Has anyone connected up their stereo successfully to their computer through their sound card? I've got the wires hooked up from the stereo outputs to the line in on my sound card and I have a humming noise that won't go away. Whether I am recording or not, whenever the sound is coming from the stereo there is a background hum. I've tried turning off the Line In to the computer speakers and just recording thorough Line in - still the hum shows up in playback. Any ideas on what's causing that and what I can do to eliminate it? I had a regular Sound Blaster sound card with 64 voice. I just put in a new Sound Blaster Live digital card and it still happens. I'm trying to record LPs to CD and I've just about given up. Applicable information: the stereo is in a different room from the computer - the connecting wires are about 30 feet long. Is that an impossibly long length? Somebody must have done this, right? Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks - Susan

If you want to be able to hear sound on your stereo, you must plug your stereo cable to "Line-Out" which is output from your soundcard. "Line-In" is where you put Mics, etc... that you record with because it gives your soundcard "input".

Line In is the correct input to capture the audio coming from your stereo.

The hum you are hearing is 60 Hz hum, the same frequency as the AC current. 30 feet is a very excessive length for line in audio cables and could be picking up hum from the household wiring. Regular audio cables will probably have significant losses with this length, particularly at high frequencies. If you can't move the stereo closer to your computer, you could try low capacitance shielded coaxial (TV type) cables with RCA phono plugs fitted to either end to allow use as audio cables.

Even without connectors of excessive length, it is common for stereos to transmit hum if all components are not grounded properly. Record players in particular are the worst for this problem, because the audio output from the phono cartridge is very weak. The signal must go through a preamplification stage in the stereo system before it can reach a normal line in level. If there is any introduction of 60 Hz hum through the phono cartridge it will be amplified by the preamplifier. Try switching the source on the stereo from the Phono output to Auxiliary or some other choice and see if the hum is still at the same level.

Most record players have a ground wire that should be firmly attached to a ground connection of the stereo receiver or amplifier. Often, just making a good ground connction between components can eliminate hum. Also, make sure that the cartridge is correctly seated in the arm of the record player.

Thanks, Inertia, for replying with your suggestions... And thanks for reading my entire post so that you know which way I want the music to flow. <g>
It's not just the record player that I've tried - anything from the stereo has that hum, including the CD player and the tape player. In fact - just having the stereo turned on and connected causes hum. I have a real suspicion that it's the wires. 30 feet *is* really long. Now I have another question. If I get a plain old cassette tape deck - can I connect the audio outs from that directly to the line in on the computer? I'm thinking that I can record records to tape on the stereo, then play the tape in the deck that is connected to the computer and record to CD. I wouldn't need an amplifier in between, would I? Does that sound like it would work? I could have really short wires then!

Thanks, Susan

You're very welcome, Susan.

Yes, you could record first to a cassette deck and then use the line outs from the cassette to record to the computer.

I would not recommend doing this though. Each extra stage of analog recording introduces more distortion or degradation of the original audio signal. Unless, you have a very high quality cassette unit, it is likely to provide a noticeably lower quality input than a direct link to the record player.

The best solution, if possible, is to move either the stereo or the computer (maybe just temporarily) to close proximity until the recording is completed. That way the audio patch cords will be short and hopefully free of hum, and there will be no degradation due to an extra recording stage through a cassette deck.