Need to attenuate laptop audio output?

[solm96]

Just wondering if I need to attenuate the audio output from my laptop to my edm transmitter.

thanks

[iresq]

Turn the volume down.

[solm96]

Thanks..

Did not know if it would damage the unit

[Santas Helper]

solm96 wrote:

Just wondering if I need to attenuate the audio output from my laptop to my edm transmitter.

thanks

If there is anything to attenuate, it would be from your edm "output" to your antenna. That is if your transmitting too far.

[JBullard]

Santas Helper wrote:

solm96 wrote:

Just wondering if I need to attenuate the audio output from my laptop to my edm transmitter.

thanks

If there is anything to attenuate, it would be from your edm "output" to your antenna. That is if your transmitting too far.

Actually, quite often the audio input to the EDM does need to be attenuated. See this comment from the engineers at EDM that posted on the EDM forums:

Often people end up driving too high level audio into the EDM units. This causes terrible distortion on the receive side making users to think that they received a faulty unit.

Please remember that the EDM units require consumer level -10dBv line-level audio. The output from a MP3 player or PC sound card may be much too high for the EDM.

Simple rule of thumb: If your audio source is strong enough to power a set of headphones or earphones, the chances are very good that you will end up with distortion on the receiver side.

The simplest solution is to add a inline volume control to bring the range low enough for the EDM units to handle.

http://www.dealextreme.com/p/3-5mm-to-rca-stereo-audio-cable-with-volume-controller-2650

These are very cheap and comes with free shipping.

EDM Team

[Santas Helper]

So basically,

if it's distortion comming from the reciever, lower the level of the "audio" output of the laptop.

if it's a distance problem (too far), anntenuate the "signal" output of the transmitter.

[JBullard]

Santas Helper wrote:

So basically,

if it's distortion comming from the reciever, lower the level of the "audio" output of the laptop.

if it's a distance problem (too far), anntenuate the "signal" output of the transmitter.

Almost correct but not quite: This thread was for an EDM transmitter;

The OP was asking about the Audio signal from the laptop, and it may need to be attenuated.

With an EDM transmitter, there is NO NEED to attenuate the output. It contains adjustments to select any power output from 1 mw to 100 mw.

[Jim Saul]

if you want to be able to listen to the music at the computer with a Y cable going to speakers, then you are going to need something like this to reduce the volume going into the EDM so you do not overload the inputs and distort the EDM
http://www.sourcingmap.com/15m-35mm-rca-audio-extension-cable-volume-controller-p-143162.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=usfroogle
If you are not listening to the music at the computer then you can just put the volume down on the computer, but there will be more of the low level hiss with the lower volume than there is if you use this to attenuate the input according to what I read at EDM.

FYI - I have ordered this and the EDM but have not received either one yet so I can not tell you how well it works, but I can tell you EDM recommends it on their board.

[JBullard]

Jim Saul wrote:

if you want to be able to listen to the music at the computer with a Y cable going to speakers, then you are going to need something like this to reduce the volume going into the EDM so you do not overload the inputs and distort the EDM
http://www.sourcingmap.com/15m-35mm-rca-audio-extension-cable-volume-controller-p-143162.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=froogle&utm_campaign=usfroogle
If you are not listening to the music at the computer then you can just put the volume down on the computer, but there will be more of the low level hiss with the lower volume than there is if you use this to attenuate the input according to what I read at EDM.

FYI - I have ordered this and the EDM but have not received either one yet so I can not tell you how well it works, but I can tell you EDM recommends it on their board.

Same information I posted in post 5, but the cable linked in my post is $3 cheaper.

I've been using the EDM since 2007, and highly recommend the one in post #5, it does work as intended.

[Jim Saul]

sorry John got interrupted, had to move my car for the snow plow before I hit enter good deal on the cheaper cable, I just did a Google search since I am not at my desktop computer with the order info.

[JBullard]

That's ok Jim

The one in my link is correct one that EDM recommends,

The other one might work just as well, but I chose to stay with the one EDM had tested and it has worked perfect for me.

[zjcr19]

So, by buying the RCA cable with volume control, would you then just need to buy an RCA extension cable if you were looking to get more physical distance between the transmitter and the computer or is this volume control intended to plug directly into the EDM?

[JBullard]

Either place would work, however the one linked has the RCA plugs that match the EDM.

[Santas Helper]

JBullard wrote:

Santas Helper wrote:

So basically,

if it's distortion comming from the reciever, lower the level of the "audio" output of the laptop.

if it's a distance problem (too far), anntenuate the "signal" output of the transmitter.

Almost correct but not quite: This thread was for an EDM transmitter;

The OP was asking about the Audio signal from the laptop, and it may need to be attenuated.

With an EDM transmitter, there is NO NEED to attenuate the output. It contains adjustments to select any power output from 1 mw to 100 mw.

That's true John,

Since the original post didn't indicate what the problem was, I assumed it was a distance problem, which is a popular problem with transimitters in general. But then again, wasn't for sure of the distance with an EDM either.

[solm96]

Thanks for all the info. I may just build the one that EDM has in the manual