How to connect your computer to your stereo

Inexpensive solutions:

With Wires:

Computer OUTPUT to stereo INPUT - Stereo OUTPUT to Computer INPUT


Wireless:

Connecting your PC or Mac to your TV - wireless

Turntable - Record Player

Connecting your turntable (phonograph) to your computer

Cassette Tape Deck

Connecting your Cassette deck to your computer

Easy USB Solutions

Easy Plug-n-Play Solutions with Great sound

iPod and Sound Card Cables

High Quality iPod and Sound Card Cables

Free Recording Software

Audacity - Free Recording Software

Alternative - FLAC Recorder

Confused? Check out our Audio/Video Connection guide

Home audio Connections: Amplifiers, Receivers

Home audio amplifiers are pretty standardized as far as input and output levels. This includes "Integrated" Amplifiers (Preamp and power amp in one case) as well as Receivers - both stereo and surround sound. Surround sound receivers generally have other types of inputs (digital) and outputs that you normally will not find on stereo recievers/amplifiers. Normal stereo amplifiers and receivers have two analog RCA jack connectors for input or output for each device. All of these except the "phono" inputs are at a standard consumer "Line" levels. Surround sound amps and recievers have all of their analog inputs and outputs (except phono) at this same level. You can use any of these: Aux, Tape, Tuner, CD, etc for connecting your computers Line level output. Remember to go from output to input.

"Power" Amplifiers are another story. Home audio power amplifiers also have "Line" level inputs, but they have very little in the way of volume and tone controls and switching. They simply amplify the signal. These are not recommended for connecting to your computer.

Wired!
Computer OUT to stereo IN:

(record your computer with your tape deck, or listen to your computer playing CD's or Internet radio through a "real" sound system)


Many people want to connect their computer audio to their stereo to play CD's or listen to movies that are playing on a DVD in their computer system. Sometimes computer speaker systems just aren't good enough volume or quality wise for them. To connect the audio output of your computer, you should use the "line" output of your sound card. You use a 3.5mm mini phone plug to Rca jack adapter with a RCA jack stereo cable which goes to the audio input of your sound system, such as the "aux" input, or if you want to use your computer to record audio from your sound system as well, you should use the "tape in" and "tape out" jacks. Most audio systems have two tape ins and outs so you can use your computer as a tape recorder as well as a regular cassette deck.


Here is what you need:

3.5mm stereo mini phone plug to dual RCA jack stereo cable
55-899-3

mini 3.5mm stereo plug to dual RCA plug cable, 3 to 25 feet long or, if you are a real stickler for audio quality, or want even longer length cables, we make custom cables with fantastic sound quality:

Directly Wired - Stereo OUT to Computer IN:

(record from tape, CD, radio or VCR)

Many people want to connect their stereo tape player, CD or tuner to their computer in order to "record" the music to their computers hard drive. You could then play back music using your computer, edit the audio files or convert the files to MP3's with the appropriate software.

To connect the audio input of your computer, you should use the "line" input of your sound card. You use a 3.5mm mini stereo phone plug to RCA jack adapter with a RCA jack stereo cable which goes to the audio output of your sound system, such as one of the the "tape" outputs, Most audio systems have two tape ins and outs so you can use your computer as a tape recorder as well as a regular cassette deck.

Here are the parts you need:

Connecting a turntable (phonograph) to your computer.

This is a very Hot topic at the moment with the resurgence of Vinyl, plus all of those who want to transfer their records to their computers to burn to CD, or put on their MP3 players or Ipods.

The first thing you have to understand is that you cannot connect a turntable directly to your computer. Why? A phono cartridge puts out an extremely small signal, which has a rather strange frequency response curve (due to RIAA equalization). A phono preamp is required to boost the signal and "straighten out" the frequency response. This is why you must plug a turntable into the "phono" input of a receiver or preamplifier rather than the "Line" or Tape inputs. Besides that, their are different types of cartridges (the needle and cartridge create the electrical signal from the grooves). There are moving coil, moving magnet and ceramic cartridges, generally, which need different preamp settings, or possibly different preamps. Moving Magnet cartridges are the most common type, especially from 1970-current, while moving coil cartridges are often favored by audiophiles. Ceramic is the old, cheap cartridges used turntables you would not want anyway. An input on a receiver or preamp that does not specify is usually moving magnet ready. There are also high output moving coil cartridges that will work on moving magnet preamps. Yikes! Just a bit annoying? Well, there's always more - depending on how deep you want to go....

Impedance matching is another hot topic with cartridges and preamps. Frequency response of cartridges can be effected by output to input impedance interaction with preamps.

OK, that's deep enough, see the links below for more in-depth inormation.

Therefore you must connect the turntable to the Receiver preamp or dedicated phono preamp, and then connect the Tape outputs of the receiver to the computer, using the computer as you would a tape deck. There are also separate phono Preamps you can buy, (some even have USB outputs) but they are not often inexpensive, such as a yard sale integrated amp or receiver would be. There's lot's of nice old stuff on ebay as well. Lastly, there are new Turntables with USB outputs that should make it very easy, but they may not meet an audiophiles criterion for "good sound" and are not exactly cheap, either. I would lean towards suggesting that a nice USB based input/output device that is a line level device will have the most versatility, particularly for the occasional user since it can be used for basically any audio device. If you want a permanent Turntable to computer setup, use a dedicated preamp or good old receiver for best results.

Good Brands for ebay? Thorens, Dual, Micro Seiki, Denon, and others can be had for decent prices.

More Info:

Manual of analogue audio restoration techniques (PDF)

(Extremely large and detailed document on all kinds of analog audio equipment)

How to Clean LP Records and CDs

Tonearm Alignment for pivot tone arms

Cassette decks for archiving cassette tapes

Getting a good cassette deck in late 2008 is clearly half the battle to doing some cassette tape archiving. Yes, you can still buy them new, but in this case it's worse than buying a car, once you leave the showroom, they are worth a fraction of what you just paid. Buying online used decks from eBay is also very tricky, and if you are not careful you can waste a lot of money! First - never buy an "as is" cassette deck. These things are outlived by fruit flies. The person who put it up probably tested it for a total of five minutes and it will certainly start eating tapes after 15 minutes of use - just when you thought it was ok and put in your priceless recording of uncle Ralph singing "My Way".


Don't be fooled by recognizable brands unless they are studio tough brands like Tascam or Nakamichi. Even these you need to be skeptical about. Cassette decks are all about rubber belts, rubber wheels, "heads" that wear out and buttons that wear out. If you can't get a 30 day guaranty, at least get a promise that it will work for a week. Don't rush, one will come along at a good price. There are just not that many people dieing to buy 20 year old technology! You can buy serious studio quality cassette decks that sold for over $1000 for incredibly low prices if you are patient enough. The added benefit of paying more for a studio quality deck is that you should have no trouble selling it later. Schools, Universities and Professional audio Archivists continually find new recordings that are worthy of digitizing, so a top notch Deck like a Nakamichi Dragon or a Tascam 122 Mk III is not going to lose you much money, if any in a future sale. Just get it cheap and guaranteed!


Lastly, don't expect miracles. That tape you spilled champagne on in the limo to the prom is not going to work in ANY cassette player! Even if in normal condition, some of those old tapes may be so degraded that only a professional archivist can safely get the sound off of the tape. Have you ever tried to put a tape into a new shell? Trust me, surgeons don't want that kind of ordeal. At times they have to go to extreme measures which you and I are not just too lazy or uncoordinated enough to do, but also, not educated enough in the weird skill set required, to do. Professional Audio archiving is a weird science requiring mechanics, chemistry, computer, math and manual dexterity skills. So if you have content that is really critical, you should at least consult a pro for pricing. Of course, uncle Ralph singing "Like a Virgin" in drag may be a hilarious memory, but it may not be worth the price of a professional archiving job.


Assuming you have the software you need, the first thing to do is check the buttons, switches and connections and get the deck ready to work with your sound card. For prerecorded tapes you usually set to Dolby B, and MPX filter off. When recording from the radio you should turn on the mpx filter. If you are using home recorded tapes that are Metal or CrO2 you should change that setting appropriately. The Cassette decks output should go to the sound cards "Line" input (usually color coded green) not the Mic input. Most sound cards have stereo mini phone plug (typical 1/8" 3.5mm stereo headphone jacks on mp3 players) inputs and outputs. So, an adapter or cable with RCA to mini plug connectors will be necessary.

The second thing to do in the recording setup process is to set up the tape deck output and sound card input so you have the maximum volume coming from the tape deck possible without overloading the input of the sound card or other audio interface. On commercial tapes you generally don't have to worry about the cassette decks output level as much as with self recorded tapes, so you can often just just crank it up to maximum. This is certainly not true of all tapes, so be careful, monitor your levels and adjust.

The reason for getting the maximum output level is that you want the lowest noise level possible on your digital recording. Cassette tapes (or reel to reel for that matter) have limited signal to noise ratios compared to a good sound card. On the other hand, you don't want to crank things up too high to lower your noise "floor" at the expense of dynamic compression and distortion. Raising the noise floor may give you a bit more "hiss" between songs, but that is usually pretty easy to eliminate using software on the computer. Eliminating distortion on the other hand, is extremely difficult if not impossible. There is Pro level software that can do a reasonably good job of it, but it is very expensive, and no software like this is ever perfect. On self recorded tapes, you need to make sure the output is not too hot. You should be able to determine overloaded output from the meters. Occasional momentary peaks just barely going into the red is often acceptable. Use your ears as your guide to some extent here, but don't bet your time on them. Finding out you have some ever so slightly distorted parts later on in the process means starting over from the beginning. Not fun at all.

Once sure of your output level, get your input level correct. Follow the same rules. Occasional peaks may be fine. You should definitely try a test recording or two when learning your sound cards meter accuracy. It is not uncommon, especially with built-in sound or inexpensive sound cards to have inaccurate metering. Listen carefully to the recordings for anything nasty. Digital distortion should be easier to hear than typical tape drive overload or the distortion on heavily distorted metal or grunge music, for example. Big Note: Cassette tapes are fragile and lose sound quality due to stretching, fraying, residues and all sorts of other reasons. Don't expect to be able to clean up this sort of thing. It isn't the fault of the sound card if the tape is messed up. Monitor the tape decks output if you suspect the tape is damaged.

OK, so now, presumably you are ready to record. Different software will use different procedures, but it's all pretty similar. First you "Arm" (set record check box to on, not hit the record transport button) on the tracks you want to record on. A single channel is often set to record in stereo - read the manual or help file for your software! Monitor the input levels to make sure you're levels are ok. Some high quality cassette decks have a RTZ (return to zero) button which is really helpful to set up starting the tape just before the song starts. Use it! You will want to Hit the record button on the software just before hitting "play" on the cassette deck. Stop recording when the song is done, or if you are recording a whole side at once, when the side is complete. Carefully monitor the results for distortion or noise levels. Repeat as needed.

More Info:

Zen And The Art Of Cassette Deck Maintenance

Manual of analogue audio restoration techniques (PDF)

(Extremely large and detailed document on all kinds of analog audio equipment)

See section: Analogue tape reproduction



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Wireless - Connecting your PC or Mac to Your Stereo or
Home Theater system' Audio:

Audioengine AW3

Everything you need is included, and the sound, unlike other wireless solutions, is GREAT!

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Easy USB Computer to Stereo Solutions that sound great!

Simply get a USB Audio Interface and install it. It will take the place of the inferior internal Sound Card or built-in


Audio Interface. These can range from inexpensive Stereo or Multichannel interfaces to Studio Grade Cards or


USB/Firewire solutions.

©RAM Electronics



Thomas Steves