Xenarc with Sirius audio issue - headless amp

**mymatrix** · 05-31-2006, 09:38 PM

Hey guys, I have an issue drivng me nuts. And yes, I did some searching, but didn't find anything like this;

Setup:
Xenarc MP-FL8 (has no aux audio input, just the mic)
2 channel amp driving 2 speakers
SIR-ALP1 with Mitch's USB controller

I am trying to solve my issue of controlling the sirius volume level. The mic jack is mono, so I skipped that route. There are no other on-pc audio inputs.

I purchased a Sound Blaster external sound card.
(USB Sound Blaster Live! - 24-bit External)

Problem: I have the PC audio out merged with the Sirius audio out. After the hardware merge the stereo signal goes into the SB unit and out to the amp. The PC audio works fine. The Sirius audio does not work at all. I did some troubleshooting of connections and have found that playing from the merged point directly to the amp works fine. It is only when I add the Sound Blaster to the chain that the signal disappears. Again, I only lose the Sirius audio. If I switch to an audio file on the hard drive it works fine.

Any suggestions?

**Jahntassa** · 05-31-2006, 09:45 PM

Okay, so you have two outputs connected to one input? That's probably your problem. Some things don't care if you mix two outputs, but some do.

Have you tried connecting the Sirius to the line-input of the external card, and just running it through the Sound Blaster and then to the amps?

**mymatrix** · 06-01-2006, 08:10 AM

Okay, just to clean up the thread in case anyone else buys the external Sound Blaster, since the documentation is sorta lacking (for overworked people with short attention spans anyhow)...

The Sound Blaster uses the USB to get the output from the PC (did in my case anyhow). The audio out jack of my Xenarc MP-FL8 is now empty, but the audio runs thru the USB to the Sound Blaster, out to the amp. Audio is controlled by the Sound Blaster software.

I connected the SIR-ALP1 audio out to the line-in jack on the Sound Blaster and un-muted (I think it is mute by default) the Line-In slider in the software. Now I can hear the Sirius or the PC, depending on which application I have open.

Thanks for your input.