Audio Quiet From Amp

[Gaelen]

I recently bought myself a pair of Wharfedale bookshelf speakers and a Pioneer amp to finally get me started in the world of loudspeakers, as I had passed my old Altec computer speakers down to my mum for her to use, and I was left with laptop speakers for 'out loud' audio and a pair of headphones otherwise, which I don't always like using and have become fed up of them.

I'm having a bit of an issue getting results from it though. I'm using a phono lead that's connected to my laptop to play music from my iTunes library, but when I try with the phono leads plugged into 'Aux' I can barely hear the music, and that's with the volume turned right up, it's very quiet. The only way I can get any sort of decent volume from it is by plugging the phono leads into the actual 'Phono' port, which brings back alright results (albeit slight distortion), however there's a rather audible and annoying 'hiss' when past the 12 o'clock position on the volume knob, and even at that it's still not as loud as I think it should be.

I've tried scouring the internet for answers but have had no luck, and I don't want to settle for a rubbish hiss, especially after i've spent close to £200 on a pair of speakers and amp, and i've heard top of the range quality sound systems before so I know what i'm trying to hear.

If anyone could help, I really would appreciate it.

 

[Gaelen]

Sorry for the double post, but it's not letting me edit my original one.

Would the fact I have a red and black (Red going to red port, black going to white) phono cable be a factor in this? Should I really have a red and white phono cable?

 

[drummerman]

Is your laptop volume turned up fully?

 

[Gaelen]

Yes, completely. I also had the volume boosted via the EQ on my computer by a full 12DB as well and it didn't make much difference.

I hooked up an old CD player with red and whites on both ends now, and it worked perfectly. It was loud at 10 o'clock, so it's just as well nothing sprung into action when I had it right round at 5 o'clock, as i'd have no doubt blown my speakers. I'm going to buy a new cable tomorrow and see if that makes much difference.

 

[rainsoothe]

Hi.

1. the Phono is only for turntables, don't plug anything else in it

2. good thinking with the old CD player - basically that tells you the amp is working just fine, and the problem is either (a) the cable which is either faulty or doesn't plug properly/fully into the jack (which you already considered and are in the process of troubleshooting), (b) the laptop's jack is faulty or (c) bad setup on the laptop's software (something might be muted etc)

3. remember to turn the volume down between each kind of test, or you might blow something 🙂

goodluck

 

[Gazzip]

Just a thought but have you told your laptop to output through those connectors?

 

[Gaelen]

@rainsoothe Thank you for the troubleshooting advice! I'll let you know tomorrow if I have any luck ;-)

@Gazzip Yes, I frequently use my headphone port for my headphones, and the fact there was sound getting there in the first place says it was the correct output. It would be typical that it was something as simple as that, though!

 

[Gaelen]

Bought new cable (with correct colours) and it works perfectly! Horray! Thank you for you help everyone 🙂

 

[The_Lhc]

Bought new cable (with correct colours) and it works perfectly! Horray! Thank you for you help everyone 🙂

The colours aren't important, chances are your original cable was simply broken.