Connecting Dual Cassette Player to PC

[muthabored]

Hello to all:

I've recently obtained a copy Easy CD Creator 9.0, which has a feature that allows you to covert LPs and Cassettes into digital format. I have a dual cassette player that's still in excellent working condition but would like to know what sort of connection/cable I would need to purchase in order to connect the cassette player to my PC.
Also, I would imagine that my PC needs to have a sound card with audio output? Please advise.

My PC is the HP Pavilion a818n

 

[felixc]

You have to find if your soundcard (or the motherboard) has a "Line IN" connector. It may also be called analog IN or CD-In. This is where you should conenct the Line OUT" from your cassette player.

The connector may be a 1/8 jack atthe back of your PC, like the one that connects to your PC speakers. It can also be a small header directly on the printed circuit board.

So you have to get either a 1/8" stereo to dual phono jack cable adapter, or one dual phono jack to a mating connector for the small header. Finding the latter may be more of a challenge, unless someone in this forum knows of a place that sells such cables.

 

[muthabored]

felixc:

Thank you for the info...I guess I could try Radio Shack or maybe an audio/video store (dare I go into a Best Buy)?

 

[ttterk]

Radio Shack is safer, though it seems they’ve gone a bit upscale since I ran one. Check out page

http://tinyurl.com/r6phk

or look for item#55012881. An older/cheaper version of this is sitting between my cassette player and computer.

Sloth is the mother of invention. Necessity is just a mother...

 

[muthabored]

The standard RCA (white and red) wouldn't work?

 

[ttterk]

Assuming that what you mean by "standard RCA" is both ends being red & white RCA jacks, they'll only work if you've got red & white RCA outputs on your cassette player and red & white RCA inputs on your sound card. As felixc suggested above, the end in your computer is more likely a 1/8" stereo jack exactly like a mini-headphone jack.

And the part I suggested.

Sloth is the mother of invention. Necessity is just a mother...

 

[Glenn9999]

Usually the cable involved is mini-din to mini-din (like personal headphone jacks). Oddly enough a lot of the earlier sound cards came with one, so I never had to go out and shop for one.

But you should be able to find one in just about anyplace. In fact, this looks like it might be what you're wanting.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7983239&st=audio+cable&type=product&id=1153999681108

 

[gbaughma]

Radio Shack has exactly the cable that you will need for most sound cards.

It is stereo RCA to 1/8" mini phone plug.

If you do *NOT* have a LINE IN on your sound card, you will also need to pick up an ATTENUATOR if you are going to plug into the MIC input on your sound card.

Radio Shack Part Numbers:
42-2483 (RCA to 1/8" mini right-angle)

Of course, if you want to be Uber-cool about it... and you have an available 5 1/4" drive bay open... you may want to look at

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PLUSDECK2C&cpc=SCH

Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[cdogg]

ttterk is spot on with the advice. You definitely need to be using what they call a "Y-Audio" cable that has two RCA jacks on one end, and then a headphone jack on the other.

I'm not sure what Glenn was suggesting, but that cable is not meant for connecting cassette decks to PC's.

felixc is close, but the term "phono" applies to record player inputs/outputs which play at a lower unamplified volume. RCA jacks are a bit different, and you want to make sure you don't buy something that says "phono". Radio Shack will definitely have what you're looking for, and it will likely be cheaper than buying at BestBuy or any other major retailer.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[gbaughma]

cdogg:

~ I even gave the radio shack PART NUMBER of the cable he needed!

<grumble grumble>



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[Glenn9999]

I'm not sure what Glenn was suggesting, but that cable is not meant for connecting cassette decks to PC's.

It depends, of course, on what kind of cassette deck/player he has. For a lot of them I've seen, they don't have the RCA plug for speakers (just wires), but only the headphone jack. But a lot of them do have the RCA jacks.

For most of the ones I've owned (even stereo decks), the one I picked out off the Best Buy site would be the requirement. I can't say the OP specifically referenced what connector the cassette deck has, but I'm sure he/she knows for certain.

 

[cdogg]

My bad gbaughma...I started my post before you posted yours, got sidetracked, and didn't submit until long after you did. In fact, I didn't even read yours until just now!

Glenn,
Quite true, but a "dead" giveaway here is that he said he's trying to connect a dual cassette player and asked if RCA jacks would work. Now I don't imagine he would be asking that if the player didn't have RCA outputs, but hey, it's all moot at this point.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[felixc]

I use to make such cables for my kins and friends. The same cable is used to have my MP3 player to connect to a sound system. I did not say RCA plug, hoping that there was a better generic term than a manufacturer name. The connectors of all the turntables that I have seen in my life (in north america) are RCA plugs, like those from a cassette deck. Cdogg if you can refer me to any place that shows the difference I'll be glad to learn.

 

[ceh4702]

I have used a stereo jack from radio shack that splits out into left and right cables like you find on the back of a stereo. I recorded stuff right off the tv/vcr in stereo and I was amazed at the quality of the recording. I just plugged the stereo mini jack right into the Line-In plug on the sound card and saved it as a high quality WAV file.

I suppose some sound cards have things like MP3 Hardware Encoders built in.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[cdogg]

Felix,
Well, maybe there isn't a difference with the cables themselves. When I DJ'd a few years back, I noticed that turntables had outputs labeled phono, and the mixer board that could accept different kinds of sources (amp, CD, etc.) had a special set of inputs marked "phono" for turntables.

I found when using these inputs, that the signal quality and volume was not the same if I hooked up a CD player through it using standard RCA cables.

So perhaps it's not the cables themselves. Maybe it's the source that matters instead. I wish I knew!
But I know if you walk into Radio Shack, there are cables specifically labeled phono, which I'm guessing have a lower tolerance or lower quality composite. Why else would they label one phono and the others audio/video (RCA)?

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein
[tab][navy]For general rules and guidelines to get better answers, click here:[/navy] faq219-2884

 

[vacunita]

They are different types of cables.

RCA cables have a prong in the middle surrounded by a round metallic ring.

Phono cables is a generic term that refers to the cables that have the standard earphone jack. Some are mono meaining one channel and some are stereo. 2 channels.

RCA cables are by definition, mono. Each cable red and white is a side of the audio. Left and right. phono jacks hold both signals in the same wire.

The quality of the audio will depend not on the cable itself, but on the output.

Usually a RCA to phono converter. will preserve the quality of the audio. Just make sure its a stereo phono jack. It should have two small lines on the phono prong.

Other than, you can either use the earphone plug from the tapedeck, and plug ino the line in on your sound card, or use the RCA outputs with a converter, and again plug it into the line in.

Usually line-in plugs for soundcards are phono jacks. Some more advanced cards might have the RCA line in. But if its built into the mobo. its a phono.











----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[gbaughma]

cdogg is technically correct; turntables used an RCA cable, *however*, the RCA outputs on tape decks/cd players/etc are "line level", meaning that they have an output that is 1v p2p (1 volt peak-to-peak) output level.

Turntables don't have an amplifier in them, and even though they use the same RCA cables, connecting a turntable to a line input won't work unless you use a preamp.

Essentially, a turntable stylus vibrates with the information that is in the grooves, moving a magnet in between coils to generate a very small electrical current representing the vibration, and therefore the sound, on the record. This is not a 1 volt output; it's millivolts, and that's why you would need a preamp.

Good information on how turntables and stylii work is at

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/cartridgehistory.htm

Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[LawnBoy]

...and those jacks marked 'phono' that cdogg was using led to a preamp inside the mixer.

Egad, it's been 20 years since I've had this conversation...

 

[gbaughma]

.... and the RCA (Phono) plugs were invented by RCA Victor as a way to connect their turntables to the preamps....

Wow... full circle.



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[felixc]

The connector being the same, here's the electronics difference between phono and the rest of the other devices.

1) the voltage levels are different. The output of a recent phono cartridge unit (typically called moving-magnet type) is the 2-5 millivolt range. Any other devices use the "line" standard which is 0.7 volt for the so-called 0 dB reference level. Some cartridges, called moving coils, had an even lower voltage range, under one millivolt. The phono input will amplify this voltage to bring it to the same level as the one of the other sources.

(I have seen some turntables that integrate the phono amplifier, to allow connecting the turntable to regular line inputs since most modern amplifiers do not have a phono input)

2) in order to remove the hiss and to compensate for the energy levels of bass vs high frequencies, the sound on a vinyl record is equalized as per a frequency/amplitude curve called RIAA. The "phono" input of an amplifier performs the reverse equalization to bring back the proper sound balance.

But anyway none of this applies to your connection between a cassette deck and your PC, as each one uses the "line" levels.

RCA Victor also had its own connector for speakers, but this is another story...