Team-BHP - 3.5mm to RCA cable for audio, which one?

I am planning to use ASUS D2X sound card in my car.

It has 3.5mm Stereo output plug, so I would need either
A 3.5mm stereo to RCA cable (with 3m cable) - preferable or
A 3.5mm stereo to RCA splitter and a long RCA cable

It needs to be noted that this sound card has the output plugs very close to each other (look at the picture), which means 2 plugs with fat pins cannot be plugged next to each other :(

Please advise that considering my setup (Audison LRx4.300 & LRx1.400 + Hertz HSK165 + Adire Brahma 15" Sealed Sub) which RCA cables should I go for? Currently I am using Scosche RCAs from my HU to amps.

I do not want to unnecessarily splurge on the cables but I hear that at least decent RCAs are a must. so please advice.

No bhai, I am not selling the card or anything. You have to order and this is the cable: Interlink® Portable 400 MkII Bandwidth Balanced Stereo RCA to 1/8 Mini

Note: Please never Trust me and consult other high end audiophiles before buying this cables. I am not ready to discuss about any technologies used by monster to receive one more infraction in this thread. I have tried MX, Belkin, NAX and Monster Stereo to RCA Cables and using MKII. Use it at your own risk! (But I hope you don't get a 3m MKII, I have 1.5m costed me $40 and its enough for my setup. Have you tried XLO/Audioquest?)

I don't use rear fills as of now, but with Carputer coming in, I would be going for 4.1 sound (for movies, etc), so rear fills will be added. Nothing great just some regular stuff for rear. May be later I might move Hertz HSk165 back and get something better for fronts.

But I didn't understand, how will having or not having rear fills change the connections.

Thanks LBM_J, I saw your thread and that is one option I am considering. Just wanted to have few options also to look at :)
Do you think the regular 3.5mm plugs will fit comfortably on ASUS card, or is there a space constraint to need thin case 3.5mm plugs?

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Do you think the regular 3.5mm plugs will fit comfortably on ASUS card, or is there a space constraint to need thin case 3.5mm plugs?

Its based on the cable. MX and Monster wont fit. You may need an extender like icablelink. Dont use MX/Local cables for that. Also make sure, you dont need for all cables, one will fit if the nearest pin is extended.

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I would be going for 4.1 sound (for movies, etc)

There is nothing called 4.1 surround in the world. its 4.0 surround with derived LFE. Am I right? (But AC3 filter or foobar or Asus xonar or allocator will do it for you)

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I don't use rear fills as of now,

But if you dont use Rear, do you planned to derive .1(LFE) from front? I am sorry, what you meant by Rear fill here? Is it the back surround in 7.1? Or the rear speakers in 5.1?

I have limited knowledge about audio world, so please excuse my wrong notations...

By 4.1 I meant that there will be 4 component speakers and 1 sub. I understand that the soundcard or the software would let me create a phantom (virtual) 5th speaker to give 5.1 effect.

I looked at that cable but for me 4.5ft (and I guess even 7') cable won't be sufice. My carputer will be under the front drivers seat and the amps are way back in the boot (of a Civic).

Ideally I would want to avoid the extender also, I would like to have as few connections between the soundcard and the amp as possible.

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I understand that the soundcard or the software would let me create a phantom (virtual) 5th speaker to give 5.1 effect.

Yes, Xonar will downmix 5.1 into 4.0 surround, not 4.1 surround. You need to derive the sub from Front or Rear out using LFE effect. You can bypass this process, if you are using software based cross-over like allocator and you can use 4.1 out from your sound card (Its actually 5.1, but you can Dump/disconnect the front channel by routing to front L+R)

To derive the sub(.1) you need to MIX the low frequencies to rear channel and High Pass Rear channels using Amp' cross-over, then pass this mixed frequencies to another amp where you can Low pass the input to derive the subwoofer. So you need only 4 channels out from your sound card.

But for pure sound quality, I recommend you a software based crossover. So you can use 5 channels from your sound card.

Also dont worry about your centre speaker much. Its not important in a car. You need to worry about your Subwoofer. How do you want to feed your sub? Are you always playing 5.1 source, Or you are a kind of person still loving the pure stereo world? Do you like Dolby Pro Logic with Music?

So decide one:

1. Pure Stereo in front + rear with Derived LFE sub (I hope there is no 2.1 Music sources available for an end user)
2. No derived sub, Downmixing 5.1 to 4.1 by routing the exact Low frequencies from the source and with Phantom center speaker
3. No stereo lover, Need UPmix like Neo, Pro Logic II, CMSS, SRS with LFE

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I looked at that cable but for me 4.5ft (and I guess even 7') cable won't be sufice. My carputer will be under the front drivers seat and the amps are way back in the boot (of a Civic).

Then you need something like this: http://budgetgamer.files.wordpress.c...-headphone.jpg

But dont ask me where you missed the sound quality even if you used some $200 RCA Cables.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lbm_jennifer

To derive the sub(.1) you need to MIX the low frequencies to rear channel and High Pass Rear channels using Amp' cross-over, then pass this mixed frequencies to another amp where you can Low pass the input to derive the subwoofer. So you need only 4 channels out from your sound card.

This is what I am doing in my current setup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lbm_jennifer

But for pure sound quality, I recommend you a software based crossover. So you can use 5 channels from your sound card.

This is what I intend to do.

So far I have not experience good quality multi-channel music, so my assumption is I would stay with Pure Stereo in front + rear with Derived LFE sub for Audio (but I would definitely want to try UPmix like Neo, Pro Logic II, CMSS, SRS with LFE around).

For Video, I would want to down mix 5.1 to 4.1 by routing the exact Low frequencies from the source and with Phantom center speaker.

I guess with Carputer it should be possible to have multiple configurations on few touchscreen clicks :)

PS:
The discussion is very interesting and please continue your posts in my carputer thread. My Carputer thread is here.

This thread is getting off topic.
Please post only 3.5mm RCA cable related posts here, still looking out for the right cable :(

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Please post only 3.5mm RCA cable related posts here, still looking out for the right cable :(

Have you already purchased the sound card? If not I recommend you HDAV Deluxe which has RCA connectors (- so you dont need any 3.5mm converters) also with PAP hardware for legal DTS-MA/TrueHD decoding (- so you dont need any illegal Slyplayers): Asus Xonar HDAV 1.3 sound cards released

Note: Never forget to throw away the 4 RCA to stereo cables bundled with Xonar HDAV. You dont need it in a car, Am I right? http://media.bestofmicro.com/L/G/178...dav-deluxe.jpg

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