LAN Speaker Question

M

manasota

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 19, 2004
Messages
200
I have 2 machines on a LAN that my kids game on. I'd like to share one set of existing speakers. Can I patch it through the sound card inputs or do I need to buy another set of speakers? :confused:
 
There are three ways to do this: The correct way, the cheap way, and the wrong way.

The correct way: Buy a mixer. You can find some of them damn cheap on Ebay. They can also be built very simply if you can solder.

The cheap way: Connect them with a Y-cable with some resistors. You'll need to solder these yourself or you can get a cable with a volume control built in like for headphones, and just put the volume at maybe half. You'll need to do that for each computer, then put them into a Y adaptor into the speaker.

The wrong way: use a Y-adaptor and nothing else. You'll have the voltage output from each computer going to the other. It may or may not harm stuff. But don't try it.
 
Thanks for the help. What type of mixer are you referring to? I see mixers on eBay, but none are inexpensive.
 
Doesn't matter what kind, as long as it's for audio and it's not broken and it's not computer software. The two things to keep in mind:

-Power adaptor required? You can use mixers meant for automotive applications, you just need a power adaptor between 12v and ~14v. You can use power from your computer if you want, or a surplus wall-wart (I'd say maybe 500mA or so).

-They might use 1/4" stereo, dual 1/4" mono (possibly balanced, so a TRS (3-piece) connector for a single channel), XLR, or others... You'll need adaptors for those, which might add to the cost enough to make those ones not worth it. You'd like one with 1/8" stereo or RCA plugs (1/4" stereo would be OK though) ideally.

I actually only see the stuff with XLR and other weird connectors on Ebay for cheap right now. Might be worth it to just use a few resistors.
 
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