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Figure 20-4 Surround speakers (photo courtesy of Klipsch Group, Inc.)

Figure 20-5 The EMU 1820 advertises its excellent 112-decibel signal-to-noise ratio for recording.

Jacks

Virtually every sound card comes with at least three connections: one for a stereo speaker system, one for a microphone, and one for a secondary input called line in. If you look at the back of a motherboard with a built-in sound card, you’ll invariably see these three connections. On most systems, the main stereo speaker connector is green, the line-in connector is blue, and the microphone connector is pink. You’ll often find plenty of other connectors as well (Figure 20-6).

Figure 20-6 Typical audio connections on a motherboard sound card

Here’s a list of some of the standard connectors:

Main speaker out Just what it sounds like, the main speaker output is where you plug in the standard speaker connector.

Line out Some cards will have a separate line-out connector that is often used to connect to an external device such as a cassette or CD player. This enables you to output sounds from your computer.

Line in The line-in port connects to an external device such as a cassette or CD player to allow you to import sounds into your computer.

Rear out The rear-out connector connects to the rear speakers for surround sound audio output.

Analog/digital out The multifunction analog/digital out connection acts as a special digital connection to external digital devices or digital speaker systems, and it also acts as the analog connection to center and subwoofer channels. (See the “Speakers” section later in this chapter for a discussion of surround sound.)

Microphone The microphone port connects to an external microphone for voice input.

Joystick The now-obsolete joystick port connects a joystick or a MIDI device to the sound card. The joystick port is a two-row, DB15 female connection, but few motherboards or sound cards include the port these days.

Extra Features

With all motherboards including built-in sound these days, expansion sound card makers have responded by adding a host of extra goodies and capabilities to their cards that, for some folks, prove irresistibly tempting. These include a digital output to integrate the PC with a home entertainment unit, DVD receiver, and surround sound speaker connection capabilities; a breakout box that adds recording and output ports in a 5.25-inch bay; and a FireWire connection for direct gaming, file sharing, and immediate MP3 playing from a portable MP3 device. Figure 20-7 shows a version of the Creative Labs SoundBlaster breakout box. These features aren’t for everyone, but they are compelling to many consumers.

Figure 20-7 Breakout box for a SoundBlaster Live! Platinum sound card

Speakers

It always blows me away when I walk into someone’s study and hear tinny music whining from a $10 pair of speakers connected to a $2000 computer. If you listen to music or play games on your computer, a decent set of speakers can significantly improve the experience. Speakers come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, technologies, and quality and can stump the uninformed tech who can’t easily tell that the $50 set on the right sounds 100 times better than the $25 pair on the left (Figure 20-8).

Figure 20-8 High-quality speaker set (right) versus another manufacturer’s low-end speaker set (left)

Speaker Standards The advent of surround sound in the computing world has created a number of speaker standards. You should know these standards so you can choose the speakers that work best for you and your clients.

Stereo is the oldest speaker technology you’ll see in the PC world. Stereo speakers are just what you might imagine: two speakers, a left and a right (Figure 20-9). The two speakers share a single jack that connects to the sound card. Most cheap speakers are stereo speakers.

Figure 20-9 Stereo speakers

A 2.1 speaker system consists of a pair of standard stereo