Help! Connecting PC to HT??? (1 Viewer)

[Dimitri H]

I have my PC in one room (running XP), and HT in another (my A/V receiver is a Denon 3802). I just discovered the joys of using a PC jukebox for music, and would like to take advantage of it by connecting it to my HT and having a huge assortment of music available without having the change music cd's.

I will have to wire through the walls and attic between the two rooms. What kind of cable would I use for this? Is it economically feasible? Also, I'm assuming I would be using a typical RCA jack to connect between my sound card and the receiver (??), but is there a wall jack to facilitate this?

Sorry about the ignorance of this message - but it is posted in the Basics Area. Thanks in advance for any input!

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Dimitri,

The cabling you use will depend on the outputs on your soudcard (obviously). If your card has RCA outs- you can just wire RCA on both ends- if not- you might need some adapters.

You can, as you suggested, run a couple lines of wire through your wall and terminate both sides with a wall jack (Parts Express sells great termination plates and connectors for this type of thing- if you're interested let me know and I'll post part numbers for you!).

Another option which would save you some headaches is going wireless. There are several decent 900mhz audio transmitter systems out there- and if you're starting with MP3 in the first place- I'm imagining any slight quality issues from transmitting 900mhz will be not too big of a deal.

But if you wanna do cabling- what you could do to keep it nice would be to run some coax (like RG6) through the walls- and route the cable in each room to a gang box (like for an outlet). You can get stuff from Parts Express for the panels, connectors and plates to make them look like wall outlets. Then you just route audio from the PC to the wall plate in the PC room and at the other end just run an RCA cable set from the wall plate to the receiver.

-vince

 

[Dimitri H]

Thanks for the reply Vince. Your message is opening up a whole new world for me. Have you tried a 900mhz transmitter system? I am a little concerned about the quality, but considering my soundcard isn't all that robust I may be worrying needlessly. And for $50, it's worth a try.

 

[Dimitri H]

Vince, can you give me any 900mhz transmitter recommendations? Also, if I go the Coax route (that you mentioned above), there are connectors to convert from coax to RCA (or to the smaller jack that my soundcard facilitates)? Thanks again - I think I'll also post in the PC area to see if anyone uses the wireless transmitter.

 

[Vince Maskeeper]

Sorry for the confusion:
You can buy bulk RG6 coax wire at radio shack and put on your own RCA connectors (this is what I meant). The advantage is obviously buying in bulk (since you never know how much you'll need for an in wall install like that), RG6 is harty over long distances, and it's pretty cheap.

So what I figured you could do, if you wanted to terminate with panels on each end, would be to buy a bulk roll of cable, and crimp on your own RCA connectors. These would connect to the rear side of the panel recepticle, and you would have a set of female RCA jacks on your wall- one set in the computer room and one set near the receiver.

So you're diagram would be something like this:

Computer Output>
1/8th inch male stereo to pair RCA female adapter ($3 any radio shack #274-369 or #274-883)>
Set of stereo RCA cables>
RCAs in wall plate near Computer (can post part #'s if needed)>
2 runs of cable in the wall with RCA males on each end>
RCAs in wall plate near receiver(can post part #'s if needed)>
Set of stereo RCA cables>
Receiver Input

-Vince

 

[Dimitri H]

Thanks again. I think I'll try the wiring solution you described. I have a digital audio output on my soundcard so I'm hoping to retain a decent sound on my HT. I won't even need a plate at my HT (I have all of my speaker wire running through a large plate in the wall - I can just include the coax and convert it there).