Home Speakers on my Comp

bobdole118

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Feb 27, 2007
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Hey guys, I'm having a little trouble hooking up my home speakers to my computer. I don't really know all that much about speakers and I got all these things from my dad.

I'm not sure exactly what each of the speaker things are, but if its important i can call my dad and ask him. The two speakers are ADS (tag says ADS200C?) and the subwoofer is this big silver thing that says Martin Logan Dynamo on the bottom. The two amplifiers are made by Rotel, im not sure what the model is. If it helps, the bottom one has no knobs or anythign on it, just the power button, and theyre both big and black.

So i hooked all the stuff up, the ADS speakers and subwoofer to my amplifiers and then the amplifier to my sound card (X-fi XtremeGamer).

My problem is, when I do the sound check for the speakers its supposed to say "left channel" on the left speaker and "right channel" on the right speaker. for the "left channel" it doesnt say anything, and i hear "left channel" come very faintly from my subwoofer. When it says "right channel", it comes from both speakers.

When i listen to music i hear sound from both speakers, but im pretty sure the stuff coming from my left speaker is just a duplicate of the stuff coming out of the right speaker. I have checked all my connections and they seem to be secure. If you guys have any idea whats going on i would be very grateful for your input.

Thanks in advance,
-Bob
 

astrallite

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Sep 18, 2005
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You need to describe how the cables are hooked up--which outputs and inputs each cable is connected to, and what the label is on those ports. I'm certain something like this is a simple mixed up inputs/outputs.
 

bobdole118

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Ok, lets see, I dont know much about speakers but ill describe it the best i can.

The speakers are hooked up to the bottom amp. Each end of the wire is split in two and are hooked up to some red and black knob thing. On the amp its just labeled "right" and "left".

I'm not exactly sure how the subwoofer is hooked up, theres a bunch of wires here, but it looks like theres a wire connected to the amp labeled "output" that branches into two wires. Both of them are going to the subwoofer. My subwoofer is working fine, though, and i dont think this is the problem.

To hook it up to my sound card, i have this wire that goes from my soundcard to the top amplifier. The end that's in the sound card is the same kind of connector that headphones use (or what regular computer speakers use). I have this plugged into the green port. The other end splits off into two RCA connectors, a red and a white one. These are plugged into the corresponding red and white connectors labeled "CD" on the amplifier.

Thanks alot for your help,
-Bob

edit: Oh, do you think maybe it might have something to do with my drivers (assuming everythign is hooked up correctly). They are up to date, but i could try reinstalling them. Also, I dont know if it matters, but when it asked me to set my thing to analog or digital, i clicked analog (cuz thats what it said to do if i was unsure). Thanks again.
 

astrallite

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Okay sounds like

Stereo output - stereo mini to RCA - amplifier - fork 1 (speaker wire) + fork 2 (subwoofer output).

I don't see anything particularly wrong with this. Since I can't see the setup in front of me, the alternative possibility is some sort of software matrix setting is messing up your output. Open up your EAX console for your X-Fi sound card, and I think it's possible CMSS is enabled, which sort of makes a faux surround sound. Disable that if it is on.
 

bobdole118

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Ok, i disabled it, but i still dont get the correct stuff out of my left speaker. It still doesnt say "left channel" when I do the test.
 

bobdole118

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I just tried plugging in my headhpones and they work just like theyre supposed to, so I'm thinking its hardware related after all.

edit: Problem fixed. I had two wires mixed up (they all look the same ><)

Thanks alot for your help astrallite!