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Topic: Possible to use both coaxial and 3.5mm stereo jack in system? (Read 2740 times) previous topic - next topic
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Possible to use both coaxial and 3.5mm stereo jack in system?

Hey guys I'm a total newb when it comes to home audio. I have a hodgepodge mixture of gear that I'm trying to hook up in order to create a 6.1 system. Unfortunately, I don't know if it's possible to run ouputs from both coaxial to the receiver (w/ four speakers) and a 3.5mm stereo jack (to two speakers + sub) from my sound card.

Here's what I own:

Front -- Audioengine A5
Side -- Klipsch floorstanding
Rear -- Pioneer CS-99
Sub -- Polk RM6800
Sound card -- HT Omega Striker 7.1
Receiver -- Onkyo TX SR-602

Why do I need both coaxial and stereo? Well, maybe I don't, I'm not sure, but the A5s only have a 3.5mm line-in jack (as well as an RCA line out). The sub has an RCA line-in with which I connect to the sound card via an RCA>3.5mm cable. For the four floorstanding speakers I'd like to use coaxial or optical since it'll be much easier to hook up. Is it possible to use both inputs?

Essentially the front + sub will go from PC>sound card>speakers while the other four speakers will go PC>coaxial>receiver>speakers. Is there a way to connect everything through coaxial? I guess I could purchase two more RCA>3.5mm cables, but then I have additional cables and I'm sure sound quality will suffer slightly as well.
 

Possible to use both coaxial and 3.5mm stereo jack in system?

Reply #1 –
If you can configure you soundcard's 3.5mm output for "center" or left/right front, you should be OK.  Otherwise, all the surround channel audio will be mixed-down to stereo. 


I'm not sure about a "6.1 system"...  For 5.1 you need 3 speakers across the front, plus 2 in the rear.  For 7.1 add 2 side speakers.  (You can use a pair of speakers close-together as the front-center.)

The powered subwoofer should connect as usual to a line-level subwoofer output from the receiver.

You can probably get-by with connecting the receiver's center speaker outputs to you "powered" Audioengine speakers by simply turning-down the speaker gain/volume.  Or, you can use something like this.