I think this must be a quirk of the hardware: onboard Intel 82801BA-ICH2, chip AD1885 Jackd running, meterbridge connected to alsa_pcm:capture_1 and _2 Everything on alsamixer un-muted and faded up (except the 20db mic gain). Signal plugged to the mic input appears both on the meters, and on the h/p jack Signal plugged to the line jack appears at the h/p jack, but not on the meters. I find this baffling. Andrew.