Hi all, this whole audio jargon has my head spinning.
I am wanting to run simvibe in chassis mode and am trying to decide between one 4 channel amp or two 2 channel amps.
If I go for two 2 channel amps can these be connected to one sound card on my PC or do I need a soundcard for each amp? If I get an amp with dsp does it allow me to limit the wattage so I dont over power the shakers?.
I am looking at either one nx4 6000 with no dsp or two nx1000d which have dsp.
Thanks in advance for you insights.
From the top.
5.1 audio includes 5 "normal" + 1 sub bass woofer output = 6 channels total.
7.1 audio 7 "normal" + 1 sub bass woofer output = 8 channels total
What's confusing in our world is that audio is typically considered in terms of "stereo" outputs, but we think in terms of channels.
Like a 5.1 is
- Stereo Front (2 channels).
- Stereo Rear (2 channels).
- Mono Center (1 channel) and Bass Woofer (1 channel) :: OUTPUT THROUGH A STEREO JACK
5.1 sound cards typically provide output though 3 jacks. Front, Rear, Bass/Center
7.1 sound cards typically provide output through 4 jacks. Front, Rear, Side, Bass/Center
All of these jacks are a "stereo" style jack, meaning they contain 2 channels of audio.
In our world, 5.1 means 6 available channels. 7.1 means 8 available channels.
Simvibe / Simhub see a card and don't care about the normal labels of front/rear/bass/center etc. They just think of them as channels. Even if you have a 5.1 soundcard that's 6 channels, and chassis mode only needs 4.
You need to amplify each channel "separately" so you need 4 channels for total amplification, but that could be:
1 x 4 channel amp
2 x stereo amps
4 x mono amps
The only thing you have to be aware of is the wiring between the card and the amps. Like I said, sound cards typically have stereo 3.5mm jacks, like a headphone jack. Amp input scan be a variety of things and if the amp inputs are a single channel / mono input, then the cable you need will be that stereo headphone jack splitting to two appropriate mono jacks on the other end.
In terms of power, you only overpower the shakers with a big amp if you turn the amp up too far. You are more likely to blow out a shaker by using a cheap low wattage amp flat out, than a cheap higher wattage amp at half volume. The better the amp, the more the stated wattage is reliable / spike free and this risk is less true, but it's still always true, that you can't blow out a shaker by connecting it to an amp that is rated higher than it.. unless you turn the amp up too high.