How Wire For Remote Pair of Speakers

[TomBrooklyn]

How can I wire my computer to add a remote pair of speakers?

What additional hardware do I need, if any?

[foxyshadis]

Just a cable to an amp to the speakers.

A 1/8" speaker cable as long as you need. Probably a 1/8"->1/4" or 1/8"->RCA adapter as well, to plug into the amp. I don't know how hard it is to find shielded 1/8", that might be important if it gets noisy, but you can also get the opposite converter and run shielded 1/4" or RCA.

[TomBrooklyn]

Hi,

How do I connect that cable to my computer? I am already using the regular speaker output port for the local speakers.

Also, I have an extra set of self powered computer speakers. Can I utilize those speakers and avoid the need for a separate amp?

Tom

[LoRd_MuldeR]

Of course you can use your self-powered speakers!

But if your Soundcard is STEREO only, then there is only one single TRS connector (2 Channels). In that case you would need a Y-Cabel to connect two pairs of Speakers. Of course you would only get quadrophonic sound, no real sourround sound! To get real surround sound (5.1 Channels) you need a surround-capable Soundcard. Then you will have at least 3 TRS connectors: Front Speakers, Surround Speakers and Center+Subwoofer. Today even cheaper Soundcards offer 5.1 Sound. Furthermore an up-to-date mainboard will have 5.1 Sound "on-board", so you don't need an additional Soundcard! You will then find the TRS connectors for sound on the ATX panel on the back of your computer. Like that:

http://www.ocinside.de/assets/mainboard/foxconn_n570sm2aa_8ekrs2h_part1.jpg
Note: The audio connectors are the 6 colored TRS connectors on the right.
What the individual connectors mean, will be explained in the manual!

[squid_80]

Standard: blue = line in, green = line out (front), pink = microphone, orange = centre/sub, black = line out (rear). Grey = ?
Most new motherboards can auto-sense what is plugged in where and will pop up a dialog when something new is inserted to make sure it's been detected correctly.

[TomBrooklyn]

Of course you can use your self-powered speakers!

But if your Soundcard is STEREO only, then there is only one single TRS connector (2 Channels). In that case you would need a Y-Cabel to connect two pairs of Speakers. Of course you would only get quadrophonic sound, no real sourround sound!


Hi,
The computer I want to get the sound from currently only has stereo sound integrated on the motherboard. I'm not concerned about getting Surround Sound though. In fact, what I want is to hook up a remote pair of speakers in a different room, not add rear "channels" in the same room.

So a Y connector might do the trick.

BUT QUESTIONS I HAVE...

1. Are there any signal loss considerations or electronic feedback issues running two sets of speakers through a Y?

2. What kind of wire would I use to the remote location? The run would be about 50 feet.

3. How far can line level signals be run with the suggested wire without significant quality or power loss problems? (I may want to design a more versatile system with whole house capability using home runs to a central location and leads to various rooms.)

[LoRd_MuldeR]

I think as long as we talk about standard Self-Powered PC Speakers the quality isn't a big issue.
If we would talk about high-end speakers and amplifiers that would be something different!
Therefore I think neither the Y-cabel nor the length of the cabel should be a real problem in your case.

Of course the better way would be to use a short cabel from the PC to an amplifier with 2 pairs of speaker connectors.
Then you could connect 4 single speakers to the amp and make the speaker cabels as long as you need them.
The amplified signals that come out of the amp are far less susceptible to distortions than the low-level signals...

Another idea:
Use an additional "external" USB Soundcard for the second room instead of using one Soundcard for both rooms.

Last but not least there is equipment available to send/stream audio signals over Network or Power cables to multiple rooms.
This would be the "ultimate" solution for multi-room audio! But won't be cheap, I guess...

[foxyshadis]

This reminds me of something I've been getting in email (http://www.fxsound.com/mp3connector/pages/order.php?refer=10&mesg_type=10&directive=buy4&ui=8460626&vendor=0&subvendor=0&) lately. Proof that the best way to sell any useless junk in the audio world is to slap on a brand name and a silly term (mp3 in this case). You can find cables that are nearly identical on ebay for pennies plus shipping.

[CWR03]

Wow, $35 for their "patented male stereo mini-plug with female stereo mini-jack," which does little but cause the cable to protrude unnecessarily from the PC and cause a greater chance of breaking something. I prefer a "Y" dongle for such an application, which would be under $5, along with the needed cable which should be under $10.