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Office Sound Systems

Q&A: Can I have two sound cards on my computer? One playing itunes the other playing regular stuff that I surf?

Mar 14th, 2012
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Question by gefrie: Can I have two sound cards on my computer? One playing itunes the other playing regular stuff that I surf?
I have a laptop that has an integrated sound card. If I plug an aux output to my office sound system, I can play music via itunes and stream it onto the office sound system. Of course the integrated speakers are shut down automatically when I plug in the aux input into the headphones plug.

The down side is that if I surf onto websites that use sound like youtube, the whole office hears the sound blended in with the office music.

If I buy an external usb sound card, can I direct itunes to use that sound card instead of the integreated soundcard/speakers and therefore have a computer with two different sound ouputs at the same time?

Best answer:

Answer by relaxification
Windows typically doesn’t like to have 2 soundcards functioning at once. A better plan would be to get a soundcard with 4 channels, and then route WAV playback to 3/4 and keep everything else on 1/2.

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Silverdale tech companies get big federal contracts

Jan 27th, 2012
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BAW’s Home Office
office sound systems

Image by bayareabaw
This home office of mine has been evolving for about six years, with a list of equipment that currently includes:

• 3 printers (HP LaserJet, HP portable inkjet & Dymo label)
• 2 LaCie backup drives (USB & Firewire)
• LightScribe CD/DVD Burner/Player
• 2 scanners (ScanSnap & Epson)
• tape deck, turntable & sound system (connected into the computer)
• EyeTV digital television tuner
• 2 Belkin 7-port USB hubs
• 20" Dell monitor
• MacBook
• Plantronics USB headset for dictation/Skype
• Panasonic wireless phone
• chargers for cell phone, Bluetooth headset & Palm

My challenge has been how to arrange so much essential gear in a small space without all of it getting in my way, both physically and aesthetically.

At last count there are 21 electrical connections, along with about 18 other kinds of cables (USB, Firewire, coaxial, speakers, phone & chargers) so I spent a lot of time figuring out how to hid all those cords. (Click on the other photos in my "Office Makeover" set to see how I hid the cables.)

Silverdale tech companies get big federal contracts
By Rachel Pritchett Contributed photo Applied Technical Systems of Silverdale will have workers on the Navy's giant oceangoing radar and later will do data analysis to keep the vessel as efficient as possible. It visited Puget Sound last year for $ 27 …
Read more on Kitsap Sun

Gatineau's Specs Audio acquired by Montreal firm
Audiovisual systems integrator Specs Audio has new ownership: Solotech, a Montreal-based turnkey provider of sound, video, lighting and rigging systems. Specs Audio will still operate as an independent entity as Solotech moves its Gatineau sales and …
Read more on Ottawa Business Journal

Shares of Columbia Banking System Are Moving Lower on 1.9x Above-Average …
The Bank serves small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, and other individuals through office in the Tacoma metropolitan area and contiguous parts of the Puget Sound region of Washington, as well as the Longview and Woodland communities in …
Read more on Financial News Network Online

How do you connect a computer to an office sound system?

Dec 14th, 2011
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Question by cassidy: How do you connect a computer to an office sound system?
We are leasing a new office that is wired for sound. Each room already has built in ceiling speakers. There is a little closet with a bunch of colored wires where we are supposed to connect our stereo components. What equipment do I need to play music from my computer (via Pandora or other internet radio, or itunes) through this system? Can I connect my computer through a receiver? What is a good one to purchase? Thanks!

Best answer:

Answer by gkk_72
There is much investigating that you must do before you can even think of buying anything. One of the first things you must do is check on what type of speakers were installed. It is very possible that the ceiling speakers are set up for 70.7 constant voltage audio and if that is the case you will need to buy an amplifier that has 70.7 volt output – many public address amplifiers have that feature while most home stereos do not. You also have to consider how much wattage each speaker is going to handle as you will have to size your amplifier to match. ( ie 20 speakers at 10 watts each means at least a 200 watt amplifier).
If the speakers are plain 8 ohm speakers then you will have a bigger headache on figuring out how to wire them (probably some sort of series parallel arrangement) in order to drive them properly.

Once you have that figured out the easy part is hooking up the audio output of the sound card of your computer to the input of the amplifier.

Good luck.

Here are a couple of articles for you to read.

http://www.rane.com/note136.html

http://www.soundinstitute.com/article_detail.cfm/ID/101

What do you think? Answer below!