cmedina1983
Beta member
- Messages
- 2
Hello
I recently bought some nice stereo speakers from a thrift store for $6 that I was intending to hook up to my PC (somehow). Since getting them home, though, I've been stumped on a way to power them enough to produce a decent volume. At this stage I can only ever get them to play music that's loud enough to hear if you press your ear up to the speaker.
I have practically no stats on what the speakers are, apart from text on the back suggesting their impedence is 8 ohms. The wiring is almost as confusing, but please, bear with me:
There are 2 sets of wires coming from each speaker:
1st set: traditional positive/negative set of wires
2nd set: power cables that end in a jumper-type connection (imagine the small wires that connect into a motherboard - the small plastic, square plug at the end? That's what they look like), however the holes at the end are too small for me to force onto a motherboard jumper
The way I originally had my speakers hooked up to the computer were:
1. Both positive wires and both negative wires from each speaker twisted together
2. Two individual male RCA cables with bare wires on the other end
1+2 were connected together appropriately (aka: positive twisted with one RCA cable and the negative to the other RCA cable).
The two male RCA cables were then connected via a 'male to male' adapter to an RCA cable with a 3.5mm jack on the other end (suitable for PCs obviously).
This results in next to no volume and everything on the PC is turned up. I reiterate that when plugged into a stereo system, these speakers played extremely loud and clear - there is no possibility that the speakers are broken or damaged in any way.
Figuring that I should find a way to power the speakers independently to the PC I cut the ends off the jumper type cables (left a lot of wire on there in case I need to reattach later, however), and thought of a plan.
I then twisted the negative/positive wires of those cables together (as I had done with the traditional sets of wires above), and took a normal, power adaptor I found for my electric screwdriver. I then placed one of the coupled cables into the cylinder of the power adaptor (negative?) and wrapped the other coupled cable around the outside of the cylinder (positive?).
The result offered no difference in volume but did do something else.
I discovered my speakers have LED lights on the front of them.
So this is where I stand now.
Without using the weird "plug the power into an adaptor" type of setup, my speakers have no fancy lights on the front and no volume either. And if I take away that separate power source, there's no dip in volume too.
Any ideas on what I can do to make these stereo speakers blast?
I can provide a diagram if necessary, in case my long-winded descriptions are too much - and if ImageShack lets me host.
I recently bought some nice stereo speakers from a thrift store for $6 that I was intending to hook up to my PC (somehow). Since getting them home, though, I've been stumped on a way to power them enough to produce a decent volume. At this stage I can only ever get them to play music that's loud enough to hear if you press your ear up to the speaker.
I have practically no stats on what the speakers are, apart from text on the back suggesting their impedence is 8 ohms. The wiring is almost as confusing, but please, bear with me:
There are 2 sets of wires coming from each speaker:
1st set: traditional positive/negative set of wires
2nd set: power cables that end in a jumper-type connection (imagine the small wires that connect into a motherboard - the small plastic, square plug at the end? That's what they look like), however the holes at the end are too small for me to force onto a motherboard jumper
The way I originally had my speakers hooked up to the computer were:
1. Both positive wires and both negative wires from each speaker twisted together
2. Two individual male RCA cables with bare wires on the other end
1+2 were connected together appropriately (aka: positive twisted with one RCA cable and the negative to the other RCA cable).
The two male RCA cables were then connected via a 'male to male' adapter to an RCA cable with a 3.5mm jack on the other end (suitable for PCs obviously).
This results in next to no volume and everything on the PC is turned up. I reiterate that when plugged into a stereo system, these speakers played extremely loud and clear - there is no possibility that the speakers are broken or damaged in any way.
Figuring that I should find a way to power the speakers independently to the PC I cut the ends off the jumper type cables (left a lot of wire on there in case I need to reattach later, however), and thought of a plan.
I then twisted the negative/positive wires of those cables together (as I had done with the traditional sets of wires above), and took a normal, power adaptor I found for my electric screwdriver. I then placed one of the coupled cables into the cylinder of the power adaptor (negative?) and wrapped the other coupled cable around the outside of the cylinder (positive?).
The result offered no difference in volume but did do something else.
I discovered my speakers have LED lights on the front of them.
So this is where I stand now.
Without using the weird "plug the power into an adaptor" type of setup, my speakers have no fancy lights on the front and no volume either. And if I take away that separate power source, there's no dip in volume too.
Any ideas on what I can do to make these stereo speakers blast?
I can provide a diagram if necessary, in case my long-winded descriptions are too much - and if ImageShack lets me host.