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njboyd
03-18-2006, 10:06 PM
i recently purchases the xtreme sound 7.1 card and im trying to hook up my dad's old sony reciever....exactly what kind of cables do i need? the card as s/pdif in and outputs and i tried just hooking up using RCA cables from the output of my card to the input of the receiver but obviously there is only one jack for the card and a set of red and white for the receiver and when a speaker is hooked up and the card switched to s/pdif all i get is static....do i need a special cable? heres a link to what my card is http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Diamond%20Multimedia%20Diamond%20Xtreme%20Sound% 20XS71%20Sound%20Card:1993239001;_ylc=X3oDMTB0OXA5 YnR2BF9TAzk2NjMyOTA3BHNlYwNmZWVkBHNsawNjb21w

Feanor
03-19-2006, 06:30 AM
i recently purchases the xtreme sound 7.1 card and im trying to hook up my dad's old sony reciever....exactly what kind of cables do i need? the card as s/pdif in and outputs and i tried just hooking up using RCA cables from the output of my card to the input of the receiver but obviously there is only one jack for the card and a set of red and white for the receiver and when a speaker is hooked up and the card switched to s/pdif all i get is static....do i need a special cable? heres a link to what my card is http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Diamond%20Multimedia%20Diamond%20Xtreme%20Sound% 20XS71%20Sound%20Card:1993239001;_ylc=X3oDMTB0OXA5 YnR2BF9TAzk2NjMyOTA3BHNlYwNmZWVkBHNsawNjb21w

It sounds like you are connecting a digital (S/PDIF) output on your card to an analog input on the receiver: this ain't going to work! :( Use the receiver's coaxial digital input if it has one. If your card has an optical (Toslink) output, connect it to the receiver optical input. If the receiver has only optical but your card doesn't, you'll need an optical => coax adaptor.

Perhaps your dad's "old" receiver has no digital input. Does your card have analog output? Looks like your card has 1/8" stereo mini plugs to feed self-powered speakers. If so, attach a stereo mini plug => left/right RCA adaptor to 'Front' speakers connection, then run a pair of RCA cables to the receiver's left/right (white/red) analog inputs.

Again, assuming the receiver has no digital input, a good option is to obtain an standalone DAC (digital => analog converter). Connect the card's S/PDIF output to the DAC's input and a pair of RCA cables to the receiver's analog inputs.