Hi Erik, Usually audio equipment is setup to output/receive at two possible levels -10dBu or +4dBV, Semi-pro equipment and home equipment usually work at -10, which comes up as very low when the receiver is setup for +4. But I would guess the soundblaster card is setup to work at -10 as well (I'd be surprised if it isn't). Maybe there's some software fader somewhere else in the chain? Maybe you need to turn the volume of the amp/tuner all the way up? You shouldn't need a preamp, because the amp/tuner thingy should do that job. Connecting to the speaker output wouldn't be good since speakers expect a very high signal, so I would think it wouldn't work... Andres Erik Steffl wrote: > I am trying to record from a receiver (not sure if that's the right > name, it's the amp/tuner, the thingy that all other components like CD > player, tape deck, video etc. connect to) and it seems like the levels > are too low (the soundcard is soundblaster live platinum, using alsa > drivers that come with kernel 2.6.5). > > the receiver has two stereo audio outputs - one is marked as tape deck > recording and the other one as VCR output but both seem to be about the > same (and there doesn't seem to be a way to change them). I connect them > to the RCA connectors on the front panel (live drive) but even if I set > the mixer to 100% (on line in) the levels are too low. On vu-meter the > levels only go to about 25-30% (max) while the 'normal' audio is > somewhere between 50-75%. > > I believe both the receiver and soundcard work OK (I can record from > receiver to tape deck, I can record to soundcard from other sources) so > I guess there's mismatch between the signal from receiver and what > soundcard expects. Is there anything I can do? do I need some pre-amp or > something? Seems crazy but does it make any sense to try to record from > speaker outputs? Is there any way to change what soundblaster expects on > input? > > TIA > > erik > >
