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pim01
Oct 22, 2002

silversum posted:

Every once in awhile I like to hook my laptop up to my TV to view things a bit larger. That works fine, but when I plug my audio into our receiver (3.5mm? headphone jack -> l/r rca jacks) there is a lot of background static on the line.

I can get this to stop if I unplug my laptop from the power source, but it's a beast of a laptop and the battery needs replaced, so that doesn't really work. Can I buy a different type of audio cable to combat this, or am I just SOL? the power supply's been replaced once before, and it's done it with both.

The laptop is a dell inspiron 9100, the receiver is a Harman/Kardon AVR 335 though it does it regardless of the receiver.

You are experiencing a ground loop. To get rid of it, you'll need to isolate the two grounds of the systems, by using a ground loop isolator, surprisingly :). Radioshack sells one for $17. It should be adequate, but does cause some loss in quality.

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pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Rollersnake posted:

Last post on the previous page. Can someone help me with this?
You could buy a simple mixer. This one is only $20 (you'll need some adapters to go from RCA to 6.2mm jack, but they can be bought at radioshack). Alternatively, you could simply short out the hot wires in both left and right cables, effectively combining the two signals into one. To do this with RCA plugs you'll probably need to solder something up. I can draw you a little schematic if needed :).

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Damb Sikoe posted:

I have an old receiver (Onkyo TX-7000) which has been having a problem with staying on. It runs usually for an hour and then something clicks inside and all sound is cut off. I've opened it up since and found that some Relay-box looking thing on the board clicks over and causes this to happen. There's also a sound like wind blowing on a microphone for a few minutes before it clicks over.

These kind of things are nasty to diagnose. You could try checking if all the capacitors seem sound (no leakage, that kind of stuff), especially in the power supply. Otherwise you'll have to see if you can find some kind of schematic for the amp and check all the components, which is extremely tedious.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Godholio posted:

I think this might fit here better than SH/SC...

How can I convert m4p to mp3? I've got winamp and the m4p and mp3 output plugins, but I'm apparently winamp-retarded. Google tells me use winamp with those plugins, or use program X from shady website Y.

Is there another program, or can someone just point me in the right direction in winamp?

In winamp, open the Preferences, and look under plug-ins/output. You can select which plug-in winamp uses for output here. Normally this should be DirectSound output, if you wanted to write to wave files you'd select the Disk Writer plug-in. When you select your mp3 writer plugin here, you should be able to just play your files, and winamp'll save them as mp3s.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Godholio posted:

Actually, that would be fine, I'm not THAT much of an audiophile that I'd notice most of the time anyway. But it doesnt burn to cd audio, it sets up a folder hierarchy (arranged by artist, then album, THEN we get the songs) in m4p format. It doesnt give me the option to change the format, it just starts burning automatically.

Also, I've tried a couple of mp3 output plugins for winamp, but its not re-encoding anything when it plays.

If I were you I would dump them to wav with winamp (with the DiskWriter plugin I mentioned before, which comes standard with wimamp), and then re-encode them with lame. You would lose any meta-data this way, but if you keep good filenames / folder structure you should be able to do something with a mass tagging tool.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

theradiostillsucks posted:

Here's a pretty simple conundrum I've run into: I've gotten a good, older Technics turntable recently, the only problem is that the ground wire is extremely short, way too short to reach my receiver (which is around 4-5 feet away). Is there a quick, cheap and easy way to extend a ground wire? I'm not looking to solder, splice or engage myself in something I'm not entirely comfortable doing for fear of loving up the table, but I'm pretty sure this is an easy fix. Now if someone smarter than myself on this matter can recommend what I need from Radio Shack or someplace similar I'd be very grateful (as I had a decent haul of records in the past few days I'm dying to hear).

The easy way to do this is with a terminal block (is that the correct term?), which you can easily pick up at any DIY store. Pick up another piece of wire while you're there (if you get close to the same gauge, you're ok). Strip both ends, and connect them with the terminal block.

Your ground wire doesn't have some kind of connector on it, I hope? According to my experience it should be just a wire with a stripped end.

This is the thing I'm talking about - it's the same sort of thing you'd use to connect lamps (not my hand):

Only registered members can see post attachments!

pim01 fucked around with this message at 09:51 on Apr 3, 2007

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

dave_o posted:

Is there a way to connect my PC speaker system (green plug thingy) to my HDTV either via some RCA to PC converter or maybe a Coaxial Digital to PC converter?

The single green mini-jack plug is simply a stereo plug, and can be split into two RCA pugs with a simple cable, like this $5 one from Radioshack.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

UFO posted:

I haven't gotten a reply about my previous post, but thats okay. I have another question, the speakers that I have use plain copper wire to connect them to the audio source, when I look for amps/receivers what term do I use for these type of connection (like coax, composite, componenet.) Is there a general term for plain copper wiring?

Every amp that's any good should be able to take plain copper - almost all speaker terminals I've ever seen were of the banana/screw type, where you could either use a banana plug or just screw the terminal tightly onto the plain wire. I don't think there's a special term for plain copper, but then again I'm not a native english speaker :).

pim01 fucked around with this message at 09:57 on Apr 26, 2007

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

OK Days posted:

So I bought used amplifier and two speakers but it didn't include the cables to connect these two. Ive never had to really deal with these things so excuse me for my simple question:
Is this the cable I'm looking for? (buying from internet)

Does the packet include, by default, two pairs? (so i can connect two speakers)
What are those pin-type things?

The cable looks like speaker wire - I've no idea what the pin-type things are, they're certainly not any type of plug I know. Your easiest option for speaker wire would be to go to a local DIY store and buy the lengths you need of their nicer speaker cable - as long as it's not too flimsy, it won't really matter what wire you get.

edit: I've no idea what 'packet' you mean, so I can't answer that question.

pim01 fucked around with this message at 21:22 on May 16, 2007

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

borky posted:

What cables would I need to go from the output on my Creative X-Fi to the input on some speakers that have 1/4" unbalanced inputs or balanced TRS/XLR? I don't think they make 3.5mm -> 1/4".

Sure they do. They sell them here for $1,20, for example . Just use these and a normal 3.5mm cable.

If your input consists of two unbalanced mono jacks, and your output is a stereo 3.5mm jack, i'd use this combo:

- 3.5mm jack to two RCA cable.

- RCA to mono 1/4" jack adapter.

Only registered members can see post attachments!

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Corbet posted:

Might not be the correct post but whats the easiest way to convert .flac to LAME vbr v0? I'm looking for somethign that is free.

Hydrogenaudio has a thread about it, with some good options in it.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

pablo kickasso posted:

Here's a quick question:

Which would generally be more battery hungry (assuming the amp/speaker parts etc. are the same,) a cassette boombox or a CD one?

I'd image the laser array and motor and stuff would use more watts than turning the cassete tape.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

NerfYou posted:

I have some PC speakers that are old, but still good. They have a single wire that connects to the PC, but that wire doesn't seem to fit any of the inputs on my TV. Are there any adapters out there to connect PC speakers to a TV?

Your tv probably has dual-RCA out for sound(red and white). You'll need an adapter to go from dual male RCA to female mini-jack. I can't find one quickly, but if you get one of these and one of these it'll do just fine. It'll sound crappy, though maybe better than the TVs built-in speakers.

Is there no headphone out on your tv? It should be minijack, if it's a big jack get one of these adapters. Maybe there's even a menu on the tv to set if the tv should mute or not when headphones are connected.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

ZorbaTHut posted:

Any suggestions on what I can try? It uses the woofer as a power transformer, so I'm considering getting a 12v power brick for it and seeing if that helps, but I can't find info on what kind of amperage it wants.

Things to try for random shut-downs:
1) check for overheating - allow for sufficient room for the device to ventilate properly, see if it still shuts down.
2) look at the guts of the amp, check for blown fuses (glass fuses should have a small metal wire running through them, use a continuity tester if unsure)
3) still looking at the guts, check if all the capacitors are okay (not leaking or blown up)

Amperage shouldn't really matter for replacing your 12v brick, as long as you're not underpowered and you use a good, stabilized, switching power brick. If the amp is not too heavy, you could try and use a PC Powersupply - it's what I do at work if I need a temporary 12v source :). Oh, and if you know the wattage you could always do #watt/12 to get the required amperage.

edit: this page says that surround system has an rms power of 200 watts total, so a random 250 or 300 watt PSU will be just fine for testing purposes, just don't turn the thing up to full power.

pim01 fucked around with this message at 22:28 on Aug 18, 2007

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

WanderingKid posted:

Pretty much every active speaker made since whenever already does this, all in the cabinet. If you have a passive speaker setup (separate amp and speaker) you really should biwire since operating a tweeter without a crossover network is like...well...do you want it to burst when you turn up the volume?

I don't get it. Are you saying that passive speakers don't have crossovers? Bi-amping is a good option if you want to splurge for separate amps, but bi-wiring to one amp seems to me to be quite useless. If you don't like the crossover in your speakers, replace it (or the crappy components) with a better one.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Joose BuckaLoose posted:

I bought a new TV for my dorm room, but the built-in speakers are too quite sometimes, so I am looking to get some external ones.

The problem is, the only output the TV has is a "Digital Audio Output" (it's an orange jack) and I can not figure out what the heck it plugs into. Is there a specific type of speakers or is there a converter or anything?

You'll need a receiver to go with the speakers. The receiver will take the digital audio signal and drive your speakers.

edit for clarity.

pim01 fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Aug 29, 2007

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

WanderingKid posted:

No. Google 'Passive Active Crossover.'

I can see that there's all sorts of problems inherent in passive crossover networks, but your post made it seem like passive speakers are entirely devoid of any form of bandfiltering.

Sorry for arguing, by the way, but my job in digital signal analysis has made me a bit wary of people who argue for the superiority of digital filters without any good reasons (and without thinking about the peculiarities of fourier transforms vs analog circuits).

edit: I think we need some sort of faq outlining some basic choices in amps/receivers/htib/speakers. Seems that most of the questions in this thread are of the 'what should I buy'-type, and they largely go unanswered. I'm not familiar with the American market, or I would write something up :(.

pim01 fucked around with this message at 22:22 on Aug 29, 2007

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

WanderingKid posted:

That was not my intention - pretty much all speakers, passive or active should be operated with crossover network. To not do so would just be detrimental to the drivers. With actives you don't have to worry about wiring stuff and setting crossovers and so forth. Which I imagine the average joe in A/V really doesn't want the hassle of doing. Actives are just an easy, all in the box solution and a cure all for a number of little sins that just go with passives. Plus actives have their amp matched to the driver so you don't need to go through internet faqs on impedance matching and worrying about messing it up and turning your amp into nuclear waste. They also save space. Sort of.

That's all very true, although I'd imagine it'd get expensive (and quite a hassle with powercords) when you keep in mind everybody apparently wants to have a 5.1 or even 7.1 setup.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

sokatoah posted:

Is there any hardware difference between a player for Audio CD and for MP3 CD? If not, is there anything to stop a firmware update turning the former into the latter?

A CD player needs an mp3 decoder chip to decode mp3s. You won't turn a normal CD player into one that handles mp3 through a simple firmware update. Sorry.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

MaximumSushi posted:

My roommate and I both have Apple MacBooks and use them to play music through a stereo in our apartment. This does pose a problem though because I can't sit on the couch and control my music without using a remote or can I surf the net and listen to music at the same time. Is there anyway that we can have a wireless setup that will solve this problem? Somehow control a stereo with our laptops without the use of cables? Any idea on cost?

Thanks for the help.

Since you are both MacFags, use this shiny white-plastic thingy.

edit: Why can't people with Apple laptops just say 'laptop' like the rest of us :(.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Risita posted:

I recently bought a new MP3 player, a SanDisk Sansa, for working out. I drop it once on the gym floor, and now it doesn't work. It either completely refuses to turn on, or says "Locked" even though the "Hold" switch is on the unlocked setting. I've tried changing the batteries and hooking it up to the PC, and neither thing works.

Is there anything I can do that will cost less than buying an entirely new MP3 player? If I do have to buy a new one, could you please recommend one that is not more breakable than a champagne glass?

The electronics in MP3 players are way too tiny to self-service. If there's no visible damage, you could try to return it with the old 'just stopped working' claim. You should be able to return it anyway since a portable audio device should reasonably be able to to survive a single drop to a non-concrete floor.

My Sansa Express has survived multiple drops and assorted abuse. Bonus: cool OLED screen :).

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Treytor posted:

So my computer speakers are the Creative Gigaworks 7.1 surround sound set, which I really enjoy.

One problem, my puppy chewed up one of the cables running to a rear satellite, and was wondering what kind of speaker wire could replace it?

One end is an RCA jack, while the other is just a pair of wires which clip into the speaker.

If you're any good with a soldering iron, this is extremely simple:

1) get speaker wire at local DIY-store (bring the old wire, get about the same thickness)

2) get male RCA plug, solder on.

If you don't want to solder, you can do things in reverse and buy a good long RCA cable and cut off one plug. The problem with that is twofold: firstly, you should make sure you get a good, thick cable, since the cheap thin one you'd probably get is too thin to act as speaker wire. The second problem is that this way can be more expensive then the first, especially if you need a long run and you buy your cable from a big chain store.

Take this as an opportunity to learn to solder stuff :). Repairing your own stuff saves a lot of money, and it's actually fairly easy.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

IntoTheNihil posted:

Very small question here. I bought a new soundcard with negates the use of the front slots on my PC where I normally plug in my headphones. Is there some kind of audio extender that I can plug into the back of the computer and then plug my headphones into to work?

You'll need a stereo 3.5mm extension cable, like this one.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

IntoTheNihil posted:

Thanks. What type of stores would have them? I don't feel like paying $30 for next day, haha.

You can pick them up at most any electronics store, they're pretty standard. Like all cables, they'll be more expensive at Radioshack et al, though. The big chain stores that sell tvs and stuff will have them as well.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

PhilintheBlank posted:

I just recently got a bonus from work. Now, while that may not seem like much of anything, I teach instrumental music in a public school. I have decided to buy myself a really nice stereo system. one worthy of a music nerds collection. I have a couple of ideas on what I want to buy, but I just want to ask you if there are any strong recommendations. I'm looking at spending $1500-2000 dollars or so. Any takers?

With that amount of money, you're right in the middle of personal preference country. You could buy a nice Rotel amp and CD player with B&W speakers, which will sound quite different from a Jadis tube-amp with Pro-Ject turntable and Acoustic Research speakers. Both will sound really good, though.

So whatever you do, audition at home for a few days before you buy anything. Remember you don't have to buy all the stuff in one go, but try to mix and match what fits your tastes (and your room) best.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Pibborando San posted:

Also, I think I'm going to need a new pre-amp that has a sub out so I can put a high-pass filter on the mains to integrate with the sub the best. Any 2-channel pre-amps with sub-outs?

If you put the crossover point on the sub at the spot where your mains of choice fall below +/- 6dB (or a bit below), you won't really need a high-pass filter, will you? I'm kind of lucky because I've got professional gear for work, but when installing stuff for friends I usually find out the best crossover frequency with a dB(SPL) meter. Just make a nice, long, descending sine-sweep to test with :).

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Pibborando San posted:

Well, yeah, that's a perfectly reasonable way of doing things, BUT by cutting off the extreme lows that my power amp and main speakers see, I should get more clarity as the little bookshelf midwoofers won't be straining themselves with the sub-bass stuff. This will help control bloat around the main/sub crossover point and I think give a more transparent and solid feel down into the super lows.

I was taking a look at a SVS woofer and noticed something. For subs that have a stereo RCA input and output... is the outputted signal everything above whatever you set the low cutoff to on the sub? That would be handy. Then the sub could just act as the high pass filter and I could run the output from that to my power amp. Am I incorrect?

I guess it could just be a straight pass-through, but that would make me mad.

edit: These are my front runners for mains ATM. The Ascend Acoustics Sierra-1. I've been swayed by some amazing sounding reviews and that natural bamboo looks hot. The only thing is they may have MORE bass than what I want, especially with a sub, but again, a high pass would take care of that, or maybe I could try plugging the ports.

Looking at the SVS subs, it seems that the passthrough on the back is a real passthrough, and is not filtered. I couldn't say for sure though, their site goes on about hand crafted this and exclusive that, but is a bit sparse on this point.

What you could do, I suppose, is buy a seperate crossover. It's basically a simple filter, so there should be hifi versions somewhere. I've only worked with studio ones - they tend to be 19" models, though. It's also another noise-source in your signal path (especially if you buy a cheap one).

Those Ascends look really good - with a good frequeny response down to 40 Hz you'll get a lot of bass from them, even without the sub. Now you've got me curious - I think I'll pop by my hifi dealer somewhere today and ask his opninion.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Pibborando San posted:

The only consumer filter I've seen is the Hsu high pass filter. It looks like a good solution, but at $100, just wondering if there were cheaper options.

I've seen passive ones like these, which would go between my pre-amp and power amp line-in. I think the 65Hz one would be best BUT they're only 1st order, so I don't know how much of a difference they'd make.

Not much. First order bandpass filters attenuate with ~3dB per octave. Looking at the frequency response chart, there's already a higher-order filter in place. You've got a sharp attenuation going on down from about 50 Hz (about 18 dB attenuation going from 20 to 10 Hz). An extra first-order filter wouldn't do too much.

edit: I mean, look at this beautiful curve. No need for extra filters, as far as I'm concerned.

pim01 fucked around with this message at 15:46 on Sep 12, 2007

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Quote is not edit :(

Might as well give a useless answer to this, then:

TedNugent posted:

I just bought a fancy new HDTV and have it hooked up to my older stereo via RCA. I noticed when watching the antenna, that I was only getting sound on the stereo from the non-HD channels. There are some sound settings locked out when I'm on an HD channel. Am I doing something wrong or do I need to buy more stuff? The TV is an Insignia NS-LCD32.

Sounds like an issue with the HD channels. Maybe there's some kind of lockout going on, to close the analog gap (avoiding digital encryption by recording from an analog source). My guess would be you need to use some form of digital out, coupled with a receiver that can decode the signal. Keep in mind I know virtually nothing about this HD crap, so don't listen to me.

pim01 fucked around with this message at 16:38 on Sep 12, 2007

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Pibborando San posted:

I found these Harrison Labs FMOD filters, which are second order (the Hsu sub uses a second order low pass). I think the 70Hz one would be perfect.

Am I just being a whiny bitch? Maybe, but they're only $30, so I think I will at least give 'em a try.

"These may be combined to produce 24db per octave slopes if a 3db attenuator is used between them. Keep in mind that two equal value FMOD high pass modules will increase the slope to 24db per octave and the crossover point will be double the FMOD value"

If you buy two 30 Hz ones and combine them, you'll end up with a nice 60 Hz crossover. -24 dB at 30Hz would be quite nice. If you use only one, it looks like you only get -3dB/octave, which isn't really all that usefull.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Pibborando San posted:

Now I'm just confused about these things. It says on the summary page "FMOD High Pass Crossover Pairs Slope finalizes at 12db per octave RED label". What does "finalizes at 12db per octave" mean? I'm confused because in the description it then says "-3db" but how would combining two -3db per octave filters get you to -24db per octave?

I like that combining idea though, but why is a 3db attenuator needed?

I'm a bit stumped as well. 12 dB per octave sounds more reasonable (although I've no idea what "finalizes" would mean in this context). so then "Fixed crossover point (-3db) high pass" would mean there's 3 dB of attenuation at the crossover point. That does seem reasonable as well (as 3dB attenuation means half the energy in the lineair sense, so that would be where you start to notice attenuation).

What remains, then, is the apparent neccessity for a 3dB attenuator. When placing filters in series, you can just add the frequency responses, so 12+12 should be just 24. No need for an extra attenuator. Maybe they're not telling us something about the product, or they're just trying to make some extra cash :).

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Quote != edit, again :(

pim01 fucked around with this message at 21:30 on Sep 12, 2007

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Pibborando San posted:

Fixed that spelling for ya, and I think this is probably correct. A -24dB per octave slope from 60Hz sound pretty much awesome, so I think this will be the direction I go when I actually can afford the woofer.

Having some trouble with the whole posting thing today?

Pfft, I'm way too tired today and probably shouldn't be posting (linear is 'liniair' in Dutch, that's probably the source of that superfluous i). Time for bed.

Good luck with your new system - with those Ascends and that sub, you'll get some fantastic sound! I'm jealous.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Pibborando San posted:

So, what should I do?

The corner placement would be quite good, especially if you can place your mains on a stand and the sub below their level. You won't block any ports that way.

The placement near the couch/bed thing would cause quite a bit of energy absorption right near the source (depending on the material of the object).

Placement near the closet seems fine as well, depending on the design of your desk - if it's got closed sides or something you might get some weird reflections in the corner between desk and wall.

I'd go for the corner placement, if only for cabling-ease.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

trigger9631 posted:

I'm trying to figure out a way to get an RCA audio input to play through my speakers on my desk. What port/cable do I need to do this? I quick search of Google and Radioshack didn't help me out.

EDIT: To clarify, I want to listen to my Wii's audio through my speakers or my headphones while it's plugged into the component video-VGA box that connects to my monitor, and I don't know what sort of cable or adapter to use for this.

What kind of output does the Wii have? What kind of input do your speakers have? If the Wii's output is 2xRCA (red/white), and your speakers have a mini-jack input, you can use a cable like this.

You'll need some kind of amp to plug your headphones into (although you can just listen to the line-level output, but it's not really a good idea). If your speakers have a headphone-out you could do Wii->speakers->headphones.

I'll give a better answer if you give more info :).

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

stretchb0x posted:

I have a Denon AVR 3300 and would like to connect a 2 channel external amp to drive the fronts (Vandersteen 2c3). The directions are there, and seem straight forward enough, but could someone briefly describe the process for me? Also, if I go with a 2channel amp, could I have the option of running 2.1 with the sub connected to the AVR? Thanks.

It's actually really simple - connect the pre-outputs for your two front channels to your poweramp with RCA plugs. Use quality shielded cable because you're sending low-level signal and you don't want to pick up any noise on the way. Something like should be fine.

You'll still be able to run 2.1 - remember that all you're doing is replacing the amp in your Denon with an external one.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

Dodger posted:

I purchased a panasonic 42PX75u HDTV not too long ago and it's been great. I recently got this antenna and for some reason I'm not getting any sound when I watch HDTV. For example, I was watching some football on Sunday and the picture was coming in just fine, but there was no sound. I could watch the SD feed and had sound, but if I wanted to watch HD there was no sound. Any ideas why? I just have the antenna hooked up to the back of the TV via the coaxial cable.

I still don't know HD, but this seems like a settings-question for your TV. Maybe try the HDTV megathread?

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

beaner posted:

I just got the HD-DVD player for my Xbox 360 and I want to make sure I'm getting the full 5.1 sound output. At the moment, I've got the audio cables from the Xbox running into my TV and then another set of RCA cables running from the TV to the receiver. My DVR is set up the same way. My question is, can I get true 5.1 output this way, without having the devices plugged directly into the receiver? The blue light on the receiver that illuminates when I play a 5.1 DVD on my old 5-disc player (which IS directly connected to the receiver) doesn't light up when I play an HD-DVD via the Xbox, but I'm not sure how much that actually matters.

The idea behind an A/V receiver is that it takes all your inputs, be they audio, video or both, and routes them to a single audio/video output (tv/speakers). Going form your source to the tv to the receiver kind of defeats this purpose.

To sort of answer your question: it depends on the amount of cables going in to the receiver from your tv: if you've got six channels coming in (for 5.1) and your tv has a dual-rca output, you won't ever get 5.1 to your receiver.

pim01
Oct 22, 2002

beaner posted:

Thanks for the reply. Please excuse my obvious total lack of knowledge here -- does 5.1 require more than just the red/white dual-RCA cables? Because if that's the case I don't understand how the Xbox could be capable of it....

Fritz has the correct solution. I'll explain a bit:

5.1 audio consists of six separate channels of audio. These have to get to the receiver somehow, to be amped and sent on to the speakers. There's basically two ways to send multi-channel audio. The simplest method uses one cable for each channel. This is what goes on with stereo over the red/white dual-RCA cables. You'd need six cables for this to work with 5.1 audio.

The second method is to mix the channels together somehow. This allows you to use just one cable for transport, but the downside is you'll have to use a way of mixing that can be deciphered on the receiver. This is where digital audio comes into play. If you have your six channels of sound in digital form (which you do, because that's how it's read from the DVD or whatever), you can just send the digital signal over to the receiver. As it's a digital stream of ones and zeroes, you can easily send all six channels in one stream. Digital connections come in two flavours - optical (uses light through glass fiber) and coaxial (uses current through normal copper cables). It doesn't matter which type you use, as long as your source and your receiver both use the same type.

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pim01
Oct 22, 2002

deltawing posted:

Sorry, my bad, no limit on price, I just want some very nice speakers to complement the Metal I listen to. :)

You should think about getting either an amp and good bookshelves plus a sub, or active monitors. All computer speakers are crap compared to those options, especially for music listening.

An amp plus bookshelves allows for extensibility later on (and more inputs), active monitors reduce clutter by having the amp integrated. Are you going to place these on your desk? do you really need the sub?

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