Stereo Speakers on a computer...

[nuclear]

i was wanting to get a harder hitting sub and mine is only 3 inches. i figured if i hooked bigger speakers such as the speakers for my stereo which are 6 inches they would hit alot harder but all i get is distortion and not nearly enough bass as the stereo puts out. is there something special i need to do in order to get these speakers working properly or can i get car subwoofers and hook them up?! thanks in advance...

[Warthog]

So, let me get this straight...

You have an amplifier hooked up to your PC (like me) using one of those RCA cables (forgot the exact name http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif).

i was wanting to get a harder hitting sub and mine is only 3 inches

You have a subwoofer that is 3 inches? Small sub http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif. Or do you have a woofer (speaker) that is 3 inches?

Could you please explain what sound setup you have now and what you'd like to have it at eventually?

Warthog

[Missing the point]

At the moment, I have 2 5 1/4 in. Speakers, and a 3" subwoofer too.

I am running the 5 1/4's off of the 2 satellite channels on the amp that came with the subwoofer.....

[Warthog]

Well, see, I'm trying to find out if they are stereo speakers or pc speakers. Big difference, IMO.

Warthog

[RataToo]

well...regardless of what they are, if smaller speakers are clear and bigger ones are distorted you need more power ...so thats the answer...MORE POWER!!!!! hehe

[mike511]

Also do you have your bigger speakers hooked up to the Speaker out jack on your sound card or on the Line oUT jack on your sound card. The distortion you could be hearing could be if you had them hooked to the speaker out jack and had the volume set in your mixer software on your comptuer to high. Try setting them to the Line out jack on your sound card, since that only sends out a pre-amp sytle signal to your amplifyer and then the amp does the job of providing the power to the speakers, instead of getting a distroted pre-amp signal from the speaker out jack.

[nuclear]

what i have right now is 2 sattelite speakers with a sub combo. its pc speakers. my question is though how do i hook an amp up to some regular stereo speakers for some hard hitting bass. how do i connect it to the computer and everything.........thanks

[nuclear]

also if this helps, i know to to wire a car audio system really good. i jsut cant figure out how to connect RCA's to the computer. the only thing i can think of that makes sense is to cut the speaker connector off some regular speakers and twist them onto the RCA's then plug the RCA's directly into the speaker plugin in my soundcard. that would produce sound and get it going to the amp. i hope im right but if not please let me know exectly what to do. and what would i do for the power supply!? i dont wanna keep buying car batteries! hehe

thanks guys

P.S. - i mainly need to know howto connect RCA jacks to my computer and what to do for a power supply

[This message has been edited by nuclear (edited 08-10-2000).]

[Gomer]

You can get an adapter at radio shack I think for the Mini phono to twins RCA's. I have like three sitting right here (don't know for sure where I got em though) I think they are pretty common.

[AdamP]

I believe Radio Shack makes a cable that connects to your line-out on the sound card through a mini headphone jack and then connects to your stereo amp. with RCA connectors. Just use the Aux. input on your amp.

[nuclear]

ok tommorow ill go check and ask them for a cable to connect from my computer to an amp. now for the battery supply.............how would i do this?

[OuTpaTienT]

Huh? Battery supply? Lost me there. What is running on batteries?

Sound card LINE OUT to home stereo's amp/pre-amp or receiver AUX IN. It's that simple.

Turn on home stereo, switch input to AUX and you'll have that bass you're looking for, or at least some of it. Too bad I can't loan ya some of mine. When connected to my stereo, the 120w/ch into 5-way Technics speakers with 15-3/4"inch woofers produce some serious bass...just ask my neighbors...down the street. 8^)

[nuclear]

ok so let me get this right just to double check.........

i need to get an amp, subwoofer (probably an 8), build a box for the sub, get those cables from radio shack, connect those cables to the LINE OUT on my sound card, run that to the AUX on the amp, connect the speaker wire from the amp to the speaker, and that should be it! right?

ive got 4 rockford punch xlc 8's on order right now (best sounding 8's youll ever hear) so i could use one of those right?

you guys are helping me out alot by the way!]

EDIT: and would you guys recommend connecting speakers to line out or the regular speaker connection?

[This message has been edited by nuclear (edited 08-11-2000).]

[gyoung]

That's exactly right. I believe the cable from radio shack is either called a Y cable or Y splitter.

What do you mean by:

"ive got 4 rockford punch xlc 8's on order right now (best sounding 8's youll ever hear) so i could use one of those right?"

How are you going to use "one" of those? Whatever you have hooked up to your amp will be used.

[Warthog]

You connect the speaker wire from the speakers to the amplifier. You just have one cable being plugged into your computer.

What speakers and how many are you using? You're gonna want at least two...a subwoofer might be nice with 8s also.

BTW, you have mail.

This is funny. Back in October, when I found Sysopt, this is the first thing I asked about. I wanted to do exactly the same thing. Look where I am now:
Pioneer amp
Two Pioneer 15" front woofers (no need for subwoofer when you're this big http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif)
Two 6 1/2" rear woofers
heheheheehe http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif
Warthog

[nuclear]

gyoung, sorry the other 3 will be for my car.......

thanks for the help Warthog.....ive already got 2 front and 2 rear speakers so theres no need for anything more than a sub. i like really high sounding highs anyways so they will be used for treble only. i jsut need a sub. the one im using now was for a pc and it was GREAT until i got used to the same sound all the time. now that i think of it i reckon ill use 2 of those 8's for the computer and 2 for my car since i usually spend as much time at my computer as i do in my car!

now about this cord im about to buy, where does it plug into my computer? LINE OUT, SPEAKER OUT, or what? and im assuming its gonna be hooked into the AUX plugin on the amp correct?

[This message has been edited by nuclear (edited 08-11-2000).]

[nuclear]

HOLY GOD I CANT BELIEVE WHAT I JUS DID!!!!!!!! well the speakers that ive been using, or should i say, WAS using as of 5 minutes ago only held 15 watts of power. so i cut some wired and stuff and hooked the subwoofer from my stereo up to it. well it sounded jsut exactly like it and thats because there wasnt enough power. MY STUPID AS*........let me explain what i did. i found me a 40WATT power supply and decided that would make it sound better but......stupid me, the amp in the speakers were only made for 15watts! i more than doubled the power and about 2 seconds later i heard a VERY loud pop. i blew the amp inside my pc speakers! it shot parts of speaker flying everywhere! it was kinda funny at first but now i realize i cant listen to mp3s......what a shame!!!

the point is i know so much about speakers and i just doubled the power supply on these and just lost all rights to listen to mp3's on my computer till i get my rockfords in a few days........oh well. atleast it was fun! hehe

[Warthog]

1/8" mini-jack is what my dad (more of an expert on electronics) told me. Go to da Shack and say you want one of those.

It's not that hard to find the plugs to put the cable into. Just put in it one that fits! Seriously, it's called auxiliary. Plug the other end into some plug in your sound card.

Warthog

[Imperion1]

If your connecting to your amp, the little black wire connects to the audio out on your sound card. The speaker out is just for unamplified speakers.

[nuclear]

IVE DONE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i got it to work! here is my setup now:

2 - 1.5in. sattelite speakers on the top of my desk, 2 tweeters mounted on my monitor, a 4 inch sub, 2 surround sound speakers mounted on the wall behind me, and 2 rockford 8's under my desk in a bandpass box!

guys it doesnt get any louder than this! stuff was falling off the walls and my mom whipped me for doing it! not really but she got ill with me for having it that loud!

i love this now!

[Warthog]

hehe...I know how you feel. My windows rattle and I had to take down a picture frame because it was about to fall off http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif.

Glad you could do it http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif huh...someone helped me back in Oct when I came here with the same questions you had...now I am helping you with the info I learned http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif and you might eventually help someone else http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

The chain of knowledge keeps going and going and going....
http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif
Warthog

[jl123]

I think this is what you guys are talking about. http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif

http://jl321.tripod.com/adapter3.JPG

~Joel

[nuclear]

yep Joel thats the exact plug you would need to get this thing going!

[GroundZero3]

Hey jl123
thast what i used to connect my computer to my stereo. Rainbow six and half life sounds awsome with surround Sound.

JaYsin