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I have the following:
Harmon Kardon AVR 20-II receiver
2 Sony SSB3000 speakers
my little netbook (Windows 7) and enormous (52,000-track) digital library of mostly jazz and folk on an external drive
I've never tried to set up a system with digital input, and I'm failing miserably.
What I've done:
speaker wire (bare wire) going from the speakers to the front speaker hookups on the receiver
jumpered main in and pre out for the front speakers using male-male RCA cables
converter going from the headphone jack on the netbook to the CD RCA plugs
downloaded new drivers so that the netbook now recognizes that "headphones" are plugged in
Absolutely nothing happens, not even a crackle from the speakers. Any brilliant ideas about what I might be missing? Not having music in my new place is going to make me nuts!
Follow Ups:
the digital to analog conversion with its built-in sound card and outputting an analog right and left channel audio signal. This would be connected to the CD or AUX inputs on the receiver NOT the digital input on the receiver. Also you mentioned quote, “jumpered main in and pre out for the front speakers using male-male RCA cables” why are you shorting these connections? You should only need the cable from the netbook computer plugged into the analog CD or AUX inputs on the Harmon Kardon AVR 20-II receiver and then speaker cables from the receiver's speaker output jacks or 5 way binding post connectors (whatever that receiver has some are just cheap spring clips) and then to the right and left speakers respectively. Make certain that the receiver is set to the CD or AUX source selection whichever one you connected the cable from the netbook computer to.
Additionally you wrote, “speaker wire (bare wire) going from the speakers to the front speaker hookups on the receiver” I hope you meant that only the ends of the speaker cable are bare wire connected to the speaker out binding posts on the receiver, the length of speaker wire itself should be insulated or else there will be a dead short between positive and ground and will fry the output transistors on the receiver.
Thanks for the ongoing help!
the digital to analog conversion with its built-in sound card and outputting an analog right and left channel audio signal. This would be connected to the CD or AUX inputs on the receiver NOT the digital input on the receiver.
The RCA ends of the cable are plugged into the CD inputs on the receiver.
Also you mentioned quote, “jumpered main in and pre out for the front speakers using male-male RCA cables” why are you shorting these connections?
The manual says that you need the jumpers if you aren't driving the speakers with an external amp. Since I don't have the jumper plugs, I'm using the RCA cables (suggested by an online source).
Make certain that the receiver is set to the CD or AUX source selection whichever one you connected the cable from the netbook computer to.
Definitely set to CD.
Additionally you wrote, “speaker wire (bare wire) going from the speakers to the front speaker hookups on the receiver” I hope you meant that only the ends of the speaker cable are bare wire connected to the speaker out binding posts on the receiver, the length of speaker wire itself should be insulated or else there will be a dead short between positive and ground and will fry the output transistors on the receiver.
I'm bad, but not that bad! Bare at the ends.
You need to find out if there is a signal coming out of your computer. Plug some headphones into the computer and see if you hear anything. If the computer is working correctly then your problem is in the HK receiver. Make sure the tape monitor switch in not engaged.
Again, thanks.
I did test with headphones, which is why I ended up having to download some new drivers. That now works fine. Tape monitor switch is off.
Sigh.
Since you're using a receiver, check to see if the tuner produces any sound from your speakers. If not, you've got problems in the receiver.
If you can connect your headphones to the preamp out that you've connected to the front amplifier input with male-to-male RCAs, it will tell you whether the problem is in the preamp section or the amplifier section of your receiver. In other words, disconnect the male-to-male RCAs and see if you can use an adapter to connect your headphones to the preamp out. If you don't hear anything in the headphones, then you are not sending a signal to the amplifier section of your receiver.
Good luck,
John Elison
"converter going from the headphone jack on the netbook to the CD RCA plugs"
What "converter" are you using?
The headphone out is an analog output. To access the analog output for playback on a stereo system, an adapter is used (stereo RCA to 1/8" aka 3.5mm connector). Some laptop/netbook headphone outputs also have an optical digital output that can be accessed when a mini-TOSLINK cable is used on their headphone output.
By "CD RCA plugs", do you mean the inputs on the HK receiver marked "CD Input"?
Have you turned up the netbook's volume control? The software you are using to play back the music should have a volume slider (Windows Media Player -- bottom, iTunes -- top left, etc) and this is usually set to max/100% volume. The netbook itself may also have a volume control that's part of an audio driver and/or audio software.
Many receivers give you the option to assign a connection type to each input. Go into the HK's menu and look to see if the CD input is set to analog or digital. If you have sound coming out of the headphone output from the netbook, selecting CD player on the HK should get you sound if it's set to analog -- but not digital.
Thank you so much.
Volume is up everywhere, and the cable I called a converter is the headphone to RCA cable.
You need to find out if there is a signal coming out of your computer. Plug some headphones into the computer and see if you hear anything. If the computer is working correctly then your problem is in the HK receiver. Make sure the tape monitor switch in not engaged.
Good luck,
John Elison
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