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Vintage Integrated Stereo Amp to PC (Idiot Help!)

post #1 of 8
10/31/11 at 7:44pm
Thread Starter 

Hey guys, I have an old Kenwood KA-88 stereo amp that I want to connect directly to the soundcard on my PC (stock soundcard as of now). Unfortunately, I am completely ignorant of what connections to use and the cables required as this is my first full-size amp ever and I mean that literally.

 

The amp has input connections for red/white (rca?) cable ends for Phono, Tuner, and CD/Aux. Then there are connections for a tape deck and the wire clamps for the speakers which I doubt are what I'm looking for. I would post pictures, but if there is one thing I understand less of than amp connections, it would be photography.

 

Is it possible to connect this amp directly to my computer soundcard? What cable do I need and how do I use it? Please help me as my 600 ohm cans (dt880) are absolutely craving decent power for the first time.  

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post #2 of 8
10/31/11 at 11:23pm

These Monoprice cables should do the trick.

 

Some have female RCA ends so you can use your own RCA cables, while others have male RCA ends so that you don't need extra cables to connect it to the amp.

 

I don't think it matters too much what input you connect it to since they tended to just label things for convenience, but I'd probably connect the RCA cables leading from the computer to CD/Aux on the amp, just to be sure.

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post #3 of 8
11/1/11 at 12:51am

Stereo amps are built to drive speakers for the most part rather than cans but you can try em out and see the results? Seems to me a desktop headphone amp (Fiio E9?) or dac+amp is more the tool for your job hehe

 

Edit: Bros sharing their experiences

http://www.head-fi.org/t/537086/beyerdynamic-dt990-600-fiio-e9-respect


Edited by trog - 11/1/11 at 1:02am
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post #4 of 8
11/1/11 at 4:46am

Some sound cards have a socket marked "Line out". If yours does, plug the amp into that. The sound will be better.

 

If the sound card only has 1/8" stereo sockets for its output, you want a cable with 1/8" stereo male phono plug at one end and dual RCA male plugs. Plenty of stores carry 'em, and at a broad range of prices, from Apple Stores to Wal-Mart to Radio Shack to specialty vendors like Monoprice.

 

The red and white colors of the sockets make it easier to identify the right (red) and left (white) channels. (Sometimes left is black, or yellow, or silver, but right is almost always red.)

 

You want to plug the sound card into the amp's AUX or TUNER sockets, or possibly one of the TAPE IN sockets. Avoid PHONO. When I connect my computer to an old amp, I'll sometimes trim down a yellow sticky-note to size and label the relevant switch on the front of the amp.

 

Solid-state amps like yours can be safely run without speakers plugged into them. Tube amps have to have some kind of load attached, but either speakers or headphones will do.

 

Sounds like a nice amp. Happy listening.

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post #5 of 8
11/1/11 at 11:20am
Thread Starter 

Thanks for the replies guys. This amp is just a temporary solution until I buy a dac and build the bottlehead crack that I've been eyeing. The monoprice cables are nice and cheap, but I probably will just drive down to the nearest radio shack to see if I can pick one up since it is close by and I'm really impatient. I believe my computer has a line out socket (parenthesis around an arrow) in back which I am using with some cheap speakers. Once again, thank you for your help and I hope to have an enhanced listening experience tonight bigsmile_face.gif

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post #6 of 8
11/1/11 at 11:38am
you can hook it up to either the tape-in,cd,or aux no problem since they're all ceramic inputs to the line-out(usually green output) of your soundcard. only thing never use the ''phono'' inputs cause they're magnetic inputs with very high input impedances meant for turntables and even some tape-decks require magnetic inputs.
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post #7 of 8
11/1/11 at 11:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ardgedee View Post

Some sound cards have a socket marked "Line out". If yours does, plug the amp into that. The sound will be better.



 
If the sound card only has 1/8" stereo sockets for its output, you want a cable with 1/8" stereo male phono plug at one end and dual RCA male plugs. Plenty of stores carry 'em, and at a broad range of prices, from Apple Stores to Wal-Mart to Radio Shack to specialty vendors like Monoprice.

The red and white colors of the sockets make it easier to identify the right (red) and left (white) channels. (Sometimes left is black, or yellow, or silver, but right is almost always red.)

You want to plug the sound card into the amp's AUX or TUNER sockets, or possibly one of the TAPE IN sockets. Avoid PHONO. When I connect my computer to an old amp, I'll sometimes trim down a yellow sticky-note to size and label the relevant switch on the front of the amp.

Solid-state amps like yours can be safely run without speakers plugged into them. Tube amps have to have some kind of load attached, but either speakers or headphones will do.

Sounds like a nice amp. Happy listening.

usually in reality it doesn't matter with the RCA jacks(same thing with speaker wire) since both jacks use the same type of copper wiring. as long as you match it up you be fine. so say instead you use yellow for left,then make sure the yellow cable matches the same ''left'' input of the source. same with speaker wire. usually the universal ''positive'' cable is marked with red strip or white strip or uses copper while negative uses silver cable instead. it's mostly so it can be idiot proof for consumers that red is universal ''right'' and white is universal ''left'' ect.
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post #8 of 8
11/1/11 at 12:04pm

The main reason to avoid using the PHONO jack is because it subjects the audio signal to RIAA equalization, which is a necessary part of a phono preamp stage. Since your computer's sound output will be flat (as far as we're concerned), it doesn't need that. The sound simply won't be as good as through one of the other jacks.

 

You're unlikely to damage anything if you use it because the phono section on consumer-grade amps assumes you're using a cheaper, relatively high-output moving magnet cartridge. The signal going into the amp stage is going to be loud and distorted, but not hot enough to hurt anything (unless your computer's sound card pushes out ridiculous levels of voltage). The few receivers that support low-output cartridges have a switch to toggle between cartridge types.


Edited by ardgedee - 11/1/11 at 12:10pm
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