How to Connect Rear Speakers

[MacWannabeNTX]

I have connected an Apple TV and an external speaker system to my Sony Bravia TV. I am very pleased with it but I have some rear speakers that I dont know how to connect.

The 2 external speakers that I have currently working/connected to my TV are from an old (1995 model) Aiwa shelf type stereo system. I have them connected thru the auxiliary audio/video connection on the back of the Aiwa and the audio spot on my TV and then the Audio/Video input selected on my Aiwa.

But I have some rear speakers that were used and connected to this Aiwa when it was used as a stereo system back in 1995. I want them to be connected again and use with the working 2 side speakers. I know that even tho I can put them behind me, this will not be a true surround sound but if I can get some rear sound from them, I will be happy. Problem is the speakers are missing the connectors that used to connect them to the Aiwa. There is speaker wire coming out of the speakers but they need a connector end of some type - what is showing where they used to be connected to the Aiwa is a red and white "hole" like RCA connectors go in. Now the "hole" where they connect to the Aiwa is that color but the actual connector on the end of the wire is black. I have a picture of one of the ends that was cut off for some reason. This Aiwa has been sitting in the closet for years. Anyway I have attached a pic. Keep in mind that each speaker, right and left had their positive and minus wires connected to this end. From the picture, can you tell me what this is called so I can possibly go buy speaker wire with these ends already on? This may look like an RCA connector but you cant see in the picture that this end has the 2 speaker wires coming out of it.

And then if I find them, is there a danger when connected to the Aiwa and TV, that they will blow anything out - TV or Aiwa side speakers already connected.

 

[Slydude]

That appears to me to be an RCA connector. It would not be unusual for that end of an RCA wire to be black. If I am understanding your post correctly it would also not be unusual for two pieces of wire to go into that plug.

Some of our audio gurus can give better advice about whether it will cause a problem to connect them. Do you know anything else about how many speakers that system was designed to take how much power it was designed to output?

 

[bobtomay]

All speakers use 2 wires to them - even though some of them may have both wires in the same cable.

That is a standard RCA plug.

I have never attempted to repair an RCA plug - they're too cheap - and don't believe I have ever owned speakers that had permanently attached wire coming out of them.
(Well, guess I have because I've had whatever speakers Dell sent with their computer for my wife to use as she has never been allowed to touch mine.)

There are some DIY tutorials out there though. Here are a couple of them:
How to Attach an RCA Cable to an RCA Connector | DoItYourself.com
3 Tips for RCA Connector Wiring | DoItYourself.com

I don't have a clue how you're going to tell which of the wires coming out of the speaker is the positive and negative without tearing apart the connector on a working one.

 

[MacWannabeNTX]

All speakers use 2 wires to them - even though some of them may have both wires in the same cable.

That is a standard RCA plug.

I have never attempted to repair an RCA plug - they're too cheap - and don't believe I have ever owned speakers that had permanently attached wire coming out of them.
(Well, guess I have because I've had whatever speakers Dell sent with their computer for my wife to use as she has never been allowed to touch mine.)

There are some DIY tutorials out there though. Here are a couple of them:
How to Attach an RCA Cable to an RCA Connector | DoItYourself.com
3 Tips for RCA Connector Wiring | DoItYourself.com

I don't have a clue how you're going to tell which of the wires coming out of the speaker is the positive and negative without tearing apart the connector on a working one.

Thank you both for responding. Haven't had time to look at the links. I was hoping that I could get speaker wire with these connectors already attached to them. That way I could just splice the speakers with their too short piece of wire attached to them, to the wire connected to the connector plug. Plug in to the Aiwa and have rear sound.

 

[MacWannabeNTX]

That appears to me to be an RCA connector. It would not be unusual for that end of an RCA wire to be black. If I am understanding your post correctly it would also not be unusual for two pieces of wire to go into that plug.

Some of our audio gurus can give better advice about whether it will cause a problem to connect them. Do you know anything else about how many speakers that system was designed to take how much power it was designed to output?

Back when this Aiwa NSX-999 functioned as a shelf type stereo system only, it had the 2 side speakers that I currently have connected between it and the Sony TV and the Aiwa also had the 2 rear (very small) speakers also and all worked fine. FWIW, I do see on the small rear speakers I want to connect that the output is 50W.

 

[bobtomay]

Want to try jerry rigging something, you could probably try getting a standard old RCA red/white audio cable - cut one end off - a little electrical tape and splice them onto the wires from the speakers. Inner wire of each together and outter wire of each together.

Without spending a lot of money, you could also consider getting a soundbar. I'd guess any of them over $100 will probably sound better than the old Aiwa.

 

[pendlewitch]

From what I can see your stereo system has:-

two pos and neg sprung clip type connections for your front L&R speakers

two RCA jacks for accepting optional rears L&R

one jack (possibly RCA) to connect a subwoofer (which must have it's own integral amp and ac supply).

If you want to make it work cheaply with two additional surrounds I would buy 2 surrounds with the connectors already on rated at 50 w 16 ohm impedance (similar to Aiwa SX-R220) . You can get them on ebay for buttons.

Proprietory 'audiophile' speaker cables normally have + and - markings on them,but you may struggle to identify the polarity on yours....sometimes the pos side is identified by a raised ridge running down on side or if you get the magnifying glass out you may find a small + mark printed on one side.If you can identify the polarity then you have a chance with the methods bobtomay describes.

 

[MacWannabeNTX]

Hubby helped me with this. We bought speaker wires with RCA connectors on both ends, cut off one end to get bare wires. Spliced that end to the wires already coming out of the Aiwa rear speakers SX-R220, and connected to the Aiwa stereo system. It worked! And it sounds awesome. Understand that I didn't expect anything better than to improve the horrible sound quality of the internal Sony Bravia speakers. And I'm excited that I got this done with old stereo equipment that has been in the closet for about 15 years. Thank you all that responded.

 

[bobtomay]

Sometimes a little jerry rigging is all it takes.