theHammer Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 Just purchased a CD-RW (Plextor), or should I say finally, and need some help with the audio cabling. I have an existing CD/DVD that came installed in my Dell 8100. Its audio cable is connected to the Sound Blaster card (Sound Blaster Live Value). Can I purchase a split cable that will connect to the sound card and to both of the CD drives? Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 Your SoundBlaster Live! should have an AUX CD connector in addition to the CD connector. Also, you should also have a Digital CD connector. Most newer CD-ROM/R/RW drives will have two audio connectors: a regular 4-pin one and a 2-pin digital audio one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHammer Posted July 13, 2003 Author Share Posted July 13, 2003 Peachy - did not notice the second 4 pin or AUX connection when I was "in there" but what you are telling me then is that I just need another single four pin cable to run from the AUX to the new CD-RW. I do believe my card had a two-pin connection, which must have been the digital and you are correct the new CD-RW has a two pin digital audio connection. Know nothing about that but will pick up a two-pin cable also when I hit the store Monday.Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 If your Live! came in a retail box you should already have the 2-pin cable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBox Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 Hey you guys,Here is one that may confoozle all of you; as it did me when I first tried it!I may NOT know HOW it works but I can guarantee you that it DOES work!Here is the expriment worth trying:* Remove the audio cable connection between your SoundCard and your CD drive (matters not whether it is a CDROM or a CD R/RW or even if it is a DVD variety)! * Pop in an audio CD/DVD and crank the volume up after pressing Play (if it is not defaulted to AutoInsertNotification by OS).SURPRISE >> I bet you still hear the audio >> Even though you don't have the audio cable connected between the SoundCard and the CD/DVD player! ! You can send me the freed up audio cable (via email) as a contribution! The audio signal is still passed thru the IDE cable connection between the CD/DVD drive and the motherboard!I don't know the accuracy of the next statement but having the CD/DVD drive as a MASTER (Secondary?) may give the audio a higher (processing) priority than having the CD/DVD drive as a SLAVE (Primary or Secondary)! For the audio "purist" this may be a golden ear test that may be worth exploration!Please let me know if it worked for you as it did for me! I am interested in knowing if the above experiment works with every system out there! I am also way interested in knowing whether my statement about "processing priority" is accurate or at least has merit!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peachy Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 Hey you guys,Here is one that may confoozle all of you; as it did me when I first tried it!I may NOT know HOW it works but I can guarantee you that it DOES work!Here is the expriment worth trying:* Remove the audio cable connection between your SoundCard and your CD drive (matters not whether it is a CDROM or a CD R/RW or even if it is a DVD variety)! * Pop in an audio CD/DVD and crank the volume up after pressing Play (if it is not defaulted to AutoInsertNotification by OS).SURPRISE  >> I bet you still hear the audio  >> Even though you don't have the audio cable connected between the SoundCard and the CD/DVD player! ! You can send me the freed up audio cable (via email) as a contribution! The audio signal is still passed thru the IDE cable connection between the CD/DVD drive and the motherboard!I don't know the accuracy of the next statement but having the CD/DVD drive as a MASTER (Secondary?) may give the audio a higher (processing) priority than having the CD/DVD drive as a SLAVE (Primary or Secondary)! For the audio "purist" this may be a golden ear test that may be worth exploration!Please let me know if it worked for you as it did for me! I am interested in knowing if the above experiment works with every system out there! I am also way interested in knowing whether my statement about "processing priority" is accurate or at least has merit!! RandomBox,You are correct, audio CDs will do that. I forgot about that. You don't need a cable with the SB Live! series or later. This will also work with external drives too. I just tried it in an external SCSI Plextor CD-R and an external Firewire 1394 DVD+R/RW drive. Music! No cables! Sweet! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theHammer Posted July 13, 2003 Author Share Posted July 13, 2003 RandomBox - Looks like I will not have to make that trip to the store Monday thanks to you. When I installed my new Plextor CD-RW I put it on the Secondary ID Port but moved my old CD/DVD to Slave and made the Plextor the Master (Plextor recommends (no explanation). I move the four pin audio cable from the Sound Blaster Live Value to the Plextor. Both drives play audio CD's just fine, one with, one without an audio cable.For your info this is on a Dell 8100 PIV running XP-Home. As for processing priority are you suggesting I should try to run audio disks on both drives at the same time and see who wins?Lastly tis interesting that the audio cable between Sound Blaster and CD/DVD came installed with this factory built computer. Why is Mr. Dell wasting that expensive 10" length of copper? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomBox Posted July 13, 2003 Share Posted July 13, 2003 Peachy, don't delay sending me that spare audio cable via email!Please be carefull with my post! *I think going thru the SoundCard may provide you the luxury of post editing moh bettuh! *Doing sound quality testing is a can of worms! Especially when all the hardware is of mediocre quality! Not that I mean that you have bad hardware for audio in your computer! But even when the equipment used is at the "audiophile" grade! The A/B testing has been debated for at least 3 decades and even with $100k systems, the question marks still linger!The sound quality with computers (and digital sound processing) have significantly improved over the years but ...................... nah, I am not getting into this conversation! My "golden ears" know better! Especially being a RecordingEngineer, Electrical Design Engineer, and an audiophile from the early stereo days! You guys can't fool me! Suffice it to say that I don't do much music listening via my computer and have not yet met an MP3 file that brought tears to my eyes as does my stereo system! gag me please!Why do you think I have a fly as an avatar? What is the buzzing I hear! TeeeHeeeHeee! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.