Best way to connect speakers to PC?

Look locally for a stereo amplifier that is is your budget. Mind the power ratings of your speakers. Post a pic of your amp when you get it.
I would check out some ClassD/ClassT amplifiers as you get alot of bang for the buck.

Nice Speakers BTW.
To help clarify a bit, your speakers are PASSIVE, meaning the require separate amplification. To compare the to a "PC" speaker type, they are ACTIVE which means they have a built in amplifier.

Your speakers have binding posts on the back for connection to an amplifier, that is the standard connection for this type of speakers.

 

Thanks ROBSCIX. It took me time to figure out difference and image how passive speakers working.

I guess there lots of possibilities with passive speakers, since user can adjust and put strength in field that he/she desire.
With active speaker, there not much we can do improve sound.

 

Yep, passives are the way to go.
With actives, you are generally stuck with what the amplification you have but the passives, you can always add better amplification.

 

+1 on that ROB

 

I'll post some pictures of my setup when I get home, and show you how its wired

 

oh thanks

looking forward!

 

on a second thought. Is it possible to connect speakers to soundcard?



like this one ONKYO SE-200? It seems to have red and white ports, which seem to be for speakers or I am missing something?

Some soundcards got power cable, is it to feed speakers or not?

 

as others have said, you need an amp, not a soundcard.

those red and white ports are RCA connectors.

 

all right, thanks for reply.

 

If your using passive speakers you are going to need an Intergrated Stereo Amplifier or a Reciever.

Thse basic setup will be this:

Passive Speakers > Speaker Cables (standard copper/silver speaker cable) > Amp's Binding Post's > Amps RCA Jacks (Red and White Inputs) > RCA to 3.5mm Stereo Jack > Sound Card Stereo Input

 

thanks for explainig jazziam.

However I couldn't tell difference between "Amp's Binding Post's" and "Amps RCA Jacks". How are those different?

 

Amp's binding posts are for connecting your speakers and the Amps RCA's are usually for input.

You would connect your card/DAC to the amp and the amp to the speakers.

Source -> Amp -> speakers

 

I see, thanks ROBSCIX.

 

No problem. If you need any clarification post back and somebody will help you out.

 

Connecting Passive Speakers to your Computer

Here's some pictures mate to help you understand a bit more how you could connect passive speakers up. Cheer Rob for giving some more clarification, should have maybe explained it a bit more. Anyway sverek, I hope these pictures give you an idea to how it would work.

The first picture is off one of my speakers. As you can see the speaker cables have banana plugs at the end. Now some speakers like mine can accept banana plugs, some require you to strip the wire down to copper to which you would then thread through the binding post of the speakers. These are then tightened to the speaker. When you see the amp end you will understand it a bit better by what I mean.



Now the AMP. This is a NAD C315BEE stereo amplifier. Now the guys here can help you purchase one. The amp is going to depend upon what you want. If you want just stereo sound and listen to a lot of music then a Stereo amp is the way you want to go. If you want 5.1 and all that jazz (for movies for example) then you'll want a Home Theatre receiver.

I listen to a boat load of music plus I have no room for 5.1 so stereo for me



Now then, as in the first picture, the speaker cable goes into the Stereo AMPs binding posts. It depends where you get the cable from. In my case, I had to strip down the cable to get to the bear wire. This bear wire is threaded through the bindings posts and then tightened down using the nuts. This is so to make sure that the cable as a good connection to the amplifier (AMP).



Now as mentioned previously. Your going to need an RCA cable to 3.5mm stereo jack cable to connect the AMP to your source (Soundcard in this case). If its a DAC then it could be RCA to RCA. As you can see, they just plug into the amp. Now my amp has multiple RCA connections so I can select the source. The other RCA cable is connected to my Xbox 360.



Now with the RCA plugged in this then goes to my soundcard in the back of my PC. I have an Auzentech XFI Forte so this then connects to the black break out cable. This needs to be connected to the Stereo (Green} input on your soundcard.



The next picture gives you a better idea of the RCA cable that goes between the AMP and my computer.



I know this is not super detailed but gives you an idea. This is only one of the multiple ways that it can be done. This is probably the most basic "easy" ways of connecting passive speakers to you computer. Hope it helps!

 

wow, thanks a lot!

Yeah I now see clearly how it's done. Looking forward for getting amp

 

Don't Forget the Pre-Amp

You will probably need a pre-amp inline before the amplifier. Most amplifiers can't handle a -10 dBu out like comes off a 3.5mm out on a sound card. Home theater and stereo receivers/amps come with the pre-amp built in. If you buy a pro amplifier and connect the computer directly to it you won't get much sound.

 

Sure you can, you can even amplify an ipod on most AMPS/Receivers...

 

It depends on what you are using.
As you said, If you are just using power amps, then you require a "Pre" amp to help set listening levels and select your source.
You can't just connect the source to the power amp because of level issues and there is nothing to control the output!

That would be in a pre->power amp combo..I use a setup like this for my system right now. I have a digital preamp to dual Class D mono-block power amps.

It just depends on what type of amplifiers you have.

As you mentioned though a receiver cannot really be considered a normal amplifier as it has a preamp/source sections also.

What are you using?

 

It is not that simple....
There is alot of difference between a receiver and an amplifier especially when you are talking about dedicated power amplifiers.

They are not meant to be driven straight from a source with no pre-amp in between. The main issue is there is nothing to control the volume output of the amplifier. That is why in many high end systems you have a preamp/power amp combo.

If you're talking about a plain ole' receiver, then sure you can connect up almost any audio source without added level conversion..etc.
It is just a matter of cables and adapters...