You could use that cable to connect one output to two different inputs.

But you cannot connect two audio outputs directly together into one input and expect it to work. Most likely it won't break anything though.

(An analogy, you cannot have two amplifiers connected to one speaker at the same time).

What you need is a switch to select between sound card A and sound card B to be connected to your speaker system. Or a mixer if you need to sum the audio together and hear both at once.

Just use a regular 3.5mm stereo male-male cable and chain one cards' output to the other one's line in. Then just adjust the mixers accordingly. I strongly advise against doing what you did... you are shorting two outputs and that can be harmful and definately won't work 100%.

You could probably use a resistive mixer. It will attenuate the level to some extent but it should work.

1
2A O----/\/\/\/-----
3                   |
4                   +--O out
5                   |
6B O----/\/\/\/-----
7

Yes some of the output from A will go into the output of B and some of the output of B will go into the output of A
but going through two resistors should prevent damage.

I bought a set of desktop speakers back in 2000 (Gateway 2000, made by Altec Lansing Multimedia) that has two line inputs at the back (Source A & Source B). It even has a subwoofer connection but, I never used it.
That way, I can play back two audio (stereo) sources at the same time through the speakers.
However, I don't use it for that purposes. I actually have two PC's that are connected to the same set of speakers.
So, when I start the one PC and then switch over to the other one, I don't have to unplug my cables all the time.

alexanrs wrote:

Just use a regular 3.5mm stereo male-male cable and chain one cards' output to the other one's line in. Then just adjust the mixers accordingly. I strongly advise against doing what you did... you are shorting two outputs and that can be harmful and definately won't work 100%.

Well, if that's the case, then I really don't see any reason to keep these splitters now. I could of course look into some other solutions, but because of my budget, it's really not worth my time. I'll just go back to what I usually do best with using two sound cards for both Windows and DOS.

What I am actually wondering is what I could do with something like an SB16 for DOS and a Live! for Windows when I have a 4 speaker set. It does work at it is, but since I plug the front speakers into the SB16 and the rear speakers into the rear output on the Live! and then chain the Live!'s front output into the SB16's Line In, the rear speaker tends to sound fainter than actually plugging the speaker set into the Live! directly. Any thoughts on that?

jesolo wrote:

I bought a set of speakers back in 2000 (Gateway 2000) that has two line inputs at the back (Source A & Source B). It even has a subwoofer connection but, I never used it.

I may have to look into those in the future, if it's not gonna degrade the hardware of course.

You'll want to use something like one of these:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Altoids-Tin-18-Stereo-Mixer/

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/ho … s=REG&A=details

AllUrBaseRBelong2Us wrote:

You'll want to use something like one of these:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Altoids-Tin-18-Stereo-Mixer/

'
That's just a resistive mixer exactly as I had suggested

DoomGuy II wrote:

What I am actually wondering is what I could do with something like an SB16 for DOS and a Live! for Windows when I have a 4 speaker set or more. It does work at it is, but since I plug the front speakers into the SB16 and the rear speakers into the rear output on the Live! and then chain the Live!'s front output into the SB16's Line In. the rear speaker tends to sound fainter than actually plugging the speaker set into the Live! directly. Any thoughts on that?

How is the rear speakers fainter if they are connected directly to the SBLive in both cases? I mean, even normally the front outputs of the Live! are louder (and lower quality) than the rear output, but you can usually lower the front speakers untill everything matches, and then control the volume through the speakers directly. Making sure the SB16 has its amp turned off should also help even things a little. IMHO you should set the SB16 main volume to 75%, then play a tune in both SB16 and Live's rear channel and match their volume (adjusting the Live only). Then match the Live's front channel by juggling with the Live's front channel level and the SB16 Line In level. Once everything matches just write the levels down in case something messes with the mixers (games, Winamp, etc.).

smeezekitty wrote:

AllUrBaseRBelong2Us wrote:

You'll want to use something like one of these:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Altoids-Tin-18-Stereo-Mixer/

'
That's just a resistive mixer exactly as I had suggested

Yep