I have decided to make a sound output somwhere more accessible than behind my computer. So I have decided to try and mount one inside my Cambridge Soundworks four point surround(FPSxxx) volume control, which basically is a small, black box with a potentiometer and an LED in it. But where shall I connect the stereo jack? I want it to be connected after the potentiometer, so that the volume still can be controlled, and I want it to remove the sound from the speakers while I have the earphones connected. This isn't very hard to do, if someone just can tell me where I can connect the stereo jack inside there. I guess some other people here have Cambridge Soundworks controllers too. And - this jack I have, it only has two connectors (three if you count the switching one). How should I connect when the cords for earphones etc have four conductors? The stereojack I have currently is a few quarks too big to fit inside the volume controller, and my trusty electronic shop has stopped selling 3,5mm miniature jacks. Oh well, I'll just "fix" something then.
trs jacks are left, right, and common ground .. couldnt tell you which is which thought ... havent messed around with stereo crap in forever ... my solution to this problem was to get 2 shielded 1/8" trs extension cables , and plug those into my soundcard, and now my speaker jacks are extended up to my desk .. hanging off my speaker bracket actually ... (front speakers are hung inside my hutch, rear are on desktop turned backwards firing into the hutch for a bit of natrual delay)
Ok, having some trouble figuring it out. The jack has three connectors, but when I put a plug in it, one of the connectors is disconnected. So that leaves me with two connectors. I took a test using an MP3 player, a pair of earphones and a stripped stereo cord (yellow) which contains four conductors inside it. Two of the four conductors are insulated. When I connect these to the two connectors on the jack, I only get sound on one ear. So what should I do with the other two? One more thing - is this just a mono plug, cause that'll explain everything...
The third connector which disconnects sounds like the "switch" that kills speaker sound when you plug in the headphones.
Hi, I dont know the technical ins and outs of the volume control box you have im afraid but the one that i have (not the same model) has four cables going into the box. I assume that 2 are Front / Back in and the other 2 are Front / Back out (ie to the Woofer. IME you can adequetly hook up the headphones to the front set of speakers but you loose the 3D effects in games to some extent, you still hear the rear noises but only faintly. I guess to get the back and the front playing through the headphones you would have to link them somehow but then in games the front sounds and the back sounds would be more or less the same volume so that would not be great either. I realise that this may not help but i thought it might be worth pointing out.
About the front/rear sound - that doesn't matter. I don't have front/rear outputs, so the same sound is playing in the rear left as in the front left, and the rear right is the same as the front right. Phat - yes, the one that disconnects is probably the switch for the speakers. I have that one figured out. The problem is finding out how to connect four wires to two connectors. (Or to find out if it is just a mono plug)
That sounds like a mono plug... a stereo plug would have 3 pins (plus speaker disconnect) to make contact to the three "rings" on the Jack itself. Left Right, and shared ground.
I don't think the connections at the potentiometer are at the correct level for headphones either, it may not even be an audio signal there.
I think steveyg might be right. That satalite unit with the volume control probably isn't the actual audio. Unless you have alot of wires coming in and out of the unit I bet the actual sound control is done inside the main speaker.
To test that theory, I opened a sound file, turned up the volume, and went behind my desk and disconnected the plug for the volume control. The sound disappeared. When I connected it again, the sound came back. That can be an indication to that the audio go through the volume control, right? And there are many wires coming in and out of the unit. But I can't be sure though.
Just disconnecting it doesn't really prove the sound goes through it. The main speaker could have an auto mute if the volume control isn't hooked up. It's Hard to say. So let's dig in a bit. How many wires are coming in and out of the unit? 2 wires for LED and the rest for volume control How many speakers does the unit control? 2 wires per speaker. How many terminals does the actual volume control have on it going down to the PCB? If your controling 2 speakers you should have 5 or 6 wires coming into the unit. 2 for LED, 1 for Right Channel, 1 for left Channel, and then 1 or 2 for ground.
There's a power switch built into the volume control too, so thats an extra wire or two. My old set of Inspire 5300's did not have audio at the volume control. The quality of the wires should indicate this or not. You'd expect audio cables to be properly shielded.
I wouldn't give up this project, but If I may recommend. At my project Log Project Frankenstien I am using a ENSONIQ sound expansion board to get an amped headphone jack. HP Spare part number 5183-3643. This is a small board and a couple of the places that carry it have it for under 20 bucks. It come mounted to a plate for in the back of your case but i am removing mine from the plate to mount it in my enclosure. It has a internal audio style jack like sound cards and CD-roms to connect it to your audio source (line level). then has a floppy drive style power connector. BUT!!! it's not a normal power feed. you need to replace the +5DC line with a -12DC line from the PSU. I have played with this and it's nice. I am going to try and post pics of it late tonight on my project log.
I think I'm going to stick with having a stero jack on the front of my comp, though. I "fixed" a radio the other day, and out came a stereo jack and a potentiometer. But I can't figure out how to connect the potentiometer to all this. It has three wires running from it, black, yellow and orange. The radio was mono, but the output jack on the radio was stereo. So somehow I must be able to use this potentiometer connected up to the jack for conrolling the sound. Hope someone knows how. In the mean time - I'll keep on trying.
A standard pot has 3 wires good for mono. You need one with 6 in order to do stereo sound and control both channels. or put up with mono sound. the three wires are 1 input and 2 outputs. 1 output is adjusted via the knob the other is an output that is at the max resistance. IF you look at most schematics the max resistance is normally tied straight to ground and the input is your audio source and the 1st output(adjustable one) is where you would wire your headphone jack.
I have checked the sound outputs on my computer now. Turns out I have two outputs for sound; one where the speakers are connected and one free. But when I plug my headphones into the free jack, the sound is really bad. No low frequencies at all. The sound is very "sharp". How come?
Depends on the Sound Card. You could be in the Line OUT which is a Line Level audio feed (You must amp it yourself). Or your card could support dolby or something like it and that plug is configured to output center channel thus all the high sounds and no low output. You need to look at the specs for the card to find out what type of output it is. oh or your headphones are junk.
