Can I salvage the speakers from this POS Sony "Dream System"?

April 22, 2008 4:53 PM

Can I salvage the speakers from this POS Sony "Dream System"?

I bought this Sony "Dream System" about 4 years ago. True to form, judging by other owners' stories 'round the net, it's been a total lemon. One by one, each of its various AV functions has quit working, and today it just gave up the ghost completely. I'm ready to trash it and replace it with a more modular solution.

So to the question: I wouldn't mind keeping the 5.1 speakers and reusing them with whatever new receiver I end up with; however, the connectors where the speaker wires plug into the receiver box are some kind of bizarre proprietary design that I'm sure won't plug in to any other brand of receiver. Can I somehow cut that part off, strip the wires, and attach them to generic speaker connectors? I'm far from an audiogeek (hence the purchase of the in-a-box system in the first place), so dumbed-down guidance will be appreciated.

posted by slenderloris to technology (6 comments total)

It's possible they did something crazy (Sony often does) but most likely, yes, you can just cut and resolder the cables. You'll need to get them in-phase to avoid odd bass effects but otherwise it should be pretty much cut, strip, & solder.

You might not even need to solder them. Just cut them at the receiver end and strip them. Most decent receivers just have screw terminals for hooking onto bare wires anyway. People will probably tell you to dump them and get good speakers but I say hack away. You can always upgrade later. That's the beauty of a modular system.
posted by chairface at 5:05 PM on April 22

Just lose the plugs. 'Generic speaker connectors' = bare wire.
posted by pompomtom at 5:31 PM on April 22

Manual for the item in question.

Regarding in-phase - it looks like where everyone else uses red and black Sony used gray and black, which is all you have to worry about there.

It also claims that the speakers are 3 ohms, which I think is not considered a normal specification for home theater? This could cause some problems if your receiver can't put out enough current. Someone else will know more about audio than me, or try Googling moar for "three ohm speakers Sony" which had this as the first result.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 5:33 PM on April 22

The best bet for the connectors would be to cut the cables to leave a tail on the Sony connectors and then fit RCA or similar sockets to the tails, then you can plug in whatever you want.

I was looking at one of these systems on the weekend, but decided against it because I am concerned about the whole "one component fails and the whole box is fucked' aspect.
posted by dg at 9:39 PM on April 22

I also have a dream system (great product for about a year). The issues i had deemed the unit unusable. The speakers are now in use on a denon receiver. A quick snip of the stupid proprietary ends and right into the new receiver. The subwoofer is now in the center channel of the receiver which actually works halfway decent.
posted by anatheman at 7:33 AM on April 23

TheOnlyCoolTim: Yes, the speaker specs do indeed say "3 ohms." Your answer gave me the jumping-off-point I needed to find this helpful explanation of impedance. I was sort of vaguely aware that such a concept existed but didn't know how it related to my question. Thanks!

anatheman: Good to know someone else has trod this path before. Your experience makes me hopeful that I too will be able to find a receiver that will work with these speakers. When the unit was actually operational, I was actually fairly satisfied with the sound.
posted by slenderloris at 10:55 AM on April 23