• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Hardware Secrets

Hardware Secrets

Uncomplicating the complicated

  • Case
  • Cooling
  • Memory
  • Mobile
    • Laptops
    • Smartphones
    • Tablets
  • Motherboard
  • Networking
  • Other
    • Audio
    • Cameras
    • Consumer Electronics
    • Desktops
    • Museum
    • Software
    • Tradeshows & Events
  • Peripherals
    • Headset
    • Keyboard
    • Mouse
    • Printers
  • Power
  • Storage
  • Video

How To Connect Your PC to Your Home Stereo or Home Theater

Learn how to hook your PC to your stereo or receiver in order to enhance you audio experience while playing games, watching videos, listening to music or even editing audio.

Home » How To Connect Your PC to Your Home Stereo or Home Theater

Intro

Contents

  • 1. Intro
  • 2. Identifying Your Receiver Inputs
  • 3. Analog Connection
  • 4. Coaxial Digital Connection
  • 5. Optical Digital Connection

How about connecting your PC to your home stereo or even to your home theater in order to get a better audio for your games, videos and audio files? In this tutorial we will show you how to make this connection using regular analog connection and also digital connection (both coaxial and optical, also known as SPDIF).
The first thing you need to check is what kind of connection both your PC and receiver support. You can hook your PC to your stereo or home theater system using three kinds of connection:

  • Analog connection: This is the standard connection all PCs have. If your PC and your sound system don’t have digital connection, this is the connection you will use.
  • Digital connection (coaxial): Use a single RCA-RCA cable. Because it is digital, no noise is produced. Not all PCs have this kind of connection.
  • Digital connection (optical): Uses a fiber optic cable. This is the best connection available. Not all PCs have this kind of connection.

To discover what kind of connections your PC supports, take a look at its back and compare it to Figure 1.

back of PC tower connections with arrows and text
Figure 1: PC connections.

As we mentioned, all PCs have analog audio output. This output is green and labeled line out or speaker out. Digital outputs are optional.

Coaxial digital audio output uses a female RCA connector (usually yellow or orange) and labeled “SPDIF Out” or “Digital Out” or similar. Pay attention because some video cards also have a yellow RCA output that is used by composite video output. Since this video output is available on the video card, it is found besides the video output connector (15-pin female blue connector), on the same metallic plate.

As you can see in Figure 1, the yellow female connector is located on a different metallic plate from the video card, so it is digital audio output, not composite video output.

By the way, the other two connectors found on the same I/O bracket where the digital outputs are located in Figure 1 (one is orange and the other is blue) are the center/subwoofer and rear outputs, which are used by analog surround PC speakers. These outputs are not used to connect your PC to your home stereo or home theater system.

Optical digital audio output is the easiest one to find, as it uses a very unique connector, which is black and squared, as you can see in Figure 1.

Some high-end motherboards have on-board digital audio outputs, so in this case the location of the digital audio connectors won’t be on an I/O bracket like the example we are giving in Figure 1, but soldered to the motherboard and next to the keyboard connector.

Continue: Identifying Your Receiver Inputs

Audio Tutorials

Primary Sidebar

As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, this site may earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn commissions on purchases from other retail websites.

How to Avoid Scams on Facebook Marketplace Once and For All

Social media scams generate more than 770 million US dollars in losses in the US alone, and it’s … [Read More...] about How to Avoid Scams on Facebook Marketplace Once and For All

AMD EPYC from Zen1 to Zen4. How it will change the CPU market?

AMD, together with Intel, is one of the major processor manufacturers known in today's market. … [Read More...] about AMD EPYC from Zen1 to Zen4. How it will change the CPU market?

Valorant Phoenix Tips & Tricks You Have to Know

The Phoenix character in Valorant is one of the most amazing to play. Being aggressive, Phoenix will … [Read More...] about Valorant Phoenix Tips & Tricks You Have to Know

Footer

For Performance

  • About
  • Contact
  • Articles
  • Editorials
  • First Look
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • Privacy

Everything you need to know

  • Everything You Need to Know About the Dual-, Triple-, and Quad-Channel Memory Architectures
  • What You Should Know About the SPDIF Connection (2022 Guide)
  • Everything You Need to Know About the Intel Virtualization Technology
  • Everything You Need to Know About the CPU Power Management

Copyright © 2023 · All rights reserved - Hardwaresecrets.com
About Us · Privacy Policy · Contact