Connecting computer to stereo

[illflem]

Any problem connecting the computer's speaker output to the aux input on my amp?

Better way to do it?

 

[nickleinonen]

no problems here. that's how i have my comp hooked up to the stereo... i do however have a ground loop isolator inline with the wiring [like $20 at rat shack] cause i had a bad ground loop in the system [humming sound... . ] give it a try, if you get the humming sound, get an isolator [looks like a "D" cell battery wrapped in tape with 2 sets of rca leads coming out of it... ]

 

[KBennett]

Line output

You should have 3 jacks on the back of the computer: microphone input, speaker out, and line out.

If you have the line output I would use that to eliminate any impedance mis-match issues (this causes the noise that nickleinonen mentioned). The connector will probably be 1/8 DIN and you can probably buy one at Radio Shack or Best Buy split out to 2 RCA style jacks. Make sure you get the stereo version that will have red and white plugs. I made my own so let me know if you need a drawing.

 

[illflem]

Thanks guys. Unfortunately my computer only has mic, the speaker jack and line in. Radio Shack had a splitter that made the speaker out into two jacks, I went form there to RCA. Could have used the headphone jack but didn't want any wires hanging out the front. Sounds great as long as I keep the computer volume way down.

 

[TORQUE THIS]

How are you guys doing this??

I have speaker, mike, and headset outputs on my computer. I used the cable from radio shack, single pin to the computer and the 2 RCA's to the input on the back of the radio... no sound????

 

[illflem]

Should work

Is your computer volume turned all the way down or muted?

 

[wsmalley]

Check the volume on your computer. If any of the various volume controls are really high, you are going to get noise. That also means you probably don't have an actual sound card, but are using the motherboard's built in chipset. Which is OK going to computer speakers, but will never sound quite right on a higher power stereo. Just do what I did and buy a good soundcard that is designed for multi-channel output and it will perform 110% better.

 

[TORQUE THIS]

The input on the back of the radio says...



BUS INPUT (Red and White RCA connections)



What does the radio have to be set on to hear the computer?

There is FM 1,2,3 AM 1,2,3 @ CD

 

[KBennett]

Bus input?

I am not familiar with the term BUS input on a stereo unless it is to connect other components to the receiver so that they all can be controlled by one remote control.

Usually the stereo will have an extra selection for a component that is not built into it such as AUX, VIDEO(that is what mine has for audio input from a VCR or DVD player but I connected the computer to it). Maybe yours is CD(with BUS as the input) if it doesn't have a CD player built in. If that is what you have the Computer can be plugged into that input and when CD is selected you should be able to hear the computer audio amplified.

To test the output from the computer turn up the computer volume and plug in a small pair of "walkman" style headphones into the computer output.

If you are trying to hear the sound from your CD player in the PC usually there is a jack on the CD player for headphones and a separate cable on the inside of the computer that runs from the CD Player to the sound card. If that cable is missing(It is not the flat ribbon cable) then that may be your problem as well.



Hope that helps.