Off Topic - stereo to PC question

From: Richard Erlacher <edick_at_idcomm.com>
Date: Sat Dec 1 11:23:44 2001

I've never seen a sound card that didn't have the means to convert "speaker"
outputs to "line" outputs in some way or other, mostly with jumpers. I don't
for a minute doubt that they exist, but if you look, you may find that there are
a couple of jumper that bypass the audio amplifier. Likewise, there should be
some line inputs somewhere. (I suppose a motherboard with integrated audio
might not have these option. The microphones that they use with most PC's are
of such low quality that they're suitable only for speech, but the codecs are
capable of much more. A look at the manual, if there is one, might shed light.

My setup, which I've used for years for transcribing my old vinyls and open reel
tapes to CD, has separate outs and ins for all these purposes, but I've heard of
folks having to put attenuators on the microphone inputs. The tape outputs from
your stereo should do fine. I normally use the TAPE-2 in and out jacks on my
stereo for transcription purposes, hooking them to line in and line out at the
PC.

What troubles me is that there seems to be no software that really works to
control shot noise. Various packages introduce all forms of distrortion, but
I've never seen/heard one that improves anything. Sad, isn't it?

If you find your system really doesn't support anything beyond just the speaker
out and microphone in, you can probably get by with the microphone inputs, but
need to put a couple of resistors in parallel with the speaker/headphone ouputs,
and attempt, by whatever means are available, to set the outputs to a 200 mV p-p
range by the choice of those resistors, taking your output from the junction
between them. Impedance matching isn't terribly important, since the inputs at
the PC are high-impedance, but the voltage levels have to be controlled to avoid
clipping. Have you considered disabling the audio arrangement you have
installed and replacing it, at least temporarily, with something over which you
have more control?

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gene Ehrich" <gehrich_at_tampabay.rr.com>
To: <classiccmp_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2001 5:29 AM
Subject: Re: Off Topic - stereo to PC question


> At 12:12 AM 12/1/01 -0500, you wrote:
> >what kind of audio outputs does your system have?
>
> Just speaker connections and headphone jack.
>
>
>
Received on Sat Dec 01 2001 - 11:23:44 GMT