two external audio devices?

[jaywilson]

I have a Dell XPS 1640 laptop connected to a Mitsubishi big screen HDMI to HDMI. I would like to run two audio devices from the laptop, the TV's internal speakers and an external speaker system (SoundMatters SlimStage) but I can only get one to run at a time.

The SoundMatters speaker is connected to one of the two headphone jacks and works fine. If I try to "connect" the TV speakers using the HDMI audio, it turns off the Soundmatters speaker. I thought HDMI had its own audio?

So I tried using the other headphone port to connect to one of the TV's audio-in ports (PC-DVI RCA jacks) but I get no sound from the TV. I've tried other audio-in ports with the same result. The video looks good, the volume is up and the mute is off but still no sound. Is there something I'm missing?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Can you use a common splitter of some kind to route the signal from a headphone jack to both sets of speakers?

You may need an adapter of some kind along the way? I know little about HDMI, but using splitters generally works well in audio situations as long as both speakers can accept the same type of connector. Might not work well if one output is supposedly very high quality audio and the other only average---they might both end up sounding average.

 

[jaywilson]

Since I have two headphone ports I shouldn't need a splitter. I swapped the plugs and it didn't help.

 

[tman69]

try connecting like this--HDMI out of laptop>HDMI in on TV--connect a 'digital optical' cable from the TV's 'digital optical' out jack (assuming it has one) to the SLIMstage optical input--volume (and such) will be controlled by the SLIMstage device.

note: most HD TVs only allow output from the TV speakers or output to a sound system--usually not both

a bit of unsolicited advice--you probably don't 'want' to get the sound from 'both' as this will cause a phase shift (usually heard as a distinct and irritating echo).

 

[jaywilson]

tman, the SLIMstage is already working ok from the headphone port and DirecTV uses both the TV speakers and the SLIMstage and sounds great. Besides, the optical port is already used. But I noticed when I connected the DVD player to both speakers, I did get an echo. Is there no work-around for this?

 

[tman69]

two possible workarounds that I can think of offhand.
1. turn OFF TV speakers--or
2. calculate the location and direction the TV speakers are pointing and move the SLIMstage (forward or back) till the echo goes away--sound waves travel at a constant speed--but some TVs point their speakers backwards so they reflect from a surface--effectively changing their 'phase' acoustically--the echo is caused by sound arriving at the 'listener' at two different times--in order to eliminate it, the speakers must have their cones spaced (from the listener) based on multiples of 4 inches--that is 4,8,16,32,64

#2 being most difficult--try #1 when using DVD player