I need help finding a cheap DAC or converter

[physicsjunky]

I am currently using my motherboard's audio codec which is a Realtek S1200A Codec. I have two speakers on an Aux splitter and i'm looking to add a Klipsch R-12SW and it needs RCA inputs.
I can use Optical S/PDIF input or Aux input to RCA output DAC or converter. I am trying to avoid extra noise through the cables.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

I thought motherboards have a sub out, orange socket, which would be analogue signal. i am sure i have used the orange socket for a active sub.

 

[physicsjunky]

I'm sorry I meant AUX to RCA.

(EDIT) I can just use aux male to rca female can't I?

 

[Jetster]

5.1 sound card and a Mini jack to RCA cord
Also you may find a used AVR for $100 with HDMI and RCA out

 

[Carlyle2020hs]

I have an asus stxII tuned for the og klipsch 2.1
Only win10 capable.
Would that help?

 

[Ferather]

I'm curious, why only Win10 compatible? Its simply a 3.5mm to RCA cable. Based on the image left is the LFE channel, right is centre, just plug in white.

Edit: In addition, you will need to set Windows to 5.1 and untick side-rear and centre to get an independent .1 channel (LFE).
Not 100% sure that will work as I have not actually tested, worst case, windows downmixes 5.1 to 2.1.

Ideally you would want just 2.1, without any downmixing, hopefully it doesn't downmix.

 

[Carlyle2020hs]

The soundchip on that card does not play with windows 11 anymore, the web tells me.
Something that a modified driver cannot fix since it is a hardware level communcation issue as it seems.
Haven´t tried it myself.

 

[Ferather]

Realtek S1200A? That's news to me, in terms of driver Win11 is just another Win10 build.

Windows 10X - Wikipedia

 

[physicsjunky]

Realtek S1200A? That's news to me, in terms of driver Win11 is just another Win10 build.

Windows 10X - Wikipedia

The S1200A is Asus's cut down version of the S1220A codec.

 

[Chrispy_]

The S1200A is Asus's cut down version of the S1220A codec.

so your onboard audio can't do 5.1 in W11?

If so, just grab a $20 "5.1 USB external sound card" from Amazon or wherever and connect stuff up with whatever cables/adapters physically fit - it's all analogue out and until you hit balanced XLR outputs there's no audio/quality difference between 3.5mm, 1/4", and RCA - it's all just single-pair analogue connectivity.

On a side note, you'll probably be disappointed adding an analogue sub to speakers that aren't tuned for crossover. I've done it a couple of times and it was never quite right - lots of room modes and positional variance on the frequency curve because the two satellite speakers are full range and you're not connecting them to an amp or receiver with the necessary DSP to account for speaker size.

Don't let me stop you trying, you already have both the speakers and the sub, so it's a cheap experiment - but you might be better off selling your setup and investing in some nice 2.0 speakers with the bass you're looking for, or to go with a dedicated 2.1 matched setup with a crossover. Windows can be tweaked with something like Equaliser APO and RoomEQ Wizard, but it's not beginner-friendly to set crossovers and adjustments for the LFE to what I'd call studio-grade acceptable levels.

If you just want gunshots and explosions to be boomier then ignore everything I've just said, that sort of enhancement doesn't need any kind of accuracy.

 

[Ferather]

The S1200A is Asus's cut down version of the S1220A codec.

Indeed it is, my father has a S1200A, which is why I am asking @Carlyle2020hs about his posts. I have not heard of that being the case with S1200A and Win11 especially.

----

If your speakers are all RCA (white-red), you probably only really need 3.5mm to RCA cables, no splitter.

I am going to imagine the two speakers have one RCA input each, one is white, the other one red. I can see the Klipsch R-12SW has both white and red.
PC: You would plug a 3.5mm to RCA into rear green (Left-Right), and another 3.5mm to RCA into rear orange (Center-LFE).

A 3.5mm plug is stereo, two channels, whereas a single speaker is one channel (either white or red).
In the case of the Klipsch R-12SW, it has both, however white is labelled LFE.


Edit: For speaker separation with one cable you will either need to pull the plugs apart to split down the cable, or use mono extenders.

 

[physicsjunky]

Thanks for all the help I found something similar to that 3.5mm to RCA. I'm not to worried about sound quality just a speaker to push the bass that my current ones can't and it's just for fun.

I am slightly confused about the LFE and what it truly does.

 

[Ferather]

LFE stands for 'low frequency effect', generally up to 320 Hz maybe a bit more. Sound frequencies in that range (1-320) are removed from all other channels and placed into the LFE channel (crossover).
The LFE speaker is designed specifically to reproduce bass (low frequency) correctly (unlike a bookshelf speaker), and at the correct decibels (ideally 100% of original).

The easiest method of crossover would be for the LFE unit to accept the all RCA connections as input, crossover, then pass on RCA out to speakers.
With your S1200A, you will need software crossover, as the Klipsch R-12SW does not seem to have passthrough.

Personally I call LFE, low frequency emitter.

 

[Chrispy_]

LFE stands for 'low frequency effect', generally up to 320 Hz maybe a bit more. Sound frequencies in that range (1-320) are removed from all other channels and placed into the LFE channel (crossover).
The LFE speaker is designed specifically to reproduce bass (low frequency) correctly (unlike a bookshelf speaker), and at the correct decibels (ideally 100% of original).

The easiest method of crossover would be for the LFE unit to accept the all RCA connections as input, crossover, then pass on RCA out to speakers.
With your S1200A, you will need software crossover, as the Klipsch R-12SW does not seem to have passthrough.

Personally I call LFE, low frequency emitter.

I always saw LFE written as low frequency extension - in that your full range speakers will typically have frequency roll-off below (80Hz +/-20Hz depending on size and quality) The LFE is an extension of that low frequency as subs will typically extend that roll-off down to ~30Hz

Without hardware crossover filters, software DSP is the only way to get music reproduction sounding good because having bass frequencies from multiple-sources out of phase is going to result in a lot of constructive and deconstructive interference where, for example, 45Hz is practically inaudible and 48Hz is double the volume it's supposed to be. I've used a few DSPs and even though it's not the easiest to get started with, RoomEQ Wizard and EqualizerAPO is a good combo, mainly because it's free and once you've set it up for a room and speakers in a certain position, it doesn't need to be f***ed around with again. You'll probably spend somewhere between 30 minutes and a couple of hours learning the ropes though, depending on how much or little you know about frequency response and how Windows handles audio in general.

A hack that almost passes for a hardware crossover filter is if your bookshelf/satellites have treble/bass controls. Just use an online sine-wave generator and work out when your sub rolls off at the top of it's range, and then with the sub turned off or disconnected, lower the bass on the satellites until becomes audible at a similar volume to how the sub was playing it. You'll likely lose a bit of volume at that crossover frequency resulting in the classic "party" EQ effect of big bass and crisp treble, but it's better than horrible muddy bass that's all over the place even before accounting for room modes!

 

[Ferather]

What does the LFE channel mean? (Google, UK). True he will need software crossover (~100% L, ~100% R), I have an EAPO preset he setup, edit and can use here.



Remove the if (top). You can set Windows to 5.1 and mute-disconnect the extra channels using EAPO if you wanted.

 

[physicsjunky]

I have little knowledge about about how windows handles audio or software. I just plug stuff in and mess with the audio settings in windows.

My two speakers are the logitech x-240, and JBL onbeat venue.

 

[Ferather]

Right so you mean two speaker systems, not two speakers, I imagined a left and right speaker, not two systems. Now I understand the splitter. I will make some corrections.

So you are using a 3.5mm green out splitter for left-right on both X-240 and JBL, stay with that. The X-240 already has built in crossover for its LFE.
The extra added Klipsch R-12SW could in this case run from green (left-right), 3 way splitter, and use both white-red.
To get the orange out LFE channel on the sound card, you would need an extra 3.5mm to RCA.

The JBL unit will be the only unaffected unit in the green out situation, as there has not been any crossover filtering applied. You could ignore orange out.


Edit: If you choose the ignore orange out (LFE), set Windows to stereo full range. If there is a line-out from Klipsch R-12SW, plug JBL into that.

 

[Chrispy_]

Dumb question, how are these speakers spaced out? If you're splitting green-socket output to both the Logitech 2.1 and the JBL dock, you'd presumably have the Logitech satellites either side of your screen and the dock behind you with stereo L/R reversed.

If that's not the case, where are your speakers in relation to where you sit? Ideally you'd have left-channel audio coming from your left side and right-channel audio coming from your right side

 

[physicsjunky]

I'm currently going to be moving houses in a few months so the speaker position can change. The picture I am using is old but the JBL is in the same place just sitting on top of the Logitech sub.

The Klipsch R-12SW would have to go behind me in this current house. Don't mind the car freshener on top of the PC.

 

[Chrispy_]

Ah okay, if you're moving house in a couple of months nothing needed until then.
Looks like basically mono audio with everything so close together.

In the new place you either want to split the two logi satellites as far apart as their cable will let you, and use the JBL as rear satellites, or else you want to have the logi on one side of the room and the JBL on the opposite side of the room and split the 3.5mm stereo output into two mono lines with an adapter and feed one channel to each system, with the klipsch sub running as a dedicated sub. You should be able to set the speaker config to 2.1 like that.

These are only suggestions, but you have all the makings of a 4.1 surround system there. I'd personally stick the best sounding set at the front and use the other for surround.

 

[Ferather]

I agree with the 4.1 idea. Note in some cases you also need to set the Realtek app to 5.1 or 7.1 and then untick channels, as well as Windows.

 

[physicsjunky]

So what port would I plug the R-12SW in to?

 

[FoulOnWhite]

So what port would I plug the R-12SW in to?

If it's a active, sub, then orange

 

[Ferather]

R-12SW seems to both green, left-right, and orange, LFE, white only.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

R-12SW seems to both green, left-right, and orange, LFE, white only.

just connect the white from sub to orange on the board. You might need to work out which way to connect it from the orange from board as it has both the sub and centre output from it.