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Will 3.5mm extension cables reduce the sound quality of my Klipsch Promedia speakers?

kalrith

kalrith

Diamond Member
I'm in the process of rearranging my office, and it would work best if I could use two 6' or every 12' 3.5mm extension cables to connect my Klipsch Promedia v2.400 speakers to my computer. Would doing so result in a decrease in audio quality? Would there be a difference between the 6' and 12' cables?

For the record, I'm looking at this 6' cable or this 12' cable. The cables have to come from PCConnection as I need to spend an extra $10 to get free shipping for another purchase I'm making.

Thanks!
 
Probably not a noticeable difference unless you get a particularly bad connection with those cables. I use a similar extension cable with my headphones and it still sounds fine to me.
 
Thanks, YOyoYO. In that case I'll probably go with the 12' cables so that I'll have enough slack to hide them under the baseboards.

On a total side note, I'm wondering if I have my PS2 audio connected the best way possible. Right now I have a cable with two RCA females and one 3.5mm male connected to the line in on my Audigy 2 ZS Gamer sound card. I ordered this adapter a while back, and it doesn't work. I connected it correctly (RCA out from PS2 to 3.5mm cables on my computer speakers), but I just get a lot of static with a VERY minimal amount of sound.

I'd love to utilize the digital optical out on my PS2, but I don't think that's possible with my current sound card. I wouldn't want to spend more than $5 getting this setup, so please keep that in mind when making recommendations.
 
The static and very little sound issue is what you're experience from a very poor connection. There's probably something disconnected or not making good contact in the adapter you have.

That adapter is basically just splitting the RCA signal into two sets of 3.5mm stereo jacks.
If it worked perfectly, all you'd get is stereo played back on the front and rear speakers at the same time. You wouldn't get true surround sound at all, you'd just have 2.1 being played back on all your speakers at once.

To get the digital output working on the PS2 with the setup you have now would be expensive.

If you want to see if you can fix the adapter you have now, you could try that. It might be as simple as cleaning off the connectors / twisting them around to try to get good contact. It also might be something that's easily fixable internally in the adapter. It should be pretty simple inside since it's just a splitting the signal.
 
I'll have to try that. The appeal of the adapter is that I can play the PS2 without having the computer on (and that it was $4). I could still do that with my headphones and an adapter, but running it through my computer speakers would be nice if I don't feel like using my headphones.

Thanks for the help! I think that answers all my questions.
 
I'm not trying to have two inputs into the same set of speakers. I'm trying to find the best (yet cheap) way to connect the RCA audio from my PS2 to my computer speakers. If I used the Logitech game console adapter, I would disconnect the computer speakers from my sound card and connect them to that adapter.

I didn't get a chance to open up the adapter last night, so I think I'm just going to go ahead and order the adapter with 2 RCA female and 1 3.5mm male. Today's the last day for the rebate on the wall mount, and that adapter's only $2.50.

OK, I just thought of one more question. While I'm ordering stuff, I'd like to order an extension cable for using my headphones (HD280Pro) with my receiver (Panasonic XR55). The headphone cord just barely reaches my couch, so it's quite uncomfortable unless I lean forward a lot. I'm wondering what cables or adapters I'll need to do this. My HD280Pro has a 3.5mm plug that screws into a 3.5mm-to-1/4in adapter, and I plug that adapter into the 1/4in jack on my receiver. Will that adapter only work with the HD280Pro, or would I be able to use it with a 3.5mm extension cable? If it doesn't work with the 3.5mm cable, is my best bet to get another 3.5mm-to-1/4in adapter and use the extension cable with that?

I'll be ordering sometime today to get in on that rebate. In case anyone's wondering, I'm getting the Mustang MVSTAT4 to wall-mount my Pioneer 5080. It's $89 with an $89 mail-in rebate. I'll get free shipping if I spend $99. Fatwallet has 3% CB right now, so I should wind up getting the mount plus some cables and adapters for about $7-10 after CB and MIR.
 
kalrith said:
I'm not trying to have two inputs into the same set of speakers. I'm trying to find the best (yet cheap) way to connect the RCA audio from my PS2 to my computer speakers. If I used the Logitech game console adapter, I would disconnect the computer speakers from my sound card and connect them to that adapter.

I didn't get a chance to open up the adapter last night, so I think I'm just going to go ahead and order the adapter with 2 RCA female and 1 3.5mm male. Today's the last day for the rebate on the wall mount, and that adapter's only $2.50.

OK, I just thought of one more question. While I'm ordering stuff, I'd like to order an extension cable for using my headphones (HD280Pro) with my receiver (Panasonic XR55). The headphone cord just barely reaches my couch, so it's quite uncomfortable unless I lean forward a lot. I'm wondering what cables or adapters I'll need to do this. My HD280Pro has a 3.5mm plug that screws into a 3.5mm-to-1/4in adapter, and I plug that adapter into the 1/4in jack on my receiver. Will that adapter only work with the HD280Pro, or would I be able to use it with a 3.5mm extension cable? If it doesn't work with the 3.5mm cable, is my best bet to get another 3.5mm-to-1/4in adapter and use the extension cable with that?

I'll be ordering sometime today to get in on that rebate. In case anyone's wondering, I'm getting the Mustang MVSTAT4 to wall-mount my Pioneer 5080. It's $89 with an $89 mail-in rebate. I'll get free shipping if I spend $99. Fatwallet has 3% CB right now, so I should wind up getting the mount plus some cables and adapters for about $7-10 after CB and MIR.
Click to expand...

Since the 1/4" adapter of the 280s is rather funky (with the threaded screw part on the end), what I did was I kept the 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter connected to the end of the headphones and bought a 1/4" M/F extension cable.
 
That would work, but I'm having a hard time finding one of those on PCConnection. The only thing I find is a 1/4" to XLR cable.
 
kalrith said:
That would work, but I'm having a hard time finding one of those on PCConnection. The only thing I find is a 1/4" to XLR cable.
Click to expand...

If you can't find one, the other option (although it looks really crappy) is to get a regular 3.5mm extension cable and then trim the plastic part around the end of it (if necessary) to get it to fit into the threaded 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter that the 280s come with.
Or you could buy another 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter if they have those.
 
They do have a 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter. I'll either get one of those or trime the plastic at the end of the extension cable.

Thanks!
 
Good luck!

If you trim it, be careful, since there might not be a whole lot to work with before you start hitting some important stuff inside 😉

Mine ended up looking like this before it fit

extension.JPG
 
Hmmm...that doesn't look like too much fun. I think I'll just spend the $2.58 on the 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter.
 
OK. I'm about ready to place my order, and I got to thinking. I'm ordering this RCA to 3.5mm adapter to get the audio out from the PC into 3.5mm form. I was going to order this 3.5mm coupler so that I can at least connect my headphones to my PS2 with the computer off (assuming the Logitech adapter doesn't work). If I bought this 3.5mm splitter and connected my computer speaker to one end and the 3.5mm coupler to the other, would that work? I know it's a lot of adapters (which I hate to do), but if I want to play FFX for 5 hours, it would be great to not have to have my computer on during that whole time.
 
The picture in that first item has a Male 3.5mm end, but the description says that it's Female. If it is indeed Female, then the coupler is not needed. Since the page is inconsistent, I don't know what it actually is.

For hooking up the Klipsch speakers, you can get 2.1 playback from the PS2 without the splitter. If you want 4.1 playback, yes you can use a splitter. I'm a little concerned that the one you have picked out might be stereo to 2 x mono though. The red and white coloring might indicate that each one is only mono with the red being right and white being left. You'd want a stereo to 2 x stereo splitter for your purpose. It might be what that is, but the coloring has me worried.
 
I noticed the inconsistency and asked them about that one. It is as the picture shows with a male 3.5mm end.

I think I'll skip the splitter. There's no point in doing 4.1 since it's just stereo sound. I don't do that with my HT system, so I don't know why I'd do it with my computer speakers.

So, I'll go from two RCA male from the PS2 to the two-RCA-female-to-one-3.5mm-male adapter to the 3.5mm coupler to the 3.5mm male for the front speakers. Does that sound right?
 
Well, I went ahead and placed the order. Today was the last day for the MIR and for 3% FW CB. I found another 3.5mm male to 2 RCA female adapter for only 70 cents. I wound up getting the mount, that adapter, 3.5mm coupler, and 3 12' 3.5mm extension cables for $99.19. After FW CB, the MIR, and CB from my credit card, all that will wind up costing $6.22! Here's hoping that there are no problems with the MIR.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the 3.5mm to 1/4" adapter had a 3.5mm mono plug instead of 3.5mm stereo plug. I decided it would be safer to stick with what came with the HD280Pro and will try whittling down the plastic like YOyoYO did.
 
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Thanks! I don't know when I'll get around to wall-mounting the TV, but having a 9mo son has made me rethink the idea of having the TV on a stand. The one issue I'll have with wall-mounting the TV is deciding how high to mount it. My TV stand is already 27" high, so the TV will likely be higher than optimal. However, if I were ever to upgrade to a huge center speaker like the bigfoot, it'll have to be set on top of the TV stand, since the middle shelf is only 21" wide (bigfoot is 25.5" wide). I don't know if mounting the TV so that the bottom of it is 39" off the ground just in case I get a huge center speaker is a great idea though. The bottom of the TV is about 30.5" off the ground right now, so that would be a big increase.

Oh well, I guess that probably deserves another thread on another day. For now I'll enjoy getting my PS2 hooked up and trying to beat FFX2 and FF12 before FF13 comes out 🙂
 
Unfortunately my bottom of screen is higher than I'd want it too... and it goes all the way to the ceiling, so that's pretty high.

24" tall stand + 2" isolation pad + 12" bigfoot means the bottom of my screen is about where you'd end up putting yours.

The first row of seating is 9 feet away from the screen though, and it's a futon 😛 so there's a bit of reclining build in already, so it works pretty well.

Maybe you could put the TV up on a temporary mount (cinder blocks or something sturdy) to test out the mounting height and see if it works for you?
 
That sounds like a really good idea. Wall-mounting the TV will push it back farther than I want and increase the viewing distance; however, I hardly watch TV any more, and I could use the extra space for my son and I to play. I have my stand about 10" away from the wall right now with things like my AVR and HTPC behind it. I'll have to move those things out of there and move the stand all the way against the wall to get a good feel for the image height.

Hmmm...I just had a thought. I wonder how my TV stand would look with no feet on it. It would shave about 3" off the height, and I would really need the feet without the TV on it. It might look stupid and keep the doors from opening easily.

Edit: So, my viewing distance from my couch will be about 9' to 9.5'. I usually slouch when watching TV, so I don't think it'll be too bad.

Anyways, I'm just thinking out loud now. I'll see how feasible it is to test out the image height before wall-mounting it. That's something I definitely only want to do once (actually I don't even want to do it that many time 😛).

Edit: So, with the TV wall-mounted I'll be about 9' to 9.5' away, and I tend to slouch on my couch, so the height might not be that big of a deal. I just can't let my wife know that the reason I'm mounting it that high is because I want to get a center speaker nicknamed "bigfoot" 🙂. The speaker will just have to appear one day out of the blue, and after a week or so of groveling things should be good again.
 
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hehe 🙂

At least you're not mounting your TV above a fireplace mantle as seems to be what a lot of design shows think it should be done 😉
 
YOyoYOhowsDAjello said:
hehe 🙂

At least you're not mounting your TV above a fireplace mantle as seems to be what a lot of design shows think it should be done 😉
Click to expand...

Yes, 39" off the floor is much better than 60+" off the floor. Not to mention the possible damage to the TV from the heat and smoke.
 
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