How can I do this with headphones?

[jfall]

Right now I have a Soundblaster Live Value in my computer. I currently have a set of Altec Lansing ACS54 speakers hooked up to it. (4 speakers and a sub). So right now the speakers take up both output jacks on the soundcard (the front and rear). I am looking to get a pair of headphones.. but I don't want to replace my speakers with them.. the only way right now is to unplug the speakers from the soundcard and then plug in the headphones every time I want to use the headphones.. but the way my computer is setup in this desk, the back of it isn't all that easy to get at. Is there anything I can do to have some sort of a switch or something that will make this easier?

There is no place for me to plug headphones into on my speakers. Also, which jack would I plug headphones into? the front or the rear?

 

[BigFatCow]

get a splitter...

like this i know they sell them seperate because i have one. (its the one on the far left in the picture)

 

[jfall]

Humm.. I dont really get how this is suppose to work. If I had both plugged into the splitter, wouldn't they both be on at the same time?

 

[PCMarine]

Yes they are both on at the same time. When you need headphones, just turn off the power to the speakers, and when you use speakers, would the headphones be audible over the speaker volume?

Other than that, I'm not sure what else you could do

 

[jazzhound]

You can get an external soundcard like the Extigy (easy plug and play - literally!). I broke my Labtec subwoofer and had to get new ones, now the new ones have a seperate jack on one of the satellites. Seems like you're either going to have to get a new external soundcard or put up with switching it everytime.

There is a specialty shop that makes audio components and one of their items was a small external unit (USB) but I can't seem to locate the URL.. I'll keep you posted when it comes around. Also I recalled the price being around $90 if you're up for that.

 

[jfall]

humm.. I thought this would be a common issue. I guess I could leave them on at the same time.. I guess my altec speakers are powered.. so I dont think they would draw too much power from the sound card. Is there not something similiar to this but with a switch?

 

[CubicZirconia]

The splitter will work fine. Just turn the volume on the speakers all the way down when you want to use the headphones and control the volume through windows. It doesn't really matter that your speakers remain on. I've been doing this for years, its always worked for me.

 

[jfall]

Well I have an off button on the speakers.. so that wouldn't be a problem. I just thought there might of been some connector that would plug into the sound card, then be extended to the front of my desk, so I could easily plug in either the speakers or the headphones depending on which I want to use

 

[corkyg]

Originally posted by: jfall
Well I have an off button on the speakers.. so that wouldn't be a problem. I just thought there might of been some connector that would plug into the sound card, then be extended to the front of my desk, so I could easily plug in either the speakers or the headphones depending on which I want to use

Yes, you can also do that if you want to. Just use patch cables to a junction/splitter box - and while you are at it, you can add a T-pad for a headphone volume control. This is all old hat audio stuff - you can get everything you need to do it at Radio Shack.

If you really want good sound control, get a small external stereo amp. Conmnect it to the sound card's LINE OUT port and connect both your speakers and headphones to the amp's ports. That also gives you better audio controls fully independent of the computer.

 

[Slogun]

I, myself use that radio shack splitter. My headphones are on all the time and when I am playing a game using my headphones I turn my speaker volume down (actually my speaker volume is usually down).

I have thought about putting a control box in a 5 inch drive bay of my comp to plug and unplug the headphones into, but haven't gotten around to it. I have also considered just running an extension headphone plug (also available at radio shack) from the spitter to the front of my computer.

 

[jfall]

Cool, I will have to take a look at what radio shack has and see what I can do. Thanks for the info

 

[BlueWeasel]

Wow...I had no idea you could get a splitter like that. I guess you learn something new every day....

 

[Slogun]

Yea, this is the one. Note the catalog number.

And this is the extension.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Radio Shack
You've got questions...
We've got blank stares...

Wait a second! I know Radio Shack was good for something...

 

[Vinny N]

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this...

But...

the biggest problem with splitting it is that you'll only get half the signal (the front signal specifically) because from the first post in this thread, it sounds like jfall is using 4 speaker output, front and rear from the SB Live value.

If you're just splitting the front output with a pair headphones you'll still have to go into the SB Live AudioHQ and reconfigure the speaker setting output to 2 or headphones, in order to get a full signal (rather than just the "front" part of a front and rear signal on two different outputs).

jfall, you could see what it would sound like now just by having your headphones hooked up to the front output of your soundcard, then pop open AudioHQ, goto speaker configuration, play an mp3, and switch between 4 and 2 speaker mode to see what drops out.

 

[Slogun]

Yes, could be an issue. I use a 2.1 speaker setup.

 

[jfall]

Yeah.. that is what I was thinking.. but it wouldn't be a big problem for me to switch it in AudioHQ. I am just concerned about switching the wires in the back all the time because they aren't easy to get at

 

[jakobkraft]

This may not be what you want to hear, but the Fortissimmo II & III have headphone inputs-a cable for the II, or built in the back of the card for the III-and both sound incredible-no signal splitting, no sacrificing of sound quality whatsoever; and with the equalizer set right, the cheapest headphones will bleed out your ears. I have my headphones plugged in all the time; when I want to switch, a simple click on the Hercules control panel and that's it.

Here's a review of the II, which I'm sure is cheaper than the III although not by much, I think.

http://gamespot.com/gshw/filters/products/0,12844,532682,00.html

Hope that helps....

 

[NovaTone]

I have the exact same hardware as you do, and I've gone through the exact same issue. The thing with the Y connector is that you end up splitting up the signal from the sound card. This isn't good as you will cut the signal from the sound card (the SBLive! output is already quite weak). It would be preferable to use a switch of some sort. I managed to find such a switch in Radio Shack and in Microcenter. Here is the switch I got from microcenter...

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0007555.

Product Info Link: http://www.newq.com/products/newqdap.html.

This allows you to push a button to switch between headphones and speakers. The radio shack equivalent was around $17.