Airport Express Toslink to Coaxial

Question

Level 1

19 points

Airport Express Toslink to Coaxial

Hi,

I'm interested in using a Toslink-to-mini cable to connect Airport Express to my stereo receiver. However, My Sony receiver has the following specs:

Inputs and Outputs:
RCA Audio Input(s): 4 (Rear)
RCA Audio Output(s): 2 (Rear)
AC Outlet: 1 Switched
Antenna Terminal (AM Loop): 1 (Rear)
Antenna Terminal (FM 75 Ohm): 1 (Rear)
Headphone Output(s): 1 (Front)

As you can see, there's no Toslink port. However, from the information I can glean on the Internet, it appears that I can use some kind of adapter cable that will allow me to connect a Toslink cable through the 75 Ohm Coaxial. However, I'm somewhat unsure since the 75 Ohm Coaxial is designated for the FM connection, and it's not clear to me that I can connect the AE through this. Any help/insight is appreciated.

Thanks,
Mark.

iMac 17", Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Mar 5, 2008 8:48 AM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

148,423 points

Mar 5, 2008 8:55 AM in response to huyt78

If you would provide the model number of your Sony receiver, I can look up the specs to see if the RCA audio inputs are something other than analog inputs. I doubt seriously that the 75 Ohm antenna terminal will accept audio ... either analog or digital.

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Answer 2

Ansuz82

Level 6

8,285 points

Mar 5, 2008 9:54 AM in response to huyt78

My question is this: Why are you hooking up toslink? It seems that neither device has a toslink jack so how does this enter into the equation?

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Answer 3

huyt78 Author

Level 1

19 points

Mar 5, 2008 10:20 AM in response to Ansuz82

Thanks for your inpput. Page 20 of the Setup Guide mentions the "Toslink-to-mini digital fiber optic cable"( http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/AirPortExpress_SetupGuide5.1.pdf). As the specs I listed show, there is no Toslink jack. I was led to believe that it's possible to plug in the Male Toslink from the "Toslink-to-mini digital fiber optic cable" to some kind of adapter, which can then in turn be plugged into the receiver's coaxial connector(jack?).

i.e.:

AE --> mini digital plug/Female Toslink --> Adapter --> Receiver's Coaxial terminal

I don't know if this is possible; it's just a shot in the dark.

I'd prefer to go the route of Toslink as numerous commentators here and elsewhere say the sound quality is far superior to that achieved via the RCA analog outputs.

Thanks again,
Mark.

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Answer 4

huyt78 Author

Level 1

19 points

Mar 5, 2008 10:21 AM in response to Tesserax

Tesserax,

Sony STR-DE197

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=STRDE197&region_id=1

Thanks,
Mark.

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Answer 5

Ansuz82

Level 6

8,285 points

Mar 5, 2008 10:30 AM in response to huyt78

The sound quality wont improve. Toslink is a digital format. You only reap the benefits if you are going to/from a digital source - ie if your amp at a toslink in.

What you are looking to do is do an analog to digital conversion and then convert back from digital to analog. There will be no quality improvement by doing this. In fact, attempting to convert to coax and using the antenna input can only degrade the quality, as will doing unnecessary A/D, D/A conversion.

Just get the RCA to 3.5mm cable and plug it up that way.

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Answer 6

huyt78 Author

Level 1

19 points

Mar 5, 2008 10:42 AM in response to Ansuz82

Ansuz82,

Thanks for steering me straight on this issue.

--Mark.

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Answer 7

Ansuz82

Level 6

8,285 points

Mar 5, 2008 10:42 AM in response to huyt78

Anytime. 10 years as an audio engineer has taught me a couple of tricks 🙂

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