Laptop to sound system

[barnes240]

I would like to hook my laptop up to our churches sound system by connecting it to one of our microphone inputs. This way I can play my ITune hymns through our speakers system. What kind of cable would I need to do this and where can I find one? Not even sure if this is possible but it seems like it should be.
Thanks

[Betty_Swallocks]

You just need a 3.5mm stereo jack plug on one end and whatever plug your sound system has at the other.
You'll probably find that the sound system has an AUX socket as well as the microphone input. That would be better than the mic input.

These people will be able to advise you better.
I found them very helpful when I needed some cables recently.

[sammyc]

Hi barnes240 welcome to HEXUS. Any help you need finding your way round the forums just ask.. here are a couple of quick links to useful info for new members, click here for a list of post count rewards (when you can send pms, get an avatar, &c..) and here for forum guidelines. Don't forget to fill in your profile if you want to tell us a bit about yourself.

[Unique]

your laptop will more than likely have a 3.5mm headphone socket, so using that site for a guide you could get something like this (which i use on my laptop)


3.5mm Stereo Male to 2 x Phono (Left and Right) Female

and then you can connect a standard phono cable like this


2 x Phono (Left + Right) Cable

you can also get a cable that's basically the same thing all in one, just as the image below. thats the type of cable most people would use to connect a standard stereo desktop pc soundcard to a home audio amp. the reason i use the apapter and seperate cable on my laptop was initially as i didn't have a spare 3.5mm to RCA phono cable and i had the other parts, but then i found it was more convenient as i could then use a different length RCA cable to reach the amp (ie. a 5 metre cable) and i have a RCA coupler that lets me join two RCA cables together to make a longer one


3.5mm Stereo Plug - 2 x Phono (Left + Right) Cable

using the above single cable as oppposed to the adapter and RCA cable might also depend on how long you want the cable (ie. how far your laptop will be from the amp)

the other thing to check is that your amp has RCA inputs. if you look at the image below, essentialyl the amp will have connections like the bits on the right, for the bits on the left to plug into. if that's the case then the above standard cables will work



the reason i mention this is because standard microphones will normally usually have either a quarter inch jack (something like the below image) or an XLR jack, in which case you would need another apapter to convert RCA to quarter inch or XLR as appropriate. that's usually the case if it's a PA type amp, or guitar amplifier type amp, rather than a standard music/hifi type amp, though many of these do accept RCA cables



however you do it you will probably have to start with the 3.5mm to RCA option, either by all in one cable or the seperate cable and adapter, and from there you might need an adapter to change RCA to a quarter inch jack or XLR to plug into your amp. these are all fairly standard and cheap parts that you can get from maplins and all sorts of places that sell electronic parts. you will get an idea of prices from that site, so you can get the cables and adapters for just a couple of quid, whereas sometimes you find places like pcworld selling them at ripoff prices of £10 etc. if a decent cable is a pound or so more, you might want to get it, but don't get fooled with rip off expensive cables as you'll probably not be able to tell the difference if playing music from a laptop via itunes. the "professional" ones on that site are reasonably priced, but they are the same quality as a lot of stores would sell for double the price, likewise some stores will sell the standard cables for inflated prices

http://www.cabling4less.co.uk/index.php?pageLayoutId=5

[TAKTAK]

welcome to HEXUS matey, but please don't post questions in the welcome area in the future