Difference between audio out, and headphone jack?

omgu8myrice

omgu8myrice

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i have a radio that has built in speakers..but they suck so i would like to connect them to higher grade ones. the radio has 2 different jacks..a headphone jack, and an audio out jack. when i plug my speakers into the audio out jack, no sound comes out. when i put them into the headphone jack, sound does come though. should i be able to recieve the sound thru the audio out, since the headphone jack is meant for headphone use?

thanks for teh help :)
 
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Normally the head phone jack puts out some power (although not very much, as headphones do not require much), and a/v out (or your audio out) only sends signal requiring another device to amplify it to produce the sound. Now depending what speakers you have you may have an acceptable sound level, but if you are trying to hook it too lets say decent or nice bookshelf speakers (which you can do using am rca to speaker wire adapter) you can actually damage your speakers by not sending enough signal and the distorsion (sp) can cause permanent damage too them. But if you have an extra set of powered computer (or gaming ) speakers, you can go the audio out to the sub (normally) and have good sound, I did it w/ my sony dvd player for a year w/ boston acoustic computer speakers while I was inbetween surround sound systems, good luck!
 
[quote name='omgu8myrice']i have a radio that has built in speakers..but they suck so i would like to connect them to higher grade ones. the radio has 2 different jacks..a headphone jack, and an audio out jack. when i plug my speakers into the audio out jack, no sound comes out. when i put them into the headphone jack, sound does come though. should i be able to recieve the sound thru the audio out, since the headphone jack is meant for headphone use?

thanks for teh help :)[/QUOTE]

The audio out (or line out) provides a fixed, standard strength signal appropriate for plugging into normal stereo amplifiers.

The headphone jack provides a variable volume signal strengh appropriate for driving headphones.

Neither of these outputs is appropriate for driving large, unamplified speakers. You can actually damage your radio if you try to drive large speakers from the headphone jack. There are small speaker sets that are made to be driven from a headphone jack, but they don't normally produce very good (or loud) sound.

Get a pair or good amplified speakers (like the ones for PCs)...if the speakers have their own volume control, then hook them to the audio out, otherwise, use the headphone jack.
 
when i plug it into the audio out though, the sound from the radio doesnt go away..
i want these speakers to replace the radio's, not to play along with
 
[quote name='omgu8myrice']when i plug it into the audio out though, the sound from the radio doesnt go away..
i want these speakers to replace the radio's, not to play along with[/QUOTE]

You should be able to turn the volume all the way down on the radio.
Heaphone output = amplified by the radio
audio out = sound only to be amplified by whatever your plugging into it
 
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