Hmmm, I must be getting old, but I got a new hi fi after my trusty Phillips came to the end of its 15 years of service.

Imagine my surprise when my shopping for a new one resulted in lots of stuff like "Oh, Ipod docking and Bluetooth of course".

Anyhoo, got a new hi fi, but yep - no 3.5mm headphone jack. Just two USB ports.

Obviously, the idea seems to be playing media off USB sticks, but how the heck do I use headphones with it? Some sort of adaptor? USB headphones? (they seem to be mainly for PC gamers). Bluetooth doesn't seem to be an option as it says it receives but doesn't transmit bluetooth.

Any help?

Here's the one I got:
http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/tv-dvd...04637-pdt.html

According to spec, you unit has rca (phono) sockets in and out.

You can connect a 3.5 mm socket to phono cable:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_...20mm%20sockets

You could add a bluetooth transmitter as well via the 3.5 mm socket.

Not sure how loud signal will be - rca out can sometimes be a bit low. Should be ok with earphones but not sure about large headphones.

You need to check for a headphone socket before you buy - it's a pretty well dropped feature these days

I'm disappointed in Panasonic though with that system, and it's highly imaginary power output 'rating'

Where did you see that it has audio output? I've just read the "manual" online and there is no sign there of anything remotely resembling an audio output of any sort.

Plus plugging a pair of headphones into a line level output won't work anyway. There won't be enough level and it will be fixed, no volume control. You would need to use an amplifier.

First off.

It is not by any stretch of the imagination a "HiFi" system. Not by any definition I recognise anyway

Basically you are stuffed. Unless you fancy making up something to connect to the speaker terminals there are no audio outputs on the thing at all.

Was thinking that myself. 350W with only 50W power consumption, how does that work then?

Mind you how they have the nerve to measure the power output at 30% distortion I have no idea. Any sane person would be running out of the room with their hands over their ears in horror if they cranked it up to that sort of level!

When you get to web page, there is a link called view product details, and this says it has RCA (aka phono) in and out.

re. amplification, as I said above may be ok for earphones but less likely for headphones. I had a set of rf headphones, and they happily worked off phono slots at a reasonable volume.

If that same information about there being RCA out was displayed by the OP's supplier than that is sufficient for them to return it for a refund as not as advertised.

If you mean the specs on the PC World website I would barely trust them to get the make right much less what sockets it's got!

But according to Panasonic and the online manual which can be downloaded from their website, the only phonos on the thing are inputs. The only outputs it has are for the speakers.

If you go here
http://www.panasonic.eu/Downloads/en_GB/popup.html

Put the model number (minus the K at the end as it doesn't seem to recognise it) you can down load the manual (not possible to link directly to it)

Wireless headphones will work happily off a line level output because the headphones themselves contain amplification and they are specifically designed for that purpose. Normal headphones are not designed to be connected to line level outputs and as I posted line level outputs are usually fixed level anyway so even less suitable.

My old hi-fi amp does not have a headphone output but I have my wireless headphone base station connected to its tape monitor output which happily works even with the amp switched off. But I expect modern kit does not have a tape monitor output.

To be fair, the PCWorld spec is ambiguous at best. "RCA inputs / outputs Yes" should really be replaced with "RCA inputs / outputs 1 / 0" or something similar. My guess is that if there's a person involved in copying across the data then they're not technical enough to understand the stuff they're entering.


As far as Mumbling_Chris is concerned though it doesn't change anything. The stereo system still doesn't provide a means of getting sound out at line level or headphone level.

Thanks very much for the responses chaps!

Yeah, the massive output claim is funny it's really not a "loud" system, but it's very good quality and I'm using it for my projector and PS4, so it'll get used. I wouldn't recommend it though - it's a rather dull system for 120 notes.

Sad that headphone use seems to be an afterthought these days.

Anyway, appreciate the responses!

I have seen speaker switches with a headphone socket on which might do the job. But most of the one's I've seen have been to switch one amplifier to five pairs of speakers which seems a bit over the top really just to get a headphone socket!

Haven't yet seen anything that just sits in line between amp and speakers and gives you a simple speaker on/off with headphone socket.

It would be absolutely trivial to build one though