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Posted by -blake- on Oct-24-2003 17:31:

Sound cards and monitor speakers

Hey folks,

I'm looking to upgrade my soundcard but I really don't know much about them. I'm sure there's been a ton of threads like this, but if anyone can point me in the right direction that'd be great. I have a P4 1.4 ghz if that means anything in relation to the soundcard. (and, and I'm using it for production...Cubase, Wavelab, etc)

Also, I'm gonna get some monitors soon as well, but what exactly do they hook in to? Or does it depend on the ones you get? At first I thought you could hook em straight into your soundcard, but I'm thinking it doesn't work like that. Do I need a mixing board? Or better question, what type of connections do monitors have? RCA, 1/4" etc..

Thanks for your help!
Blake

Posted by hey cheggy on Oct-25-2003 07:23:

Depends on the monitor. Passive monitors connect to an amplifier. Active monitors normally connect to your mixer through the XLR but you can have them come out of 1/4" jacks as well. It really depends on the monitor.

As for sound cards, have a look at the m-audio cards. www.midiman.com
What card you need depends on what equipment you are using.

Posted by TranceInMySoul on Oct-25-2003 10:55:

If you're doing all your mixing on your computer (and don't have any external hardware) there's no reason why your monitors can't be connected directly to your soundcard. The ability to do this will depend on the monitors and soundcard though - if you are thinking of doing this I'd suggest you need 1/4" outputs on the soundcard.

Posted by iLLicit on Oct-26-2003 14:36:

But if you don't have 1/4" jacks coming out of your soundcard, you can buy plugs to make normal output 1/4" jacks, can't you?

Posted by TranceInMySoul on Oct-26-2003 15:00:

quote:
Originally posted by iLLicit
But if you don't have 1/4" jacks coming out of your soundcard, you can buy plugs to make normal output 1/4" jacks, can't you?

Yeah, I think you can, but the sound quality is unlikely to be as good (especially if your soundcard doesn't have phono outs).

Posted by hey cheggy on Oct-26-2003 16:42:

You can get RCA to 1/4" adaptors. If you want to go from dual 1/4" to single 1/8" (standard computer soundcard), then I suggest you get a new sound card.

Posted by -blake- on Oct-26-2003 19:02:

Thanks for your help, guys.

I do all the mixing on the computer right now so I'm thinking about getting a new sound card and an adaptor that goes from two 1/4" to an single 8th inch.
However, in time when I get a mixing console I'll still be able to hook these monitors up to it, correct? I might need some adaptors or something..but is that it? I'm assuming I'd be using an active monitor from my soundcard so can you hook an active one up to a mixing console or does it have to be a passive monitor?

(that's all )

Thanks again for the help, it's really appreciated.

Posted by hey cheggy on Oct-27-2003 02:06:

Mate, if you buy a sound card that has a 1/8" out, then you are wasting your money. Get something with at least 2 rca outs. Then, you can use an adaptor to go from these to the 1/4".

Posted by iLLicit on Oct-27-2003 10:13:

I have another question. I recently bought an audiophile sound card. Now I was wondering, will I be able to connect passive and/or active monitors to this one?
It seems to me that this is a professionel sound card, which a lot of you guys here are using. So I assumed monitors could be connected to them?

Posted by -blake- on Oct-27-2003 18:16:

cheggy,

I didn't know such a thing existed But I'll definitely look into that. I was actually thinking that going from an 1/8" to monitor speakers sounded a bit crappy.

Thanks for your help, man!

Posted by TranceInMySoul on Oct-27-2003 21:04:

quote:
Originally posted by iLLicit
I have another question. I recently bought an audiophile sound card. Now I was wondering, will I be able to connect passive and/or active monitors to this one?
It seems to me that this is a professionel sound card, which a lot of you guys here are using. So I assumed monitors could be connected to them?

If you go passive you'll need an amplifier to drive the speakers, just as you would for a normal home hi-fi system. You'd connect the soundcard to the amp, and the amp to the speakers.

If you go active, the amps are built into the speakers, so you could connect the soundcard straight to the speakers.

Posted by iLLicit on Oct-29-2003 10:19:

quote:
Originally posted by TranceInMySoul
If you go passive you'll need an amplifier to drive the speakers, just as you would for a normal home hi-fi system. You'd connect the soundcard to the amp, and the amp to the speakers.

If you go active, the amps are built into the speakers, so you could connect the soundcard straight to the speakers.

Thanx, I received my audiophile yesterday and I know understand I can put active/passive monitors on it quite easily.

thnx for the reply though!