Help: Stereo / Balance Problem

[chunhoh]

Hi,

I've bought a pair of monitor speakers attached to an amplifier. My PC's soundcard has only one audio output, so I connected the output to a simple splitter which splits it into the red/white L/R cables entering the amplifier. Sounds are transmitted fine, but the thing is left/right panning from my computer no longer works after the sound enters the amplifier.

For example, if I adjust panning of an instrument from left to right in Cubase (or just simply panning a song in WinAmp), the sound does not move from left to right speaker, but rather, from loud (L) to no sound (R). Only if I manually adjust the Balance knob on the amplifier does panning on the speakers actually work.

If I plug headphones or PC speakers directly into the soundcard output jack, then panning works and I can hear instruments positioned correctly. But now if I go through the amp things get screwed up and the sounds are very odd.

How do I fix this problem? Is it because I shouldn't be using the red/white splitter directly on my PC's audio output port? What is the correct way of connecting the soundcard to amp?

Below is the connection:
PC SoundCard Output => Red/White Splitter => Red/White Cables => Amplifier Audio L/R In

Can you please advice?

[JWL]

You really need a sound card with at least two outputs-- one dedictated Left channel and one dedicated Right channel.

For the moment, you would do better to route the audio out of the headphone jack (stereo mini) to your amp/monitors (via Y adapter).

This isn't the cleanest signal in the world, but it will take care of your pan problem for the moment.

[chunhoh]

Thank you, the problem has been resolved. It appears that my multiple combinations of adapters/converters between the PC and amplifier messed up the signal and caused the stereo sounds to become mono. I bought a single cable that split from a headphone jack into red-white cables and everything worked well.