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General discussion

Can u put floorstanding speakers on a computer

Jul 3, 2005 4:55AM PDT

is it possible to put floor standing speakers and hook them up to a computer.

Discussion is locked

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You need an amp.
Jul 3, 2005 6:39AM PDT

The signal coming from your sound card may be able to drive your headphones, but they won't have enough power to drive most floorstanding speakers, which usually don't come with their own amplifier.

This probably won't work unless you have ultra-sensitive horn-loaded speakers, which can be very expensive:

Sound card --> unpowered speakers


This is what you want:

Sound card --> amplifier* --> unpowered speakers

or

Sound card --> powered speakers

*amplifier can be a stereo or home theater receiver, an integrated amp, or a straight-up power amplifier. Just make sure to get one with enough wattage for the loudest volume level that you will use. Nothing damages speakers more often than underpowered amps and clipped signals.

BTW, what make and model are your floorstanders and your sound card? Someone might be able to recommend a more specific solution if they knew exactly what you had.


Maybe I misread your question and you really want to know if you can physically place the tower speakers on top of the computer's chassis? That's a whole 'nother story.

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Can you use floorstanding speakers with your computer?
Jul 3, 2005 3:27PM PDT

Hello,

Yes, yuriv hit it on the head.

The computer sound card is not capable of driving speakers of any kind. This is why all computer speakers are self powered or powered through the subwoofer.

That is another option. If you wanted to purchase a speaker system with a self-powered subwoofer, you might be able to hook up the floorstanding speakers to the sub depending on the power consumption of the floor standing speakers and the ohm rating.

Otherwise, you will need a home theater receiver or amp to power the speakers.

Take Care,

Shawn Mosqueda
WireSmart LLC
www.wiresmart.com
shawn@wiresmart.com

How To Build A Home Theater PC ebook coming soon! visit www.wiresmart.com