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View Full Version : How to: PS3 & Desktop Speakers


moshakirby
16-05-2007, 07:51 PM
This took me a while to figure out and I probably wasted about £15 trying different things out too (buying an optical to coxial converter, don't laugh)

Anyway if you want to do it, here is what you are going to need, I can list some british sites from where to get the stuff from, but as most of you are american and I don't know what's considered reliable shops and whatnot I wont bother, if someone could suggest some great online shops or instore shops to get them from, please post and I will include them here.
Otherwise my advice is just to go on google products and type in the names I've listed in bold.
Have fun! and please comment.

Equipment Needed:

* AV Cable from the PS3, this is the same thing that the PS2 used to connect up to your TV, it has a yellow, white and red end, though you will only be using the white and red. This is supplied with both the PS3 and PS2 so you will definatley have one of these.

http://www.consolesandgadgets.com/catalog/images/sitepictures/playstation/ps-avcable1.jpg

* RCA to 3.5mm adapter, it's quite hard/impossible to find adapters that go from a female RCA input to a female 3.5mm output that you can plug your speakers straight into, so you're going to need another piece of equipment. This adapter will take the white and red ends of the AV cable (the one connected to your PS3) and magically turn it into a stereo 3.5mm male end, the end will look the same as the end of your desktop speakers cable.
http://www.audioadvisor.com/images/AQMINI_000.jpg http://mobile.brando.com.hk/image/Earphone35mmRCA_s.jpg

* 3.5mm coupler, the final bit of equipment will provide you with something to stick both of those male ends into, the one on the end of the RCA adapter, and the end of your speakers cable, couplers just have two female ends and are generally used for the extension of cables, so are quite easy to get hold of.
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/shop_image/product/c193a86bc55c8c35d98ffbf6356c16fe.jpg http://www.cablestogo.com/assets/product_images/03170.jpg


Remember, when getting the RCA adapter and the 3.5mm coupler, make sure they are both stereo, or say stereo somewhere in the description of them otherwise you'll end up with mono sound, which means the left speaker will sound exactly the same as the right!

This is alot cheaper than buying some new fancy speakers/amplifier that have optical connections, and deffinatley cheaper than getting a Digital - Analog converter.
The total for mine came to aroudn £5 including Postage and packaging.

How To:
Once you have all of your equipment connect up your PS1/2/3 AV Cable and plug the White and Red ends into the RCA adapter, do not plug in the yellow end, that is for video. If you have a color coded adapter, obviously match up the colors, if not you will have to play around with which color goes in which hole in the adapter, choose a song you know starts on the left or right speaker and do it that way. Or you can play a game like RFOM, throw a grenade to your right and make sure it comes out the right speaker, be imaginative.
On the end of your RCA adapter attatch the 3.5mm coupler, make sure you push it in all the way, finally, you can now plug your desktop speakers into the other end of the coupler.
You're done!


I hope this helps people, I found quite a few (I mean litterally a few) people that had their PS3's in their room hooked up to their HDCP through DVI monitor and as we all know, DVI doesn't carry sound. I was one of these people and I currentley have the same setup as above.

A handy note:
Gold plated connections on all the adapters will ensure minimal loss of sound quality, so don't be affraid to spend a little more as it will be worth it, with all these adapters a loss in sound quality is quite likley. I currently have all gold plated connections and I can honestley say the sound is great quality, no crackling, popping or whatever else you would associate with this many adapters.

Please comment, I hate to go to all this effort and end up with no repplies.

Thanks,
Mike.

*EDIT* Put what goes together etc.

juicyjuice107
16-05-2007, 08:36 PM
kool i will try that after i can get me some nice speakers!

aceshigh113
16-05-2007, 08:42 PM
thats cool, it would be nicer for me if i was to use like computer speakers but i'm lookin for more of a surround sound kinda thing for my room without using a reciever just like stereo wire, i'm gonna figure something out for that and share it.

moshakirby
16-05-2007, 08:59 PM
*EDIT* Sorry, I was talking rubbish, this would not work for surround sound, though there may be a way to get stereo out of all 7 or 5 speakers.

aceshigh113
16-05-2007, 09:17 PM
thats what i meant, i want to find myself a way to get surround sound in my room, i have like half surround in the front but none in the back and i'm tryin to figure somthin out for that

moshakirby
16-05-2007, 09:19 PM
Logitech have some nice (by nice i mean expensive) speakers which have optical connectivity and full 5.1 surround sound, I found them for £160 HERE (http://www.pixmania-pro.co.uk/uk/uk/55776/art/logitech/5-1-loudspeakers-z-5500-5.html?srcid=867)
They might be worth a look.

moshakirby
16-05-2007, 09:21 PM
Do you have the same kind of thing as me? Both your PC and PS3 in the same room, both connected to the same monitor?

If so then I really do reccomend those speakers as they'll work for both and I can't find any Creative speakers that offer optical connectivity.

aceshigh113
16-05-2007, 09:23 PM
yeah, cool those look pretty nice, but out of my reach once i figure something out then i'll post a thread detailing it

moshakirby
16-05-2007, 09:32 PM
I have to say that you can't achieve full surround sound through the AV cable as it only offer Left and Right audio channels, which leaves you with optical. You can either get speakers which have optical connections or you can buy a receiver which basically has a bunch of different inputs and outputsm but these are even more expensive than the speakers I showed you.

aceshigh113
16-05-2007, 09:58 PM
yeah, very true, do you know if they make (this is gonna sound stupid) like a thing you input an optical cable, then it outputs to speaker wire in designated spots?

moshakirby
16-05-2007, 10:11 PM
I was hoping for something like that too, but unfortunatley no. You'd need some kind of receive/amplifier and they don't come cheap.
Also it would be getting converted from a digital signal to an anologue signal and i'm not too sure how good the quality is, but if you take a look at the picture from wikipedia, it doesn't look lke the quality would be all that great.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/15/Zeroorderhold.signal.svg/567px-Zeroorderhold.signal.svg.png
(square lines is the digital signal input signal, curvy lines are the analogue output signal)

It doesn't seem like there is a simple solution, but I would love it if there was on. You are probably best off asking someone at your local electronics store in the hope that they know something.

aceshigh113
16-05-2007, 11:57 PM
Do you have the same kind of thing as me? Both your PC and PS3 in the same room, both connected to the same monitor?

If so then I really do reccomend those speakers as they'll work for both and I can't find any Creative speakers that offer optical connectivity.

no i have my PS hooked up to my stereo & it has AUX input and i put the red & white in there and it sounds good, i just want to try to get a nice surround sound 4 cheap, i found a reciever that might do the trick for around $80 but i dont know if its optical or not so i'm gonna go to radioshack to see what they think about it

MattZani
18-05-2007, 03:49 PM
thats cool as a cheap simple solution, but for a more permanent fix, digi optical is the way to go, they're coming down in price aswell!

rock-it
18-05-2007, 07:35 PM
does anyone know how much a reciever with optical would run? without speakers.

MattZani
19-05-2007, 06:27 AM
recievers ARE expensive, your looking at around £150 for one.

But logitechs PC speakers (high end around £200 new) have Digi Opti built in.

Michal
07-09-2008, 07:59 PM
I just did that today. Works like a charm... great tutorial.

OldSnakeWontDie
11-09-2008, 04:15 PM
*runs off to local RadioShack*