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#1
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Audio out from computer to stereo
I have a 1 year old Gateway with Win XP 2 ghz processor and standard sound
card that came with it. I want to run sound out from computer to a stereo receiver. I tried radio shack cable with headphone (male stereo end) plugged into headphone jack on speakers of the computer and connected the other end (2 rca jacks) to the receiver, but volume is low and I'm not happy. I can turn computer volume up to 10, but if I accidentally pull out the cable the computer is way too loud (very disurbing to ears.) The output of the sound card has 3 jacks (blue for headphone, pink and light green. Right now the pink and light green jacks are used for the computer speakers (the male ends that plug into them look "stereo") In short how do I get sound out of my computer to receiver that isn't too low in volume for receiver unless computer turned up to 10 in volume? Do I need to play around with sound card properties i see under volume, there are speaker settings advance. What do I set this at, and what plugs do I utilize. Appreciate any help. |
#2
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"larrylook" wrote ...
I have a 1 year old Gateway with Win XP 2 ghz processor and standard sound card that came with it. I want to run sound out from computer to a stereo receiver. I tried radio shack cable with headphone (male stereo end) plugged into headphone jack on speakers of the computer and connected the other end (2 rca jacks) to the receiver, but volume is low and I'm not happy. .... You have one equation and three unknowns. Plug the cable directly into the line output (or speaker output if you have no line output). After you have done that experiment, report back for further suggestions. |
#3
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Richard Crowley wrote:
"larrylook" wrote ... I have a 1 year old Gateway with Win XP 2 ghz processor and standard sound card that came with it. I want to run sound out from computer to a stereo receiver. I tried radio shack cable with headphone (male stereo end) plugged into headphone jack on speakers of the computer and connected the other end (2 rca jacks) to the receiver, but volume is low and I'm not happy. .... You have one equation and three unknowns. Plug the cable directly into the line output (or speaker output if you have no line output). After you have done that experiment, report back for further suggestions. The common (not really "standard,some boards,etc vary) is red/pink for microphone input blue for line input and green for speaker/headphone/line output. I've noticed all of my soundcards drive PC speakers,or headphones just fine,but the volume always seems low when connected to my stereo preamp. |
#4
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"ptaylor" wrote in message ... Richard Crowley wrote: "larrylook" wrote ... I have a 1 year old Gateway with Win XP 2 ghz processor and standard sound card that came with it. I want to run sound out from computer to a stereo receiver. I tried radio shack cable with headphone (male stereo end) plugged into headphone jack on speakers of the computer and connected the other end (2 rca jacks) to the receiver, but volume is low and I'm not happy. .... You have one equation and three unknowns. Plug the cable directly into the line output (or speaker output if you have no line output). After you have done that experiment, report back for further suggestions. The common (not really "standard,some boards,etc vary) is red/pink for microphone input blue for line input and green for speaker/headphone/line output. I've noticed all of my soundcards drive PC speakers,or headphones just fine,but the volume always seems low when connected to my stereo preamp. Will try this tonight. I have blue (to headphones) salmon pink to pc speakers, and light green on my Gateway PC. One speaker has a headphone jack on it that's stereo and I've been trying that - but volume is too low. |
#5
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"larrylook" wrote in message ... Will try this tonight. I have blue (to headphones) salmon pink to pc speakers, and light green on my Gateway PC. One speaker has a headphone jack on it that's stereo and I've been trying that - but volume is too low. Blue is normally line in. Light green would be line out, and pink the microphone input. Puzzled to hear that you're getting headphones output on blue. Paul |
#6
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On Tue, 25 Jan 2005 22:39:56 -0500, "larrylook"
wrote: I have a 1 year old Gateway with Win XP 2 ghz processor and standard sound card that came with it. I want to run sound out from computer to a stereo receiver. I tried radio shack cable with headphone (male stereo end) plugged into headphone jack on speakers of the computer and connected the other end (2 rca jacks) to the receiver, but volume is low and I'm not happy. I can turn computer volume up to 10, but if I accidentally pull out the cable the computer is way too loud (very disurbing to ears.) The output of the sound card has 3 jacks (blue for headphone, pink and light green. Right now the pink and light green jacks are used for the computer speakers (the male ends that plug into them look "stereo") In short how do I get sound out of my computer to receiver that isn't too low in volume for receiver unless computer turned up to 10 in volume? Do I need to play around with sound card properties i see under volume, there are speaker settings advance. What do I set this at, and what plugs do I utilize. Appreciate any help. You need a Line Out from the computer. Many on-board computer sound systems now have software-configurable ports, allowing the same sockets to act as surround outputs, Mic or Line inputs, Headphone or Line outputs. Look at the control panel for your sound system. It may be in the System Tray, it may be in Control Panel. See what options you are offered. Failing this, an output that feeds a powered speaker is more use to you than a headphone output. |
#7
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"larrylook" wrote in message
I have a 1 year old Gateway with Win XP 2 ghz processor and standard sound card that came with it. I want to run sound out from computer to a stereo receiver. I tried radio shack cable with headphone (male stereo end) plugged into headphone jack on speakers of the computer and connected the other end (2 rca jacks) to the receiver, but volume is low and I'm not happy. I can turn computer volume up to 10, but if I accidentally pull out the cable the computer is way too loud (very disurbing to ears.) The output of the sound card has 3 jacks (blue for headphone, pink and light green. Right now the pink and light green jacks are used for the computer speakers (the male ends that plug into them look "stereo") The green jacks are THE output of the audio interface in the computer. If you have two different audio systems to drive, the right thing to do is to put in a splitter or a routing switch in place. In short how do I get sound out of my computer to receiver that isn't too low in volume for receiver unless computer turned up to 10 in volume? Seems like there is some mismatch in the sensitivity of your computer speakers and your receiver. Most computer speakers get way too loud if you turn their volume up all the way. This is by design, so there's some reserve volume for audio interfaces that have really low output. So, why not turn down the volume control on your computer speakers and then turn up the computer volume control to match the needs of your receiver? If there's no volume control on your computer speakers, get some that do have a volume control? Do I need to play around with sound card properties i see under volume, there are speaker settings advance. What do I set this at, and what plugs do I utilize. Appreciate any help. The speaker settings relate to more subtle aspects than just loudness. For example if you pick the headphones option, some channel mixing is used to try to eliminate the "hole in the middle" that some people perceive while listening through headphones. |
#8
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"Paul" wrote in message
"larrylook" wrote in message ... Will try this tonight. I have blue (to headphones) salmon pink to pc speakers, and light green on my Gateway PC. One speaker has a headphone jack on it that's stereo and I've been trying that - but volume is too low. Blue is normally line in. Agreed. Light green would be line out, Agreed. and pink the microphone input. Agreed. Puzzled to hear that you're getting headphones output on blue. Some new computer audio interfaces actually auto-sense the kind of device that each jack is connected to, and try try to adjust their circuitry and connections to match what they auto-sense. I've never tried it, but I can imagine how one of these new smart audio interfaces might sense that there's a low impedance load on the blue jack, and route an output of the audio interface to it. This document may shed further light on this kind of featu http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/...pamodel=ALC850 |
#9
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"Laurence Payne" wrote in
message You need a Line Out from the computer. Agreed. Many on-board computer sound systems now have software-configurable ports, allowing the same sockets to act as surround outputs, Mic or Line inputs, Headphone or Line outputs. Not only that, but as you probably have noticed, they auto-sense what they are connected to, and try to make some logical determinations on their own. Look at the control panel for your sound system. It may be in the System Tray, it may be in Control Panel. See what options you are offered. The particular machine I'm typing on has Realtek's implmentation of this feature. The control panel icon is somewhat cryptically titled "Sound Effect Manager". Failing this, an output that feeds a powered speaker is more use to you than a headphone output. I suspect that part of the problem is that the OP has the gain on her speakers set way too high. |
#10
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"Paul" wrote in message ... "larrylook" wrote in message ... Will try this tonight. I have blue (to headphones) salmon pink to pc speakers, and light green on my Gateway PC. One speaker has a headphone jack on it that's stereo and I've been trying that - but volume is too low. Blue is normally line in. Light green would be line out, and pink the microphone input. Puzzled to hear that you're getting headphones output on blue. One computer has from L to R on back of sound card pink, green, blue the other computer has black, green, pink, blue, orange. Both are Gateway's bought new 1-2 years ago. The speakers that came with the computer (r and l and subwoofer plug into the pink and green inputs.) I guess pink gets microphone capability to one (L) speaker. I was trying sound out from one speaker (headphone jack) and volume was too low. Will try green next and let you know how it goes, now that I know more. Hopefully this will work. Sorry I can't do it now. I see in control panel - sounds and audio divices - properties there are 5 tabs which are volume, sounds, audio, voice, and hardware. Which of these do I fool with to get higher volume sound (more output from computer going to receiver? Paul |
#11
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On 1/26/2005 10:01, larrylook wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message ... "larrylook" wrote in message ... Will try this tonight. I have blue (to headphones) salmon pink to pc speakers, and light green on my Gateway PC. One speaker has a headphone jack on it that's stereo and I've been trying that - but volume is too low. Blue is normally line in. Light green would be line out, and pink the microphone input. Puzzled to hear that you're getting headphones output on blue. One computer has from L to R on back of sound card pink, green, blue the other computer has black, green, pink, blue, orange. Both are Gateway's bought new 1-2 years ago. The speakers that came with the computer (r and l and subwoofer plug into the pink and green inputs.) I guess pink gets microphone capability to one (L) speaker. You should not have to guess. The PC should have come with an Owner's manual as well as a large hook-up sheet that explains what all the connections are. I was trying sound out from one speaker (headphone jack) and volume was too low. Will try green next and let you know how it goes, now that I know more. Hopefully this will work. Sorry I can't do it now. I see in control panel - sounds and audio divices - properties there are 5 tabs which are volume, sounds, audio, voice, and hardware. Which of these do I fool with to get higher volume sound (more output from computer going to receiver? Paul |
#12
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On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 10:17:39 -0800, Mark Hansen wrote:
On 1/26/2005 10:01, larrylook wrote: "Paul" wrote in message ... "larrylook" wrote in message ... Will try this tonight. I have blue (to headphones) salmon pink to pc speakers, and light green on my Gateway PC. One speaker has a headphone jack on it that's stereo and I've been trying that - but volume is too low. Blue is normally line in. Light green would be line out, and pink the microphone input. Puzzled to hear that you're getting headphones output on blue. One computer has from L to R on back of sound card pink, green, blue the other computer has black, green, pink, blue, orange. Both are Gateway's bought new 1-2 years ago. The speakers that came with the computer (r and l and subwoofer plug into the pink and green inputs.) I guess pink gets microphone capability to one (L) speaker. You should not have to guess. The PC should have come with an Owner's manual as well as a large hook-up sheet that explains what all the connections are. Green is standardized to be the stereo line-out. Pink is IIRC a microphone input. When in doubt, RTFM. |
#13
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"Mark Hansen" wrote in message
One computer has from L to R on back of sound card pink, green, blue Mic (mono), output, and line in. the other computer has black, green, pink, blue, orange. Covered in detail by this page: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v19/vic19.htm black is for rear speakers, orange is for digial. |
#14
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Arny Krueger wrote:
"Mark Hansen" wrote in message One computer has from L to R on back of sound card pink, green, blue Mic (mono), output, and line in. the other computer has black, green, pink, blue, orange. Covered in detail by this page: http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc2/v19/vic19.htm black is for rear speakers, orange is for digial. IIRC, orange is front+LFE. -- Regards, Aaron. |
#15
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The line out from the computer audio card should be the lime coloured (green
like) jack. This is supposed to be a standard line output that is compatible to a standard consumer type amplifier. You will need an adaptor that goes from a 3.5 mm stereo plug, to a pair of stereo RCA type phono plugs on a wire length. If there are any ground loops, or isolation problems, this can be from the switching supply in the computer. In this case, things can get more complicated. As for the volume control setting on the computer, the maximum amount will be the correct value to feed to the amplifier. If you need more gain, you will need a stereo line level pre-amp unit to boost the computer output. -- Jerry G. ===== "larrylook" wrote in message ... I have a 1 year old Gateway with Win XP 2 ghz processor and standard sound card that came with it. I want to run sound out from computer to a stereo receiver. I tried radio shack cable with headphone (male stereo end) plugged into headphone jack on speakers of the computer and connected the other end (2 rca jacks) to the receiver, but volume is low and I'm not happy. I can turn computer volume up to 10, but if I accidentally pull out the cable the computer is way too loud (very disurbing to ears.) The output of the sound card has 3 jacks (blue for headphone, pink and light green. Right now the pink and light green jacks are used for the computer speakers (the male ends that plug into them look "stereo") In short how do I get sound out of my computer to receiver that isn't too low in volume for receiver unless computer turned up to 10 in volume? Do I need to play around with sound card properties i see under volume, there are speaker settings advance. What do I set this at, and what plugs do I utilize. Appreciate any help. |
#16
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"Jerry G." wrote in message ... The line out from the computer audio card should be the lime coloured (green like) jack. This is supposed to be a standard line output that is compatible to a standard consumer type amplifier. You will need an adaptor that goes from a 3.5 mm stereo plug, to a pair of stereo RCA type phono plugs on a wire length. If there are any ground loops, or isolation problems, this can be from the switching supply in the computer. In this case, things can get more complicated. As for the volume control setting on the computer, the maximum amount will be the correct value to feed to the amplifier. If you need more gain, you will need a stereo line level pre-amp unit to boost the computer output. Thanks. We went with green out. Turning volume up high on computer. But theres a hum when volume is off (?grounding problem or something). Not sure how to eliminate that. Next sound card (in my next computer) will have L and R rca ouputs (if they make sound cards like that). -- Jerry G. ===== "larrylook" wrote in message ... I have a 1 year old Gateway with Win XP 2 ghz processor and standard sound card that came with it. I want to run sound out from computer to a stereo receiver. I tried radio shack cable with headphone (male stereo end) plugged into headphone jack on speakers of the computer and connected the other end (2 rca jacks) to the receiver, but volume is low and I'm not happy. I can turn computer volume up to 10, but if I accidentally pull out the cable the computer is way too loud (very disurbing to ears.) The output of the sound card has 3 jacks (blue for headphone, pink and light green. Right now the pink and light green jacks are used for the computer speakers (the male ends that plug into them look "stereo") In short how do I get sound out of my computer to receiver that isn't too low in volume for receiver unless computer turned up to 10 in volume? Do I need to play around with sound card properties i see under volume, there are speaker settings advance. What do I set this at, and what plugs do I utilize. Appreciate any help. |
#17
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"larrylook" wrote -
Thanks. We went with green out. Turning volume up high on computer. What are you feeding it in to? I have never seen a computer that didn't put out a quite acceptable level from the green (line-out) jack. Are you sure you have all the levels set properly in the computer? On virtually all computers there are separate volume controls for each source, as well as a "master" level. Generally the source and master volume should each be set at 50-75% If one is high and the other is low, you will hear the kinds of diminshed signal to noise ratio problems as you are describing. All the unused sources should be muted (or adjusted to zero). This will keep them from feeding gratuitous noise for no reason. But theres a hum when volume is off (?grounding problem or something). I'd get the level problems sorted out first. You may be hearing hum just because you are running unusually high gain in the amp. Not sure how to eliminate that. Next sound card (in my next computer) will have L and R rca ouputs (if they make sound cards like that). Usually not. You shouldn't need RCA outputs to solve this kind of problem. |
#18
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"Richard Crowley" wrote in message ... "larrylook" wrote - Thanks. We went with green out. Turning volume up high on computer. What are you feeding it in to? I have never seen a computer that didn't put out a quite acceptable level from the green (line-out) jack. Are you sure you have all the levels set properly in the computer? On virtually all computers there are separate volume controls for each source, as well as a "master" level. Generally the source and master volume should each be set at 50-75% If one is high and the other is low, you will hear the kinds of diminshed signal to noise ratio problems as you are describing. Will work on this soon, my job has been overloading me with work. Sounds like you're quite knowledgeable and maybe you've got the solution to the hum problem. I have rca jacks in the wall, that I plug into, and a system with baluns (to avoid signal degradation) as the signal is going to the home theater roughly 50 to 60 feet away. I am now using the lime green line out (not headphone jack). All the unused sources should be muted (or adjusted to zero). This will keep them from feeding gratuitous noise for no reason. But theres a hum when volume is off (?grounding problem or something). I'd get the level problems sorted out first. You may be hearing hum just because you are running unusually high gain in the amp. Not sure how to eliminate that. Next sound card (in my next computer) will have L and R rca ouputs (if they make sound cards like that). Usually not. You shouldn't need RCA outputs to solve this kind of problem. |
#19
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larrylook wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message ... "larrylook" wrote in message ... Will try this tonight. I have blue (to headphones) salmon pink to pc speakers, and light green on my Gateway PC. One speaker has a headphone jack on it that's stereo and I've been trying that - but volume is too low. Blue is normally line in. Light green would be line out, and pink the microphone input. Puzzled to hear that you're getting headphones output on blue. One computer has from L to R on back of sound card pink, green, blue the other computer has black, green, pink, blue, orange. Both are Gateway's bought new 1-2 years ago. The speakers that came with the computer (r and l and subwoofer plug into the pink and green inputs.) I guess pink gets microphone capability to one (L) speaker. Hmm,On my sound card (Soundblaster Live!) the jacks are the same way. Black=output #2 (rear),Green=output #1 (front),red=mic input,blue=line input,and yellow=Digital output (S/PDIF I think,for digital recievers/surround sound) So the second PC may have a SB Live! (or similar) sound card. With Rear,and Digital outputs aswell as the usual out/line/mic jacks. I was trying sound out from one speaker (headphone jack) and volume was too low. Will try green next and let you know how it goes, now that I know more. Hopefully this will work. Sorry I can't do it now. I see in control panel - sounds and audio divices - properties there are 5 tabs which are volume, sounds, audio, voice, and hardware. Which of these do I fool with to get higher volume sound (more output from computer going to receiver? Paul |
#20
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larrylook wrote:
"Richard Crowley" wrote in message ... "larrylook" wrote - Thanks. We went with green out. Turning volume up high on computer. What are you feeding it in to? I have never seen a computer that didn't put out a quite acceptable level from the green (line-out) jack. Are you sure you have all the levels set properly in the computer? On virtually all computers there are separate volume controls for each source, as well as a "master" level. Generally the source and master volume should each be set at 50-75% If one is high and the other is low, you will hear the kinds of diminshed signal to noise ratio problems as you are describing. Will work on this soon, my job has been overloading me with work. Sounds like you're quite knowledgeable and maybe you've got the solution to the hum problem. I have rca jacks in the wall, that I plug into, and a system with baluns (to avoid signal degradation) as the signal is going to the home theater roughly 50 to 60 feet away. I am now using the lime green line out (not headphone jack). All the unused sources should be muted (or adjusted to zero). This will keep them from feeding gratuitous noise for no reason. But theres a hum when volume is off (?grounding problem or something). I'd get the level problems sorted out first. You may be hearing hum just because you are running unusually high gain in the amp. Not sure how to eliminate that. Next sound card (in my next computer) will have L and R rca ouputs (if they make sound cards like that). Usually not. You shouldn't need RCA outputs to solve this kind of problem. I have noticed alot of my soundcards over they years have gradually become more quiet.Back when they had the on-board 1W amps for the headphone out (remember the SB16,or AWE?) there was plenty of drive for a home stereo.. Then a couple years back i upgraded,and the onboard sound was kinda quiet,I had to CRANK my stereo to get it up to the volume it used to be at,even with the software mixer maxed out (I usually run about 75-80% volume on the mixers,or they tend to distort.) Then I eventually built up a single tube preamp cause I was tired of having to crank the volume up all the time..Think I've had 3-4 sound cards since then,and they have all needed the preamp between my PC and stereo preamp.. I think they are meant more for driving power amps directly,the signal output seems about right,atleast for me.. Just remember to mute the power amp,and set the mixer volume low when you reboot or something.. the windows startup sound nearly blasted me across the room once! |
#21
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On Wed, 26 Jan 2005 21:41:34 -0500, "larrylook"
wrote: Thanks. We went with green out. Turning volume up high on computer. But theres a hum when volume is off (?grounding problem or something). Not sure how to eliminate that. Next sound card (in my next computer) will have L and R rca ouputs (if they make sound cards like that). If sound is important to you, spend a surprisingly small amount of money and put a better sound card in this machine. The M-Audio Audiophile 2496 is selling for a very attractive price. It's easy to install it to a spare PCI slot. Then all you have to do is disable the onboard sound in BIOS setup. You won't be ABLE to specify good sound in a commercially-built new machine. Unless you go to a specialist firm that make computers for recording studios, computer makers think a SoundBlaster Audigy is the best sound card you can get. There's a whole other world of computer audio, (and it doesn't have to be as expensive as an Audigy:-) |
#22
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"larrylook" writes:
Will work on this soon, my job has been overloading me with work. Sounds like you're quite knowledgeable and maybe you've got the solution to the hum problem. Take a look at the following documents: http://www.epanorama.net/documents/g...e_solving.html http://www.epanorama.net/documents/g...oop/index.html I have rca jacks in the wall, that I plug into, and a system with baluns (to avoid signal degradation) as the signal is going to the home theater roughly 50 to 60 feet away. I am now using the lime green line out (not headphone jack). What kind of baluns do you use ? -- Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/) Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at http://www.epanorama.net/ |
#23
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"larrylook" wrote in message
"Jerry G." wrote in message ... Thanks. We went with green out. Turning volume up high on computer. But theres a hum when volume is off (?grounding problem or something). Grounding problem for sure. Not sure how to eliminate that. http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/Ground-Loops/ http://www.epanorama.net/documents/g...oop/index.html Next sound card (in my next computer) will have L and R rca ouputs (if they make sound cards like that). RCA's don't make much diffrence when it comes to grounding problems. Admittedly the mini stereo jacks are on the fragile side and require that you add an adaptor. OTOH, it would be kinda difficult to get so many outputs on the back edge of a PCI card without them. |
#24
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Tomi Holger Engdahl wrote: "larrylook" writes: Will work on this soon, my job has been overloading me with work. Sounds like you're quite knowledgeable and maybe you've got the solution to the hum problem. Take a look at the following documents: http://www.epanorama.net/documents/g...e_solving.html http://www.epanorama.net/documents/g...oop/index.html I have rca jacks in the wall, that I plug into, and a system with baluns (to avoid signal degradation) as the signal is going to the home theater roughly 50 to 60 feet away. I am now using the lime green line out (not headphone jack). What kind of baluns do you use ? I had a audio company put the wires and baluns in so I'll have to ask them. They said it would help the signal. But we haven't solved the low volume and hum problem. The line out on the hp laptop also gives some hum. Will try another desktop this weekend to see. I didn't realize it would be this complicated and maybe I wasted money on the long line and baluns during house renovation, but still hoping I can solve problem (or next computer will solve problem. I wanted sound out of computer, going to home theater 50-60 feet away in the family room thru new Yamaha receiver. This sends sound to the whole house and the deck outside. -- Tomi Engdahl (http://www.iki.fi/then/) Take a look at my electronics web links and documents at http://www.epanorama.net/ |
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