Playback from mic jack through speakers.

You should always be plugging in the iPod to a line-in jack, not a mic jack - it's the wrong voltage level: http://www.epanorama.net/circuits/line_to_mic.html.  Since the HP8510w doesn't have a line-in, you should get a separate player system for the iPod, or a device that attenuates the signal like this: http://store.shure.com/store/shure/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.104210800

Thank you for the comment, despite the voltage level, there still does not appear to be a way to use the notebook with Vista as a playback device.

I said that you need an additional device that attenuates the signal to make it compatible with the mic input.  If your goal is to use the laptop as a playback device, you will have to get more equipment.  The Shure device I linked to says "Use it to connect a line-level or aux-level output from devices such as mixers, tape recorders, and CD players to a mic-level input."

Yes, I understand the difference between line level and mic level.  The issue is not in the voltage, even though I am overpowering the system, I can still record from my ipod with the software on my computer and the computer still registers that is is receiving sound...even on a reasonable scale as long as I don't have the level too high (b/c of the fact that I am providing a line level signal).  The issue is that I can't get the computer to patch that sound back through the speakers...this seems to be a well documented problem in other forums.  I figured I would post it here to see if any had a solution with my particular hardware.

Again, thank you for your input.

Thanks for the response, yes, adobe audition works great (I record on it all the time with my mic jack and my line in jack), and you can live monitor on XP...but this seems to be the story with Vista consistently...many little details that shouldn't have been changed, were.  The passthru seems to be one of those Vista issues.  Perhaps they intended to assist people in avoiding the "screeming laptop" syndrome by simply not allowing the mic and speakers to bus together.  Either way, if I don't get any other assistance that helps, I'll close the thread and award points...thanks again for your time.

It's strange that Vista should take away functionality like that.  I have CoolEdit 2000, the software predecessor to Adobe Audition and like what you can do with it as well.

Yes, I also got started with CoolEdit...back a few versions before 2000.  I hadn't used it for a year or so and found out that Adobe taken over support and development, I was concerned b/c of how simple the program was, but it seems that the adobe version is every bit as functional and simple, but posesses significantly more power.  Any word on whether they are still developing for it or is it a dead product?  I haven't looked in a few years?

I haven't looked at Adobe Audition because I only paid $60 for my version and didn't want to spend any more.  I bought the pop and click plug-in, but that's it.

Thanks again for the input, w/ no other opinions, enjoy the points :-)

I know this is closed, but for anybody else looking at this in the future...

This appears to be a problem with the sound card HP is using rather than a problem with Vista.  I have a HP laptop using basically the same SoundMAX driver -- and the exact same issue you describe.  No way to plug my IPOD into the MIC jack and play out through the laptop speakers (other than using a third-party software program to record from the mic then return to a playback channel in a near real-time streaming fashion).


Also, to clarify MIC level and LINE level for people who are not familiar with this concept  (for the other PRO Audio folks out there let me acknowledge that I am leaving out the whole consumer / pro systems line level difference)...

Microphones provide fairly low output voltage because of the way they are designed.  So a mic jack is designed to internally "boost" the very low voltage signal coming from the mic.

Powered audio devices output a much greater voltage signal at "line" level.  The most basic advantage is that a line level signal (especially when we deal with unbalanced..or 2 wire cabling) can travel much further without being affected by noise interference.

When you plug a LINE level device into a jack expecting MIC level voltage the obvious problem is that the mic jack boosts the signal that is already coming in strong (I freely acknowledge this is not an entirely accurate technical description, but it gets the point across better).  This leads to a condition called "overdriving" -- or too much voltage / volume getting pumped into the amplifiers.  Sufficiently overdriving audio components will lead to distortion and possible damage.  And let's face it, distorted music is not what we want to listen to -- unless of course we are a stupid kid driving the "thumper" car with windows down so everyone else can be annoyed (but that is a different subject ;-).

There are a couple ways to correct.  Arguably the best way is to pad the signal down with a device as discussed above.  This "attenuates" the signal properly -- for purpose of this discussion just think of it as adjusting the line level voltage down to what the mic level input wants.  I always use these type of devices when I am hooking a guitar or other line-level device to balanced mic-level inputs on professional sound systems.

The other way -- which is perfectly acceptable for home audio use and even for very limited use on pro systems -- is to set the volume on the audio device very low.  In this case we are talking about an IPOD, so you would set the volume on the IPOD to half or less.  Lowering the volume lowers the voltage -- so music will come out sounding just fine even though it is technically "overdriving" the input.

So, if I remember correctly from disassembling my laptop (for other reasons), the sound card is modular and could be replaced with another variety that was made for this notebook.  Any thoughts on this?  Not that I intend to, just wondered if you have some unique knowledge that I don't intend to spend the time searching for.

Thanks.

I suppose that might be possible.  A lot of components are moduler.

I suppose that might be possible.  A lot of components are moduler.