5.1 Switching ??

madwestmo · 4 Dec 2007 at 09:04

Hi,

Ive just brought a set of the baracude headphones and have a set of creative 5.1 speakers , my problem is sometimes i want to use headphones and sometimes i want it out loud , but every time i have to reach around and insert whichever cables i want to use which is a pain...

Is there such a thing as a audio switch , i know there are splitters but i want to just have one or the other running at once??

Thanks in advance

badbob · 4 Dec 2007 at 12:43

Do you need to switch 5.1 analogue inputs, stereo, or digital audio? (optical/spdif)
stereo and digital audio switching isn't a problem, line level switch box (cheapest) stereo pre-amp or av amp are available, however if you want to switch 2+ 5.1 analogue inputs it's going to be near impossible.

madwestmo · 4 Dec 2007 at 13:32

hmmm i dont know what they are , they are just green , orange , black , pink connectors that fit into the sound card , just want a way of having them both in there and been able to switch between them

badbob · 4 Dec 2007 at 13:41

That's 5.1, so you need 5.1 switching. Sony produced a av pre-amp switcher a few years ago with two 5.1 analogue inputs, one 5.1 analogue with master volume, TAP-9000ES . Looking at a few hundred quid, and it's rare so it's going to go for high price.

AFAIK what you want to do isn't possible, if you can stick to stereo QED (the green cable) have a few £30 switch boxes.

I would like to do the same also, my Lexicon MC-1 doesn't have 5.1 input, however if I plug the MC-1 output into a 5.1 analogue switcher (with master volume) I can then add a Blu-Ray/HD-DVD and use it's own 5.1 outputs to get HD-Audio, then switch back to the MC-1 for CD's, and standard PCM/SPDIF audio.

http://www.stereophile.com/solidpreamps/700/

madwestmo · 4 Dec 2007 at 13:43

cheaper way *** be using splitters i guess? rather than switches

james.miller · 4 Dec 2007 at 13:45

its strange that there doesnt seem to be any affordable switch boxes for this sort of thing. splitters would work. id even sooner buy a second sound card jsut for the headphones than go all out and buy a pointlessly expensive switching unit.

madwestmo · 4 Dec 2007 at 13:46

wouldnt there be conflicts with two sound cards

badbob · 4 Dec 2007 at 13:50

james.miller said:
its strange that there doesnt seem to be any affordable switch boxes for this sort of thing. splitters would work. id even sooner buy a second sound card jsut for the headphones than go all out and buy a pointlessly expensive switching unit.

Yeah I guess that'll work although pain in the bum switching over, unless a IR remote command can do that? Hardly professionally done..hang on need to go into CP, change soundcard....then go back..

Certainly a Sony TAP-9000ES is more professional, have macros so switching is invisble in use (no need to physically change source)

james.miller · 4 Dec 2007 at 13:50

nope. people run onboard sound and a pci soundcard all the time. i've run 3 of them just to prove it was possible before lol. if you're using vista, you're laughing. vista handles sound cards very well

badbob said:
Yeah I guess that'll work although pain in the bum switching over, unless a IR remote command can do that? Hardly professionally done..hang on need to go into CP, change soundcard....then go back..

Certainly a Sony TAP-9000ES is more professional, have macros so switching is invisble in use (no need to physically change source)

not much of a problem. with the playback devices page in vista its a piece of cake to set the default sound device

rightclick on the volume icon in system tray >> playback devices >> set default.

badbob · 4 Dec 2007 at 13:56

rightclick on the volume icon in system tray >> playback devices >> set default

Not too bad, although if it's a HTPC that's still too much. I'm using a av amp + stereo integrated amp for the PC setup, so have stereo switching only (to the Arcam or av amp)