How can I connect speakers to my POD 2.0 and get a good sound?

Question

I like to practice at home with my electric guitar, but I have to keep the volume low, so I usually use headphones connected to my P.O.D. 2.0 guitar direct box. But sometimes I'd prefer to use speakers (at a volume comparable to an accoustic guitar).

As this is just a hobby, I don't want to invest a lot of money, so I've tried to simply connect the POD (headphone out) to the 2.1 active speaker system I usually use for watching TV. However, to my surprise, this gives me a lot of ringing/rattling/clanking - although I can turn the speakers up to a much higher volume when watching TV without these problems (I also simply connect the speakers to the headphone out there). So I tried reducing the bass and volume a lot, until the problems go away, but then the sound is really bad. It doesn't have anything in common with the sound I get from the headphones.

I always thought, that it should be possible to connect a Hifi system to a POD - but I must be doing something wrong?

Answer 1

My HI-FI system (a basic compact hi-fi system) is the only output I use with my POD X3 and I'm really satisfied with it. It's connected through left/right RCA cables.
I don't see why it would not work with a POD 2.0.

I see few possibilities :

• The cables / connectors you are using are cheap (but if you use them with you TV, I guess it's not that)
• The output of the POD is too high for the speaker. I think this is the most probable reason but it seems that you already tried to lower the volume... But be careful of what volume you lowered : if it changes the sound it looks like you lowered the amp volume (chan vol), but does the POD 2.0 have a "master" volume (POD X3 has it, seems to be output level with 2.0).
• Another solution may be to lower the volume with the "mix table" (in POD X3, there is a special location where you can boost / reduce the overall volume of the effect chain. It is generally placed after the amp output. I don't know if it exist for 2.0)

Answer 2

The problem with HiFi systems used for guitar is that they don't have flat response; instead, they're optimized to make listening to mastered music more pleasant. A couple of tips to fight that:

• See if you have a "direct", "bypass", "pure stereo" or similarly named mode; most modern hi-fi systems feature such a setting for CD playback, which goes around whatever sound processing the unit might use. Incidentally that's what nearly always works best for me when using output from a multi-FX unit.
• Zero any equalizers that might be present on the speakers.
• Try using the "headphone" output from the device. Line outputs are typically made to interact with studio hardware and might not work nearly as well.
• Remember to use the cab emulation, speaker emulation and set everything to send fully processed signal.
• If your unit has an ability to output +10dB signal (acting like a preamp), ensure that it's instead on line level.
• Don't go overboard with reverb and echo effects, as they tend to heavily distort the signal and what you hear in effect. Experiment with pure amp tone first and add new things gradually.