speakers

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 4:49 pm

Is it possible to configure laptop speakers to stay on even when external speakers are plugged into the headphone jack?

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 5:28 pm

Currently I split a headphone jack cable with a splitter, and the line splits into one huge speaker with good bass that goes behind my laptop and two small speakers that go behind my chair. I actually get a kind of surround sound when playing games and watching movies, but I'm wondering if I can keep the laptop speakers playing sound when the other three are attached.

Cryogenick · Post by **Cryogenick** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 7:38 pm

Most likely that is not possible...The way most of those connectors work is that when the plug for your speakers is inserted into the laptop it presses a small contact into bridging/opening, thats how the laptop knows to kill its internals and send to the headphone jack.

This is a larger version but it should explain things...

Short of opening it and doing some soldering you may be out of luck.

-Cryo

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 9:10 am

Allright

Fnyunj · Post by **Fnyunj** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:47 pm

If what cryogenick says is so, you could open the case and look at the inside of the jack, and see if it does not have such a switch. You could rig a bypass by soldering a jumper around the switch's contacts.

But then you may end up overdriving the amplifier by forcing it to push out signal designed for your little peizioelectric built-ins, to run the big externals. The consequences would probably be; no meaningful sound out of any speakers until you disconnect the big externals.

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:56 pm

I don't really know how to deal with hardware

but I am looking into a nice soundcard.

Ce6 · Post by **Ce6** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 11:41 pm

I've seen some of these USB soundcards in stores, no idea how well they work, but might be something for you to look into.
http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/Soundcards.asp

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 12:30 am

right now I'm looking at this

Aeridus · Post by **Aeridus** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:12 am

Creative's a dandy brand.

Kittyboymuffin · Post by **Kittyboymuffin** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:13 am

Is it a brandy dand?

*also browses for microphones*

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:03 am

Yeah but is it all it's cracked up to be?

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:43 am

I'm trying to get certain information on surround sound but I don't really understand how the speakers work. Like...can you use any speakers for it? I mean, does it basically stick 4 headphone jacks out of your computer or something?

Foolosophy · Post by **Foolosophy** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:21 am

depends, for consumer-level soundcards they are pretty good. Terratec sometimes had the better featuers/price ratio in the past but screwy drivers.

if you are looking for a musican's soundcard then you have got to look for completly different brands and a price span between 150-5000$

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 1:35 pm

did you mean 150-500$ I hope?

Foolosophy · Post by **Foolosophy** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:34 pm

nope, but usually it only gets to 5000$ (probably only 1500-2000, unless you are investing in a cascaded setup because you need A LOT of inputs) if you want multiple xlr inputs with good preamps and AD/DA converters. Especially if you want a firewire interface.

non-firewire interfaces with only 1 or 2 inputs and "decent" preamps/converters can be had for around 100-300 though.

If you don't want to record anything just stick with Soundblaster, most audio interfaces designed for musicians lack surround sound and if you are only listening to music the difference in sound would probably only be noticable if you have your computer connected to a well-made amplfier with a set of very good speakers, positioned "correctly" in a room with good acoustics...and you have to have "the ears" to actually notice subtle differences

Edit: Ok the link was too long for this forum design, google Apogee Rosetta for a highend "soundcard" (8 inputs) with a pricetag of about 2700€. Now imagine you want 16 inputs...most people just stick with 8 inputs (for example to record a drumkit with each major part of the kit on a seperate channel so you can edit the basedrum seperatly from the cymbals etc....a mixing board won't do in this situation)

Foolosophy · Post by **Foolosophy** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:46 pm

another note: If you are listening to mp3s you don't have to bother with an expensive card either, even ogg vorbis (which is a lot better than most mp3 encoders) is still way too lossy to get awesome sound ... but who cares, if I am listening to music while sitting in front of the pc I don't need *that* much quality anway

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 3:06 pm

So what is it good for? video games and watching movies?

Xnapalmxmorningx · Post by **Xnapalmxmorningx** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:16 pm

I think my boy has a creative sound card in his PC back home. It sounds great. He also has bitchin' speakers hooked up to it.

PopeMac · Post by **PopeMac** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:36 pm

Who needs speakers when you have an amp? Get the right cords and a guitar amp, and you can have your own uber-loud sound system.

Swordsman3003 · Post by **Swordsman3003** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:59 pm

I can't have such loud sound in a dorm though