Help me with my A/V projector setup - details inside!

Hey folks. I'm at university, in the dorms, and I request some help setting up my audio and video stuff.

Here's what I have:

1. Projector

The projector accepts VGA input (best, common PC type) and composite input (okay, single yellow RCA cable) and S-video (not as good, very old standard)

2. Subwoofer

The sub is simple, it takes a single RCA input.

3. Bookshelf stereo speakers

These have standard speaker wire connectors.

4. PC (video source)

This is where my content rests. I have my personal DVD rips, some blu ray rips, iTunes movies, etc. There are two major connection methods from the PC

4a. PC motherboard connection

3x 3.5mm audio output for 5.1 (6 channel) audio

4b. Graphics card connection

Graphics card contains 2 DVI connectors, 1 HDMI, and 1 Displayport

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How do I set this up? I'm sort of confused as far as how to go about connecting my PC to my projector and my speakers. I need the video to be analog, and the audio to make it to the speakers. That's it. The cheaper the better.

I think maybe I just need a simple DVI->VGA adapter, and then a VGA cable, for video.

For audio, I need to get some sort of receiver, but it needs to be cheap. I wouldn't mind getting a 5.1 or greater receiver that I can grow into...

All help appreciated.

 

You will need a reciever for the speakers. Well technically speaking just an AMP.

But something that takes RCA inputs and has the subwoofer low level out.

Then use a 3.5mm headphone into dual RCA y cable to hook the PC audio out to the audio in of the amp/reciever.

For video your video card should have VGA... probably came with a DVI --> VGA adapter. Put that on and hook it up via VGA. If it truly has no adapter and you have to use digital your in for a very expensive digital/analog converter.

For your receiver, they go on sale all the time, but you can try a pawn shop or something for a used on.

I personally use the same kind of setup just no projector instead I have 3 monitors and a TV hooked up.

 

All AVRs of the past decade will probably have SPDIF inputs. I'd definitely hook up your laptop with a digital output of some kind if your laptop supports it. You want the higher-quality DAC in the AVR to do the converting instead of the laptop doing it. Also, this means you can use a digital audio cable, which will be much more forgiving for long cable runs when compared to analog.

Don't spend more on a receiver than you did on your speakers. For a smaller set-up, I think that is a good rule of thumb to warn you that you could have better audio quality for the price.

 

This sounds really good. I was mainly a little skeptical that the DVI ports were carrying that analog compatibility signal, but I suppose they are. I don't have the adapter, but I can get one really cheap. I'll do that. The only problem is that I'm a little bothered that I can't get digital audio to the receiver using this method. I'd like to do that if possible.

Technically I can send the audio out over HDMI. However, I am not sure that I can do that while also sending the video out over analog DVI...

As far as the warning about better quality for the price, could you elaborate? What are you comparing this against? How do I get better quality for the price, and what will it be better than? I may actually have a SPDIF output on my computer. That carries digital audio? I could go that route.

 

I doubt that will be possible as a single HDMI connection with audio will only let you use digital DVI over the same connection. Just stick with the SPDIF for audio and use a DVI-VGA adapter as Viscous said.

Monoprice is a good place to go if you need one. Also, they have good quality SPDIF cables too.
VGA/DVI/HDMI Adapters

Well, I just mean that the speakers will always be the largest factor in audio quality so one shouldn't overspend on the receiver. Of course, it depends on your speakers and if you have upgrading in mind, which can be an exception.

 

I'm looking at the receiver sort of like a motherboard and power supply. Basically, you have to get one that's decent that meets the requirements of my parts (the speakers and sub can take a certain amount of power), and has the right feature set, but there isn't going to be much performance difference between receivers compared to the differences between speakers.

Except that the receiver does have some amplification going on, which will affect the sound, but it's still less important than getting good speakers.

Is this what you're trying to say?

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SPDIF connection is confirmed, I can use that indefinitely while I have my 2.1 sound setup, which is great.

Then I can have video separately via displayport -> VGA or maybe DVI -> VGA if it's supported.

 

You're absolutely right about a lot the extra features adding to the price. Definitely get the feature set you want.

I was more referring to the receivers at different price brackets, rather than differences in feature sets. A pricier receiver, aside from the features, can sometimes imply a better digital-to-analog converter and better integrated amplifier. That will of course determine the quality and fidelity of the signal the speakers have to output. However, better speakers will make normal DACs sound better than a super-DAC will make normal speakers sound better.

This is also a good reason to use a SPDIF rather than an analog stereo connection from your laptop, even when just listening to mp3s. The conversion and amplification abilities of any receiver will be better than that of a laptop's on-board sound.

 

Do not be so concerned with the digital signal, until your speakers & amp are in a expensive audiophile range there is no reason to worry about the digital vs analog.

If you want highest SQ at the lowest price, get a cheap DAC/AMP and use headphones.

I have speakers & amp worth about $600 and I cant tell the difference between analog & digital when listening on my speakers. It's all analog actually just a matter if the DAC is your PC soundcard, or is it part of the receiver.

I use an ICON HDP as my DAC to pas to my Receiver these days

 

this isn't for a headphone setup- it's for a 2.1. I already have my headphone setup with a USB DAC that I like, and some reasonable balanced headphones in the $150 range, that don't have Dr. Dre in their name.

this has been really good help so far. I need a little more help:

at this point I have the video end of things taken care of. what I would like is some help finding a cheap 2.1 DAC/AMP on eBay or amazon, and getting the proper SPDIF cable.

This is my port in the upper left (sorry for the blurry image)



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TL;DR

1. Need to know what cable to get to fit the port shown

2. Need to find an amp/dac/receiver that supports the same SPDIF cable as an input, and then has at minimum outputs for 2 speakers (speaker level wire outputs) and also a subwoofer (line level RCA type output)

if i could get help with #1 and #2, I would be set. Thanks!

 

Why not use the headphone out of the DAC and send it to the AMP its the same thing without the redundancy of a 2nd dac better yet if it has a line out.

USB is digital, just not quite as high a sample rate as spdif, but if your music is not 24bit what does it matter, nor does it matter without super high end speakers.

If you do not like the idea of having a amped output and want line level out, you can invest in something nice like what I use the HDP.

http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/iconhdp/index.php

It has pre-amp output, headphone amp, line selection etc all in a nice small package.

A cheaper solution if you want a 2nd dac is the uDAC2 that I use for my laptop it can go USB --> RCA out to your amp.

http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/iconudac2/

As for amps... I use a home theater amp right now but one day may downsize to another NuForce product

http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/icon2/index.php

Looks sweet, has sub out, dac, speaker amp, headphone amp, etc. Can replace my bulky 5.1 theater reciever with a nice low power dedicated high end 2.1 setup.

 

How do I connect my sub and speakers to these?

My speakers each have 2 speaker wire inputs, and here is my sub:

 

That sub has high & low level input so it can use speaker wire and pass it out to your speakers or you can have a low level out to it via rca.

 

I wanted to send it the line level input, I heard it was better to do it that way. Depends on how expensive your amp is I suppose. I think it may also bypass some of the filters on the sub if you connect that way.

Anyway, thanks a bunch for your help everyone. I ended up ebaying a sony receiver with 5 speaker level outputs, a dedicated sub line level output, and digital toslink inputs - for $70. It's both the DAC and the Amp, and it can connect everything in a pretty straightforward way, with less cable worries than the alternative (multiple devices). This is basically right in line with what you were suggesting in general as far as I can tell. Much appreciated. +rep to both of you

 

Yeah I go low level, only use speaker level if you have too or if it is going to aid in your wiring setup.