Audio feed from PC to Stereo

[BigRoryG]

I have a need to record songs from my computer to my stereo system. I don't have a cd burner, unfortunately. How can splice the wires from my speakers into the stereo?

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If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.

[Doobieous]

Heres an easier way (don't flame me for not knowing technical names ). Note: I'm telling this from my own experience. I dont know how your stereo is set up, but this works for mine:

Get a Y connector made specifically for hooking up a portable CD player to your stereo (your local Radio Shack or electronics store should have them). The box should say it's for connecting your stereo to your cd player (dont ask me the specifics on the cables, i threw the box away ).

When you get home, stick the single connector into your computer (where you would connect the speakers for you computer to). On the back of your stereo, connect the two remaining plugs into the receptors in the area labled "Video/Aux" (at least on mine thats where they go). The colors of the two plugs should tell you which receptor they go into.

I dont know why the MP3 people were making a big deal about that portable MP3 player when anyone can do this and record songs from MP3's onto tapes.

[NanoByte]

Or why not just use your stereo system for listening to your computer's sounds as well as recording them; the stereo system no doubt would give better sound. Then you don't need the 'Y' connector.

Ray

[Doobieous]

Ray said:

Or why not just use your stereo system for listening to your computer's sounds as well as recording them; the stereo system no doubt would give better sound. Then you don't need the 'Y' connector.

Huh? Please clarify Ray. In my case the only way my stereo can play sounds from my computer and for recording them is to use the 'y' connector. And yes, i do use the stereo to primarily listen to sounds from my computer (such as shoutcasts, and RA music stations).

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Doobieous: the SDMB's very own tilama nevaz.

"Yai to kaila wai mina bi joselo yi bi harelo" - Rose Royce

[RoboDude]

---------------------------------------------I dont know why the MP3 people were making a big deal about that portable MP3 player when anyone can do this and record songs from
MP3's onto tapes.
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The Rio is smaler than a cigarette pack, has no moving parts, and claims to run for 12 hours on one AA battery.

[handy]

am I missing something? Why not just play the cd on the computer put the stereo near it and hit 'record' on the stereo? Presto! recording.

[sly]

Assuming you have a sound card and an intergrated amplifier/receiver: The sound card should have a "line out" connection (usually a female 1/8" port), visable from the back of the PC cabinet. This is a stereo (two-channel) connection. Now, assuming you have an available input on your stereo amplifier/receiver unit, you will need a y-cable/signal splitter which has a 1/8" stereo male jack on one end, and two (mono) RCA jacks on the other. The single jack plugs into the "line out" from your sound card, the two RCA jacks plug into the Right/Left inputs on the amplifier/receivers' auxillary input.

[Mojo]

There are a couple of options- one of em is a rehash of what other people said.
-Buy an audio card with AV plugs so that you can plug directly into the stereo. Is probably the most $$$$ solution but is also the most reliable, better sound quality.
-buy the "Y" splitter that others mentioned- it has a headphone jack plug on one end and AV plugs on the other. Despite what was posted above, you can (and should) get the STEREO (NOT mono!) plugs. Put the headphone jack style one into the audio out on your 'puter, and then you can plug the AV plugs into an available line in on your receiver. If there's no available AV slots on your receiver, you can always plug directly into the RECORD AVs on your tape deck.

I actually hae two "Y" splitters- one leading out from the audio out on the 'puter to the stereo, the other from the PLAY on my tape deck to the AUDIO IN on my computer. The first os for playing audio files/CDs on my computer through the stereo, the second is for converting tapes to audio files (.wavs and .mp3s)

[sly]

Mojo:

Despite what was posted above, you can (and should) get the STEREO (NOT mono!) plugs.

Wouldn't feeding the stereo signal into both R&L channels negate the stereo effect? Seems to me you would want to split the signal and feed it separately.

[pldennison]

sly, the stereo plugs do split the signal into R&L; the mono plugs don't--they give you the same signal in each channel from the Y-cord.

[torq]

You don't feed stereo to left and right.

One end of the converter has a stereo mini plug. The other end has two RCA jacks. One of them gets the signal from the tip, the other gets the signal from the ring (I think that's right; I haven't wired up a mini plug in a long time), and both of them get the common ground.

You can probably get the same thing with a mono mini plug (you can definitely get mono mini to single RCA jack converters). If you did this, both RCA jacks would get the same (mixed) signal.

am I missing something? Why not just play the cd on the computer put the stereo near it and hit 'record' on the stereo? Presto! recording.

My first reaction to this was something along the lines of "you've GOT to be kidding." Then I noticed who posted it...

It's true that you could record things in this way, but you get ambient noise (particularly the noise the computer cooling fan makes) along with the music (or whatever). Even if you eliminate ambient noise somehow, the results won't be as good as if you used a direct cable because your speakers and microphone(s) aren't perfect. You'll also lose at least part of the stereo effect.

[sly]

Can't get any simpler than this:

http://www.vertech-corp.com/cad-data/y-cable.jpg

[pldennison]

You don't feed stereo to left and right.
One end of the converter has a stereo mini plug. The other end has two RCA jacks. One of them gets the signal from the tip, the other gets the signal from the ring (I think that's right; I haven't wired up a mini plug in a long time), and both of them get the common ground.

Assuming you're going to plug those babies into the back of your receiver and expect stereo sound, one had better carry the left channel and the other the right. What do you think the "R" and "L" by the RCA jacks stand for?