Audio guys, what do I need?
 

I just ordered this for my office: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

What do I need in order to connect it to my computer? I want to feed audio from my computers music, TV, and movies through the receiver and speaker system. I did not see an optical jack on my current soundcard. Will I need a new sound card? If so, which one? If not, what cables/method do I use?

without buying new soundcard, you will have to use something like this:

http://manual.audacityteam.org/m/ima...eoMini-RCA.jpg

A new sound card is about $75 from what I saw. Would it be worth the upgrade?

I really hate that they will not show prices until you put the thing in your cart - what a pain in the ass.

depends on what you are trying to do... if you are just going to watch youtube music videos... then I would just get a $3 cable...

if you are an audiophile, have a high quality music collection and some decent speakers to go with that receiver, then upgrading a soundcard is definitely worth it...

I bought these speakers: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I tend to watch most of my movies and TV in the office, so I would like a quality sound.

Check your videocard for a digital output. That should work.

HDMI from your video card to the receiver, then another HDMI from your receiver to your monitor. If you would have got one level up on the receiver you could have got network capability. Internet radio, browsing your MP3 collection using your receiver remote, etc.

Edit: I guess if you are just using the one computer you don't need the network capability. It comes in handy when you have a server on your network with all your media files on it, then you can access them all directly from the receiver without having to be directly connected to the PC.

Isn't that optical?

http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-D...al+audio+cable

You have a decent receiver and good speakers, but a shitty audio card? That's like having a Lambo and hot wife but no dick and only stumps for arms and legs.

Spend the extra and get a card that supports 5.1 output. My $40 card has 5.1 out, but I got it from NewEgg about a year ago.

Your video card will have some combination of hdmi, displayport, vga, and dvi. Hdmi is the only one that will work with that receiver. If you want ti be able to put a bluray in your pc and get dolby true hd on the receiver then hdmi is your only option. Forget toslink/optical, it doesnt support the newer higher bandwidth audio formats.

When connecting your pc to a receiver, a sound card is useless these days. The video card handles everything through hdmi. The exception is if you arent planning on using hdmi or dont have an hdmi capable receiver.

Below is what I see in Beats, not sure if this says anything about my computer or not. Will check the computer in a minute. Also the computer is currently connected to my monitor by HDMI, though that is probably from my video card?

http://i.imgur.com/DP4sEEJ.jpg

Youll need to change the default audio device to hdmi once you connect it to your receiver.

But he bought the receiver and not a 5.1 system for his computer. Yes, of course that would have been the ideal solution and even a bit cheaper, but maybe he has other plans.

He posted above he bought a set of 5.1 klipsch speakers to go with it.

Hi Sly,

Maybe you want to cancel your order. For an AV receiver it seems to be lacking in connectivity.

It looks like Woj is right - the only way to connect it to your computer is via old RCA audio cables if you just want audio. It as HDMI connectors so if your computer has an HDMI port you can give that a try.

What you really want is a more modern AV receiver that has USB, WiFi and Ethernet. Some new AV receivers let you stream music and video to it wirelessly, have built-in pandora etc.

This is what I would do, just cancel it and order a PC based system and better audio card.

You can plug a 5.1 system into a mono out but will sound like junk.

There's not a better pc based system out there, really.

All he needs to do is go hdmi to amp then hdmi from amp to monitor, then go into that beats audio panel, and select hdmi output.

Basically like you would do with a TV system. Digital cable box, receiver, then TV. In my case, computer, receiver, then monitor.

Does that sound correct?

Exactly the same as my interface, only difference is mine has an IDT logo on it. I thought Beats was this high end exclusive sound brand - they just slapped their logo on IDT software.