TerraTec AUREON 7.1 PCI User manual

Manual (English)
Version: 2/14/2006

CE Declaration
We:
TerraTec Electronic GmbH, Herrenpfad 38, D-41334 Nettetal, Germany
hereby declare that the product:
SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI
to which this declaration refers is in compliance with the following standards or standardizing
documents:
1. EN 55022
2. EN 50082-1
The following are the stipulated operating and environmental conditions for said compliance:
residential, business and commercial environments and small-company environments.
This declaration is based on:
Test report(s) of the EMC testing laboratory
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and shall not be deemed as a warranty by the
seller. No warranties, express or implied, are made with regard to the quality, suitability or accuracy of this docu-
ment. The manufacturer reserves the right to change the contents of this document and/or the associated products
at any time without the provision of prior notice to specific persons or organizations. The manufacturer shall not be
held liable for damages of any kind arising from the use, or the inability to use this product or its documentation,
even if the possibility of such damage is known. The information in this document is subject to copyright. All rights
are reserved. No part of this manual may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or for any purpose without the
express written permission of the copyright holders. Product and brand names contained in this document are
used for identification purposes only. All registered trademarks, product designations or brand names used in this
document are the registered property of their respective owners.
©TerraTec®Electronic GmbH, 1994 - 2006. All rights reserved (2/14/2006).
2 SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English)

Contents
Layout of the card ................................................................................................................... 4
Hardware installation...............................................................................................................5
Installing the card.................................................................................................................5
Connecting a speaker system to your sound card .................................................................7
Installing the drivers and Control Panel................................................................................... 8
The Aureon 7.1 PCI Control Panel ......................................................................................... 9
Support .................................................................................................................................14
SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English) 3

Dear Customer,
In the following Quick Reference Guide, replace “<CD>” with the drive letter assigned to your
CD-ROM drive.
Layout of the card
1. Microphone input
2. Line input
3. Line output 1 (front speakers) / headphone output
4. Line output 2 (side/rear speakers)
5. Line output 3 (center speakers/subwoofer)
6. Line output 4 (rear effects speakers)
7. Digital input S/PDIF (Toslink)
8. Digital output S/PDIF (Toslink)
9. Joystick/MIDI port
10. Line input (CD)
11. Line input (AUX)
JP1 – function of line output 1
4 SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English)

Hardware installation
Installing the card
Before installing the sound card in your computer, please note the details of your computer's
configuration. Also refer to the manual of your computer and other expansion cards for their
settings.
Please observe the following instructions to ensure a trouble-free installation.
If you are still having problems, please call our service hotline. The telephone number and
operating hours of the hotline are on the included customer service card.
Start by making sure that nothing is missing. The package should contain at least the follow-
ing items:
1 PCI sound card TerraTec SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI
1 slot plate adapter for the joystick/MIDI port
1 installation and driver CD
1 registration card with the product serial number
1 customer service card.
Please fill out and return the registration card to us at your earliest convenience or register
online at http://www.terratec.net/register.htm. This is important for support and hotline
services.
Safety note. Before opening the case, unplug the AC power cable from the wall socket as well
as from the PC.
SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English) 5

And here’s what to do, step by step:
•Switch off your PC and all connected peripheral devices such as your printer and monitor.
Leave the AC power cable connected for the time being, so that your computer is still
grounded.
•Touch the metal chassis at the rear of the PC to ground and to discharge static. Now un-
plug the cord from the AC socket.
•Remove the cover from the case of your PC.
•Look for a free PCI expansion slot that has another free expansion slot of any type imme-
diately next to it, remove the screw holding the slot blanking plate and remove the plate.
To ensure the optimal function of your Aureon 7.1 PCI, look for an expansion slot that is not
immediately next to an already-installed card. Some cards, such as graphics cards, can
send out signals that can interfere with the sound card.
•Carefully remove the sound card from its packaging and pick it up by the edges with one
hand while your other hand is touching a metal part of the PC. This will ensure that your
body is completely discharged of static electricity via your computer without charging the
sound card. Do not touch the components of the card under any circumstances.
•Determine the function of port (3):
•Connect the MIDI/game port expansion to port (9) and, where necessary, other internal
audio devices (such as CD-ROM or DVD drives) to ports (10) and/or (11) of the card.
•Align the holder at the rear of the sound card in the expansion slot in such a way that the
card’s gold connectors are directly in line with the slot’s socket.
•Insert the card into the slot. You might have to press the card firmly into the slot to make
good contact. Take care to ensure that the contacts are exactly in line. If they are not, you
could do damage to the sound card or your computer's motherboard.
•Insert and tighten the screw from the slot blanking plate to secure the sound card in its
slot.
•Repeat the same procedure for the MIDI/game port extension.
•Reinstall the cover of your PC case.
•Connect your speakers or stereo system to the sound card.
•Reconnect the AC power cable as well as all other cables. Make sure that your speakers or
HiFi system is set to low volume. Start your computer.
6 SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English)

Connecting a speaker system to your sound card
You can connect any commercially available active speaker system to your Aureon 7.1 PCI
sound card.
Ensure that the front port (3) is configured as “Line” using JP1.
After installing the drivers and software, select the correct speaker configuration in the Aureon
7.1 PCI Control Panel. (See the chapter on “The Aureon 7.1 PCI Control Panel”.)
Connecting a 5.1 speaker system
Below is an illustration of the typical connection for a 6-channel (5.1) speaker system (the
required 2x cinch [RCA] to 3.5 mm jack connecting cables are normally included with your
speaker system, such as TerraTec HomeArena products).
Connecting a 7.1 speaker system
Below is an illustration of the typical connection for an 8-channel (7.1) speaker system (the
required 2x cinch [RCA] to 3.5 mm jack connecting cables are normally included with your
speaker system, such as TerraTec HomeArena products).
Connecting a stereo/4-channel speaker system
To connect a 4-channel speaker system, use only the front (3) / green and rear (4) / black
ports. For a 2 or 2.1-channel speaker system, use only the front (3) / green port of the sound
card.
SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English) 7

Installing the drivers and Control Panel
After the computer restarts, you're logged in as administrator and Windows XP detects the new
hardware using the Add New Hardware Wizard, the following window displays.
Cancel the installation at this point by clicking “Cancel”.
Insert the Aureon 7.1 PCI Software CD into your CD/DVD drive. If the installation wizard does
not start automatically, run <CD>:\Autorun.exe manually.
In the installation wizard, first select your desired menu language and then click “Software
Installation”. Start the setup by clicking “AUREON 7.1 PCI”.
Alternatively, you can also start “Setup.exe” manually from the folder
<CD>:\Software\TerraTec. Simply follow the instructions on the screen.
In the following dialog box, Windows XP will inform you that the “Aureon 7.1 PCI” driver did not
pass the “Windows Logo test”. Click “Continue”. Conclude the installation by clicking “Fin-
ish”.
This completes the installation of the drivers and you can now start installing the application
programs.
8 SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English)

The Aureon 7.1 PCI Control Panel
Master
You can adjust the volume of each individual speaker here. If they didn't exist only on your
computer screen, the faders marked “Front” would probably become worn from frequent use–
they are used to the adjust the volume of the two front speakers.
The master fader controls the sum of all outputs and can also be silenced by clicking the MUTE
button.
Sources
You can adjust the level of each individual signal source here.
You can also silence all signal sources by clicking the MUTE button. Despite this, however,
they are included in the recording if you have explicitly selected the source. Adjust the posi-
tion of the stereo image using the balance faders below the level faders.
Boost! button
This button pertains to the microphone input and, when activated, can boost the input signal
with a gain of up to 20 dB.
SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English) 9

Record
In the “Record” window, you can set the signal source for a recording and its gain.
The “Mix” button allows you to record all analog sources at the same time.
S/PDIF is a digital signal that does not allow gain control.
Speakers
Set the speaker configuration you want to use here.
You can activate every single speaker individually here to test it for correct wiring and func-
tion. If you click on a speaker to activate it, you will hear static from that speaker.
The “DirectSound Acceleration” fader should always be set to “max” if the computer is work-
ing without any problems.
10 SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English)

Digital
Output
You can enable or disable the digital output using the “Enable” button. The digital output can
be enabled in “Stereo speakers” or “Headphones” mode only.
You can also select the sampling frequency you want to work with.
Dolby Digital Live!™ Encoding function
Click the “Dolby Digital 5.1” button to enable real-time Dolby Digital™ encoding. This function
disables all analog outputs of the sound card.
With Dolby Digital Live!™, all sounds output by your computer, such as system sounds, games
or music, are converted into a Dolby Digital (AC-3) signal and can be reproduced with a 5.1 AV
receiver or a Dolby Digital™ compatible speaker system with digital input.
Input
LoopBack
This button causes the digital input to be looped through to the digital output.
Monitor
This loops the signal from the digital output to the analog output.
Signal Reverse
Switches on signal reverse for the digital input.
SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English) 11

Equalizer
Using the integrated equalizer, you can increase or attenuate audio signals in 10 frequency
bands to emphasize bass or treble.
You can choose from a wide variety of presets to improve audio reproduction for most stan-
dard situations.
If you have modified the settings yourself, you can do the following:
Add – Save them as a new preset
Save – Save them to the selected preset
You can delete the setups you have defined by clicking “Delete”. If you have accidentally
overwritten a default preset, you can click “Restore” to restore it.
12 SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English)

Effect
You can use the effect settings to control overall reproduction and enable special microphone
effects for Karaoke.
Have fun trying out the soundsets ☺.
Misc.
Presets
You can save the settings configured in the control panel as profiles and load the profiles.
Color setup
You can set the colors of the control panel to your taste here.
SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English) 13

Show Taskbar Icon
When this is enabled, the Control Panel icon of your sound card appears in the taskbar.
Language
You can also change the display language of the Control Panel using the drop-down menu.
About
This window shows the driver and control panel version installed on your computer.
Support
For more information on the TerraTec hotline, our online forums and Internet presence, please
refer to the included customer service card.
14 SoundSystem Aureon 7.1 PCI (English)