Need Help with this Audio MOBO Question! PLEASE...

[MagicMan17]

Hi, I have this card, a nVIDIA nForce 220-D, and it has Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound...does this mean that I do not have to upgrade to a Turtle Beach Santa Cruz or something of that nature?

Would the difference be noticable if I shelled out the extra bucks to get some after-market card? If I did keep this card, how would I utilize the surround sound as the back of my comp does not have like 5 different speaker connections like the TB Santa Cruz, Audigy, etc...would I have to get a pre-amp and hook up regular (non-comp) speakers to there or what? CAN anyone PLEASE clarify the situation?

Thanks,

Prav

 

[mechBgon]

The nForce 220D chipset that you have will be able to use the three 1/8" stereo jacks on the rear panel to do the center/sub, front and rear outputs. It's easy to do, just double-click the green nVidia icon in the system tray, check "six speakers" (if that's what you've got) and run the Speaker Setup Wizard. Here's a page showing the main panel, although it doesn't show the ones that you go through when doing the wizard: nVidia

With the audio processor that's built in, no, you shouldn't need an add-in card. I use this board at home and also have a couple dozen at work

 

[MagicMan17]

ohhhhhhhh....all right cool...THANX A LOT MAN....that really helps because I never knew what those 3 different colored stereo jacks were for since I only used one...now i get it...thanx again MECHBGON

 

[mechBgon]

Sure thing The three jacks can take on different roles depending on how many speakers you have, too... for me, I use headphones, so the other two take on Line-In and Microphone roles. The board also comes with a S/PDIF-out bracket that gives you both RCA and laser digital-out, in case you want to send the sound to digital speakers or a home-theater system.

The boards are very straightforward, but send me a Private Message if you run into any problems with yours!

 

[MagicMan17]

well...since you brought that up...I've got another couple questions...

I have the ASUS thing that gives you two extra usb ports, a mic port and a headphones jack in the front of the comp...only prob is that the mic, usb ports work but the headphones jack does not...I've tried everything like putting the volume up on all the different lines (aux, line-in, etc)...only thing left is to open it up and check it out...do you know what could be causing the prob?

Also, since I can't use my front jack I try to use the back to connect headphones but it is a pain since I have to disconnect the speakers everytime I want to use headphones and vice-versa. You mentioned something about using the three jacks in different roles but I could not get them to work...the only one that works with sound is the very top jack (green I believe). Is there a certain way to set this up to get it to work or what?

Last, where would I find these s/pdif-out because I don't see RCA or digital out. I want to use something like Klipsch 5.1 Promedia or something at that range...I am assuming they are digital speakers so I would like to know how to do this. Thanks for the help...hope its not too much trouble.

 

[mechBgon]

From Newegg's photo spread of the A7N266-VM, here's a photo showing the three auxiliary outlet plates that your board should've come with: photo The one at the right is the S/PDIF digital-outs. If you didn't get one of those, then I'm not sure where to get it

It sounds like you have the Asus "J-panel" that looks like this: link I haven't worked with one of these myself. The audio cable plugs onto the header that's depicted on page 28 of the manual, correct? The "10-pin AAPANEL" header? Is the plug keyed so it can only go on the correct direction?

Aside from that, I have the older Asus iPanel Deluxe (a real piece of junk, avoid) and I'm pretty sure it's normal that you can only get audio from the front jacks if there are NOT speakers/headphones plugged into the rear jacks. So try unplugging your speakers from the rear, and see if your headphone jack on the front starts to work all of a sudden. If that's the case, then you might just use the front jack for both your speakers and your headphones.

edit for broken link, d'oh!

 

[MagicMan17]

Sorry...Im a little slow...I didn't see it but towards the bottom of the back of the case there they were...the digital connections.

I don't have the J-panel but something similar from a different manufacturer. I tried what you suggested but it still doesnt work, I guess I'll just open it up and see what the connections are doing.

For the speakers, do all newer higher-end 5.1 computer speakers come with digital connections or is that only for a home theater setup?

Also, the other two jacks (blue and red) don't seem to be working for sound output as I plugged in my 2.1 speaker system in there and no sound came out. I changed the setup in the nForce task panel to 6 Speaker to simulate and I plugged the 2.1 setup where the rear speakers would have went in a 5.1 setup(blue jack) and no sound came out and then tried them where the sub and center channel would go (red jack) and yet no sound. Will this automatically fix itself once I get the proper speakers or is there any other way to make sure they function properly?

Thanks again.

 

[mechBgon]

Not all 5.1 speaker systems are digital, nope. Many are analog.

Try telling the nVidia panel that you have two speakers, and also checkmark the "Create Center Channel" box, then run the Speaker Setup Wizard and answer all the questions, and see how that goes.

 

[MagicMan17]

nope...they don't work when the speakers are not plugged into the green jack...

 

[mechBgon]

How many 1/8" plugs does your 2.1 system have?

 

[MagicMan17]

well the left and right speaker both have separate plugs that go into the subwoofer and the subwoofer has one wire that goes into the green jack...

 

[mechBgon]

Hmm... what brand/model of speakers are they? I'll see what I can figure out. (my best guess is that they simply split the bass off to the center speaker, which isn't a *center* speaker so much as it's just a subwoofer, and then route the rest of the left-right channels to the L/R speakers)

 

[pspada]

I've seen these speakers before. I'm pretty sure you are right about how they output.

 

[MagicMan17]

they are these speakers

 

[pspada]

Those are much nicer than the ones I've seen.

 

[MagicMan17]

Yeah, I just realized that unless I buy speakers with a built-in decoder, I'm going to need to buy a pre-amp to hook the digital connection into...so I'm just going to get the Audigy 2 that already has the built-in digital decoder for dolby and dts. That would allow me to buy regular analog speakers (without a built-in pre-amp) and still be able to have digital sound. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: MagicMan17
they are these speakers

Looking at the specs at Altec Lansing's site, it looks like you'd want the straight 2-speaker option.

Plug a stereo cable with 1/8" plugs into the green jack on the motherboard and the "FRONT" jack on the speakers and try running the Speaker Setup Wizard using the two-speaker option. Uncheck all the boxes except for "Analog Output" and see what happens. If that doesn't get you any audio, try plugging the speaker system into the front-audio jack on your front panel. If still no dice, try it with some other audio source and see if it plays at all.

Also, to get a little more info about your front-audio panel... can you point out the model at an online store or something? I'm wondering about how it connects to the motherboard. Hope we can figure something out here

 

[MagicMan17]

Originally posted by: MagicMan17
Yeah, I just realized that unless I buy speakers with a built-in decoder, I'm going to need to buy a pre-amp to hook the digital connection into...so I'm just going to get the Audigy 2 that already has the built-in digital decoder for dolby and dts. That would allow me to buy regular analog speakers (without a built-in pre-amp) and still be able to have digital sound. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks.

MechBGON, what do you think about this post? Since I definitely want digital sound but don't want to buy an extra desktop receiver to do digital decoding, my best bet is probably something like the audigy 2...correct?

Also, I did not understand your directions on how to test, this part Plug a stereo cable with 1/8" plugs into the green jack on the motherboard and the "FRONT" jack on the speakers. Can you clarify? I looked up in my mobo manual and it says for front panel audio for this model, I need to plug in "10 pin AAPANEL" I looked and I looked but could not find make or model of this particular type of front panel thing. I can get a pic if you think that would help...