Need help with audio setup from computer to home stereo

[SnoopDODoubleG]

I am in the process of building new computer and would like to connect the sound from my sound card, sound blaster live platinum, to my home surround sound setup so that I can listen to my music collection on my big speakers. Any recommendations on what type of cable to get and where to purchase them would be greatly appreciated. Also, is the setup as easy as plugging in the cable from the sound card to the reciever? Thanks for you help in advance.

 

[dml54]

Get one of These.

Plug into Line Out on the Sound Card and the Auxilary on the stereo reciever

 

[Maddscientist]

Go to Circuit City or Best buy and get a monster cable digital coax or din cable......Thats pretty much it unless your stereo does not have digital inputs in that case you would need to run Rca's Y mini Jack to the reciever but that way you only get stereo not full surround. Be very specific with what your wanting to use to connect it and what kind of speaker setup you plan to use IE 5.1 3.1 Stereo 2 Channle ext ext.

 

[Matthias99]

Monster Cables are *way* overpriced, though, especially for digital cables where signal quality isn't really an issue anymore. But the right idea -- use a digital input if at all possible.

 

[Scary]

Best decision, audio wise. My friend got the Z-680 and I got a chance to listen to it at his house. It was a big difference listening to the vocals and instrumentals on his speakers and woofer from my headphone. I decided I needed a surround system too, but in a way, I wanted speakers that would serve a universal purpose. So I opted for a home stereo system with a receiver. Now my computer is hooked up to them, my tv, my Dreamcast and my Xbox. Can't do this with those Z-680 or the Klipsch 5.1. Ok, so basically what you need:


Speakers, obviously, probably a 5.1 configuration.
Receiver - 5.1 Channel at least, if this is what you want to setup.

If your soundcard is a 5.1 soundcard like mine, Soundblaster Live! 5.1. It should have 3 ports in the back that are capable of outputing audio, 1 stereo for front, 1 stereo for surround and 1 mono for center channel.

What you need to hook up to your receiver.

2 stereo to RCA adapters (Y-adapter) - It will split the stereo from the front/rear channels and connects to the receiver via the RCA plugs.
1 mono to RCA adapter (Y-adapter) - It will directly connect the mono center channel and connects to the receiver via the RCA plug.

If you want a subwoofer input, then you'll need to split the center channel into two and use it as a center channel/woofer channel. The back of your receiver should have two separate inputs for center/woofer channel. What you're basically doing is splitting the mono output of the soundcard into two and channeling it to both the center/woofer channel. This way, when you hook up the woofer to your receiver's woofer out, it will take sound from the center.

Or you can just hook up the woofer to the pre-out of the front channels using RCA cables, if your woofer has RCA jacks for input.

I found these adapters at Fry's Electronics, Target, or just about any local RadioShack. IMPORTANT!! GET THE GOLD PLATED ONES! they make a big difference, I was on a budget so i got the cheap RCA brand, but still gold plated. They run at around $4.50 an adapter, so its really cheap and the reward is sound that no computer speakers will ever be able to match.

Just for a comparison, my friend's Z-680 cost him $270. I spent $450 in all for 2 pairs of JBL SAT2, a JBL 12" woofer, and a Harman Kardon receiver. As well as all the cables/adapters/wires necessary to hook it up. And my system is not only used for my computer, but just everything else in my room.

And since you're planning on listening to music , I assume you'll be using winamp. With winamp, you'll need to get an output plugin that supports 5.1, otherwise you'll hear sound coming from the front/rear but no center and woofer. I still haven't found the right plugin for winamp because audio being split is kinda muddy for the rear channel. Maybe I need to upgrade to Audigy 2. Anyways, I hope you'll find your experience as rewarding and fun as mine.

 

[beatle]

A digital cable is great for music and movies, but doesn't work for games (unless you have a soundstorm). If you're planning on playing any games on this setup and you want to take advantage of 4 channel EAX, I suggest using 6 channel discrete inputs like what Scary mentioned.

I don't know of any 5.1 channel plugins for winamp. If you want sound from all 5 speakers, I suggest using 5 channel stereo, Dolby Pro Logic II or Logic 7 modes on your receiver if it supports any of them.

 

[SnoopDODoubleG]

I appreciate everyone's suggestions. They are very helpful

 

[Scary]

Originally posted by: beatle
A digital cable is great for music and movies, but doesn't work for games (unless you have a soundstorm). If you're planning on playing any games on this setup and you want to take advantage of 4 channel EAX, I suggest using 6 channel discrete inputs like what Scary mentioned.

I don't know of any 5.1 channel plugins for winamp. If you want sound from all 5 speakers, I suggest using 5 channel stereo, Dolby Pro Logic II or Logic 7 modes on your receiver if it supports any of them.

Winamp 2 5.1 output

The plugin isn't all that great, the surround channels are all muddy. And it doesn't work when Creative's drivers are installed, so I end up using the default soundblaster driver from winXP if I want to use the plugin.

Haven't tried hooking it up to the other inputs and have the receiver emulate surround yet. However, a warning, if you're using the 5 channel direct input you won't be able to use any of the effects from the receiver. To use those effects, all you need is the stereo channel split into RCA plugs and hook it up to any of the inputs on the receiver. Though, I don't think this would be natural surround sound.

 

[Scary]

Originally posted by: beatle
A digital cable is great for music and movies, but doesn't work for games (unless you have a soundstorm). If you're planning on playing any games on this setup and you want to take advantage of 4 channel EAX, I suggest using 6 channel discrete inputs like what Scary mentioned.

I don't know of any 5.1 channel plugins for winamp. If you want sound from all 5 speakers, I suggest using 5 channel stereo, Dolby Pro Logic II or Logic 7 modes on your receiver if it supports any of them.

Winamp 2 5.1 output

The plugin isn't all that great, the surround channels are all muddy. And it doesn't work when Creative's drivers are installed, so I end up using the default soundblaster driver from winXP if I want to use the plugin.

Haven't tried hooking it up to the other inputs and have the receiver emulate surround yet. However, a warning, if you're using the 5 channel direct input you won't be able to use any of the effects from the receiver. To use those effects, all you need is the stereo channel split into RCA plugs and hook it up to any of the inputs on the receiver. Though, I don't think this would be natural surround sound.

 

[Scary]

Weird, double posted.

 

[SnoopDODoubleG]

So if i all i really want is to listen to my mp3 collection on the home system with my sub etc, no surround sound, i just need to get the cable that will go from my sound card line out and split to two RCA connections?

 

[Auric]

For that, just get a mono 3.5mm to RCA jack adapter for the sound card's digital coaxial output jack. Then use any ol' bog standard common RCA video cable that is laying about or that you can get cheap to connect to the receiver's digital coaxial input jack. Mock surround from stereo sources may be acheived by applying DSP effects on either the PC or receiver end.

Advantages over analog: less cables, no signal loss, make use of superior DAC's in receiver, no possibility of interference (beyond ground loops that would likewise affect analog), and DD/DTS encoded sources may be decoded on the receiver also.

P.S. for the actual setup, in the Creative Mixer toggle on Digital Output Only and on the receiver the input (such as Video 1 or somesuch) may need to be toggled to digital also.

 

[beatle]

Originally posted by: Scary

Originally posted by: beatle
A digital cable is great for music and movies, but doesn't work for games (unless you have a soundstorm). If you're planning on playing any games on this setup and you want to take advantage of 4 channel EAX, I suggest using 6 channel discrete inputs like what Scary mentioned.

I don't know of any 5.1 channel plugins for winamp. If you want sound from all 5 speakers, I suggest using 5 channel stereo, Dolby Pro Logic II or Logic 7 modes on your receiver if it supports any of them.

Winamp 2 5.1 output

The plugin isn't all that great, the surround channels are all muddy. And it doesn't work when Creative's drivers are installed, so I end up using the default soundblaster driver from winXP if I want to use the plugin.

Haven't tried hooking it up to the other inputs and have the receiver emulate surround yet. However, a warning, if you're using the 5 channel direct input you won't be able to use any of the effects from the receiver. To use those effects, all you need is the stereo channel split into RCA plugs and hook it up to any of the inputs on the receiver. Though, I don't think this would be natural surround sound.

Aww, I thought it was going to be something akin to what the Soundstorm can do. I'll just do PLII with my receiver anyway. My H/K AVR120 is able to apply effects like PLII, Logic 7 or 5ch stereo to the input as long as it's not already encoded in DD. I'd imagine this would be possible for most receivers.

 

[Scary]

Originally posted by: Auric
For that, just get a mono 3.5mm to RCA jack adapter for the sound card's digital coaxial output jack. Then use any ol' bog standard common RCA video cable that is laying about or that you can get cheap to connect to the receiver's digital coaxial input jack. Mock surround from stereo sources may be acheived by applying DSP effects on either the PC or receiver end.

Advantages over analog: less cables, no signal loss, make use of superior DAC's in receiver, no possibility of interference (beyond ground loops that would likewise affect analog), and DD/DTS encoded sources may be decoded on the receiver also.

P.S. for the actual setup, in the Creative Mixer toggle on Digital Output Only and on the receiver the input (such as Video 1 or somesuch) may need to be toggled to digital also.

Whoa, are you serious? I could've saved alot of money and time if I bought the digital coaxial cable? So wait, just one cable for all 5 channels? In the back of my AVR65, I see under the digital input box, and theres one labeled "coaxial", is this the digital coaxial jack? Well if thats the case, then I think i'll buy a new soundcard with my next computer.

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: Scary

Whoa, are you serious? I could've saved alot of money and time if I bought the digital coaxial cable? So wait, just one cable for all 5 channels? In the back of my AVR65, I see under the digital input box, and theres one labeled "coaxial", is this the digital coaxial jack? Well if thats the case, then I think i'll buy a new soundcard with my next computer.

For our purposes, one digital cable carries either PCM 2-channel or pre-encoded DD/DTS (various channels from 1 to 8). For that reason, DirectSound3D (in greater than stereo) still requires analog connections. The exceptions to this are SoundStorm which may encode to DD in real time, certain Creative amp/speaker kits or specialized receivers which have the same 4-pole digital input.

I would like to stress that "digital coaxial cable" = RCA video cable = "cable TV" cable (in this case usually sporting different connectors but adapters are available). Do not get scammed buy purchasing a more expensive coaxial cable that is marketed as "digital".