Digital and Analog Audio at the Same Time???

[The boy 4rm oz]

I am looking to upgrade my stereo system in my room to a full "Home Theater" set up by PHILIPS. With PHILIPS ceasing their export to Australia during this economic crisis I can get a $1000AUD system for $550AUD, so why not lol. The system I am looking at getting is the PHILIPS HTS3568DW/98.

Currently my audio system consists of a 2.0 Altec Lansing system (front speakers) and a Pioneer A390 mini HiFi system (rear speakers, via AUX connection).

This PHILIPS system I am looking at getting will connect to my PC via a Digital Coaxial connector which my motherboard has. I would really like to keep my Altec Lansing system as my front speakers cos they are perfect for hooking my headphones into plus they are really good speakers.

My question for you is, is it possible to connect my Altec Lansing speakers via an Analog connection and the PHILIPS system via a Digital Coaxial connector and still be able to play the same audio through both sets at the same time. I have a bad feeling that the Digital Coaxial connection will override the Analog signal.

I can't find anything in my motherboard manual about this nor on the website and DFI wont return my emails so I am turning to you guys.

I know you are probably thinking that I should ditch the Altecs but they are dear to me cos my late grandfather brought them for me plus they are awesome speakers and are very convenient.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

-Tb4o-

[Luke122]

I'm pretty sure that the output can only be one or the other, not both at the same time, but why not just try it out, and see what you get?

[The boy 4rm oz]

Yeah that's what I thought. I'll give it a shot, if it doesn't work it doesn't work, if it does it will be great.

I could have both sets plugged in and just turn off the home theater when I need to use the front speakers when I need to be "quiet" lol.

Thanks for your help Luke.

[Luke122]

Heh.. sorry that I wasnt more help on this one!

[TheMainMan]

I can't guarantee that this will always be the case but my system allows me to have my 5.1 speakers attached via a Toslink optical from the motherboard to the reciever, and when I plug my headphones into either the front or rear headphone port I have sound in both my headphones and the speakers.

My setup consists of a ASUS P5N32-E SLI mobo using the supplied PCI-e soundcard. The Toslink connects directly from the motherboard to an RCA RT2390 home theater reciever. I'm running Windows XP Pro and this seems to be the default behaviour as I haven't configured this.

If I can find a cable to hook up the digital coaxial connector to the reciever I will let you know if that works the same way but I assume that it should.
EDIT: Found a coaxial cable to test and it works the same way. I don't have another multi-channel system to see if the soundcard will support more than just headphones but I suspect it would. The only thing that I can think of that would cause your setup to behave differently would be the on-board audio as my mobo has only the digital connections and no built in mini-plug audio, so I can't test to be sure.

Hope some of this helps

[Luke122]

A regular RCA cable will work for that connector. If you mean an adaptor to go from the digital rca to optical, then I know those exist, and have seen them, but have no idea where to get it. Try www.crutchfield.com maybe..?

[TheMainMan]

I have both types of connectors on both the PC and the reciever, I just needed to go through my pile of cables to find an RCA cable of appropriate length.

My only concern is around the fact that I have no onboard audio on the motherboard except the digital, the analog is handled by a PCI-e 1x card that came with the mobo. My guess is that because they are different formats(i.e. digital vs. analog) it shouldn't be an either/or situation but rather one/both. I can't confirm this though.

[nevermind1534]

If you have onboard and a card, you should be able to only use one for the same thing at a time.

[TheMainMan]

I'm not sure I'm explaining myself well. In my system it is possible to have both a digital (Toslink or Digital Coaxial on the mobo) and an analog (headphones on the soundcard or front headphone jack). Here's what the back of my system looks like.

The way that ASUS designed the board means that my analog is on a seperate card (on the right) and the digital is on the mobo (next to the PS/2 ports). Both work simultaneously to outputting to different devices, though I'm not sure if this setup behaves typically or atypically to a standard onboard audio solution

In the end, I guess I'm with Luke122 on this. You'll just have to try it and see.

[The boy 4rm oz]

MainMan mine has the same layout as yours kinda. My Karajan audio module attaches to the motherboard as a module but it isn't like a sound card, it is like having a detachable USB brick on the rear of the motherboard. Both my digital in and out are set up like your Digital Coaxial and Digital Optical.

Well I went and got the system today, sounds fantastic. I got a 6m Coaxial cable made up to link it to my PC but I need to flip a jumper on the motherboard before it activates the Coaxial ports, a job for tomorrow perhaps.

The next thing I need to do is wall mount my speakers but I am afraid the cables aren't long enough. Usually I would just buy new leads but these have weird plastic connectors on the ends (link Molex plugs but only 2 pins). The rear speakers come with a wireless adapter so I may take advantage of that at a later date but at the moment I need to find out what those connectors are so I can make extensions lol.

Thank you all for your help. One I get the signal sorted coming from my PC I will let you know how it goes.