I have a TV and computer (which will play through the TV as a monitor) that I want to connect to one set of speakers. No hdmi on the computer unfortunately.

I know I can’t just use a y cable and I don’t ideally want to have to press a button switch so it seems that a mixer is the right way to do it.

Thing is mixers seem to be pretty expensive at 50 quid ish (at least for what I’m trying to do – I’m no audiophile ) and I’m wondering if I’ve missed a simpler or cheaper solution.

3.5mm jacks on the computer, TV and speakers (they’re computer ones).

Thanks

External USB soundcard.

Range from cheap to ££££.

I have a Focusrite which are highly regarded for their audio converters and at £120 for the 2i4 model they’re great value too.

Shop on Thomann and look for one that covers your range of inputs and outputs.

You send the audio from the PC via USB, and then use whatever inputs & outputs you require for anything else.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/usb_audio_interfaces.html

You’re going to have to be able to switch between sources somehow. You might be able to do this via your tv depending on its connections. If you can drive external speakers direct from your tv then you can just connect your computer to one of your TV sources via one of the non-HDMI connections.

Other than that you’ll need something like an amp.

Audio Switchers are what you sound like you need. Easy to set up and pretty cheap.

You could get some speakers with 2 inputs.
eg Logitech Z323, £25 from Amazon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-980-000355-Z323-Speaker-System/dp/B002L3TSMU

If you only want the computer to play through the speakers when it’s displaying on the telly screen then the tv may be able to do this job for you. There will be an audio input to match the vga (or whatever) input on the telly that you use. Then connect the speakers to the telly and voila computer image and sound come on together.

If your no audiophile and as you are using 3.5mm jacks for stereo purposes then something like this is all you need if you can get over your dislike for pressing a button, or you can get similar units with a remote control to do the switching for you.

3.5mm Stereo Jack 2 way audio splitter here for £10

If your TV has switching, take the headphone out through a 3.5mm jack to the audio speakers.

If the TV’s connected to the computer already can’t you just set up a media server on the computer to serve audio to the speakers? Or have I missed something here…

Thanks all.

Speakers with two inputs does sound like an option I hadn’t considered actually. I had been considering a sound bar so maybe that’s the way to do it.

Or I had found a VGA to HDMI adapter which I think might be another solution:
http://www.ebuyer.com/409852-xenta-vga-to-hdmi-converter-xeby01

Any thoughts on that?

Or I guess that one other option is to run a cable from the TV headphone output to the computer mic in but I have found in the past that you sometimes get buzzing from that.

Dammit, I feel like a right muppet. Just had a look at the TV specs online and apparently it has an audio-in socket which I must have missed so I can just run from the computer to the TV 😳