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Cheapest way to boost volume of stereo audio?

post #1 of 6
Thread Starter 
I have the audio-out (RCA) from two cable STBs going into my Nvidia DualTV and the audio volume is very low. I have the volume of the STBs at maximum and there are no audio adjustments for the DualTV. So when I watch live or recorded TV, I can easily turn my TV's volume to the maximum to get barely a decent volume.

I can't think of a software way to fix this so I'm thinking of a hardware solution. Can anyone recommend an amplifier/booster/whatever that can increase the volume of the two stereo inputs? Ok, technically, that makes it four channels, but it's really two stereo inputs... and if the solution is cheapest enough, I can just two stereo solutions...

I've seen many amplifiers that will either mix all input channels into one stereo output or allow you to switch between stereo inputs, but I need a matching channel out for each channel in. Even a pair of headphone volume boosters would work, but it can't solely run on batteries and shouldn't cost more than me simply replacing my DualTV with something more configurable. Perhaps a four microphone amplifier with four discreet outputs? Maybe an easy radioshack DIY?

Thanks for any leads!
post #2 of 6
What amp and speakers are you using?
post #3 of 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by badbob001 View Post

I have the audio-out (RCA) from two cable STBs going into my Nvidia DualTV and the audio volume is very low. I have the volume of the STBs at maximum and there are no audio adjustments for the DualTV. So when I watch live or recorded TV, I can easily turn my TV's volume to the maximum to get barely a decent volume.

I can't think of a software way to fix this so I'm thinking of a hardware solution. Can anyone recommend an amplifier/booster/whatever that can increase the volume of the two stereo inputs? Ok, technically, that makes it four channels, but it's really two stereo inputs... and if the solution is cheapest enough, I can just two stereo solutions...

I've seen many amplifiers that will either mix all input channels into one stereo output or allow you to switch between stereo inputs, but I need a matching channel out for each channel in. Even a pair of headphone volume boosters would work, but it can't solely run on batteries and shouldn't cost more than me simply replacing my DualTV with something more configurable. Perhaps a four microphone amplifier with four discreet outputs? Maybe an easy radioshack DIY?

Thanks for any leads!

Might wanna move this to the HTPC forum. You'd probably have a better chance of finding someone with a similar setup in there.
post #4 of 6
Maybe one of those cleanbox's will help?
post #5 of 6
Also make sure that the boxes are not applying any type of dynamic range compression. This is almost always set to "on" by default so TVs and mediocre sound systems can reproduce the soundtrack without distortion as they can not faithfully reproduce the dynamic range inherent in 5.1 sources. Some boxes have an audio setting "TV Speakers" which boosts the output quite a bit. Hope this helps.
post #6 of 6
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the tip on checking the settings on the cablebox. There is an option for 'audio range' of wide, normal, and narrow that I never really understood until I did some google'ing. I set it to 'narrow' and the volume is definitely higher.

I also ordered a pair of usb/ac powered boostaroo in-line headphone amplifiers (ebay, 2 for $41 shipped) so hopefully that will me the volume range I need to keep all my sources at the same volume level.

You guys can go back to talking about your (relatively) expensive gear.
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