PC Headset & Speakers

[chrissa1]

I've got Skype sorted out on my PC ready to speak to my daughter on Saturday.
I've got two speakers for normal sound and a headset for Skype. Can I have both of these plugged in at the same time when Skyping, so that my little granddaughter can see her Auntie and also hear her without using the earpiece of the headset?
I've got pink and green plugs at the back and front of the PC.

[Buenchico]

There are two possible problems:

Firstly, simply plugging in the headset is likely to disconnect the speakers. (Whether it does or not will depend upon the way that your PC is wired. Try playing an audio CD to see whether the sound comes out of just the headset or out of the speakers as well).

Secondly, the reason that Skype users normally use headsets, rather than just using a microphone while the sound comes out of the speakers, is that the sound going into the microphone might be fed out of the speakers (and then back into the microphone and out of the speakers . . . etc, etc). That creates 'feedback', which is the awful howling sound that you hear when a stage performer has got the microphone too close to the speaker system.

Go to your nearest Maplin store and ask them for a headphone splitter. (You plug it into the headphone socket on your PC but it has two sockets on the other end of it). Then go to a 'pound shop' and buy a cheap earpiece, so that you can plug your headset into one socket and the earpiece into the other.

Chris

[mungbeanz]

If you've got pink and green plugs on the front and the back of the PC, then you can leave your speakers plugged into the back and your headset in the front.

In order to use Skype with the headset, you must go into the sound options on Skype and there will be drop downs for sound and voice. Set them to headphones and microphone. You can now do a sound test to check that you have the right configuration.

[chrissa1]

Thank you Chris and mungbeanz for your helpful answers. Roll on Saturday.

[VHG]

My webcam has a microphone built in, and so does not need any sort of headset.

You dont really need a headset at all if your webcam or laptop has a microphone already (many have).

And it will use the normal speakers.