sending audio signal over long distances

M

muskgrave

New member
Hello Everyone,
I am looking for a way to connect my computer sound card in my computer room to my stereo in my living room (and possibly even the video too!). To run wiring I would probably need over 100' to make it from the line out of my sound card to one of the rca inputs on my home stereo receiver (running it through the attic, not taped to the floors!). I was wondering if anyone could give me suggestions for this. The line out on the sound card is a standard 1/8" mini jack. I was wondering if it was possible to use a mini to dual rca adapter and then convert it to coax, then back to rca when i got to the stereo? My home stereo receiver is an older teac and does not have any digital inputs, just plain ol' stereo rca. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. If I do convert to coax then i should be able to send the stereo signal AND video signal over the wire correct?

thanks
dlv
 
Hmmm. I see a few problems. First. that's too far to send hi Z audio. And if you were wanting to make a composite video and put that on a piece of 75 ohm video cable for transport, that could be expensive to do with quality. Moving baseband video that far wouldn't be a problem and if you converted your hi Z audio to low Z balanced lines, it could then handle the distance.
 
alrighty..well the video is optional, mainly I wanted to be able to send audio signals. Do you think I would be better off getting a wireless radio wave transmitter/receiver? I know usr makes one for about $75 and i've heard pretty good things about it. This would be mainly for listening to audio files from my computer and not so much critically analyzing my recordings :) You just plug the audio source (line out from sound card) into a little transmitter unit and then connect the receiver unit into your stereo rca input and assign a radio station to it. I realize there will be some signal loss but would it be any more than trying to run an audio cable that far, or as expensive?
dlv
 
If quality is not that important, I would start by giving it a try with just a cable. If your soundcard has a headphone output, use that. It probably has a lower output impedance.

For a start use cat5 network cable: cheap, plenty, easy to find and enough conductors. Use one pair for left; the other for right and ground the rest. When I say one pair I mean: use one conductor of the pair for signal, the other conductor for ground. If this fails, it will be mostly because of a ground loop (50-60Hz hum). If so, you can go balanced.

For balanced: use the same cable for a start. You can use transformers or active balancer, up to you.

Best test with the cable rolled out. If you install and are not happy with the sound at least you did not put in a lot of effort.
 
I agree to experiment and see if the quality meets your expectations but the Cat 5 idea gives me a bad feeling. Solid, 22AWG conductors running more than 15 feet at hi impedence is doomed out of the gate IMNSHO. I do audio and video for a living and I'd say it's a safe bet that 100' of CAT5 will sound like ass.
 
If I had had my way...

well when my wife and i moved into this house it was a 3 bedroom so we each got one room to do with as we wish and then of course our bedroom (no kids for a while!)...I wanted the room she got because it was bigger and also I could have set my computer up on the same wall the back of the entertainment center sat up on in the living room...it would have only taken about 6 feet of rca and s-video cable and I could have had audio AND video connected to my entertainment center....but other variables outweighed my technological superstructure and I had to make my computer room of the smaller, more sensible room on the other side of the house. I originally wanted to connect my computer but then I got a dvd player that played mp3's and I figured I can live with just making a few cd's and that will be that. well the dvd player wasn't the most expensive of the models and the loader went out..i replaced the loader with a standard computer dvd-rom and it plays the movies much better than the one that came with the unit..but it lost the mp3 capability..so now I'm at the crossroad of either buying a standalone cd/mp3 player if they even make one..or going ahead and doing what i've wanted from the beginning...it still sounds like the radio transmitter/receiver would be the best option unless someone can think of something else..i'm open to any suggestion...

thanks
dlv
 
resurrection..

i'm posting another reply just so this doesn't end up being swallowed up in the sands of time as some of my other posts :).
 
I can't see any problem of sending unbalanced audio over 100' if you use a decent shielded cable, this is common in installation. I doubt that your soundcard has Hi Z output, as most IC based solutions is Lo Z out and Hi Z in.
But.... the warning for hum is correct.
If you want to embedd Audio into Video you can look at kramer.com they supply embedder/de-embedder that could run video/audio over several 100 feets.

rgds
 
spkr

I agree with subtractor - I listen in other rooms by putting the speakers in them and running a longer speaker cable.

Works fine.
 
Most outputs of consumer equipemt is in the 50 to 100ohm range, while the load is 10kohm, so I do not expect problems at all. Just try it. If needed you can always use the headphone output.

Running 100feet speaker wire is a whole other job to do right and will take far thicker cable, meaning more work.

Having send broadband tv over 100m (not feet!) cat7 cable and seen it working (using baluns for impedance match). It is a safe bet it will work over plain cat5 unless there is a big voltage over the ground. But then you would have the same problem with coax.
 
It will sound pretty weak no matter how you do it unless you use direct boxes at each end to convert it to a balanced line for the run. Then use XLR cables.

If sound quality isnt a huge issue then I would go with whatever is easiest.
 
hi-lo

well i have no idea what hi z or lo z is and moving the speakers to where i am instead of leaving them at the entertainment center really would defeat the purpose. I am wanting to be able to listen to them from the living room...alot of the options sound like they would be pretty expensive if i did decide to use coax or cat5 cable i'd have to find a way to convert them from rca and back to rca again
 
OK. I'm gonna try one more time. Move the stereo closer to the computer. Run long spkr wires to the spkrs in the other room.
 
OK, one more try.

I'm now seeing you require the computer connectivity only for MP3 music. Right??

1. MP3 player with 6/10 GB HDD??
2. A small portable CD/MP3 player e.g. Philips expanium?
3. A small preamp that can pull up voltages of the line to a decent level. Fed into the Aux output, should work out.
4. FM stereo transmitters is the least optimal solution, but it's a solution nevertheless.

100' is a very long distance, Even speaker wire run that long is bound to have capacitance issues. The easiest solution is the PA solution, but the drop in quality is not worth it IMHO.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top