Soundcard with analog front and rear outputs.

[Steve Mahanahan]

Im looking for some information.

About 10 years ago, I gave my little brother (I laugh at this because he is in his 30s) a great set of boston accoustic speakers. They are "surround sound" 4 speakers + subwoofer. At the time Windows XP was working with his Soundblaster sound card. The speakers are superb, and even though they are older than some forum members are they have better sound than most speakers do now.

Somehow we upgraded his computer a few times in the last decade, and the speakers are still fantastic. However, I am having trouble knowing what to look for. Most sound cards are 5.1/7.1/digital output etc. I'll be honest, im out of my element on this. I had no idea he has only been running the front + sub. He asked me the other day what I reccommended, and I was floored. I got no clue anymore, and honestly I never have been an audiophile. Onboard has always worked for me.

Any suggestions for a PCI or USB sound device that has front and rear analog outputs (headphone jacks)? Id love to be able to get him one or at least the give him the info so he can buy it himself.

Thanks for any help.

[CursedPanther]

Many recent motherboard models support 5.1 audio channels by default without the need of having a dedicated sound card. Unless he requires higher than standard audio quality or special audio editing functions of course.

[Steve Mahanahan]

CursedPanther eredeti hozzászólása:

Many recent motherboard models support 5.1 audio channels by default without the need of having a dedicated sound card. Unless he requires higher than standard audio quality or special audio editing functions of course.

No, we need a soundcard that has Analog FRONT and REAR in a 3.5mm.

His speakers are not 5.1/7.1 etc. It is a pair of front, a pair of rear and a subwoofer, which runs from the front channels...so a sub jack is not relevant.

His current motherboard ONLY has stereo output, so that is why I decided to ask here. I did not believe him when he told me that, but after physically seeing it, I can confirm this. It is what most consider a "low end" mobo, and it is outdated by most "enthusiast" standards. It does play all the titles he desires, and at framerates he enjoys.

To be specific:

Looking for a PCI sound card that has 3.5mm Jacks. 1 for front, and 1 for rear....or something that would work as such.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Steve Mahanahan eredeti hozzászólása:

CursedPanther eredeti hozzászólása:

Many recent motherboard models support 5.1 audio channels by default without the need of having a dedicated sound card. Unless he requires higher than standard audio quality or special audio editing functions of course.

No, we need a soundcard that has Analog FRONT and REAR in a 3.5mm.

His speakers are not 5.1/7.1 etc. It is a pair of front, a pair of rear and a subwoofer, which runs from the front channels...so a sub jack is not relevant.

His current motherboard ONLY has stereo output, so that is why I decided to ask here. I did not believe him when he told me that, but after physically seeing it, I can confirm this. It is what most consider a "low end" mobo, and it is outdated by most "enthusiast" standards. It does play all the titles he desires, and at framerates he enjoys.

To be specific:

Looking for a PCI sound card that has 3.5mm Jacks. 1 for front, and 1 for rear....or something that would work as such.

Sound onboard a Motherboard already has that; u have to connect your Front Audio I/O Cable from your Case to the "Front HD Audio" pinouts on your Motherboard.

[CursedPanther]

Bad-Motha eredeti hozzászólása:

Steve Mahanahan eredeti hozzászólása:

No, we need a soundcard that has Analog FRONT and REAR in a 3.5mm.

His speakers are not 5.1/7.1 etc. It is a pair of front, a pair of rear and a subwoofer, which runs from the front channels...so a sub jack is not relevant.

His current motherboard ONLY has stereo output, so that is why I decided to ask here. I did not believe him when he told me that, but after physically seeing it, I can confirm this. It is what most consider a "low end" mobo, and it is outdated by most "enthusiast" standards. It does play all the titles he desires, and at framerates he enjoys.

To be specific:

Looking for a PCI sound card that has 3.5mm Jacks. 1 for front, and 1 for rear....or something that would work as such.

Sound onboard a Motherboard already has that; u have to connect your Front Audio I/O Cable from your Case to the "Front HD Audio" pinouts on your Motherboard.

Not exactly. Until OP mentions that he's actually looking for 3.5mm jacks, then most PC indeed don't have those as they are mainly 2.5mm ones. A simple way to do this is to just get a 3.5mm to 2.5mm adapter.

I know sounds cards with RCA jacks instead, but they aren't essentially the same thing.

[Steve Mahanahan]

Firstly, I guessed at the size of the plug. I was incorrect. It is 2.5mm. I guessed wrong because as an American, the metric system is not exactly transparent. Its the little plug thingy that we use every day for things like our walkman and plugging in computer speakers. When user CursedPanther talked about 3.5mm jacks, I thought about days long ago when I was listening to a record or 8 track with my headphones plugged into my Pioneer stereo reciever. PinkFloyd never sounded better.

Bad-Motha eredeti hozzászólása:

Sound onboard a Motherboard already has that; u have to connect your Front Audio I/O Cable from your Case to the "Front HD Audio" pinouts on your Motherboard.

No it does not. I am not trying to be rude, please don't take it that way. His motherboard ONLY has stereo output. His motherboard Will not work for this

CursedPanther eredeti hozzászólása:

Until OP mentions that he's actually looking for 3.5mm jacks, then most PC indeed don't have those as they are mainly 2.5mm ones.

Ya, that is my error. Sorry, but I went over this again. Im a doof about these things.

Since you guys seem willing to help, ill provide you with a link to the owners manual for the speakers.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/19746/Boston-Acoustics-Ba4800.html

I had written this post in huge language that explained all the wires. These pictures are worth more than my description. But ill summarize.

I need a PCI soundcard with FRONT and REAR output. The Soundblaster Audigy that was in my older PC does not at all work with windows 7. 3rd party software does not make it work either. I have tried to make that card work, and spent hours one night trying everything.

[CursedPanther]

Well then that's easy. Creative's Soundblaster series or Asus' Xonar series are the more common ones with decent qualities. Just make sure the specific model you get is for PCI slot and not PCIe.

[Steve Mahanahan]

CursedPanther eredeti hozzászólása:

Well then that's easy. Creative's Soundblaster series or Asus' Xonar series are the more common ones with decent qualities. Just make sure the specific model you get is for PCI slot and not PCIe.

I thank you for your information. I was inundated with all these hip new terms like 5.1 and digital audio etc. I think that this one would work:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28N0482&cm_re=soundblaster-_-29-102-003-_-Product

Thanks for the time you spent helping me and my little brother out. Mike and I thank you!


*EDIT

Nevermind that one I listed does not have support for windows 7

[_I_]

4+1 is quadraphonic + sub
windows 7 supports 4.0, if the amp mixes stereo for the sub it will work fine

5.1 and 4.1 analog cards do exist
or the mobo can output 5.1/4.1 thru the onboard rear io ports
configure the realtek or windows soudn for that setup and use a set of headphones test to find out which plugs are which channels

[Steve Mahanahan]

_I_ eredeti hozzászólása:

4+1 is quadraphonic + sub
windows 7 supports 4.0, if the amp mixes stereo for the sub it will work fine

5.1 and 4.1 analog cards do exist
or the mobo can output 5.1/4.1 thru the onboard rear io ports
configure the realtek or windows soudn for that setup and use a set of headphones test to find out which plugs are which channels

So what sound card with outputs for Front and Rear audio do you reccommend?

[_I_]

most mobo have the realtek that can do that fine

[Steve Mahanahan]

_I_ eredeti hozzászólása:

most mobo have the realtek that can do that fine

Ok. Are you trying to troll me? I get trolled in just about every thread that I post, so forgive me if I get a bit tart.

The motherboard ONLY has stereo output. This is 1 jack. There is not a second output jack.
The speakers have 2 plugs. One is for front audio, the other is rear/surround.

[_I_]

what mobo do you have?

most have 3, 5 or 6 1/8in or 3.5mm jacks
even the ones with 3 rear can support 7.1 and stereo mic when using 3 rear and 2 front ports (10 ch total)

[Steve Mahanahan]

I don't know what board he is using at the moment. I lost my files that I had for his board. He certainly has 3 jacks in the back, but I am not sure if they were tested as speaker outputs. I assume that 1 is input, one is stereo output and 1 is the microphone. I will have to tell him to try hooking it up and seeing what happens.

[_I_]

they need to be configured in the realtek audio control panel
you can assign 2 as outputs and 1 input if needed

post a cpuz validation link
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
cpuz -> validate button -> submit button
it will open a browser, copy the url (address) and paste it here

[Steve Mahanahan]

_I_ eredeti hozzászólása:

they need to be configured in the realtek audio control panel
you can assign 2 as outputs and 1 input if needed

post a cpuz validation link
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
cpuz -> validate button -> submit button
it will open a browser, copy the url (address) and paste it here

Hes asleep in his bed, in his house across town. Im currently in my pajamas and a robe at my house.

Ill talk to him tommorrow afternoon sometime and ask him if he has a control panel for his audio. I do know that when I used the Soundblaster cards, there was a GUI that allowed for re-configuring output jacks. Im the computer geek in the family, and I haven't built/overclocked/tweaked a PC in a few years. I just retired my SLI M4n82 DX motherboard and my Sony GDM fw 900. Oh the good times we had cooking processors. He on the otherhand....he is getting better...I trust him to plug in graphics cards at this point. He got one of my gtx 660ti, and the other is being given away with my old pc.

I have both of my old soundblaster cards on my desk....I don't throw out anything except the motherboard drivers for his PC lol......I googled their model numbers (SB0100 & SB0240) and their site seems to have some sort of windows 7 drivers...something tells me that they don't support x64 OS.