Headphones And Speakers

[allenlondon]

My TV runs through a home cinema-type system, the sound coming out of a pair of room speakers.

We can of course use headphones (well, one of us can), which is fine.

What I want to do is to modify the system so that the sound comes out of BOTH the speakers, AND a separate headphone - usual reason, one of us has good hearing, the other likes it louder, and headphones would mean each could have the TV at ‘their’ volume.

Would a pair of wifi headphones help? Trouble is, of course, that most headphone connectors cut off the speaker sound as soon as you plug into the output socket.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Allen.

[sherrardk]

Could one of you listen to the tv as normal and the other use headphones attached to a tablet/pc playing the same programme simultaneously?

[davebro]

https://www.sony.com/electronics/support/articles/00049501

[gingejbee]

Don't suppose that your TV is Bluetooth-enabled? You could then use Bluetooth headphones.

[allenlondon]

Thanks.

Sherrardk: a lot of the time, we watch stuff recorded onto our stb, so your get-round wouldn’t work.

I’ll check the Bluetooth, ginge - it is a ‘Smart’ TV so it might have.

Davebro: I shall have to work out what Sony mean by an audio device first...

Allen

[hc4361]

What is the make and model of the tv? We have used this set up for many years, one of using headphones and the other listening to tv. We have to be careful when buying the tv though - most tvs mute when plugging in headphones but most Panasonics and some Sony's don't. It is the tv, not the headphones, that cause this.
Plug in a pair of headphones and see what happens :)

[Fitzer]

And if you're connecting to the home cinema by HDMI or some cable other than a speaker output the headphone socket on the TV may well not affect this. Failing that two pairs of headphones and a splitter with either volume controls on the splitter or the headphones themselves

[allenlondon]

Right, a few bits of information.

The TV is a Samsung UE40ES6800 LED (Sept 2012, so older than I thought (aren't we all)). But it does seem to have Bluetooth - at least when I go to Bluetooth on my adjacent computer, 'TV Bluetooth' does come up, although not sure what to do with it.

Plugging in a 3.5 plug to the TV's headphone socket does turn the TV's speakers off. In normal circumstances, this is how we connect the TV to the sound system (amp, speakers). This does of course cut out the TV's (rotten) speakers, and give us decent sound through the system speakers.

Any ideas how I can establish what the 'Bluetooth TV' does in fact connect to? I suppose I could try linking it to a nearby Bluetooth speaker...

A

[allenlondon]

I suspect old/new Bluetooth incompatibility. I get to the stage where the 'connect' button comes up for the TV Bluetooth, but a second after I press it and it reads 'connected', it drops straight out, time after time.

Close, but no cigar.

Shame, 'cos Bluetooth headphones would have solved the problem. I'll backtrack and have a look at that Sony solution again.

A

[allenlondon]

Looking in the Samsung manual, it does in fact list compatible Samsung Bluetooth headphones, so I've contacted them to see what they suggest. Maybe they've got some Bluetooth variety peculiar to Samsung.

I will report back, once I've got somewhere.

A.

[gingejbee]

Another possibility....connect the TV to the external sound system using some connection other than the headphone socket (which does seem to be an odd way to me) and you'll free up the headphone socket to use either a) conventional wired headphones or b) use Bluetooth headphones in conjunction with a Bluetooth dongle plugged into the headphone socket. This dongle (a Bluetooth transmitter available from Amazon) would only be needed if your TV really isn't Bluetooth-enabled. I used this system on a five-year old Samsung with excellent results...until a very recent replacement with an LG TV which has all sorts of mod-cons, including Bluetooth, voice-control, Alexa etc.

[westernira]

Once you attache headphones tv speakers would turn off. I don't think there's anyway to keep tv speakers on. I am not sure though.

[allenlondon]

Thanks for the extra input. Various (unconnected) troubles have kept me from the TV business for a while, but I'm getting back to it.

Sennheiser support were very helpful, saying that the TV I've got doesn't support standard bluetooth transmission, but that they do sell a box (the BT T100) which can connect to the Audio Optical socket on the TV and from thus leave your TV speakers alone (which are cut out by the 3.5mm socket being used), thus allowing Bluetooth headphones to pair with the box and TV.

I will try it once I accumulate enough pennies to buy the (not cheap) BT T100 etc.

A.

[westernira]

headphones may help you in this ..