Are you looking for a way to enjoy karaoke in the convenience of your own home with family and friends? You can easily build your karaoke system at home using YouTube karaoke for free! We all know that YouTube is the number one source for videos online. You can search for almost any song by any artist and add the word “karaoke” and you’ll be able to find it!
Of course you can use YouTube directly and sing along with it without any additional equipment. Just play the songs from YouTube on your device and sing along.
But this won’t be as fun as being in a group setting and using a microphone.
3 basic things that you need to do to have a great karaoke setup at home
1) Setup a microphone and output the sound of the mic to your home speakers.
2) Output the music of your karaoke source (such as YouTube) to your home speakers. This maybe the same set of speakers used by your mic or another set of speakers.
3) Output the video of your karaoke source (such as YouTube) to your TV.
In the sections below, we will talk about how to set this up in more detail. There are more simple ways of doing karaoke without the need for microphones and TVs such as the use of Apps in your mobile devices or computers. This would depend on how you would want to your karaoke home system to be.
Karaoke Apps
There are many apps available for Karaoke such as Smule, RockIt Karaoke, The Karaoke Channel and Karafun to name a few. These apps can queue songs you choose and many of these apps specialize in recording your sessions, scoring, sharing your videos online with friends or providing offline songs. But you need to pay for subscriptions.
If you just want to have fun and just sing with your family and friends at home, there’s no need to pay any subscriptions. But, you will need the right equipment.
YouTube plus the equipment of your choice such as your home stereo
You can have unlimited song selection from YouTube without monthly subscriptions. If you don’t need to record your songs (most of the time) and you don’t need to have an offline copy of the songs then YouTube would be your karaoke best friend.
You can use your existing equipment at home or you can choose any equipment that can fit the style of your room and your taste for sound quality. Continue reading below to learn how you can connect YouTube from your mobile device or computer to your TV.
READ: Karaoke on the Go: How to setup a Portable Karaoke machine
5 Things you need to have a great Karaoke Party at Home using YouTube
1 Microphones
I recommend having 2 UHF Wireless Handheld Microphones. It’s a lot for more fun to do duets and to move around with 2 wireless mics. UHF (Ultra High Frequency) type is preferred. Although more expensive, it provides a more reliable connection, VHF mics have a tendency to lose sound intermittently.
Some examples of UHF mics that you can check from Amazon are the PylePro Premier Series UHF microphones and the Professional Dual UHF Handheld Wireless Microphone System – Morr. If you are on a budget (who isn’t?) you can also check out the Fifine Dual Channel Wireless Handheld Microphone,easy-to-use handheld UHF wireless system. I’ve tested it in my sister’s setup and so far it works well.
Remember to get Microphone Windscreen Foam Covers to protect your mics from singer’s spit and to add more color to your karaoke party! These covers are washable and reusable.
2 Speakers
I have used my existing home theater speakers (Polk Audio) before for karaoke and noticed that the speakers gave feedback and sometimes had sound distortion depending on how loud the voice of the singer is. I later learned that there is a high risk of damaging my home theater speakers when using a microphone. Home theater speakers are great for recorded sound but not for live sound.
My karaoke sessions with friends can get intense and I really can not control what the singers would do! When one of my friends was singing a heavy metal song, I just could not interrupt his singing moment! I had to adjust the mic volume frequently to avoid damage to the speakers. I got tired of worrying and adjusting the volume every few minutes. So recently, I bought a different set of speakers designed for microphone input.
Active Speakers
When checking out speakers for karaoke, remember that PA (public address) or active speakers are more appropriate. These are designed for live performances but can get really expensive.
The LyxPro SPA-8 is an example of a compact PA speaker that can be used. It has a built in amplifier and mixer and it supports many input types – bluetooth, AUX, MIC and RCA. However, it does not have the echo sound effect that provides the signature karaoke sound.
There are also available made for karaoke speakers with built-in amplifier and mixer that you can choose from. The speakers I bought were multimedia speakers with built-in microphone input and echo sound effect. An example of a karaoke speaker is the ION Party Rocker. This speaker has a rechargeable battery and party lights – 2 useful features for a backyard party at home!
My current setup is to output the YouTube music from the TV to my home theater sound system for quality sound and use my karaoke speakers for the microphone output. This way there’s no need to worry about ruining my home theater speakers regardless how wild our singing gets!
3 Mixer
A mixer combines 2 or more multiple sources of sound to be sent to a single set of speakers.
If you need both microphone and TV sound sent to your sound bar or home theater speakers, you will need this karaoke mixer. You can also use a mixer to connect a microphone to your existing speakers that do not have a mic input.
Connecting your TV to the karaoke mixer
To output the music from your TV to the same set of speakers you are using for your mic then you would need to use a mixer. Find your TV’s audio output port, use its headphone jack if it exist, and connect it to the mixer using a 3.5mm to RCA audio cable. If your TV does not have a headphone output jack and it uses an optical cable for audio out, then you would need to use a toslink cable to connect it to a digital to analog converter. Then connect the converter to the mixer.
I recommend the ammoon karaoke sound mixer. Both include tone and echo control.
4 YouTube Player
This can be a mobile device – phone, tablet, PC/Mac, Smart TV, Apple TV or Google Chromecast –or any device that can play YouTube.
5 Connect your YouTube Device to your TV
There are different ways on how you can connect YouTube from a device to your TV.
Connecting your laptop directly to your TV
To connect your laptop to your TV and project the Youtube Karaoke in your big screen, you can use an HDMI cable. An HDMI cable can transfer both sound and video to your TV.
This setup can mirror your laptop’s screen to your TV. You can use this setup to watch movies and play games.
Using your phone, tablet or computer to control YouTube in your TV via WIFI
Your mobile device or computer can connect YouTube wirelessly to your TV through WIFI for the following supported TV devices:
• Chromecast
• Smart TVs with the YouTube app
• Android TV
• Google TV
• Roku
• Playstation 3 and Playstation 4
• Xbox 360 and Xbox One
• Wii U
• Blu-ray Disc Player with the YouTube app installed
• All set-top boxes or cable boxes with the YouTube app installed
Connect your mobile device or computer’s YouTube app to your Smart TV by connecting to the same WIFI network. Install a YouTube app in your Smart TV and link your TV to your device. Select Cast on your phone, tablet, or computer.
Read How to Connect YouTube from your Mobile Device to your TV or follow these instructions – Link your phone, tablet, or computer to watch YouTube on TV.
Using Apple TV for YouTube
The fastest way to use your Apple TV for karaoke at home is to use the Mirroring function of the Apple TV. Apple devices can be mirrored to an Apple TV, so if you are using a Karaoke app or YouTube you can simply mirror it your TV.
However, Apple TV does not support the TV Queueing functionality of YouTube. You will have to manually create a playlist to queue songs. It’s not a seamless experience, there’s a lag between the time when you update your playlist and the time it shows up on your TV.
READ: How to setup Apple TV with YouTube TV Queuing for Karaoke
Using Chromecast as YouTube player for Karaoke
My favorite way of doing karaoke at home via YouTube is through Chromecast. Although YouTube TV Queuing works in other support TV devices (Smart TVs, Roku, Xbox, etc), connecting via Chromecast is a better experience for me – it has no lags and it supports HD videos in YouTube. The quality of connection depends on your TV device. Try connecting YouTube through your Smart TV or other TV device first and if you have issues, get a Chromecast.
Once you have connected your mobile device and control YouTube in your TV, you can queue as many songs as you can! Neighbors, beware! It’s now time for a karaoke party! Remember to add the word “karaoke” for each song title you search in YouTube.
Check in Lazada.com.ph: Google Chromecast
READ: How to setup Karaoke using YouTube and Chromecast and Karaoke Tips
What are your best practices for doing karaoke at home? Do you use YouTube? How do you connect YouTube to your TV? Share your comments below!
Here is my current setup. Roku connected to TV HDMI for youtube app. I have two inputs on the sound bar Optical and Analog. I am using optical cable for all of my TV sound. I went through your site and bought https://www.amazon.com/Fifine-UHF-Dual-Channel-Wireless-Handheld-Microphone-Karaoke-Wireless-Microphone-System-K036/dp/B01N6448Q4?tag=tech080a-20. Now I want both the sound from youtube and mic comes out from my sound bar. Do I need another mixer. Can you give me step by step instructions fot this?
Hi Sam, yes you would need a mixer. Please follow the steps in the #3 Mixer section of this article.
Basically use your TV’s audio output to connect it to the mixer, connect your mic to the mixer and then do an audio out of the mixer to your speakers. Hope that helps
I have been having a problem lately during karaoke. I’m using my laptop for you tube, connected to a Yamaha MG10 mixer, wireless microphone, and 2 alto stand speakers. When playing the song, it starts out okay, but towards the middle and sometimes at the end I get this horrible feedback for only about 3-5 seconds. I have tried it even with the microphones off to see if it might be looping, but it still does it. Do you have any suggestions?
Hi Laura, when you remove the microphone from the mixer and just to try to play plain audio – it is still having problems? Try adjusting the gain when you play audio. Another test is to use another input aside from your laptop, use a phone, and see if this still occurs so we can isolate the problem.
Also, turn the microphone on your laptop OFF! that’ll fix it!
That’s a good one D! Hopefully that fixed it.
Hi! Can I use the mixer with wireless microphones? I saw iT has to mic slot but my mics are wireless.. help please!!
Hi Maritza, yes the mixer can be used with wireless microphones, just connect the wireless mic’s receiver to the mixer and you should be fine. the receiver of the wireless mic should have an audio out or mic out jack that you can use. If you need further help, please send me the make and model of your equipment so I can provide more detailed instructions.
Thanks for the step by step information. I was new to setup a karaoke machine and this article made me pro for that. Keep writing like this…
Hello TLG,
We in my family has been doing a very simple home karaok setup using Youtube. I got a Smart TV so connecting the tv to my mobile phone or to my laptop is a breeze. We in the family has been using this setup for a while now.
BUT … we can only search songs one at a time.
After we sing, then we search a new song. So the merry singing stops while we search for the next song.
Is there something I can use whereby we can just use our mobile phone to search & que all the songs we like to sing while someone is still singing. Hence, the merry signing is non-stop.
Is there something like this we can use?
I hope there is.
Regards,
-Nancy-
Hi Nancy, I know what you mean! Google Chromecast for me is the best way for a seamless experience that let each of us who are connected to the same wifi queue songs to the same YouTube playlist while someone is singing and playing the current song. I have written about the Chromecast in this article -> How to create a Karaoke setup using YouTube and Google Chromecast
You can may also find this article useful that contains reference links -> How to Connect YouTube from your Mobile Device to your TV
Hope this helps!
Hi TLG,
I appreciate the reply.
As i’ve stated in my first comment, we have a Smart TV but I can only mirror 1 phone at a time to it.
But are you saying that Google ChromeCast has this added function of allowing other users to connect to it and to add songs to a single playlist while a song is being played? If this is the case, I should get myself a chromecast dongle then.
Thanks again TLG.
Regards,
-Nancy-
Hi Nancy, instead of mirroring your phone to it, connect the phone using the Smart TV’s YouTube app and your phone’s YouTube app.. This way you can use the TV Queue feature of YouTube. You can check out this link https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/7048602?hl=en&ref_topic=1732965&co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&oco=1 and this article for more info – How to Connect YouTube from your Mobile Device to your TV
If this works, you will no longer need a chromecast!
This last one is the one the worked for me! — tv Youtube App + phone YouTube App
Thanks a lot TLG.
I wouldn’t have done it without your guidance.
Kudos to you and your website.
-Nancy-
Try Rockit Karaoke, its available on App Store and Google Play.
Hi there!
Please help! I have a samsung tv and a jvc home theatre. I want tv sound thru to the home theatre for watching and karaoke purposes. I have tried hdmi, optical but no luck. My tv dont have a headphone jack too. From reading the other thread, i seem to need to a digital to analog audio converter? Is that right? Thanks in advance!
Hi Sheryl, kindly confirm that you can use your home theater right now with your TV? So TV sound is coming out to your home theater speakers? Then the problem is getting the microphone sound out to the same home theater speakers. To this, you would need the mixer.
1. Disconnect the TV from your home theater speakers. Check if the TV has an RCA OUT for audio – connect that to the RCA IN to the mixer
2. Connect the mixer using RCA OUT in the mixer to the AUX/RCA IN to the home theater
3. Connect your michrphone to the mixer
Please determine what options are available in your TV to get the sound OUT – the instructions may vary depending on your options. Or let me know what TV model you have so I can help. =o)
Hi! Thanks for your reply.
If i watch just TV, sound doesn’t come out on the speakers. Coz what i want to do is, i want to play youtube on tv via chromecast with the sound thru to the home theater. My home theater has the mic input..
Hi Sheryl, you will have to successfully play sound from the TV to your speakers. Check the connections and make sure to go to your TV’s menu -> Sound Settings -> and select External speakers. Once you do that, the chromecast will work – as the chromecast outputs the sound via the TV. Hope that helps.
I have been reading the post here but still having issues with tv sound still not coning out of the external speaker. I have fifine mixer and my tv only has coaxial audio output. How should i connect the tv to the mixer so sound laso comes out of the tv. Pls help. Thanks
Hi Jao, please double check if your TV has an AUX out port – or headphone jack, that would be the easiest way to connect it with the mixer. If in case, the headphone jack really does not exist, you can then use a Toslink optical cable to connect it to a digital to analog converter and then connect this converter to the mixer. The converter will convert the TV’s digital signal to analog to be able to work with the mixer.
Hope this helps.
Hi TechLifeGeek, I only have the 2.1 soundbar with wireless sub and the only way to connect to the TV is via optical. I tried everything optical from the soundbar to a digital/analog converter and/or TV optical to converter but no luck. When I change the input to A/V voice on the mic is on but not if I play my youtube via roku. Help please
Hi Mel, I’m trying to picture your setup so I can help. Roku is connected to the TV via HDMI and TV is connected to the 2.1 soundbar via optical?
Remember that the TV can only use 1 input and output at the same time. so If you are tuned in to Roku, it plays the sound through the soundbar.
To add a microphone in that equation, you should:
1. Disconnect the TV from the soundbar.
2. Connect the TV optical to the digital analog converter and then connect the digital analog converter to the mixer.
3. Microphone goes to the mixer.
4. Then connect the soundbar to the mixer’s audio out -> you may need another digital analog converter for this depending on the Audio IN options for your soundbar.
If there’s another AUDIO OUT options for your TV, let me know. In essence here’s the input/output for your TV:
INPUT: Roku
OUTPUT: Audio out to MIXER
Mixer should connect to the soundbar.
Hope this help clarifies!
Too much informative article mate you should write daily basis . But still I have question on it should I ask here ?
Hi. I just discovered I could use my phone to play my karaoke playlist through my smart TV’s Youtube App. This is great because I don’t have some of the songs I sing on the 100’s of CD’s I own, that go in my karaoke machine. I would love to be able to play the sound though through my two speakers, instead of the TV, like I do with the karaoke machine. So my question is, do I need that mixer and an extra cable? Thanks!
Hi Deana, yes you got it! Follow the steps included in this article particularly the section 3 Mixer. Hope you get it working soon.
Okay I got the mixer and the converter. I connected the toslink cable from my TV to the converter, and the converter to the mixer. I plugged my microphone into the mixer, and now I am stuck. I don’t know how to get the sound off of the TV and into the speakers, and my mic volume into my speakers. I have two Rockville speakers, and see my karaoke machine connects to them. Now that I know I can use YouTube through my smart phone and the app in my smart TV, how do I connect my speakers? I really thought I understood until I started doing it. haha! Thanks in advance!
Hi Deana, I know how confusing this can get! haha.
The next step for you is to connect the mixer to your speakers using the Audio out connection from the mixer and audio IN of your speakers. You may have to unplug your old karaoke machine so you can use the Audio IN plugs.
You really don’t have to use a Toslink cable and converter IF your TV has a headphone jack. Assuming that it does NOT have a headphone jack. Then you may need to change the sound settings of your TV to use external speakers so it would output its sound to the converter.
Let me know if you need additional help. You can do this!
Hi again. With perseverance and a closer inspection of the back of my TV, I found out that I did not need that converter after all. So, I connected the mixer via the headphone jack, and it is now playing music through my speakers, with the YouTube App. Now I am just left with wondering how to connect the mixer to my speakers? The only other cable that came with the mixer won’t do it. It appears by the back of the speaker I would need a cable end with three prongs (the only other spot open, under line in). For right now I am just singing with the mic plugged into the back of speaker, but obviously have no echo available that way. What are your thoughts?
Hi Deana, glad to know you’re getting close! I am a bit confused on your reply. If your TV is now playing music to your speakers via the mixer, then that means the mixer is now connected to your speakers? However, you are asking how to connect the mixer to your speakers. Maybe I misunderstood but it sounds like you would need this XLR to RCA y cable. However, I still think that your speakers will have an RCA audio in jacks which may just be used by other equipment. Kindly please let me know the model of your speakers so I can look it up or send me a photo of your speakers’ input options.
Well, since I couldn’t figure out which cable to use to connect the mixer to the speakers, I connected the RCA red & white directly into my speakers, and the other end (mini plug) into my TV headphone jack (audio out). So I didn’t mean to sat what I did. Just now I started over, connecting the mini plug into TV, with the set of RCA going into the mixer. Then I took the other set of RCA (with red,yellow & white) and connected only the red & white into mixer (music), and the opposite end red & white into my speakers input. I plugged my mic into the front of mixer. The music works fine from TV to mixer to speakers, but the Mic does not work through the mixer at all. You definitely get a A+ for patience.
Haha! I was just talking to two of my friends who are needing help with Chromecast and yes definitely patience is needed to get the most out of tech gadgets!
It looks like you have done it all correctly. Since the TV -> mixer -> speakers is working fine then it means the connection from mixer to speakers is good.
What kind of mic are you using? Apart from adjusting the volume of the mic on the mixer, I can’t think of why it wouldn’t work apart from – either the mic is broken, the mixer is broken or the volume of the mic is too low.
Please provide me the make and model of your mic to see how I can help you further. We’re almost there!
Yes, I have a Shure SM58 mic. It works great plugged into my karaoke machine as well as directly into the speaker. I kept turning the mic volume on mixer up, but no luck. Hmmmmmm.
If that happens for the 2 mic inputs of the mixer then I think the mixer needs to be replaced unfortunately. 🙁
Given your current setup, the only missing now is the echo effect of the mic and I suggest you get a replacement for the mixer as it seems to have an issue.
I’ll check it all again one more time, tomorrow. I’ll send it back, if still having no luck. Thank you for all your help.
Hi. I have a samsung smart tv 2018. The tv only takes in optical audio. I have a PA system-built in mixer and speaker as well. Since the tv only takes in optical. I brought a digital optical to analogy converter to convert my pa system (analog-red and white cable) to optical (to the tv). However, there is a sound delay karaoke when I start singing. Sound tempo doesn’t match with the lyrics. What should I do? Thanks
Hi Brian, please let me know exact model of your TV and PA system and what device you use in playing karaoke/youtube? Additionally, please check if this article will help.
Great article. I used my old pioneer laserdisc player as a mixer😂 connected the TV audio out to the laserdisc aux in and the laserdisc audio out to my Craig sound bar ($7 yard sale find😁) and now use either google home or my tablet to cast YouTube karaoke to the TV and it works like a champ.😁
Hello Dave….I am an AV integrator and musician….And have tried using Sonos for Karaoke….and there is way to much latency as a result of the D2A conversion that takes place. I have to use a Roku and use the 3.5mm jack to go into a mixer…HDMI directly to TV
Equipment;
Samsung Smart TV
Sonos playbar/2 play 1’s and sub
Mac mini
Mic
iPad
tracks on a hard drive or on youtube.
How do I sort all that out so the lyrics are on TV and the sound comes out of all the sonos stuff?
Thanks
Hi Dave, nice setup that you have there! I am assuming that this is the Sonos Play bar that you have.
You can connect your iPad or smart phone directly to your TV and use YouTube for the music lyrics. Please read through this article to learn how. – How to Connect YouTube from your Mobile Device to your TV.
Once that is successful, then please refer to item #3 on this article which is included below
I’ve always warned everyone that using your home theater speakers or sound bar for microphone live audio is not recommended (see item #2 on this article). You might notice distortion and feedback. If you have a set of active speakers, I would recommend that you use that separately for the mic and continue to use the sonos for the music. Hope this helps!
Hi,
It does, thanks.
Yes it is the sonos Playbar.
I was hoping that I could plug a mic in to the iPad and output both mic and music via hdmi to the tv. This would then play out of the sonos setup.
Things are never as simple as they could be…
Dave
You’re right Dave, I wish it could have been that easy. I hope you’re able to set it up and start having fun!
I’ll probably end up getting a PA on wheels for the mics. The lyrics and music can come from YouTube/mac mini/Nas through the sonos. It’s only for the kids to mess with.
Thanks for the advice 🙂
Good idea Dave! Having a different PA karaoke speaker will give you peace of mind that even when the kids would shout at the mic, your Sonos speaker will not be ruined. 🙂
I have an old karaoke system. I tried connecting my karaoke system out to my smart tv and using the optical wire to connect my tv to my receiver. The karaoke system worked but when I try switching to YouTube on my tv there is no sound coming out. I didn’t use a mixer I don’t think I need it. This is frustrating. Please help!
Hi Jimmy, I know how frustrating it can get, I’m hoping I can help. Without knowing the make and model of your TV, I’m guessing that there must be some settings in the TV that need to be set. If you remove the connection of the karaoke system to your TV, will YouTube work? How are you playing YouTube to your TV? A TV can only have 1 active input/source at a time so if you are playing YouTube using a different device, make sure to select its source in your TV settings.
To be able to play both microphone and a Youtube source, you would need a mixer.
I have VocoPro DA-1000 Pro Professional 3 Mic Digital Echo Mixer and my tv is a Samsung un55hu7250. Output my karaoke system to input mixer. Output tv using optical to analog converter to my mixer. Output mixer to 1 active input source in the receiver(dvd). My tv sound setting is audio speaker. I plugged my microphone into the mixer. My karoake worked but when I try using YouTube from my tv to sing there is no sound coming out. I don’t understand why? I seem to connect everything correctly. Please help!! Thank you in advance
Hi Jimmy, I’ll try to see what I can do to help. I suggest to try things one at a time to isolate the problem. Try playing YouTube only from your TV – without connecting it to the mixer – does it work? Then connect it to receiver – without the mixer – does it work? If yes, add in the mixer – without connecting anything else to the mixer – does it work?
Thanks
Pump TV audio either into the karaoke if it has aux in
Audio out of karaoke to speakers or amp.
Cast YouTube to TV from other device(this is less cumbersome than trying to use the app on the TV)
No video connection from karaoke to TV is required.
I have a rockville rk150, samsung smart tv using youtube app and a samsung soundbar, i can’t get both to come out of the soundbar. How do i connect both to come out of the soundbar.
Also, Soundbar is connected by optical from tv.
Hi GR, please see the use of a mixer in this article. You can use this to connect both your mic and TV to your sound bar.
If your TV has a headphone jack, disconnect the optical cable, connect the mixer through the headphone jack of your TV, connect the microphone to the mixer and then connect the mixer to your sound bar. Hope this helps!
What is your tv has no headphone jack, how will you connect the mixer? Thanks
Hi Sam, please confirm that your TV has an optical out connection. You can then use a Toslink optical cable to connect it to a digital to analog converter and then connect this converter to the mixer. The converter will convert the TV’s digital signal to analog to be able to work with the mixer.
Hope this helps.
can you please help me, I have a Samsung smart tv running into the arc hdmi on a Yamaha live stage 5400 home theatre. It does not have a mic in port. I have a wireless mic with receiver. It has a 6.5 mm jack out. How can I connect the wireless mic’s so that we can use for karaoke?? If I run a splitter from the 6.5mm on the wireless mic’s receiver into the amp it will be in a different channel as the one used to run into the tv.. any thoughts on how to merge the two together into the one channel or any other advice would be great. I don’t want to by an additional guitar/vocal amp as I would like it to all be from one system. also if I run an 6.5 mm jack to usb to the tv will this solve my issues? I have xbox connected direct to the tv and the tv connected to the receiver..
Hi Ryan, please see the use of a mixer in this article. You can use this to connect both your mic and TV to your speakers. Hope that helps!
Can’t you just use the HDMI cable and 3.8mm cable to connect the speaker directly to a PC, which is already hooked up to a projecter, to use the box as a karaoke machine? Thank you for your help.
Hi Annie, yes you can use the PC for YouTube and project it to the screen for karaoke as you have described and just sing out loud.
However, it is so much more fun if you have a microphone and if you can queue songs in YouTube for continuous fun with family and friends. This article shows you how to do it. Hope it helps.
I definitely want a karaoke or pa system. I’m worried that sound will want to play through the projector or desktop speakers, or the karaoke machine. Is that logical? Can you please explain what will happen?
Hi Annie, I would think that if you play YouTube in your PC, the sound goes out from the PC even though the projector displays the screen. Do you have a karaoke machine?
From my understanding, what you have is a PC connected to a projector. If you want to use it as karaoke machine, then you would need speakers and a microphone as I have indicated in this article.
Connect your PC to the projector as is – either through VGA or HDMI
Connect the headphone jack of your PC to the receiver of a Fifine microphone set – which functions also as a mixer
Lastly connect the receiver to the speakers
In this setup, the projector will display the screen of the PC but the music and the mic will output to the speakers.
TechLifeGeek……I need help. I have a Vizio tv , a Vizio wireless sound bar and .YouTube through Roku that I’m using. I love to sing 🙂 karaoke so I bought a Fifine karaoke mixer a Archer UHF wireless microphone, I connected it to the Tv and and the other cable to the sound bar I get the sound of the microphone to my sound bar but the music is gone but still see the lyrics through You Tube but when I pull out the cable that I connected to the soundbar the music is back but the microphone sound is gone ……. my issue is . Why I can’t get the music and microphone sound to go to my sound bar at the same time. Did I connect it wrong or Do I need a receiver or another cable ?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Micmic, how is the TV connected to the soundbar before you connected the karaoke equipment?
My suggestion is to first disconnect the TV from the sound bar. The TV might be confused as it can only use 1 input source (which is now the ROKU) and 1 output source.
Then use the included Y RCA cable with the Fifine mixer to connect your TV using its headphone jack to the mixer. This will output the sound of the TV to the mixer.
Lastly, you will need to connect the mixer to the sound bar. Now both mic and TV music should be heard in the sound bar.
Hope this helps and you get to enjoy your karaoke setup!
My sound bar is already connected to the TV theirs 3 cables come with it RCA, HDMI and OPTICAL . I used RCA jack and the subwoofer is wireless .
ROKU and the Sound Bar its been connected long time ago .
Ok I’ll try your suggestion .
Thanks 🙂
Thank you TechLifeGeek now it is working good . Now I have two Karaoke machine …. Using YouTube and my Enter Tech Magic Sing .
HI,
We had an amazing time on new years eve at our neighbours and their karaoke machine (Diamond Magic Sing ET19KV) – so we started looking for one of our own. I didn’t like this one that much as I could not hear myself sing at all, besides we have x box 360 so I started looking at something that I could use with existing equipment. I looked at Xbox’s own Lyps with wireless mics but reviews are bad and you have to keep buying the songs. Then I came across the Karaoke Channel on Youtube and thought that’s perfect solution. I can play you tube on tv through xbox, but now I need some mic’s that would work with a setup.
I have Samung Tv and Samsung Soundbar + xbox 360.
What do I need and how do I set it up please. 🙂
Thank you!
Hi Mox, you are right, you don’t need to buy an expensive karaoke machine like the Magic Sing. The sound is not that great and you would need to keep buying additional music.
Is your Samsung soundbar similar to this Samsung HW-M360/ZA 2.1 Channel 200 Watt Wireless Audio Soundbar (2017 Model)? This only uses an Optical cable for input.
If this is the case, you will need to buy 2 to 3 items to make it work – all 3 combined will still cost less compared to the Magic Sing.
1. I recommend that you get the Fifine wireless microphone. It already uses UHF (ultra high frequency) which means the connection between the mic and the wireless receiver is stronger and less prone to dropping. It also has a built-in mixer and the bundle includes the cables that you would need.
2. You will also need the Analog to Digital Audio converter. The audio from the Fifine receiver is analog while your sound bar is only able to receive digital signals. You will need this converter to be able to output the Fifine mixer’s sound to your sound bar.
3. Last is you may need an Toslink Optical cable. However, you may already have this today if your TV is connecting to the soundbar using this cable already. No need to get another one if you have this already.
What to do:
1. Disconnect the TV from the sound bar.
2. Locate your Samsung TV’s headphone jack, use the included Y RCA cable from the Fifine microphone set to connect it to the mic’s receiver.
2. Connect the mic’s receiver to the Analog to Digital Audio converter inputs using the included audio cables from the Fifine microphone.
3. Connect the Analog to Digital Audio converter to your soundbar using the Toslink Optical cable
Both the TV sound and the microphone output will now use the soundbar. Please note that the soundbar is not the best option speaker for live sound from your mic. If you find the soundbar to have sound distortion when using your microphone, you might need to adjust the volume of your mic. I always suggest to get a different speaker for the microphone if you can.
Thank you so much for your help.
The Samsung sound bar is an older one (2011) HW-D570 and the TV is Samsung UE 46D5520RKXXU (also 2011)
I had a feeling I might have to buy some converter, yes.
As I mentioned before i also have xbox 360 and these are all connected together, but I have no idea how- however, TV and xbox sound both work through soundbar and the tv sound is always turned off.
So, now with this new info, please let me know what to buy and how to connect.
I have already bought Fifine Microphone set.
Thank you again,
Mox
Hi Mox, your soundbar model has an AUX IN which uses the Y cable included in the Fifine micprophone set that you have.
However you would need another Y RCA cable for the TV to the mixer. This is the only remaining thing that I think you will need to make this work.
What to do:
1. Disconnect the TV from the sound bar. -> You really need to figure out how they are connected together so you can disconnect.
2. I’m guessing that the Xbox 360 is connected to the TV using HDMI – no need to touch this.
3. Locate your Samsung TV’s headphone jack, use the included Y RCA cable from the Fifine microphone set to connect it to the mic’s receiver.
4. Connect the mic’s receiver to the sound bar using another Y RCA cable, using the sound bar’s AUX IN.
Hope this works for you.
Thank you. I have started loosing the will to live. 🙁
I bought the second cable as you suggested and the dual part (y parrt) of the cable (red and white) have no ports to get into. 🙁
So I have now bought a 3.5 stereo cable male to male– and connected that one, while disconnecting optical cable between TV and sound bar as well as audio cable from the sound bar, so I could connect this one in. I basically followed your directions of connecting, just with a different cables 🙂
And low and behold- it works! I have to change the soundbar setting to analog and play around with volume settings a bit, but essentially it does work 🙂 Even better when I put the foam on the mics.
Anything you suggest I do to get it to work better? To hear myself sing better? I have a feeling there’s a little bit of a delay between singing and sound?
Thank you very much. I was thinking of packing it up and send it all back already!
I’m so glad you were able to figure it out! Is the volume from the mic too low? Even when you adjust the mic volume on its receiver? Play around on the volume settings -> increase the mic volume, reduce the music a little bit and play around with the echo control to make your voice sound better.
As I’ve always shared in this article, sound bars and home theaters are really not the best speakers for karaoke so you would have to make adjustments. Active speakers for karaoke are always better. My setup uses 2 different speaker sets. 1 for the music and a separate speaker for the microphone, this way there’s more flexibility in volume adjustments, the music sound quality is not compromised, and I’m able to protect my home theater speakers from sound distortion from the microphone sound.
Hi, I I’m using a tv+hdmi cable+HDMI adapter+iPad+Mixer and a passive amplifier. Sound and video works perfect.
My only problem to have a perfect karaoke experience is that I don’t know how to keep video in full screen while I’m searching a new suggested song to be added in the YouTube playlist. I have a mirror in the tv all the time so when I search for a new song, the person who’s singing lost the full screen with the lyrics.
Any suggestion?
Thanks!
Hi Jaime, I think what you are trying to do is to make the TV as an extended display of your iPad. Unfortunately there is no known way on how to do this. All of the solutions known is to only mirror your iPad to your TV.
There might a workaround if you are using a Smart TV with a YouTube app. You can read how to do this in this article -> How to Connect YouTube from your mobile device to your TV
If you are not using a Smart TV, then you would need to use an Apple TV or Chromecast. I prefer using Chromecast for YouTube viewing, it provides the simplest and best experience so far. I hope this helps.
Here are some articles that might help if you plan on using any of these devices:
Apple TV and YouTube TV Queue
YouTube and Chromecast
Thanks for your answer.
Finally I got a very good solution for it (brilliant idea from my neighbor).
Definitely when you use an ipad as a mirror in the TV using an hdmi cable you cannot select a new song directly from the ipad without affecting the video on the TV, but the solution was to create a list (public) and then add songs not from the ipad itself but from an iphone. In that way the list thats is being used in the ipad is always updated.
Actually I think it’s possible to add song from any other device when the playlist is public, so everyone can add a song from his own device. We didn’t try, but it has to work.
One key tip is to have always one song in the list, so the playlist never stop playing and keeps selecting the next queued song.
Hope this can be useful for others.
Great solution! In this article, shows you how to create a shared or public playlist
https://www.techlifegeek.com/2017/01/apple-tv-with-youtube-tv-queue-karaoke/
Hi TechLifeGeek,
I have a Sony STR-DH770 AMP surround sound system. I have a Sony 4k TV and was wondering how I can connect my wireless microphones and have Youtube play from the Surround sound system and the microphones as well. Any help would be appreciated.
Hi John, you would need a mixer such as the Fifine Karaoke Mixer I have mentioned in this article, you can connect your microphone to the mixer.
If your TV is like this – Sony 4K Ultra HD, it has an Audio Out on its side. You can use the included 3.5mm Audio to RCA cable included in the Fifine mixer bundle to connect your TV audio out to the mixer. Then connect the mixer to your Sony STR DH770 Receiver using the included RCA cables from the mixer.
As I’ve always mentioned, I do NOT recommend using your home theater speakers for your microphone as they can be damaged. These speakers are not designed for live audio. In this article, I have mentioned about the use of Active Speakers such as the Ion Party Rocker. I use my home theater speakers for the music and use this separate active speaker for my mics.
Hope this helps, happy holidays!
It does. Thank you very much 🙂
Happy Holidays!!
TechLifeGeek,
I have this TV. Same setup still?
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/sony-65-class-64-5-diag–led-2160p-smart-4k-ultra-hd-tv-with-high-dynamic-range/5748206.p?skuId=5748206
I just ordered the mixer.
These are the home audio speaker I have, not sure if this would have an issue with live audio? your thoughts?
http://www.fluance.com/avhtb-surround-sound-home-theater-5-speaker-system
Hi John, The TV link you sent is a Smart TV and it will have a YouTube app in itself. This means you can use any mobile device with a YouTube app to play YouTube in your TV wirelessly. This article will show you on how you can wirelessly connect your tablet’s YouTube to your Smart TV. You won’t need a chromecast or another device to do this.
Next thing you should do is to use the TV’s headphone jack to connect a Y RCA cable which is I think included in the Fifine mixer box and connect it to the mixer. Connect your microphone to this mixer and output it to your speakers.
I am not positive that your speakers will be able to handle live audio. But I suggest that you test it out so you won’t have to buy new speakers. Use your existing speakers, if you hear any feedback or distortion then you would have to use a different speaker set for the microphone. In my setup, I use my home theater speakers for the music from YouTube and use a different speaker (Ion Party Rocker Plus) for the mic.
This was super helpful, thanks! I want to just make sure I have it all right – I think I have all the equipment to hook this up (minus microphones), and I don’t want to buy anything I don’t need!
Music: I plan to play music through my Smart TV’s Amazon music or YouTube app.
Speakers: The TV right now plays thru an LG Bluetooth soundbar and the corresponding sub. I also have 2 really nice speakers hooked up to an old record player. (see below)
Amp: My record player is hooked up thru a really nice amp with a ton of inputs.
Shouldn’t I be able to just buy mics with the right cables that will hook right into the record player speakers or LG speakers? Or even purchase wireless since the LG speakers have Bluetooth capability?
I am super ignorant with all of this so thanks for your patience and help!
Hi LH, I think what you need is just this Wireless microphone system with built-in bluetooth that you can easily hook up to either your LG speakers or your amp. Hope this works!
I am an AV installer & musician and need some advice.
When “Casting” youtube from a laptop or ipad, the 3.5mm jack no longer outputs
audio. Only audio to TV… I have a microphone > TC Helicon Perform V vocal FXs >
Small Mackie mixer> main output to Analog in on Denon AV receiver.
Roku players have a headphone jack that may output if I cast to it?
Any experiences….Again
I guess I could have an HDMI cable hooked up instead and “mirror” instead of casting but thats more cables.
Another options is to use a Blue tooth audio receiver like the Technical Pro bluedeck 2
I just tested the Roku and when I cast to it..it still outputs Video VIA HDMI to my AV receiver and when I use a 3.5mm to Stereo RCA out of the remote I get an analog signal that then can be sent to mixer……So casting to TV doesn’t really help..unless you want to take audio out of TV…but thats hella inconvenient as TVs are mostly mounted on wall.
Hi James,
The only way for you to get the audio from your casting device is to use the TV audio out which typically requires a 3.5mm jack to RCA or a Toslink Digital optical cable. If you connect your casting device to your receiver, you will NOT be able to use a mixer to combine the mic audio and output to the same receiver since both audio and video will use HDMI digital connections of your receiver and it will not take in another input.
What can be done is to directly connect your casting device (Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast) to the HDMI of your TV and then output the TV audio to your receiver.
If you are using a mixer similar to this – Mackie Mix Series Mix5 5-Channel Mixer to output both microphone and youtube audio from your TV to your receiver, you will need to use the analog audio out of a TV using the headphone 3.5mm jack if it has one or RCA audio out of the TV if it exists and connect it to your mixer.
If an analog output does not exist in your TV, you may need to use a Digital to Analog converter.
As I’ve always recommended, best to use a separate speaker set for your microphone audio if your speakers are for home theater use (passive speakers).
Hope this helps.
I am an AV integrator bayareawireguy and most customers have flatscreens mounted to where it is totally inconvenient to take audio out. For my test setup ..I used a Roku and streamed Youtube to it and took the 3.5mm out of the remote control into a small Mackie mixer. Worked great…Although most of my clients are Apple heads so Im gonna us an optical to analog converter out of their Apple TV and see how bad the latency is when using the airplay or screen mirrow function. Will be testing it tomorrow. If im not successful, im gonna recommend HDMI & 3.5mm headphone out to mixer & TV
Thanks James, please share with us the results of your test.
This is now confirmed working great at a customers home…Full AV receiver with one HDMI to TV and devices in a cabinet.
Installeld a small Mackie Mixer with two Mic inputs…We have separate TC Helicon Perform-Vs on mic stands for FX and Harmonies to no FX needed on the mixer. 3.5mm headphone out of Roku Premiere into tape in of Macki mixer>Mixer out to an analog in of the AV receiver. There was a setting on the receiver I had to tell it to use analog instead of audio receiving the audio from the HDMI> HDMI through AV receiver. Programmed a Harmony remote with a Karaoke activity to switch to Roku.
Use an I-pad or phone to “cast” to Roku …No lag at all …make sure to adjust all levels for mic and use Roku volume rocker on the remote to adjust output.
NOTE: Tried all this through a Sonos ..and got terrible lag….No go on Sonos
Great work!
Hi I have a probably not too complicated setup but am totally confused. My HTPC is connected to an AV amp. I have just bought a basic generic non powered mixer with two mic inputs, which I connect via USB to my HTPC then presumably I come out of the mixer on the out port and into the PC at Audio in, but I get nothing. What am I doing wrong? please help.
Hi David, can you tell me the make and model of your mixer? If you can give me that info I can try to check if I can help you set it up. Thanks
USB out of a mixer is only for midi thruput not audio…I believe
Just use the analog outputs and not USB
hello
i have some question about my home karaoke system if you can help me out with my set up.i have bmb das 300 4 channel mixing amplified and bmb csd-880 1000w speakers,dvd karaoke player harddrive 3600 Arirang,shure UR-8D dual wireless mic and Shure BLX24/PG58 Wireless Vocal.Anytime i sing i just feel the mic not have enough deep vocal and dry and not enough echo go along with the music.i did try to turn different sound setting but it sound not good at all.am i missing something?please give me some advice.Thank you
Hi Ryan, That’s a powerful setup that you have there. I saw that this BMB DAS has an echo volume and other settings. If you have exhausted all possible options with this, try connecting another mixer into it that has another echo volume setting. It may not be the best solution but you can try it and see if that gives you more adjustments as needed. Goodluck
hello
Thank you for reply.are you saying about mic have echo volume?can you recommend one so i can search online.Thank you
Your BMB DAS already has an echo volume on the right. But if you want to make more adjustments, try getting another mixer such as this Fifine Karaoke mixer. Connect your mic to this karaoke mixer and then output it to your BMB DAS. This way you can adjust echo 2 ways. I am not sure if this will work, but certainly worth a try. Hope this helps.
Hi, I have YouTube playing on regular surround sound.
My Mic is connect to Amplifier and this Amplifier connect Vocal speaker. Doing this I have 2 separate system. I have to adjust 2 sound system volume (surround sound and Vocal speaker sound)
what is different way \ option to avoid to adjust 2 sound volume ?
I connected TV (audio out) to my Amplifier – sound so low.
I tried to send Audio signal to Zone 2 (feature of my Onkyo receiver, TX-NR646) – Not working. Perhaps YouTube app send digital sound?
Thanks
Hi Hoang, try to use a mixer such as this Karaoke Fifine Mixer. Connect your TV audio to this mixer and your mic then output it to the amplifier.
My current setup also involves 2 sets of speakers – my home theater speakers are used for the music from YouTube and I have a different set of speakers for the mic. And yes I have to adjust the volume separately in the 2 systems but I actually prefer it that way. I like the music to be at a constant volume – or in cases where the YouTube video has a low sound or too loud, I can adjust it. Similarly, when I find the mic volume is too loud – depending on the singer – I can adjust only the mic. I hope this helps.
Thanks for response. I have this Karaoke Mixer / Amplifier
I finally have YouTube from Ruko to output sound to Main Zone (5:1) sound system and Zone 2 (Karaoke Mixer / Amplifier ) .
Now I have music to 2 speaker. Vocal + Surround. Mic hooks to Mixer,
Thanks again.
Thanks Hoang! Glad you were able to work it out. Enjoy your karaoke party!
I have roku 4 connected to onkyo amplifier then to TV. If I want to play youtube to use karaoke but my amp has no input mic, what do I need to connect the microphone?
Hi Richard, you will need to use a mixer that has a microphone input such as this Fifine karaoke mixer, then using the mixer you can connect it to a speaker set where you want to output the vocals. As I’ve mentioned in this article, I really don’t suggest using your home theater speakers for vocal output as this can damage your speakers. Consider getting a dedicated karaoke active speaker such as this Ion Block Party Live
Hello, just wondering if I can get any help in my project. We are a group of traveller, usually taking a coach trip. We would like to have a fun on board with Karaoke. Of course the coach company do not have any pre-installed equipment. So we look to setup our own with the use of following kits:
Sound: preferred a mobile wireless speaker,
Mic: wired or wireless microphone (not sure about the connection)
Music source: youtube app on mobile or tablets
I would appreciate if you could have a better idea to share. I also consider a compact and portable wireless all in one PA that can link with mobile/tablet alternatively.
Many thanks
m9
Hi m9, the most mobile solution for karaoke that I can recommend is featured in the article Karaoke on the Go. This wireless bluetooth karaoke microphone can function as both mic and speakers for your mobile device via bluetooth. Imagine having 2 or more of these mics for your group, it should be fun! However, don’t expect the sound quality to be as good as your home setup.
If you are OK with adding luggage, this Ion Audio blockrocker has a handle and a set of wheels and can function as a PA in events. It includes a wired mic but you can also connect wireless microphones in its mic input. It has bluetooth so you can easily connect a mobile device and use it as bluetooth speakers. It has a 50 hour battery life for mobility.
Hope this helps! Enjoy your trip!
Thank you for your kind response. One and last (hopefully) to grab your expertise is on youtube video, we have karaoke type video with original singer’s vocal and lyric displayed. anyway we can omit the original singer vocal, leaving the music only on. Sorry for a crazy question. many thanks
Just do a search on YouTube for the song you want to play and add the word “karaoke” in your search. It will display multiple videos – choose which video to play – such as the one with no vocal.
OK I feel really dumb asking and this is probably a silly question to ask, but I know nothing about Karaoke machines, and I’m a little confused on something. I’m getting a new karaoke machine and it has a 5 inch display on it. Do you still have to connect to a TV? Do you connect to a TV for a larger screen to be able to read lyrics better or is it better sound from the TV? Are those the reasons or is there another reason that you need to connect with TV? Please forgive my ignorance on this. For some reason I thought the karaoke machine with a screen was everything all in one that you didn’t need anything else. Again forgive my ignorance, I feel pretty dumb about all this but I would like to know what the heck I’m doing before my upcoming Halloween party.
Hi Suz, there are no wrong questions to ask so don’t feel bad. 5 inch for display seems small, it would be more enjoyable to display the lyrics in a larger screen such as a TV. Displaying the lyrics on a TV is more fun as everyone can sing along when they read the lyrics.
The setup I am recommending is using the TV with Google Chromecast and selecting songs from YouTube – where you have access to almost any song. Unlike some karaoke machines, you may need to buy DVDs. I hope this helps.
I plan to buy the Fifine K036 to karaoke on Youtube. Currently, i have connected my Toshiba TV audio output to my Onkyo HT-S3200 AVR via optical cable. So, how do i connect the Fifine K036 to the TV and the AVR? Please help since i am totally not familiar at all with sound system. Thanks.
Hi Long, The Fifine K036 is not meant to be connected to the TV. It should be connected to your Onkyo HT-S3200 AVR or to another speaker that is dedicated to karaoke. To connect it to your Onkyo AVR, choose from any of the available RCA slots – CBL/SAT, VCR/DVR or DVD using the white and red RCA audio jacks. I hope this helps and you get to enjoy karaoke soon!
Hi, I am so glad to find out this website. I love karaoke and my parents do also. I have a Toshiba 32″ TV and a Onkyo HT-S3200 AVR. I plan to buy the Fifine K036 in order to karaoke on Youtube via HDMI plugged-in Chromecast. Currently, I have the TV audio output to the Onkyo AVR via Optical cable. So, how do I connect the Fifine K036 to TV and the Onkyo AVR? I’ve read the Q&A on AMazon about the Fifine K036, but still not clear and confusing. I am totally a beginner in sound system. Please help! Thanks.
Thanks for finding this site useful. Since you have already connected your TV to your receiver (Onkyo AVR), then you have to:
1. Connect your chromecast to your TV’s HDMI. Youtube music then will be heard in your existing sound system.
2. If you have separate speakers for karaoke as I have recommended (to avoid sound distortion) then you would just need to connect the Fifine K036 to your karaoke speakers using the included cables. RCA out from the Fifine to RCA IN to the karaoke speakers.
3. If you plan to use the same speakers connected to your Onkyo AVR (which I don’t recommend), then when you do Karaoke, output the audio of the TV using a 3.5mm to RCA audio cable – I think this is included in the Fifine package – and connect it to the mixer. Your TV should have a headphone jack where you can connect the 3.5mm audio jack and connect the RCA end to the input of the Fifine mixer. Then output the audio of the Fifine mixer using the RCA cables included and connect it to the RCA input of your Onkyo AVR.
I hope this helps. There are lots of knowledge in the other comments that maybe helpful to you. You may also check out the article How to create a Karaoke setup using YouTube and Google Chromecast. Goodluck and Enjoy your setup!!!
Help. I’m so confused. I have the fifine karaoke mixer with my wireless mics, vizio sb3651 sound bar, and a chrome cast that I’m using. My issue is that I can’t get the music and mic sound to go to my sound bar at the same time. What can I do?
Do I need a receiver?
Or any special cables
Hi Seng, I hope I can help. If your TV has a headphone jack that can output the sound then this would be the easiest way to set it up:
1. Connect the Chromecast to the TV via HDMI.
2. Use an audio cable to connect your TV to the mixer using the TV’s headphone jack. Typically a TV’s headphone jack uses a 3.5mm AUX output. Here’s an example of an audio cable that can be used to connect it to the mixer. 3.5mm to RCA cable.
2. Connect your mixer to the soundbar’s 3.5mm stereo mini jack. According to this site, it has this option as an input. https://www.vizio.com/sb3651e6.html. You can use a 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio cable.
3. Connect your mic to the mixer using the included cables.
This would output both your TV’s audio and mic to the soundbar.
However, as I noted in this article, the mic might cause feedback and distortion to the speakers which is why I am recommending in getting karaoke speakers. Please also check this article – How to create a Karaoke setup using YouTube and Google Chromecast
Let me know if this helps.
Hi, I have run a Singing Machine connected through my amplifier with wireless mics for many years. The remote stopped working on Singing Machine and made me start looking into alternative set ups. Mainly software based, but I’m struggling on figuring out what I need to make it work. I have a new laptop, 4 wireless mics GTD audio G-380. I thought I would continue to use my surround sound amp, I know about the risk of feedback and blowing the speakers, but they have worked so far. Maybe I will upgrade to PA speakers down the road. My question is what do I need to make my setup work? I’ve been able to get the computer to run through my surround, but don’t know how to incorporate the microphones. Thanks in advance for your help!
Bryan
Hi Bryan, sorry to hear that your singing machine remote stopped working. The best bet for you would be to use a mixer such as this Fifine karaoke mixer. There are other better quality mixers such as this Behringer 502 mixer but the Fifine karaoke mixer has an echo effect very useful for karaoke use at its price point.
To set this up,
1. Connect your laptop audio to the mixer’s RCA INPUT using the included AUX 3.5mm jack to RCA cable.
2. Connect the microphone’s receiver to the mixer mic INPUT using a male to male 1/4 audio cable that might be included in your mic set.
3. Connect the mixer’s RCA OUTPUT to your surround sound amp’s RCA input using the provided RCA audio cable as part of the mixer set.
4. Power up the mixer and test your connections.
I hope this helps. Good luck and have fun!
Hi, I finally purchased a pair of ‘Alto TX8 8″ Active Loudspeaker‘ from my local store. And so far I am happy about my purchase. The sound quality isn’t the top of the notch, but it suits what I need and fits my budget. The vocal is excellent, and it’s loud enough. Thank you again!!
Thanks Jenny for giving us an update! Great to hear that you found a speaker you could use. Enjoy!
Hi, I have successfully set up the karaoke at home following your steps. However, I have the exact same problem as you mentioned in the post – distortion sound from the surround speakers.
Here is my setup, tv out to a mixer, microphone connects to a mixer, mixer out to an amplifiered receiver, then receiver out to the surround speakers.
What are my options to fix this problem? I have a set of Bose speakers. Will it fix the problem if I change two front speakers to something that’s suitable for vocal? Or like what you did , output the vocal sound to other set of speakers. How do I do that?
Thanks!!!!
Hi Jenny, glad to know I was able to help and congratulations on your new setup! First, you need to have another set of speakers that is more suitable for vocals. I am currently using the ION Party Rocker plus speakers for my microphone setup and quite happy with the lights effect.
There are 2 options on how you can set this up:
1. The first option is connect the mixer directly to your vocal “karaoke” speakers instead of to the amplified receiver. This will then output both music and microphone sound to your karaoke speakers.
2. The second option is to output only the vocal sound to the karaoke speakers and retain the sound of the TV to your home theater. You can do this by connecting the TV directly to the amplified receiver – no need for mixer. The sound of the TV will then be out to your home theater speakers. Then directly connect the mic to the karaoke speakers.
I prefer this second option because then I still get good quality music from the home theater speakers while I can sing my heart out to the karaoke speaker without fear of ruining the speakers.
I hope this helps!
Thank you so much for the reply! I like the second option with better music quality, but I have already bought a good mixer and don’t want it to be wasted.
If I go with the first option, do I need Active Speakers? Besides what you recommended, are there other type of speakers I can buy?
Sorry for keep asking this, what if I replace Bose two front speakers to something more suitable to vocal?
Thanks!
Hi Jenny, yes you would need active speakers to be used with your mics. You can check out some of these active speakers – LyxPro SPA-8 Compact 8″ Portable PA System, KRK RP5G3-NA Rokit 5 Generation 3 Powered Studio Monitor, Edifier R1280T Powered Bookshelf Speakers – 2.0 Active Near Field Monitors – Studio Monitor Speaker – Wooden Enclosure – 42 Watts RMS
I haven’t tried all of these but I am most curious about the Edifier speaker. Once you have determined your best setup, kindly please share it here so others can learn from it. Have fun!
Thank you very much! It’s very helpful!!
Jenny
Hi,
After reading through your website a few weeks ago I was so excited because I love karaoke and my family loves to sign, we have had so many cheap karaoke systems over the years and they have all been thrashed and broken over the years.. I decided (for my birthday present to myself) to order the following: Fifine mixer, Figine microphones and LyxPro PA speaker. I already have a smart TV, Apple TV, iPad and iPhone. I’m not the most techie with what connect to what in the best order. Can you recommend to best way to hook it all together so I can use YouTube? Thank you so much!!
Hi Laura, Happy Birthday! I’m glad you found this website useful. Karaoke is fun and it is a great activity to do with your family. If you have the Fifine microphones, I don’t think you still need the Fifine mixer.
1. Connect your PA speaker with the Fifine microphone using the MIC input of the speaker at the back.
2. The apple tv gets connected to your TV using HDMI cable.
3. Using your apple TV, mirror your ipad or iphone to your smart tv. You can do this by following the article below –
How to setup Karaoke with Apple TV and YouTube TV Queue OR you can probably connect your Ipad/Iphone directly to your Smart TV without using your Apple TV. Read this article to see if it works How to Connect YouTube from your Mobile Device to your TV
4. Have fun!
Hi TLG, I currently have a old Onkyo AV Receiver TX-NR818, Boston speakers, and a Sharp smart TV. I guess I would need to get a mic and a mixer to get the karaoke party going? My friend said that Shure mics are the best brand out there to get.
1. How would I know which mics is the better one – these are the only 3 dual mic sets that come up on Amazon for under $600
Shure BLX288/PG58 Wireless Vocal Combo with PG58 Handheld Microphones, J10
Shure BLX288/PG58 H9 | Two PG58 Handheld Microphones Dual Channel Handheld Wireless System
Shure PG288/PG58 Dual Vocal Wireless System, H7
Any recommendation?
2. Would I need to get a mixer still if I got those mics? What mixer will go well with the setup I have?
Thank you
Hi Nina, thanks for reaching out. I have a similar Onkyo receiver which I use for my home theater setup.
If you’d like to use your existing Boston speakers then yes you only need a mixer and a mic. Please be aware though that home theater speakers and speakers designed for music listening may not work well with the microphone audio. And using these speakers with mics can damage them. Which is why I recommend using speakers designed for mics such as ION Audio Party Rocker Plus or the ION Audio Tailgater (iPA77) | Portable Bluetooth PA Speaker with Mic, AM/FM Radio, and USB Charge Port
All of the Shure options you have listed are all good. Just make sure to use the Shure finder to find the right model with the wireless frequency that would work well in your area. Here’s the link to their website that can guide you Shure Wireless Frequency Finder
Also, another factor you should consider would be the batteries that would be used, I would pick the mics that use the AA batteries.
However, with all of the options, you would still need to have a mixer to get them to work. I usually recommend this simple mixer with echo effect that you can use. Karaoke Mixer Fifine Digital Audio Sound Echo Mixer with Cable for TV PC smart phone and Amplifier (Black). Another option without the echo effect is the BEHRINGER XENYX 502.
However, there is also an option to consider a microphone set with built-in mixer Fifine Dual Channel Wireless Handheld Mic.
I hope this helps and hope you get to complete your setup soon!
Are there karaoke media that I can modulate the vocals only? That way I can sing along until I feel confident enough to sing without the vocal track.
Hi John, you can search for them in Youtube. There are many karaoke song versions in Youtube. You can try searching for a song title and or artist name followed by “Karaoke”. You can also sing along with the music videos in YouTube that includes the vocal tracks. Once you want to sing without the vocal track, search for the same song in Youtube and add in the word “karaoke”. Hope this helps.
The soundbar is connected to the to via a wire with a pin at the end. It has a usb space but the mixer only has the 3 hole connectors with red / white / yellow. Could I get a wire with the 3 colours and a usb to connect the soundbar to the mixer?
Sorry I’m not very tech savvy I’m just trying to find a cheaper way to please a 3 year old than a karaoke machine lol.
Thanks
Hi Roxanne, it’s hard to determine how your TV is connected to the soundbar. Can you provide me the model of your soundbar?
The wire with 3 colors is called an RCA connection. There are available RCA to USB connections in Amazon that you can check using this link: Amazon RCA to USB options. Although I am not sure if these will work since I’ve never tried it. If it works then the easiest way is to connect your TV to the mixer, and mixer to the soundbar.
If all else fails, you can also try these wireless microphone with speakers. Although the sound quality is not great, it seems to be a good toy for a 3 year old. 🙂
Hi,
I have a 3 year old who loves karaoke, I was planning on buying a mixer that come with 2 Mics, I have a nowtv box so was going to use utube through the to which has a sound bar attached. Is this possible? It won’t be used a lot just for kids having a sing song. Would I just connect the mixer to the to using the wires provided ( hdmi ) and then use the now to box as I normally would?
Thanks
Hi Roxanne,yes you can use your existing setup and just add a mixer with the 2 mics into the mix. You just need to make changes on how your setup is connecting to the soundbar. How is the TV connected to the soundbar? What you can do is instead of connecting the TV directly to the soundbar, connect the TV Audio out to the mixer Audio In, connect the mic into the mixer Mic In, and then connect the mixer’s Audio Out to the Soundbar. Just a word of caution that your soundbar is not designed to be used with a mic, check the sound and adjust the volumes as needed. Hope this helps.
Hello,
I’ve tried online for several days and I can’t seem to figure my situation out. I planned on using my smartTV/home theater for music and my home stereo system and the PylePro Premier UHF mics with the Fifine mixer for voice. Unfortunately, I think my receiver may be too old to accomplish this! I have a stereo receiver with a headphone 1/4″ jack in front, and unused speaker inputs in back for phono, video, tape, etc (no aux). I’ve tried connecting the audio out of the mixer to both the headphone jack (using a 1/4″ adapter), and to the unused speaker inputs, and neither way seems to work. Am I out of luck, or could this work if I do it right? Any input would be appreciated! Great article, btw.
Hi Greg, I know how frustrating this can get! Ok, let me try if I can help. First my question is with your smart TV/home theater setup for music – are there any issues? Or is that working as you expected? From the way I understand your situation, you’re only having problems with getting the MIC out to an old stereo system? Would you mind sharing the brand and model of your old receiver? How is it being used today? Here’s what I can think of:
1. The 1/4″ jack in front – is it used as input or output? Just make sure it is not intended as an output jack for headphones. 2. Once you are sure that the 1/4″ jack is for an input, Make sure you select the correct input in the receiver for it to pick up the sound of the mixer properly.
3. How are you connecting the mixer to the receiver? Is it through an adaptor or are you using an RCA cable to 1/4″? This can be the problem.
Also, to make sure that your fifine mixer is not defective, may I suggest to try to set it up to use your home theater for both music and mic? To do this, output the music from your TV to your mixer, connect the mic to the mixer, and out the mixer music to your home theater. If this works well, then something is wrong with the old stereo receiver. I hope I was able to help. Let us know how it goes!
Hello, and thanks for the quick reply!
Yes, my smart tv/soundbar/subwoofer works perfectly, but I did not want to use that for the mics based on your advice.
I planned to run the mic/mixer/karaoke through my separate stereo system/speakers that I use for music. Yes, getting the mic to run through the old system (Denon DRA545R), is the problem. I believe the 1/4″ jack for headphones is output only, so you probably just answered my long winded question. I do have open audio input slots in the back, but they’re labeled phono, cd, video, and tape (2). I tried the open inputs without success, but didn’t think it should work through those anyway(?), and didn’t troubleshoot for long.
Before buying a separate speaker. I’ll troubleshoot it through a Bose Soundock with a 1/4″ jack to mini jack adapter or my tv’s system,..just to make sure all components are working.
Thanks for all your help either way. It’s greatly appreciated!
I’ll also try connecting the mic and mixer through a bose sounddock just to test (
Hi Greg, glad to know that I was able to help! Good idea to test out your mic/mixer first to confirm that they all work. Hope you get it done soon!
Hi my uncle told me I can connect YouTube to my CD player through Bluetooth is this possible please? And if so how do I do it please?
Rachel
Hi Rachel, just to clarify, are you trying to connect YouTube to your CD player to output the music from YouTube to your CD player? And you’d like to do this via bluetooth? I hope I understood your question and the short answer is yes, you can connect YouTube or any mobile device as your sound input/source and transmit it via bluetooth to your speaker system such as a CD player. You will only have to use a bluetooth receiver such as this. I hope this helps.
I am considering purchase a system with Karaoke effects. 2 wireless Microphones and ability to connect to iPad or smartphone with Bluetooth. I also plan to connect system (receiver) to Sound System AMP using audio cable (in a gym for kids party). I am wondering if YouTube itself will have lyrics on display while we sing along. Or should I download an App? Also what are the best systems for this type of setup? So far I was looking at
ARCHEER VHF Bluetooth Microphone System Mini Portable Singing Mixer Karaoke Machine with Dual Wireless Handheld Microphones for Smart Phone /iPad /PC and Other Bluetooth-enable Devices
OR
Fifine Dual Channel Wireless Handheld Microphone,easy-to-use handheld UHF wireless system (Model K036).
Which do you recommend or perhaps something different?
Thanks!
A.
Hi Alicia, I actually just finished testing the Fifine UHF Wireless Microphones. They are great! I would recommend these over the Archeer VHF. UHF is a lot more reliable for wireless mics. The other good thing with this Fifine mic is it has a built in echo effect for karaoke and it is a mixer as well. Just connect this to your speaker.
YouTube does have lyrics on its songs. Just indicate the word “karaoke” after every song name or artist name. Read my Karaoke Tips to learn about some of the YouTube channels you can go to for karaoke. The best way that I have tested to connect your mobile device to your TV wireless is with the use of Chromecast. You may find my article on how to setup karaoke using Chromecast. Hope this helps!
Hi. Those that mean by buying the FiFine UHF wireless microphones you don’t need to buy the mixer?
Hi Karly. Yes no need to buy the mixer as the Fifine UHF wireless mic already has a mixer included in its receiver. Hope you have a successful setup.
The Fifine UHF wireless mic does not ship to Canada. Do you know another good alternative that does ship to Canada? TIA
Hi Angela, You may try this ARCHEER UHF Wireless microphone system or you may try from these options from the amazon.ca site. Good luck and have fun!
Hi,
I bought the fifine mixer but i cannot get the mic to work? I have a nose cinimate speaker???? Is it ok to use?
Hi Romarie,
The Bose Cinemate speakers have an AUX input that you can use with the mixer. You can use the Analog stereo audio input – see illustration from here: http://worldwide.bose.com/productsupport/en_us/web/article_593_connecting_other_devices/page.html
You can then use an RCA cable similar to this to connect your cinemate to your Fifine Mixer Audio out.
In order to try to help further, please let me know what steps you’ve already tried. It would be best to try your mixer using another set of speakers first to try to verify that there’s nothing wrong with the mixer you got.
Hope this works. By the way, I think that the Bose speakers is too expensive for home karaoke. It is not really designed to be used for live sound. If you are planning to use it for relatively average to low sound, it maybe OK but I would recommend using a different set of speakers for Karaoke. Please check the speakers I’ve mentioned on this article for some examples.
Ok i will check other speakers, how will i know if my fifine mixer is working? I turned it on the green light is on but how will i know if mic is working?
Hi Romarie, if you have an RCA to 3.5mm cable (I think the fifine mixer includes this), it will be easy to test the mixer. Connect the 3.5mm cable to your phone, the other end to the mixer and then connect the mixer to your speakers using the included cable – use the white (left) and red (right) jacks. Then play some music using your phone and if the music can be heard using the speakers, you know that the mixer is working.
And thanks again for the other information!
Hi,
Thanks for putting this up! Given the massive use of roku and other devices and the cost for other karaoke systems I would have thought this would have been much more popular. As for me I’m trying to do this but I’m a little confused (I’m new to this). I have my smart TV (with added external speakers), Roku2, mixer (same as you recommended, arriving tomorrow) and 2-mic system (same as one you recommended). Do I need to buy separate speakers or can I plug everything into the existing system?
Thanks again!
Hi Todd, glad you found this article useful! Since you already have external speakers, there’s no need for you to buy separate speakers. However, this depends on the quality of your speakers and on the volume you plan to use.
My suggestion is to try out your existing speakers first, if you find that you have frequent feedback and distortion specially when you have singers with loud voices then it would be best for you to get karaoke or PA type of speakers. Home theater speakers are not really designed for live sound and depending on the speaker, it may not be able to handle mic input well.
To use your existing speakers, what you would need to do is to connect your microphone system to your mixer using the MIC input jacks and then connect the Audio Out of the mixer to your speakers. Check what input jack type your speakers are using so you would know what cable is needed for you to connect your mixer to your speakers. Often times speakers have an RCA input or an AUX (headphone 3.5mm) input jack.
One last thing – if you want to achieve the karaoke sound – make sure the speaker you bought has an echo control such as the Fifine mixer I mentioned in this article. The Behringer mixer is a good all around mixer that you can use with other recording tasks with our PC, but it does not have an echo control that the Fifine mixer does. Enjoy and have fun!
Wonderful, and thanks for the quick and thorough response! I’ll see if I can get it to work, and following what you’ve provided this is most helpful. If that fails then I’ll just invest in some PA speakers (and following your suggestions). Overall the cost may increase but not as much as established systems (e.g. magic sing), but even if the cost was the same the vast library of free songs on youtube far outweighs the limited and expensive list through established systems, like magic sing. Again, thanks for your help!
Todd
Hi Todd, I’m sure you’ll figure this out. We’d be very interested to know how this goes for you so please keep us posted!
Totally agree on YouTube, you won’t be outdated with all the new songs that becomes available everyday.
BTW, you can also output the music from your TV to your speakers. Just connect your TV to your mixer using the audio out from your TV to one of the audio input in your mixer. This way both youtube music and mic sound can be heard on your speaker system.
Hope to hear from you soon that you’re already having fun with your home made karaoke system!
Sure I’ll definitely let you know how it worked out. I should have this done within next week.
Hello,
So Clearly I didn’t read everything carefully. I bought the mic., speaker and mixer you recommended but when I started singing I immediately noticed something was off. I went back onto your website and saw that the speaker doesn’t have the signature karokee sound.
Is there another speaker you would recommend that does give the signature karokee sound.
It looks like some speaker has the mixer included also right? In this case then I shouldn’t have gotten a mixer also correct?
Thank you so much for your help!
Hi Lc, if you bought the ion speakers that I have recommended, it includes a knob for echo control. You can adjust this to achieve the karaoke sound you are looking for.
If you have gotten the fifine mixer, you can use that with any speaker and use the echo control to adjust the sound to your liking. Just connect the mic to the mixer and the output of the mixer to the speakers.
I hope I was able to help. Enjoy!
Using echo for karaoke is not going to sound good. Reverb is more natural. Almost all cheap karaoke machines have echo instead of reverb, and it sounds awful. You’re much better off getting a mixer with built-in reverb or a vocal processing unit in line with the speaker. As long as the speaker has decent clarity and enough low end to not be too shrill, then you should be able to get whatever sound out of it you want, but you absolutely need to have inline EQ (at least 3 band). I’m a bit surprised you didn’t mention EQ at all.
Hi Joe, thanks for your input. You are correct, reverb does sound better. However for average users, the difference may not be that noticeable. Audiophiles will certainly know the difference. Let us know if you can recommend a mixer that is less than $50 with the features you mentioned so I can include it in this article. Thanks for the tips!
I love karokee but refuse to buy any magic mic or big expensive karaoke system. I finally took the time to research to see if anything can be down through YouTube if I would just buy a wireless mic and you blog had helped so much!!!!! Thank you so much!!!! This is amazing!!!! I can’t wait to set up! Finally, something I’ve been wanting and dreaming for so long! Thank you thank you thank you!
Hi LC, I’m glad I was able to help! It’s amazing how technology evolves and makes things better – in this case karaoke, more accessible and affordable and fun. Enjoy! Time to party!