Can I use the 5.1 speakers from my home cinema system without the dvd play

[leeuk321]

Hey everyone, I was just wondering if someone could please help me? I've got a JVC TH-S66 5.1 home cinema system, but I haven't got the dvd player. The subwoofer has a connector which the manual says connects to the dvd player via a 'system cord', through a circular connection port which has 8 pins - I don't know what it's exact name is, but it looks similar to old mouse/keyboard ports. The subwoofer then has the 5 paired red/black outputs for the other 5 speakers.

I've got a DVD player which has optical & digital out. Would there be any way of connecting from this DVD player to the subwoofer? Or can the subwoofer only receive audio from the jvc dvd player?

Failing that, I've got all of the 5.1 rca outputs on my dvd player. I can imagine that I'd be able to connect directly to my speakers no problem, but I can't see any way of connect directly from the dvd player to the subwoofer? Should I try unscrewing the back panel and seeing if I can find the red/black audio wires to directly wire it up?

Any help would be greatly, greatly appreciated. The manual is at http://www.jvc.co.uk/files/instruction_manual/gvt0152-001b.pdf if anyone wants to go above and beyond and have a look at what I'm working with.

Thanks everyone. Lee

[jagabo]

Without the "center unit" (DVD player and preamp?) I think you're screwed. It looks like the 8 pin DIN connector on the sub is proprietary. If you can find a service manual you may be able to figure out what each pin is and build an adapter cable (if the 8 pins are analog audio inputs).

[leeuk321]

Thanks for the replies. I think you're right, I need to get the dvd player. Because even if I could somehow homebrew a way to get audio from my current dvd player to the subwoofer/amp unit, there's no volume control on it. So i'm guessing the jvc dvd player talks to the control unit via the system cable, and is used for audio output / calibration / volume control etc.

What are the chances of being able to buy a jvc dvd player separately, which would work with this system?

Thanks for everyone's help.

Lee

[jagabo]

What are the chances of being able to buy a jvc dvd player separately, which would work with this system?

I don't know but it's not just a DVD player. It's a preamp with a built in DVD player. I would try ebay.