• 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

Identifying Your Receiver Inputs

Contents

  • 1. Introduction
  • 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: Analog Connection

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.

audio connectors on a motherboard (right) and ethernet + usb connectors (left)

How On-Board Audio Works

Learn how the sound card that comes embedded on your motherboard works.

motherboard

Which is the best motherboard for Coffee Lake CPUs?

We compared seven different motherboards for Intel eighth-gen (Coffee Lake) CPUs, to help you to choose which one is the best for you. Check it out!

RAM Install

Does more RAM make difference in gaming performance?

Does installing more RAM in your computer improves gaming performance? We tested some recent games with 4 GiB, 8 GiB, and 16 GiB to find out. Check it out!

How to Refill Epson Cartridges

Learn how to reset the Epson cartridge chip, allowing you to refill the cartridge.

hard disk components

Hard Disk Drives Capacity Limits

Your system doesn’t recognize your new hard drive’s full capacity? Learn all capacity barriers that you may face when installing a new hard disk drive on your system.

Footer

For Performance

  • PCI Express 3.0 vs. 2.0: Is There a Gaming Performance Gain?
  • Does dual-channel memory make difference on integrated video performance?
  • Overclocking Pros and Cons
  • All Core i7 Models
  • Understanding RAM Timings

Everything you need to know

  • Everything You Need to Know About the Dual-, Triple-, and Quad-Channel Memory Architectures
  • Everything You Need to Know About the SPDIF Connection
  • Everything You Need to Know About the Intel Virtualization Technology
  • Everything You Need to Know About the CPU C-States Power Saving Modes

Follow Us

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Instagram

Copyright © 2022 · All rights reserved - Hardwaresecrets.com
About Us · Privacy Policy · Contact