Speakers

M

mercman159

New member
Ok this is probably easy to most lol but if I buy some active monitors for my pc which is the best way to connect them, is it through an interface or just into the 1/8 mini jack on my pc? The speakers have a red and white RCA plug in the back of them. Thanks for any advice.

Andy
 
If that was all you have as an input...then the 1/8" output on the sound card is going to have to work...but you might think about upgrading that soon.
 
i definitely agree with darrin. i read in one of the threads on this site (im pretty sure its the newbie FAQ guide) that rule #1 is to forget about the built in sound card in your computer and upgrade.

i STRONGLY recomend EMU products as an entry level audio interface. i have had GREAT luck with these products and their of very high quality too.
but if your not planning on going to deep into recording and your just wanting to fiddle around with the idea than your typical sound blaster type card should do fine.
 
mercman159 said:
Ok this is probably easy to most lol but if I buy some active monitors for my pc which is the best way to connect them, is it through an interface or just into the 1/8 mini jack on my pc?
Click to expand...

The best way is through an interface. I presume you have recording in mind?

In which case, you will not be likely to get satisfactory results until you get an interface. And when you do, if you connect to the PC jack, you will be relying on the PC's internal soundcard, and this will negate the benefits of the interface, i.e. you can expect latency and other quality problems.
 
I have been looking at an M-Audio interface on the back it had RCA jacks so maybe it is a preamp too would that work? I have Reason 4 but am looking to get Propellerheads new Record so I can plug my guitars into it.
 
well i think an m audio interface would be a bit more expensive then any other similar interface due the the fact that it says "m-audio" on it and its a protools interface. so with that in my you would generally only want to spend the extra money on an m audio interface if you plan on using protools, but like you said you plan on using reason or propellerhead.

im sure you could find an interface thats pretty much exactly like the m audio your looking at for much cheaper and it will do the exact same thing.

and now that im done rambling, the simple answer to your question is: yes :p
 
You won't regret letting go of your on-board soundcard. I would like to second what Kingofpain678 said:
Kingofpain678 said:
i STRONGLY recomend EMU products as an entry level audio interface. i have had GREAT luck with these products and their of very high quality too.
Click to expand...

E-MU makes some great products. Just a heads up before you go to purchase anything. They now have PCI Express versions of their 0404, 1212M, and 1616M.
Link here.

I am currently a 0404 PCI user and I will be upgrading to the new PCI Express version. The latency on the PCI version is fairly low and the sound quality is much better than anything I owned prior to it. They are really a great deal. If you don't want to spend the $100 or so to buy one new why not check on Ebay. On any given day you'll probably be able to find a card for $60-$70. Hook your monitors up to one of these cards and you'll notice a difference.
 
I would go a step further and say use a mixer with control room outputs to use to connect your monitors.
 
I do like the idea of a pci card but unfortunatly at the moment I am using a laptop so its not possible, but am going to build a desktop dedicated to music after xmas. Would I be able to run the speakers and be able to put my guitar through the card? I appreciate all your ideas and suggestions guys thank you.
 
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