Linking CD player to a TV

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Discussion

Skeptisk

Original Poster:

8,241 posts

116 months

Wednesday 26th June
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We moved house recently and we tried to get our speakers and separates wired up but the speakers have given up the ghost. To be honest we almost never use the hifi these days as we are listening via our phones. My wife still wants a CD player though as we have lots of CDs.

Rather than going to the trouble of getting new floor standing speakers (and updating our very old amp), could we instead get a soundbar for the TV (big oled LG) and link it to the CD player? Good enough for the occasional listen (we used to have the speakers connected to the TV so need something)?

TC7

144 posts

93 months

Wednesday 26th June
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A simple cheapo dvd player connected to the tv will play cd's. As will all disc version PlayStations if you've one laying about somewhere.

Defcon5

6,304 posts

198 months

Wednesday 26th June
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You definitely will need a sound bar/ system of some sort. TV sound is universally crap.


Lucid_AV

438 posts

43 months

Thursday 27th June
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A CD player only has audio out, either analogue stereo on the red and the white RCAs, or via RCA coaxial or the little optical connector. What it lacks is a video output for the TV to lock onto. Without that, the TV won't know what to do with the signal. It's not set up like an amp where it expects just audio.

The idea of a DVD player is on the right lines. But get one with a HDMI output to make connection to the TV easier. A Blu-ray player might be a little more futureproof and nicer to use than some basic DVD unit. Panasonic or Sony are your go-to brands.

Something to consider is that either a DVD player or a Blu-ray player is going to send a picture to the TV along with sound. The image is going to be a table with track numbers. It's probably not the thing you want sitting as a static image for an hour while a CD plays. Check if your TV has the option to mute the screen but leave sound running. My Panasonic LCD has this. It's called audio mode. Maybe your LG does too?

What happened with the floorstander speakers? They're generally fairly robust things unless stored unused in damp conditions. Any chance they can be resurrected?


clockworks

6,138 posts

152 months

Thursday 27th June
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Sound bar with 2 or more inputs - one for the TV, one for the CD player.

I've got a couple of soundbars on TV's. Optical input for the TV, 3.5mm jack input for a CD or mp3 player, plus Bluetooth for a phone.

If you don't fancy a sound bar, something like an Echo Studio does a decent job, and I think has sufficient inputs.

Maybe a Bluetooth transmitter for the CD player would be an option?