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| Thread ID: 60591 | 2005-08-06 10:11:00 | Front jacks not working | sam m (517) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 378884 | 2005-08-06 10:11:00 | Hi, Managed to score some headphones for computer. I have had new comp about 4 months and this is the first time I have had opportunity to use front jacks but they are a no go. I have tried other headsets with same result. I have plugged headsets into the back jacks and they work perfectly. Apart from taking comp back to store are there some things I need to do to make the front jacks work? |
sam m (517) | ||
| 378885 | 2005-08-06 10:40:00 | They need to be plugged in (connected) to the motherboard. Are your headphones designed for "line out" levels that a standard PC provides, or are they specially designed (powered ones) that incorporate an amplifier to work from what are (wrongly) termed "speaker outputs" on a PC? "Line Out" level (similiar to "AV" on a tV etc) are not designed to perate speakers and headphones unless they are amplified - though you should hear something (low level and possibly distorted) on ordinary headphones plugged into a line out socket. Possibly the "back jacks" are amplified? Are we talking 3.5mm stereo sockets here?. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 378886 | 2005-08-06 10:58:00 | Hi GF, Yes the headphones (www.alteclansing.com) are designed for PC. Not sure what you mean about 'line out' but I assumed that the front jacks (green and pink) would be for the headphones. I am thinking that they are not connected to the motherboard. (www.novatech.co.uk) If this is so, is this a simple job or should I take it back in? |
sam m (517) | ||
| 378887 | 2005-08-06 11:51:00 | Yes but most PC headphones plug into the headphone sockets on whatever amplifies speakers are fitted to a PC, as the headphones don't contain an amplifier, but the speakers do (or in one PC I owned the rear sockets were fed from an amplifier in the PC? The headphones require quite a few milliwatts of power, and have an impedance of about 8 to 40 ohms, typically 32 ohms, while the unamplified "line out" ("speaker sockets") on a PC have an impedance of 1,000 ohms and bugger all power available, so they just don't match. They are designed to run an amplifier, an amplifier is designed to run speakers and headphones. Unless the headphones are battery powered with a built in amplifier, you are using them incorrectly? |
godfather (25) | ||
| 378888 | 2005-08-06 12:00:00 | your jacks in the front are probably not connected to the mobo. they are going at the back cos it's connected - to the soundcard, onboard or card. | quarry (252) | ||
| 378889 | 2005-08-06 22:40:00 | Unless you have an soundcard using the older concept of having an output big enough to run speakers, you will have powered speakers, which means your speakers plug into the mains as well as your computer because a small purpose built amplifier lives within one or all of the speakers providing the grunt. Your computer only supplys a very small and mismatched sound signal that isn't enough without further amplification. My 8ish y/old computer can power small speakers directly, but this design concept is one that has long been abandoned. I hook my newer laptop directly into my main home sound system and let the home sound systems amplifiers do the work if i want to hear music through real speakers, My laptop has a higher output than what i expected, presumably only because it has to run its own nasty little tweeters, or "high quality internal speakers" as described in its somewhat amusing spec. sheet. If your desktop PCs speakers have a headphone socket, it's probably best use that. Any "headphone socket" on the front may be the good looking idea of the case maker, but if it doesn't work, there's possably nothing inside the case to connect it to. |
personthingy (1670) | ||
| 378890 | 2005-08-06 22:47:00 | Had a look inside. The front jacks have a double wire with 3.5mm male plugs that run right through the comp and out through the back of the comp and just hang around connected to nothing. The wire have 2 plugs (1 marked mic, the other aux). If I plug those into the 2 remaining rear plugs (pink & blue) then the headphones act as rear speakers (I only have a pair of cheap speakers either side of the monitor). I was reading some installation guff on the motherboard and saw something about the front speakers and jumpers so I am assuming that the front jack points can (or should) be connected directly to the motherboard. |
sam m (517) | ||
| 378891 | 2005-08-06 22:53:00 | If the cable has a 3 . 5mm on it, plug the cable thats in the case (labelled MIC) to the mic socket on the soundcard and (AUX), to line out on the soundcard at the back of the case . , Then the front ports will work . You can either do it this way, Some mobos do have audio connections on the mobo for front connections . I think it looks like a 10 pin connection . By default on some mobos 2 pins are shorted / jumpered on this . So, you can get sound thru the soundcard's sockets . The case for the system I'm making up, has exactly the same cable you're talking about . One labelled MIC and one AUX . This case also came with a PCI bracket, with a hole in one end so these cables can go thru it, and plug into the soundcard's MIC / Line out sockets . |
Speedy Gonzales (78) | ||
| 378892 | 2005-08-06 23:45:00 | Had a look inside . The front jacks have a double wire with 3 . 5mm male plugs that run right through the comp and out through the back of the comp and just hang around connected to nothing . The wire have 2 plugs (1 marked mic, the other aux) . If I plug those into the 2 remaining rear plugs (pink & blue) then the headphones act as rear speakers (I only have a pair of cheap speakers either side of the monitor) . I was reading some installation guff on the motherboard and saw something about the front speakers and jumpers so I am assuming that the front jack points can (or should) be connected directly to the motherboard . I was right then . . . . it's ok, no thanks needed . . . |
quarry (252) | ||
| 378893 | 2005-08-06 23:55:00 | I was reading some installation guff on the motherboard and saw something about the front speakers and jumpers so I am assuming that the front jack points can (or should) be connected directly to the motherboard . I would take this to mean change jumpers to get 5 . 1 (or something), where your line/mic input suddenly becomes another speaker output . Of course thats but a guess . If your front jack sockets are fed by 3 . 5mm jacks, they are simply extension cords designed to connect from the sockets that the stupidity of convension has placed on the back for ease of use . If you have sufficiant signal on the back to run headphones, then you can use the inbuilt extension leads (front sockets) to give you a more accessable socket for headphones or speakers . |
personthingy (1670) | ||
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