I have a Terratec EWX 2496 soundcard and am using WinXP Pro. I plugged in a pair of Cambridge Soundworks satellite speakers directly to the phono output sockets of the soundcard but got no sound.
On my old system, I used these speakers as part of the Cambridge DeskTop Theater 5.1 DTT2200 set up. This comes with a 'big black box' which plugs into the mains and has three jack sockets to carry the signal to the three jack sockets on my Soundblaster Live! soundcard. It also has the phono sockets into which plug the speakers. That got me thinking that the speakers needed power in order to work.
So, I thought I'd bring my MindPrint Di-Port into play. This takes a digital signal directly out of the Terratec soundcard and converts it to analogue. It has monitor outs and is powered, so I thought plugging the speakers into there would work. It didn't. If I turned the volume right up in the soundcard control panel, I could hear the test mp3 I was using faintly and I could also hear the singal if I plugged headphones into the Di-Port.
Looking at the Sounds and Audio Devices applet in the Windows Control Panel, the Volume tab says No Audio Device and all the options are greyed out.
In the Audio tab, I can change the Sound playback to Terratec S/PDIF or Terratec analogue, neither of which seems to make a difference.
All drivers for the soundcard are present and correct.
It feels like I'm missing something simple but I just can't figure it out. Am I in fact barking up the wrong tree in thinking that I can use these speakers without the 'big black box'?
Thanks
Cams
On my old system, I used these speakers as part of the Cambridge DeskTop Theater 5.1 DTT2200 set up. This comes with a 'big black box' which plugs into the mains and has three jack sockets to carry the signal to the three jack sockets on my Soundblaster Live! soundcard. It also has the phono sockets into which plug the speakers. That got me thinking that the speakers needed power in order to work.
So, I thought I'd bring my MindPrint Di-Port into play. This takes a digital signal directly out of the Terratec soundcard and converts it to analogue. It has monitor outs and is powered, so I thought plugging the speakers into there would work. It didn't. If I turned the volume right up in the soundcard control panel, I could hear the test mp3 I was using faintly and I could also hear the singal if I plugged headphones into the Di-Port.
Looking at the Sounds and Audio Devices applet in the Windows Control Panel, the Volume tab says No Audio Device and all the options are greyed out.
In the Audio tab, I can change the Sound playback to Terratec S/PDIF or Terratec analogue, neither of which seems to make a difference.
All drivers for the soundcard are present and correct.
It feels like I'm missing something simple but I just can't figure it out. Am I in fact barking up the wrong tree in thinking that I can use these speakers without the 'big black box'?
Thanks
Cams
