hey i have a p4 2.6ghz running windows xp... i also have a creative sound blaster live 5.1ch sound card installed... now my concern is that i do not have 5.1 speakers, only my desktop stereo speakers, hooked up to it... now, i have a spare home theartre subwoofer laying around that i was thinking that i mite be able to hook up to this card, and my comp... it is an active sub (i.e. has an internal amplifier driving the 8" sub) which connects to the power point like my other stereo computer speakers... now, the output on the subwoofer is of RCA type... i have bought an RCA to 3.5mm adapter to allow me to connect the sub to my sound card... now the hard part getting it to work... please help... any help and/or suggestions would be appreciated... thanks alot
Well you really need a 5.1 amp and system coz the outputs split the centre speaker and the sub up etc... But you could try this for now- Make sure your control panel settings are set up correctly, and that you have the correct sound card drivers installed, ie realtek'97 or realmedia or whichever your soundcard is compatible with. Make sure those setting are correct to 5.1 output. To access setting on control panel, goto sound and audio devices on the control panel click advanced on speaker settings and set it to 5.1 sound, this'll allow you to use the mic port as a sub but you will still lose sound if you haven't got any centre or rear speakers connected, I suggest you buy yourself a 5.1 amp, a centre speaker and some rear speakers and hook the whole lot up through the amp, then you'll have class sound!
hi thanks for the help MagicianH... i have used a 3.5mm Y-Splitter to split the mic input on my sound card, so i can plug in my desktop stereo speakers and sub... is this safe? can this configuration hurt the sound card?... i dont see how it will hurt it, as the y-splitter is only splitting the signal output from the sound card to the speakers and sub...? or am i wrong...? any more help would be appreciated...
Your card isn't designed for that. I'm no expert but you're deffinately losing quality somewhere along the line, as long as the software is set up correctly you should be able to use seperate outputs for speakers and sub/centre, although like I said you'll miss centre and rear sounds.... dunno really, like I said b4 you're best bet is get a 5.1 amp and a few more speakers...
yes i know that it wasnt meant for that... but like i said, i cant see how its hurting the sound card, coz the splitter is only splitting the output into 2... u r right though, i did lose a little bit of output from my 2 desktop stereo speakers, but this loss is made up by the sub... im happy with the sound but im just a lil cautious whether it will hurt the card or not... also, i have tried to fiddle with the settings and use seperate outputs but it just wont let me... i.e. not sound from the sub... i dunno... surely there are more people out there who can help, by the way thanks alot MagicianH anyone else have any ideas, please post them... thanks
