I have just purchased a vintage Rock-Ola Princess Jukebox. I would like to connect it to my existing Sonos system so that the records being played can be heard throughout the house. How can I do this?
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Connect the analog out from the jukebox (I assume it has one?) to the input of a Play:5 or a Connect. You'll need to turn the volume on the jukebox to zero as there will be a time delay between it and the digital speakers.
I have asked the guy refurbishing the jukebox if there is an analogue out and he says no. It is a 1958 jukebox and they didn;t think of that then. It does have outputs for two external speakers (left and right stereo channels) but I don't think they can be used to connect to Sonos - correct?
But if someone is also refurbishing the internals where needed, it should not be hard to provide these - if so ask for fixed level outputs from the output of the phono preamp section, that must later feed the amplification via the volume control in the box. Outputs for speakers cannot be used for any Sonos unit, they carry too much current.
What should also be specified is that the signal to the speakers inside the box should also be present, so the box can be played in standalone mode as well.
What should also be specified is that the signal to the speakers inside the box should also be present, so the box can be played in standalone mode as well.
I agree with Kumar. If they don't know how to provide that then they probably shouldn't be touching the electrics side of your Jukebox.
If it's just a matter of hooking up the speaker outputs to the Sonos, you can use a line level converter; they're very common in car audio. Search for 'Line level converter' at crutchfield. Some of the nicer ones need 12V power input, but the cheaper ones still work fine - sound quality isn't as good as a direct line-level connection, but you're not buying a vintage jukebox for sound quality anyway.
Ah, but I suspect that a lot of that quality loss can be eliminated by going through the line level instead of having the signal pass through all the jukebox electrics all the way to its speaker terminals, and then being reduced again via the converter. Line level to Sonos may yield all the fun with a bonus of much better sound quality than the juke box ever delivered in all of its existence. And it should be a cheap tweak in the circumstances.
Thank you for these thoughts - I will be in touch with my refurbisher, however I think he works in the mode of 'if it doesn't work replace it rather than fix it'. So he doesn't get involved with nitty gritty of the electronics.
If he does, make sure he understands that he needs to tap only into the two wires leading from the phono preamp outputs to the inputs of the rest of the amplifier section. And provide two jacks identifiable as left/right, that can be accessed by externally attached RCA cables at the other end of the two new wires. For someone with some idea of what to do, it is simple even with the replace if broke approach. Since these will be wired components, not ICs.
And if you want to verify what he has done before risking an expensive Sonos Connect by wiring it to those jacks, have him measure the voltages at those jacks when the box is playing and see that these are in the region of half to one volt.
And if you want to verify what he has done before risking an expensive Sonos Connect by wiring it to those jacks, have him measure the voltages at those jacks when the box is playing and see that these are in the region of half to one volt.
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