OT? I think a craigslist guy I bought computer speakers from told me that one could test speakers without a computer by plugging them into a cell phone. So you can test them before you buy them, even if you don't have a computer with you and don't have the nerve to ask the seller to connect them to his computer.
Did I get that right?
Has anyone done it?
Does the plug fit the jack? (I don't think so. Some headphones came with an adapter but I'll have to look for it, so I'm asking first, and also to tell you about this.)
When it's a yard sale and his computer is in his house I'm not going to ask him. When it's Goodwill Industries and their computer is back in the office surrounded by everything else in the office and with their own speakers plugged in, I'm not going to ask them. Think about things before you go straight to insults.
What are you, a teenager, that you can't speak unadulterated English?
I've got some tiny Sony speakers that I attached to my Walkman in 1995 which sort of worked on my phone, but the volume was uselessly low. Not even a guess about speakers that require external power.
"I can't tell whether they'll work with my system or not; how about a buck for the pair?"
The phrase "How about $??" is frequently successful where other offers engender resistance. It's unargumentative and uninsulting. People get huffy when they think you're undervaluing their prized-but-no-longer-wanted possessions, so try to get across the idea that while their crap is of excellent quality you personally don't need it more than a buck's worth because you're just looking for a spare .
We once offered 50 cents for an oil filter that fit one of our cars. The seller's mom piped up "But it's never been used!" and the daughter just looked at her :-(
Does your phone have a socket for plugging in wired (i.e. non-bluetooth) headphones? If so, the input cable for the computer speakers - which will have a 3.5mm stereo jack on the end of it - will plug into *that*.
The speakers will still need external power though - either mains or USB, depending on the design. Unless you or the seller can provide that power, the speakers won't play the phone's output and you won't be able to test them.
Cell Phone connected to unpowered, unamplified speakers.
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Can you hear them? ;-)
Cell Phone connected to powered amplifier/sub-woofer
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They should sound louder and fuller now. ;-)
You should be able to test the speakers alone with just the cell phone but expect the volume to be fairly low. However, I wouldn't buy a set of powered speakers without testing the amplifier/sub-woofer and for that you are going to need power.
You could bring a 12V jump-start pack and an inverter. Just sayin'
Maybe these Rocketfish were old, I don't know. But they were enough to make me unsure. It was hard to find a headset with buds not connected by a thing across my head, and with earhooks, especially in stores, and I was happy to find one on ebay. I liked it so much I bought the remaining two, which came each in its box, but moderately beat up boxes. Another indication they were old. Very good price. And I figure they will last me 3 to 15 years.
So why am I about to buy Bluetooth?
You know what I haven't considered about the phone and bluetooth? The actual radio (not webradio or data-radio) in the current phone won't work without something like earbuds plugged into the jack. It displays a message on the screen insisting that they be plugged in. Will that be true of my much newer phone too?
I guess I could plug in simple earbuds and leave them in my pocket with the phone, and still find Bluetooth more convenient. One more thing to remember.
I would be willing in most places to ask to use the wall current. This last one was a garage sale and his garage was packed full of stuff he sells on craiglist and ebay, but he still had a receptacle handy. (He used it while I was there for something.)
At a store I would just find an outlet and plug it in without asking. If they complained, I'd apologize. If they complained that I might start a fire, I'd say they shouldn't sell things that start fires and better at their store than at my house. But normally no one would complain.
Even at a yard sale, many people have an outdoor outlet. For $10 speakers I wouldn't look but for $50, I probably would. There's a house which last summer had loads of electronic things, black things the same width that stack on each other, but various brands. Too much for one household, and eventually the thought came that it was stolen stuff, so I didn't go back. Later I thought I should have the police check it out, serial number and all that, but the summer and the yard sale were over. I wonder if they're doing it this year. Anyone who would sell stolen stuff would sell stuff that didn't work, no returns. Not that I'm sure anything was stolen. Maybe friends brought things to sell.
Others beat me to it. In case you coudln't figure it out, the purpose of the post was to inquire or inform about testing computer speakers with a cell phone. Once I've broached the subject, it would be deficient to suggest it without also suggesting people bring an adapter when going out shopping, if it's true that one might be necessary.
Good suggestion. That can work often, but what I had in mind was the last pair I bought, and the guy lived 17 miles away. I really enjoyed the drive the first time (stopped at a park fair on the way back), but woudln't the second.
You're right, it's good. I'll remember it.
But in my most recent case they were on Craigslist for $10. If they were more money I might bargain on the phone, but once I've driven there, he knows I'm ready to pay what he asks. Even at a hamfest, if I don't bargain when I first see the item, and I leave and come back a half hour, most vendors figure the buyer is pretty serious and they won't need to lower the price.
I usually don't test things and I've only gotten burned twice in 30 years. Plus it was this guy who told me how to test them. I could have stopped and tested with my cell then and there, before I left, but I trust him. **
And they're worth more than $10. They're one step bigger than the set*** which worked great, I know they're worth it. ***Even when one of them broke, the sound was much better with only one of them, than with both of the $21 NIB Jensen I replaced them with. After 5 days I couldn't stand the cheap ones anymore and went back to the one good one, until I have time to put in the new ones.
**And when I buy a used car, I don't ask the seller what condition it is in because I don't want to put a stumbling block before the blind; that is, I don't want to make a liar out of him, or tempt him to lie. And since i can't totally rely on the answer anyhow, I do without it. I've only bought 6 cars in 45 years but I've never been burned. Most have gone the first two years without any repairs.
Well, On the People's Court, the judge keeps saying that the compensable value of used items is what you would get at a yard sale, but a) I'm not positive she's right, b) if she is right, I don't think it's the right value anymore, and c) perhaps she doesn't realize how cheaply things go at yard sales. I think c is part of it because what she awards for used things is often 30%, more if they're pretty new, even for things that truly wear out. Try to sell for that price at a yard sale.
I think the proper value is what you would get on Ebay or craigslist or, earlier, from an ad in the want-ads. Where the people seeing the ad and inquiring really want the item. People at yard sales don't know what will be for sale and they didn't come to buy any particular thing, and it takes the bearest smidgen of extra effort to inquire about a price (if it's not marked), and the seller knows that and can't tell if they really need something or want it just in case, or 'cause it's cute. So the price at a yard sale is often 5 or 10% of the new price, while the price on ebay is 25 to 50%
Heck, the Huawei cell phone that was selling at retail for $100 I paid $50 for 3 or 4 years ago and eBay tells me I can still sell it for $30. At a yard sale, it would be worth what? $5?
I think the judge must be mixing want-ads with yard sales.
Micky wrote: "OT? I think a craigslist guy I bought computer speakers from told me that one could test speakers without a computer by plugging them into a cell phone. So you can test them before you buy them, even if you don't have a computer with you and don't have the nerve to ask the seller to connect them to his computer.
Did I get that right?
Has anyone done it?
Does the plug fit the jack? (I don't think so. Some headphones came with an adapter but I'll have to look for it, so I'm asking first, and also to tell you about this.) "
Powered(or unpowered) computer speakers should be able to fit into anything with a 'Mini'
- 1/8"/3.5mm female jack.
I have a reason for asking this Micky, but what was a top hit on the radio in the year you graduated high school?
I'm sure there was a Beatles song or two. I wasn't crazy about the Beatles but I spent years trying to learn to like them like everyone else did.
Eventually I noticed violins in Eleanor Rigby and other non-4-piece band instruments and I said to myself, Well they get a lot of credit for that. And I went with that theory for 10 or 20 years until I paid more attention to Paul Anka and lots of other songs from the 50's and 60's and many of them have violins etc.
And the lesson was that if people want to believe in something, because everyone they know does, he can convince himself. I've seen it, wrt not just music tastes but more important things too.
But I can't really distinguish one year from another 42 and more years ago, especailly after years (3 hours tonight) of listening to a mixture of years on oldies radio. I like the Crystals, the Temptations, Paul Anka, Neil Sedaka, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, the Four Tops, and loads of others (including some single female singers I can't think of now) and all of those who are from the period of the 50's and early 60's and not too dissimilar. I like 20's,
30's, and 40's music too, and classical symphonic and opera** and was just learning to like Country, which would have made it everything, when they came out with acid rock, which I never learned to like, and rap is even worse. So I'm just like a lot of old fogies, and I like what was popular when I was a teenager (except the Beatles and the Rolling Stones) and nothing after that.
(Well there are a few songs every year, ballads and whatever, like "I will always love you", that would fit with any decade, including the 50's. And the lyrics were almost always clean until about 1963 or
4, but I rarely listened to the lyrics so that's not why I didn't like the later songs.)
**I get more done when I listen to popular music.
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