How to connect my 2nd Gen AppleTV to my receiver

PPups said:

Bought a 2nd gen Appletv yesterday. I would like to stream music from my iMac to my home theater system. My home theater system is 14 years old and I do not wish to change it as it is a $15,000 custom system.

I do not have an OPTICAL AUDIO port on my receiver that is connected to my TV. How do I stream music from my iMac to my receiver in this case? What are my options? Is there a backward compatible cable available?

If the AppleTV does not serve the purpose of letting me stream music to my receiver, I will return it so based on this answer, I will be making a hard choice.

Any ideas? I researched on the web without any answers.

Click to expand...

I gues that you have a digital coax port?? In that case:

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-Toslink-Coaxial-Converter/dp/B000I98ZQY

Sandb0x said:

I gues that you have a digital coax port?? In that case:

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Optical-Toslink-Coaxial-Converter/dp/B000I98ZQY

Click to expand...

You'd need something like this if you don't have digital coax or digital optical:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10423&cs_id=1042302&p_id=6884&seq=1&format=2

To be honest, and I don't know what your setup looks like, but simply replacing your receiver with a new one might be the way to go - I'm guessing if you have no digital inputs, it probably doesn't do digital surround sound processing nor can handle any HD A/V switching. That shouldn't be too disruptive to your system, either.

I have one of the in-between models from the early 2000s that has digital audio (3 optical, 1 coax), but only composite or S-Video for the video side of things. I just use my TV to switch between HDMI inputs.

PPups said:

Bought a 2nd gen Appletv yesterday. I would like to stream music from my iMac to my home theater system. My home theater system is 14 years old and I do not wish to change it as it is a $15,000 custom system.

I do not have an OPTICAL AUDIO port on my receiver that is connected to my TV. How do I stream music from my iMac to my receiver in this case? What are my options? Is there a backward compatible cable available?

If the AppleTV does not serve the purpose of letting me stream music to my receiver, I will return it so based on this answer, I will be making a hard choice.

Any ideas? I researched on the web without any answers.

Click to expand...

If you dont have the digital input, you will need one of the above mentioned adapter boxes.. But if your system is 14 years old, its safe to say, it "was" a $15,000 custom system.

Electronics prices fall like a stone, and although audio holds its value better than video, you would be amazed at what 1500 - 2000 gets you in an audio receiver these days. (even 800 -1200 is good territory)

Good Luck!

Mine Works Thus

1) Network cable to Wifi router.

2) HDMI cable to DTS

3) Optical cable (optional) to DTS

And thats it.

Oh, you need to plug it in too

Macman45 said:

1) Network cable to Wifi router.

2) HDMI cable to DTS

3) Optical cable (optional) to DTS

And thats it.

Oh, you need to plug it in too

Click to expand...

You have to read the whole post, not just the title

Sorry

peterjcat said:

You have to read the whole post, not just the title

Click to expand...

Remove the optical connection to the tv, and connect it to the DTS system

IE ATV optical To ATV DTS

PS I did read, just had one of those "My brain is disconnected moments"

J

Just out of curiosity... why so attached to 14 year old receiver? I'm assuming you have a HDTV or you wouldn't be getting an ATV2. With a new receiver you are opening yourself up to a new audio experience with the HD Audio Files that a bluray has. And you don't have to spend an arm and a leg like you did before.

Macman45 said:

Remove the optical connection to the tv, and connect it to the DTS system

IE ATV optical To ATV DTS

PS I did read, just had one of those "My brain is disconnected moments"

J

Click to expand...

The problem is that the OP's receiver doesn't have an optical input...

At 14 years old is your receiver optimized to play high quality cassette tapes? Every sound system that doesn't come in a single box could be considered custom.

I just ditched my 10 year old receiver because it not having HDMI was killing me. Now every device hooked to my tv is HDMI or wireless.

if you are JUST doing Audio, the AirPort Express will do the job and will be easy to connect to your existing receiver. You would just need an Audio Jack to RCA cable.

If you have cat5 cables between your Mac & Receiver, I bought some little boxes (called balun) that would take (Mac) audio out, pump it through cat5 wiring (one run of cat5) then return it to stereo out. This was around Y2K before TV's, Airport Expresses, etc. existed, but it did work very well with my old receiver (that lacked all of the modern inputs).

Here's one example: http://www.crutchfield.com/S-QgTtnPw5oUU/p_190C5A2/Niles-C5-A2.html

If you go this way, you'll need 2 of them- one on each end. Those I have are more attractive than the one at that link more similar in look to these:

http://www.madisontech.com.au/downloads/products/dl_1_av820.pdf

Note those on that latter page claim to also be able to pump HD component video + stereo audio over cat5. Those (latter ones) look like they actually need twin runs of cat 5 and retail for around $150 each: http://www.ramelectronics.net/audio...deo-balun/ets-hdtv-balun-av822/prodAV822.html If they work as good as the audio only versions that I used, they'll work quite good for older technology.