Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II "Line Out"

[Tom]

Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II.  Anybody ever use one of these cards?  I was going to install the card in one of my music PC's when I noticed, there's no "Line Out" port.  The card uses a multi-plug harness to provide FRONT SPEAKERS, REAR SPEAKERS, HEADPHONES, and MIC IN ports.  The back of the card also has a LINE IN port, and S/PDIF digital Input and Output.  There's no 'Line Out'.  The card's manual only describes these obvious ports, but makes no mention of "doubling up" on one of the other outputs to utilitize Line Out functions.

So, I guess my question is... Does anyone else use this card and connect its output via one of the speakers or headphone jacks to serve as a Line Out?  I would assume that these are amplified outputs, so it doesn't seem that they would serve as a Line Out option.

[Alistair]

Well, the Santa Cruz's ports are pretty versatile (i.e. they can be used in various configurations) so I don't see why the 'rear speakers' plug couldn't be used as a digital line out, for example.

- Alistair

[Tom]

Well, these 'front/rear speakers, and headphones out' plugs are strictly analog.  Unlike the 'Versa Jack' on a Santa Cruz, there's no way to change the function of a given port.  The Fortissimo II has a seperate (TOS connector) digital line in and out.

[shad0wfax]

Many (cheap) modern cards have not a dedicated "line-out" port, and you simply have to use the "front speakers" output. I had a Fortissimo II some years ago, and I had it connected to the amplifier with no problems. I guess that these outputs are "line-level", as virtually all computer speaker systems have its own aplification.

[Tom]

I had never seen a sound card without a LINE OUT before, so I was a bit mystified.  This was my wife's sound card, and she was using it with amplified speakers, so it makes sense that it's a line level output.  The FRONT SPEAKERS OUT port is working very nicely connected to my amplifier's INPUT.