Wiring AV cable for Atari 800

[Atari-Collector]

Well I finally got my new used 800 set up, but jsut using the RF cable for now, and it looks ok, but I am going to make a AV cable for it.

 

Here the question, we all know the 800 is mono sound. And I was going to wire a cable up with just the one RCA for sound, but I stumped across a youtube video of somebody that had made a cable using a stereo cable with the left and right channels both connected to the audio pin inside that DIN plug. I me that seems like it would goof up the impedance level of the sounds and maybe harm the computer and maybe even the TV (I'm using a 29" LCD I bought a couple years ago)

 

Just looking for some technical comments on this. Sound from both speakers would be nice, but not worth damaging with piece of hardware.

 

 

[+Stephen]

Well I finally got my new used 800 set up, but jsut using the RF cable for now, and it looks ok, but I am going to make a AV cable for it.

 

Here the question, we all know the 800 is mono sound. And I was going to wire a cable up with just the one RCA for sound, but I stumped across a youtube video of somebody that had made a cable using a stereo cable with the left and right channels both connected to the audio pin inside that DIN plug. I me that seems like it would goof up the impedance level of the sounds and maybe harm the computer and maybe even the TV (I'm using a 29" LCD I bought a couple years ago)

 

Just looking for some technical comments on this. Sound from both speakers would be nice, but not worth damaging with piece of hardware.

 

 

No harm - I make all my cables this way, and on the mono cables, I just use an external RCA Y-splitter.

[BillC]

Well I finally got my new used 800 set up, but jsut using the RF cable for now, and it looks ok, but I am going to make a AV cable for it.

 

Here the question, we all know the 800 is mono sound. And I was going to wire a cable up with just the one RCA for sound, but I stumped across a youtube video of somebody that had made a cable using a stereo cable with the left and right channels both connected to the audio pin inside that DIN plug. I me that seems like it would goof up the impedance level of the sounds and maybe harm the computer and maybe even the TV (I'm using a 29" LCD I bought a couple years ago)

 

Just looking for some technical comments on this. Sound from both speakers would be nice, but not worth damaging with piece of hardware.

 

8-Bit Classics sells a an Atari video cable with composite/svideo/dual audio. The left/right audio both connect to the Atari mono signal.

https://www.8bitclassics.com/av-cables/Atari-800-XL-XE-5-Pin-DIN-S-Video-Cable.html

 

I've never heard of anyone damaging the audio output of an Atari 8-bit by splitting it, in the 800 the audio signal is generated by current from +5V through a 4.7k resistor to the collector of an IC transistor/amp. This means the maximum current the audio output can deliver is just over 1mA with the audio output shorted, not enough to do any damage to the computer.