The documentation strongly advises against connecting the empeg to a set of speakers.

What about to the line input of a PC soundcard?

I did this briefly with mine because I couldn't wait to get home to try it on my stereo but the signal was extremely low compared to the rest of the PC inputs (wave, cd, etc...) so I'm wondering whether this is recommended or not.

-D


---
reg. #10798 - blue 40gig MK2 #090000764

Suggest you head directly to the FAQ, here would answer this question.

- --
Rod, UK Mk2 64gig Red S/No.341

Thanks,

I did read this before posting my question, but it only mentions headphones and I was wondering if PC soundcards were any different.

-D

---
reg. #10798 - blue 40gig MK2 #090000764

I was wondering if PC soundcards were any different.

PC sound cards are all different from each other, of course, but they do share some commonalities.

Your empeg should be able to drive a PC sound card quite handily. However, depending on your sound card, you may have several choices for inputs to the PC card -- microphone, line in, etc.

The other thing that might be causing low volume is the software settings for your PC card. Look at your sound card drivers or whatever program (like WinAmp) you are using to play the music, and check for volume and equalization controls. You can usually find these in several different places -- in the system tray with a little speaker icon; in the software itself with slider bars, etc., although usually they are interactive and if you change one, you change all of them.

Finally, there are the volume controls on the speakers themselves, or perhaps if your sound card uses an external amplifier on the amp.

If you find all of these things and crank them up, your empeg will be plenty loud through your PC system.

tanstaafl.



"There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch"

I meant I was wondering if soundcards were different from headphones.

Currently If I put the empeg at about -9.0db volume and the line-in input volume to the max I have to put the wave and CD inputs to nearly the minimum to achieve the same volume on all inputs. I'm sure this is pretty normal, I just wanted to check I wasn't risking damaging the empeg by plugging it into my pc.

Thanks for your help,
-D

---
reg. #10798 - blue 40gig MK2 #090000764

The line inputs on your sound card are meant to take line outputs from other sources (such as the empeg). That's why they call them "line level"- they are all the same. So it is OK to plug your Empeg into the line input-- that's precisely what it was meant to do.

Speakers and headphones are not "line level", they require power, and that's why there is the note in the manual. (Self-powered speakers are another discussion entirely, but we won't get into that right now.)


Currently If I put the empeg at about -9.0db volume and the line-in input volume to the max I have to put the wave and CD inputs to nearly the minimum to achieve the same volume on all inputs.

When you are plugging the empeg into the line input on a home-stereo or a computer, you are supposed to set it at 0db. Try that and see if it helps.

___________
Tony Fabris

At first I thought that using the mic input with 0db on the empeg and no mic boost did the trick.

After listening for a bit it turns out sound quality was way worse than thru the line input.

I now have the empeg set at 0db, through the line input with the volumes of the other inputs set way down compared to line-in.

Seems to work.
-D

---
reg. #10798 - blue 40gig MK2 #090000764

Just curious, what sound card are you using. If it's an SB Live! then there should be no problem at all. Also, what kind of cable are you using? Where did you buy it?

Let me describe my setup:
-SB Live! value (all Live! cards are basically the same)
-cable: male phono jack to 2 male RCA jacks bought at Radio Shack
-volume properties: all sliders except main are set at full, main is a 1/3 so I can adjust more with my speakers.

I only bring these things up again because you really shouldn't have much of a problem doing this. Listening to my empeg via my computer is almost as big a use to me as it is in the car, and it works very well.

Good luck!

DiGNAN