Need to use both audio outputs but no Stereo Mix

Sidecar Bob · 01 Sep 2022

I have a Dell D960 (release date 2009) running Win10 Pro in the garage shop that I mostly use for playing music through 2 amps in separate areas and I'm upgrading the amps I use. With the old amps I could plug the 2nd amp's input into the first amp but the new amps don't have that feature.

I would prefer to plug the 2 amps into the front and rear output jacks but when I do that I can only play through one amp at a time. All of the instructions for playing both simultaneously say to enable Stereo Mix but this computer doesn't seem to have that option. And they all say to update the sound driver if it isn't there but Windows says the driver is the best available.

Does anyone know of an app that will make both outputs play at the same time?

Try3 · 02 Sep 2022

Bob,

Sidecar Bob said:

All of the instructions for playing both simultaneously say to enable Stereo Mix but this computer doesn't seem to have that option. And they all say to update the sound driver if it isn't there but Windows says the driver is the best available.

They are right about Stereo mix being a function of the driver.
- If the driver provides it then you have it.
- If the driver does not provide it then you cannot have it.

You could experiment with older drivers in the hope that one of them has Stereo mix.
- I'd suggest making a system image & backing up your drivers before trying that. my ditty - File backup vs imaging, imaging utilities, backing up drivers [post #3] - TenForums
- If you exhaust the drivers that Dell provides in your model's Drivers & downloads section, you could search the Dell website for your sound card's name in the hope that they used the same sound card in another model & that an earlier/later driver they provide for that might have stereo mix,

I do not know why Stereo mix might be involved in the situation. I'm just responding to your mention of it.
Like the poster below, I would try a splitter.

Best of luck,
Denis

sandyt · 02 Sep 2022

Just buy a cheap y splitter from the dollar store.

Sidecar Bob · 02 Sep 2022

Further online research indicates that there are several 3rd party apps such as Voicemeeter that might help but apparently whether you use Stereo Mix or one of the apps it is common for there to be a delay between the 2 outputs so it looks like Y adapters are the best solution.

I'm sure I was a couple of RCA Y adapters whey I was tidying up the shop last year but I can't find them now. Going to the closest $1 store involves an hour of driving + almost $10 of gasoline just to find out if they have them so that isn't going to happen and I want this working today so ordering something online and waiting for it to arrive is out too.

BUT I do have RCA connectors (males plus both chassis and line females) and stereo 3.5mm jacks on hand as well as cords I could cut & splice so I guess I'll do some soldering today.

bro67 · 02 Sep 2022

Just order the items you need through amazon.

Sidecar Bob · 02 Sep 2022

Even Amazon takes several days to ship things here (not to mention how high their prices are).

Anyway, I don't believe this: I went to the box of audio &c cables to see what I could make up what I needed from and almost immediately found a cable with a single 3.5mm stereo plug on one end and another 3.5 stereo and a pair of RCAs on the other. One amp has only 3.5 input and the other has only RCAs so this is exactly what I need.
Well, almost exactly - the wires from where it splits to the RCAs is about 6" too short to reach the amp so back to the box and I found a 2XRCA female to 2xRCA male about a foot long.

It's all plugged in and working so all that's left is tidying the wires up and maybe coming up with a little shelf for one of the amps.
I'm going to mark this solved.