? One’s red and one’s white. I assume I can use the same green coded jack on the computer to connect the other end of the cord – so that’s a ‘Y’ cord – right?
HEY. I know I’m not very smart, but you should have seen the kids who waited on me. Totally clueless. Yeesh. Like that SNL skit with Seinfeld.
I’d like to get some recommendations so I can walk in tomorrow morning, pick it off the shelf myself and go up to the cash register with minimum conversation. Be nice if you can add what I can expect to pay, too.
Sounds like you have 1/4" phone jacks for inputs on your stereo. Get a “Y” cable with a 1/8" stereo phone plug (like headphones) on one end, going to two RCA phono plugs, and get two RCA-1/4" phone plug adaptors. Radio Shack doesn’t carry a 1/8" stereo phone to 2 1/8" mono phone cable, but they do have the parts I described.
Oh wait, you said a pencil tip. Do they look the same as the red, white and yellow jacks on the back of a VCR or DVD player? If so, you can skip the RCA-1/4" adaptors.
A Radio Shack 274-369 adaptor and a pair of RCA to RCA cables of your needed length is all you need. That is what I had till I bought my new DVD player, it also plays CD’s and MP3’s too.
Slight hijack: I happen to be one of those high-school teenagers, Askia, and strangely enough I TOTALLY agree with you. I can’t stand going to Best Buy, Wal-Mart, even Radio Shack, to get parts because no-one EVER seems to know what the heck they’re talking about. This is such an incredibly simple question, ANYBODY in the electronics section at Wal-Mart should in a heartbeat be able to find a dozen parts that’ll get your job done. It’s absurd, really.
**hobbes730[/b[: Now that I’ve vented, i have to admit that ignorance among clerks at these places is generally appalling and cuts across age groups. I was just amazed that the five guys who waited on me tonight didn’t know squat.
Thank you, Q.E.D. and racer72
I think I’ll get the adapters just in case I need them. I’ve also suddeny realized I can disconnect the cable to my Gateway and take it in person to make sure one END off the Y cord is the size I need.
Sounds like you got it figured out. Just remember, the red plug is for the right channel. If you get it backwards, it won’t hurt anything, but you might get dizzy during the guitar solo.