Home stereo speakers for computer?
 

I have an extra set of home speakers. Can I use them for my computer? I have Harmon Kardon speakers we are using now. They have a power cord, though.

My thought was to just cut the speaker wires and splice in the home versions.

Will this work?

Thanks.

Don't think so without adding the appropriate sound card and/or amp. There's not enough "juice" coming from the computer to drive home-type speakers. You can plug your computer into your home amp/receiver via the line-out or earphone jack. If your computer has a digital audio out port or HDMI port, you can do it that way, too.



xxx

You can make it work, but it isn't quite that easy.

I'm piping audio signal through an M-Audio sound card to a NAD 320-BEE amp, then out to Infinity Primus 360's. The quality is sufficient that I can hear the "tap tap tap" noises that oboe players make when they're pressing the keys, which is good enough for me.

If you're going to use big speakers with your home computer, you'll need to do something similar: audio output to some kind of powered amp, then to the speakers from there. Your headphone jack will do, but I'm not sure if there are quality limitations on that route. I ran for a long time, actually, just using an off-the-shelf Aiwa boom-box that had an external input. I was able to plug in whatever speakers I wanted, and it had an integrated CD player.

Good luck.

Dan

Thanks for the advice guys.

It seems that this would require some effort to make it work. I was just kind of bored and looking for a tinkering project.

I'll stick with the H/K system.:cool:

You said that the speakers had a power cord? So are they speakers with built in amplification? If the speakers have a power cord and volume knob (indicating that they are powered, then they should work fine.

I've used these and they work great. You just need an adapter to go from the RCA style jacks to a computer style jack (2.5mm or 3.5mm or something like that).

The home speakers are not powered.

Probaby not enough power to run home speakers unless they are little bookshelf size units. Check craigslist and pick up a small amp/receiver to run the speakers.

The audio outputs on your computer are low level outputs, just like headphone jacks (think iPod). They will power tiny speakers and headphones, but not home speakers. You can connect your computer to a receiver/amplifier and make BIG sound with your computer.
I do this all the time with my laptop. I connect the headphone jack to an input (aux in) and run Windows media player to have non-stop music in the house. The crossfade feature on mediaplayer also ensures there is no pause between songs.

I have some high-end powered Jamo bookshelf-type speakers and a powered 10" subwoofer hooked-up to my main PC...woohoo it rocks.

Years ago I used a small integrated amp with regular stereo speakers and that works well too. As noted above, the PC sound card's amp is not adequate to drive real speakers unassisted.

I think it would work if you get an adapter from 1 (computer) to 2 (amplifier), then from amplifier to your home spearkers.

Grab an integraged amp from Goodwill. Get a splitter from Radio Shack that converts the mini-jack to RCA plugs. I literally have $30 in my Pioneer Elite receiver and a pair of DCM speakers, both from Goodwill. The quality of sound is amazing.

That's funny cause I was thinking of checking out our GW or Habit Restore today to see if I could find an amp. Great minds......