Connecting computer to receiver

[balloonshark]

Can someone please tell if this will work and is safe. I bought a 3.5mm male plug to RCA males adapter. I have the 3.5mm plugged into my motherboard and have the RCA connected to the CD input on my Onkyo RC-160. I'm getting sound but the volume is low so I cranked up Intellivolume all the way to +12 dB. I also have to turn up my computer volume levels.

Is this safe or is there a better way. I'm mainly wanting to play streaming internet radio in stereo.

 

[sdifox]

don't you have digital out from your computer?

 

[kalrith]

The best way is to use a digital coax or optical cable. If you do not have that output on your computer, then you could either buy a sound card that has that connection or do what you're doing. Does the cable have one 3.5mm male and two RCA males? That's what you want to be using. Be sure that it's connected to the correct jack on the computer. Also, make sure that the computer is set to stereo speakers and that all the volume bars on the computer are maxed out.

 

[balloonshark]

I only have the sound built into the motherboard. Not sure if sound works through my grfx card but it's only an 8500GT.

Here is the cable I bought. http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=240-135

I also bought a female to female RCA adapter and another longer RCA patch cable to stretch across the room

 

[balloonshark]

I should also mention that I can configure all the outputs of the 6 MB jacks so I set it to line out which is identical to the line out that I have my cheap 2.1 computer speakers connected. I guess it won't hurt to have 2 line outs as I will only be using one at a time.

 

[sdifox]

I only have the sound built into the motherboard. Not sure if sound works through my grfx card but it's only an 8500GT.

Here is the cable I bought. http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=240-135

I also bought a female to female RCA adapter and another longer RCA patch cable to stretch across the room

yeap, your board doesn't have the spdif out. just use line out and you can just crank up the volume on the receiver.

 

[balloonshark]

Thanks kalrith and sdifox! I feel better about using the cable now. I didn't want burn anything up.

Regards

 

[kalrith]

It's not optimal, but how you have it set up will work just fine and not damage anything. If you ever want to improve upon your sound, you can either get a video card that does HDMI sound or get a sound card with a digital out. You might be able to pick up a used sound card for really cheap.

 

[balloonshark]

It's not optimal, but how you have it set up will work just fine and not damage anything. If you ever want to improve upon your sound, you can either get a video card that does HDMI sound or get a sound card with a digital out. You might be able to pick up a used sound card for really cheap.

Thanks kalrith. I used sound card sounds like a good idea for my situation.