Thread: Sound card idea? Connect two amps to a single CPU 3.5mm jack.

I have not decided on which amp I would rather use on the subs and the fronts. Any ideas by the specs? Thank you on identifying the board brand as well. When I plug in a 3.5mm jack into one of the front ports the Realtek HD software asks me what i just plugged in, I can choose between in/out/sub/center/mic, and so on. Think id be able to plug the sub into the front jack and the front speakers into the rear audio output jack? Or am i just better of splitting it like the diagram you have shown.

it is going to be easiest to split it.

while some pc's allow more manipulation that you might be able to get the sub output working, more pc's use the sub output only for media encoded with sub channel info-- 2-ch music doesn't have this-- so there is no guarantee that it would work.


i would put the lanzar for sub duty, and leave the alpine for mid duty.

and from there, just use the onboard crossovers to tweak the sound.

Alright, sounds like a plan. Any concern with certain RCA jack brands? Does it matter if i use cheaper ones, or if i use more costly ones? As for the picture above, I was thinking of just running two RCA to 3.5MM wires, one from each amp, then use a 2 female to 1 male 3.5mm adapter to connect the two. I wouldn't have any issues wiring it like that correct?

i believe rca connectors are a little more solid, as i have had problems with 3.5mm jacks getting loose in some jacks, so using 3 of them might only increase your problems.


for the brand of rca cabling, i haven't used them in the car, but have used them elsewhere-- monoprice.com rca's. they are really good quality for a really cheap price. if i remember right, they ship from california, so none of the china wait times..

otherwise, if you don't want to order online, just get the medium-grade stuff-- not the cheapest you can find, but not the most expensive.. i have tried really cheap cabling, and they can hurt the sound, and i have tried expensive cabling-- which doesn't really improve anything..

Alright, Ill probably go with that set up then, I usually think of it as "The more connections in a line, the more Im draining down quality." So do i do exactly as the picture, but have one rca cable going to one amp, then the other rca going to the other amp? And the crossovers inside the amps will allow me to set everything up? Only reason im asking is because that diagram resembles a 4 channel amp, also being that it seems like one side is left and one side is right in the picture. Yet this should still work if i put one side to sub amp and one side to speaker amp.

exactly.

i know the pic is a little off, but that was the closest pic i had available without making a new one..

Wired it all up and such. Played some music from my phone through the 3.5mm jack. SOunds great. Alot better than i though it would. There is no interferance or humming noises or anything like that. Very satisfied with this set-up. And thank you all for all the help and knowledge behind it.

no problem. enjoy your new setup!

If you want more control over it, try this. Pretty cheap and does a great job of adding head unit functions without a head unit. It also supports 2 inputs so you could switch from pc to phone easy. Oh and I almost forgot, it does boost the voltage to the amp so you can keep the gain low and have a nice clean powerful sound.

Clarion EQS746