I need help connecting speakers to my portable xbox 360, it is literally the last step I have to finish my portable...and I'm completely stuck. In episode 6 of the benheck show, he slightly goes over how he has connected his...but not with nearly enough detail for me to follow. Can anyone help me with a step by step explanation that tells how exactly he connected his speakers to the xbox? I'm sure I can't be the only person stuck on this

If anyone has any suggestions or ideas to get speakers working with the xbox that would be great!
(I'm using a LCD monitor that doesn't have built in speakers, and this is my last step until my project is done so all help is appreciated!)

The easiest way, I'd say, is to just connect the audio left, audio right, and ground to the Xbox 360 av cable. Use pc speakers with USB power so you can plug It into the 360 for power, and cut the 3.5mm headphone jack off the other side to match the pinouts eith the av cable.

Thats what I had in mind, but the problem is the USB powered speakers I have (http://www.ankaka.com/5w-high-fidelity-edition-usb-speaker-for-laptopsmac-pc_p46809.html) require a driver to be downloaded. Which the xbox 360 can't do...so connecting them the way you mentioned sounds good but now the problem is that there is no 3.5mm jack. The only I/O that the speakers have is a USB plug. Any idea where to go from there?

I assume I can plug it in to the USB port solely for power, but not for sound. Will directly soldering the L/R/G enable the sound from the xbox to come through the speakers? Or is there a missing component?
Thanks for the help!

Okay I'm not 100% sure about those, but I'd imagine that the data lines in the usb cable are L/R. and then there is just one ground for the whole usb connection. Do you have the audio controller out of the speaker casing? Look around the pcb for L/R connections, usually speakers label all that pretty well.

Yeah I have the case off, and it is clearly labeled. Would you think that soldering audio L/R to the AV pins or audio optical cable pins would get the speakers to work? Or do you think I'm going to run into a problem with no sound because the driver is still an issue? I'm really not sure here and its getting quite frustrating because the sound is all I have left, but can't really get passed these speakers.
Is there anything else I should try, perhaps an easier setup with different speakers you can suggest?

Well you won't have a driver issue with the xbox because you'll be hard wiring it. Solder the L/R/G to the AV pins on the AV cable connector if your using VGA. (good pinouts and info here : http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/14/how- ... -cable-fo/)
If your using HDMI to connect your monitor connect L/R directly to the bottom pins on the 360's motherboard with a few common grounds to make the xbox think its one of the audio dongles for hdmi.

Okay so I am using HDMI to DVI, which means I can't use the AV pins right? Nothing would happen because the xbox knows an HDMI cord is plugged in and thats where the video and audio will be processed from. So when you say connect L/R to the bottom pins on the motherboard...is there any way you can show me a picture of the pins your talking about? Also I would still be connecting the USB L/R/G to the USB port for power correct?
Appreciate the help, and if it would make it easier to help me out I can post pictures of the speakers circuit board for ya.

What you'll need to do is connect L/R/G directly to the xbox motherboard. http://www.element-14.com/community/doc ... k-band-kit. Ben Heck describes the audio situation at about 8:40.
cant seem to find the exact pinout image for the av connector. I know it's floating around the net somewhere.

Av Pinout here:
http://gamesx.com/wiki/doku.php?id=av:xbox360av

you need to join pin 18-20 and 22-24 then solder your left to 16 and right to 15

Ask if you need more info

pm sent, check your messages, im making an xbox laptop and had the same issue

i need to find a digital potentiometer to work with my xbox laptop speakers, anybody have any ideas?

Yea. Take a look a mouser, and search for digital potentiometers and you will find tons of IC's for practically no cost at all.
Hope that helped.

thanks, found some, the only problem now is choosing the right one with dual inputs (for left and right) , get the right resistance and wire it up correctly!

thanks for the help!

btw have you got any pictures of your xbox laptop build,i would love to see them!

seb smith

I know this topic was back in Jan but I happen to have come to it. I have a link for some speakers that I am using they have great sound and they are usb powered. http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng ... =&ic=48_96 I hope this helps you. The speakers I'm using are the hp mini ones at the very bottom they were easy to take apart and work great. Maybe you have already solved your issue but I feel better at least posting it.