Panasonic led TV - getting analog sound out without turning off internal speakers

[GarbanzoBill]

Hello everyone,

Just got a new tv, a panasonic led flat screen TX40C320E. I tried to mimic the previous setup, which included an RCA audio out towards a (very) old hifi system that only takes analog input.

The Panasonic TV has only the following output options for sound: an audio 2.5mm jack on the side, meant for headphones ; an S/PDIF out. There is a three pins RCA (yellow, white & red) plug, but that is an input.

I was hoping to use to audio jack out, which works just fine except that as soon as it is plugged in, the TV speakers are turned off. I cn see how that makes sense for a headphone use, but I would like for the tv speakers to stay on, and haven't been able to find a setting in the TV menus to make that happen.

Does it seem possible that there is no way to override the "audio jack plugged in > tv speakers are offline" setting, or have I just not looked at the right place, in your opinion?

If this is an impasse, I reckon the only other way to achieve what i want is to get an S/PDIF to analog converter - which will be about 20 euros/dollars at least. Is that correct, or should i expect the tv speakers to be turned off when that is plugged in as well?

Also, if anyone has another idea to make this work (have both tv speakers and audio out working simultaneously, with an audio system that accepts only analog input), I'd be very happy to have something else to explore.

Thanks!

 

[americanaudiophile]

You do need a DAC to convert the digital audio out to analog. It will not affect the TV speakers at all. You will need to control the volume of the stereo system with its volume control as the output is fixed.