I set up an HTPC with an Onkyo receiver for a friend of mine connected via HDMI and digital coaxial (Onkyo model does not support HDMI audio. which isn't a huge deal AC3 passthrough works fine from HTPC).

We just recently installed some speakers on his porch and hooked them up to the B speakers on the receiver. Everything works fine out of the B speakers except for the digital coming from the HTPC. After doing some googling i realized most receivers only allow an analog signal to be output to the B speakers.

This means he can't listen to anything from the HTPC on his porch which is obviously a big issue.

The mobo has built in realtek audio and the ONLY thing i can think of to solve this issue is hooking up an analog output from the HTPC into the receiver and manually switching the HTPC sound output from digital to analog every time he wants to listen to his HTPC on the B speakers on the porch. This is kind of a hassle.

Is there anyway to make the computer output both analog and digital so all we have to do is switch the receiver to an analog input to hear both A and B speakers? I realize I will just be getting stereo to the receiver but it's just for music. For movies digital will be used for AC3 pass-through to the receiver to get 5.1. Any ideas?

10/11/2009 2:45:32 PM

My Dell laptop outputs both stereo and S/PDIF concurrently. I think the PCMCIA soundcard does the same (although the LED output is in the stereo jack). Just make sure that S/PDIF is enabled in Windows and see what happens. Another solution would be a real A/B switch provided that the receiver can handle 4 ohms output loading.

10/12/2009 1:46:48 AM

For an A/B switch to work the receiver would have to have a digital out right? I don't think it does. I doubt the monitor/rca outs output anything digital from the receiver.

10/12/2009 3:35:15 PM

n/m my idea won't work

[Edited on October 13, 2009 at 9:55 AM. Reason : d]

10/13/2009 9:47:07 AM

I mean a real physical A/B switch. Like get two knife switches from Radioshack and mount them on a board with 2 binding posts input and 4 binding posts output. You won't need 5.1 on the porch, so just use the left/right front channels.

10/13/2009 8:39:21 PM

oooh so just jump that right off the front A speakers? That would work. Don't know how the wattage would work on there unless i amplified it.

10/13/2009 8:44:12 PM

Well, here's your choice. If you have matched impedance speakers, they split the power if both pairs play at once. If you switch between pairs, no volume changes are needed.

Radioshack carries basic selector switches such as:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3081857
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062682

If you wanted to play through both speakers, you could use two of the top switch (use them as on/off). You can also use relays to make a neat speaker control box (although not passive anymore).

10/13/2009 9:16:21 PM