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Using passive bookshelf speakers as computer speakers?

A

A13X

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 5, 2005
Messages
339
What equipment would I need to get these bookshelves to function as computer speakers?

http://www.thespeakercompany.com/P5-PR-525-2-way-Bookshelf-Speaker-Pair-P42C37.aspx

I know i need cables, an amplifier, and a DAC, but I don't really know where to go from there... I think there should be a way to get it to work without getting a bulky audio receiver with tons of extra home theater crap that I don't need, I just have no clue what parts/ cables would be a good match for those cheap bookshelves.
 
what "further info" could I possibly give?

I am aware that there are TONS of amps out there. That's why i'm asking for suggestions. If there was just one amp suitable for this situation, I wouldn't be here.

Now the amp you suggested costs five times as much as the speakers they'l be powering. It's just a tad out of my price range. If that's the cheapest amp solution out there then passive speakers probably isn't a feasible option...
 
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There's nothing you need beyond the amp, DAC, and cables. What do you mean you don't know where to go from there? Where are you going?
 
You'd need a DAC, a small TA2020 amp (as well as a 12V 3A power supply), and a short length of cut up extension cord would be sufficient to wire up the speakers. In the end, it will be more expensive than purchasing a used HT receiver of the 'bay which will give you more connectivity options and the ability to expand.
 
Long story short..

You could try the "D" amplifier route like the Dayton amp (made with old tripath chips), the Scythe amp (made with a Yahama chip).. Then you could use a sound card or external DAC (personally I think DACs seem like ripoffs. Despite what audiophile's tell you I am not at all convinced the DAC on your sound card get killed by internal electrical noise). So you are talking about soundcard + suspect (or overpriced) underpowered amp.

But if your not short on space though - a reciever strikes me as an excellent choice. You could use a digital input and as most motherboard have digital out already that would be fine.. These are class A/B amps though and use more juice then class D amps. OTOH they also have far more power on tap (at reasonable prices)..

I wish we had more solutions - like a decent compact class D amp with good power made for portable devices and computers. But it seems that solution is not here yet. The only powerful class D amps I have seen cost a ton now that tripath went under.. The Class D stuff looks like the future though.

Pete
 
I use my onboard audio straight to a receiver via 3.5mm to RCA. As long as the Wave Out volume is down and all inputs muted, the noise floor is not audible in my setup.

I'm using an old (early 80's) Philips 7800 receiver with a set of Polk Audio bookshelfs in stereo for movies on the HDTV. Similar to this one: http://kansascity.craigslist.org/ele/1381251128.html Though not the same model.

As for your question -

what "further info" could I possibly give?
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Room size and shape.
Wall composition.
Intended audience.
Stage width (how far left and right of center do you want your front soundstage)
What space do you have available for the equipment.
Are you installing on a rack?
Budget
Future expandability
Clarity of sound needed
What is to be played on the speakers
How loud do you want it.
Is remote operation needed?
How about interoperability with control systems (such as Savant AV or Crestron)



IMO you also don't need a DAC. Especially if you are just looking for "computer speakers".
 
For those speakers, all you need a one TA2020 40 to 50watt stereo amplifier, a sound card (or on board audio) and one 3.5mm to 2xRCA cable. That's it. Do a search on ebay and you'll find loads of these amplifiers - you can get them for $18 to $25 plus shipping on ebay (and the one I saw for $18 includes the RCA cable as well). If you're concerned about it being crap, do a search on "ta2020" or "class T" and keep in mind that audiophiles are a bit crazy when it comes to spending a premium for brand names.
 
echn111 said:
For those speakers, all you need a one TA2020 40 to 50watt stereo amplifier, a sound card (or on board audio) and one 3.5mm to 2xRCA cable. That's it. Do a search on ebay and you'll find loads of these amplifiers - you can get them for $18 to $25 plus shipping on ebay (and the one I saw for $18 includes the RCA cable as well). If you're concerned about it being crap, do a search on "ta2020" or "class T" and keep in mind that audiophiles are a bit crazy when it comes to spending a premium for brand names.
Click to expand...

yeah i was gonna say just get a cheap portable stereo off craigslist for $20, thats what i did. but that Tamp is a really nice solution. very clean sound specs and great price. definitely the best option.
 
Are you using a T-AMP? The stories I have read online haven't been all that pretty. I am aware some audiophiles like it.. but the cheapo Lepai T-Amps that you can get for 20 bucks had alot of horror stories associated with them - and shipping is like 30 dollars.

Really its..

Dac + TAmp vs. Sound Card + T amp vs. Receiver..
Pete
 
yeah, but mine was just a board here.

Was $55 before shipping but for 6 channels not 2. Paid $10 extra to have the input capacitors modified to handle full range, add a volume control, RCA connections and an on/off switch. After putting it into a $3 plastic box it looks like this now. A 2 channel version should be cheaper.

I'm using it for hi def 5.1 sound and, to me, it is a significant improvement over what I had before (I borrowed the amp from the logitech Z-5500 to drive my speakers, which is supposed to be 500 watt THX). Not using it with a DAC, but maybe I'll look into it.
 
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I just tried testing the sound quality from my TA2020 5.1 amp at different loudness levels using a variety of Blu Ray movies with high def sound.

At semi-loud sound levels (i.e. someone two rooms away from me will complain even with the subwoofer off), the sound stays crisp and clear. Moments of quietness are truely quiet, no buzzing at all. But handles going from very low to loud noises very well. When a movie intro starts with very very faint music and transitions to loud blaring 3 dimentional sound (like when something goes around you), you can clearly hear the faint music as it becomes louder and louder.

Voices are very clear, whether low whispers to someone shouting with minimal distortion. And you can simultanously and clearly hear the background ambiant outdoor sounds (i.e. birds, a breeze, wind on water etc.) while people are talking, shouting or whispering and music playing.

The weakness of this amplifier is that at loud and uncomfortable sound levels the sound is less clear and rather muddy. A powerful amp will beat it here. But this is a "computer" sound system and with speakers not more than 3 feet away from your head and is more than loud enough to match what you hear in the cinema.

Maybe I got lucky with this particular TA2020 5.1 amplifer compared to the Lepai, but it seems fine, and I've decided a DAC is unecessary. As for receiver features, I'm still not sure what I'm missing - modern computers and soundcards seem so powerful and you can mix and match codecs/filters and tweak all sorts of advanced settings as well as basics like cross over frequencies. One day, I'll borrow my Onkyo receiver and connect it up to see what I'm missing.

Anyway, didn't mean to go on like that, but just wanted to double check the sound quality and show the OP that there are effective low cost options out there.
 
also depends on the speakers.if you get more efficient speakers than what you have listed.it could potentially play very loud and retain its clarity.
 
Umm its not low cost if you spent 200 dollars on your D2 sound card and then bought a 50 dollar T-amp.. <g> A reciever will replace both your sound card and your amp. It's 2 in 1. That's the point I was trying to make..and your likely to get good sound with zero limitations.

Yeah if you already have a two hundred dollar sound card - a t-amp might be a good way to go. But some of us are looking for an off the shelf ready to go version not a do it yourself model.. There is nothing wrong the the T-amp technology its great for its purpose IMHO. its just that the pre-built made in China can only order Ebay part that kinda sucks..
 
I have a cheap Sonic Impact Gen2 T-amp. Was just gonna tide me over until I get a receiver but I found it good enough that I am keeping it.
 
GuyClinch said:
its just that the pre-built made in China can only order Ebay part that kinda sucks..
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They vary in quality immensely, but that's due to poorly implemented designs which has little to do with the Tripath chip itself. Some of them suck, but many others are great.

If anyone's interested here's a forum that discusses Tripath and other Class-D amplifiers: http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=49

And here's an eBay seller with a reputation for selling better Class-D amplifiers: http://shop.ebay.com/arjenhelder_electronic/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1 (there's a few others of course)

-___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


I have quite a few T-amp clones and each one is better than the next. I also have the 6 channel T-amp that echn111 has, there's a thread here where we worked on it together. I'll echo his statements about it, with volume 3/4 of the way up the clarity is stunning, and adequate bass is present (noticeably more than the original sonic impact T-amp).
 
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^^^ I hear ya. Thanks for the link. I might actually buy one of those amps. However if I was doing everything over again I think I might buy one two zone amplifier and power two computers sound with it..

One thing that irks me with those T-amps is that they are rated for 4OHMs and most of the speakers you use are 8OHMS (or a whole lot more - those are just average figures if you look at a graph) and so we are talking about amps that real world only put out like 6 watts per channel.

Pete
 
GuyClinch said:
Umm its not low cost if you spent 200 dollars on your D2 sound card and then bought a 50 dollar T-amp..
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I paid £77 for the D2 "including" tax and shipping for my card, which makes it much cheaper than the Auzentech Prelude and the X-Fi's Platinum's and "slightly" more than an X-Fi gamer, the cheaper OEM version anyway. This appears to be the normal price here.

Normally you add 10% and that's roughly the price you get in the states cause everything is overpriced here - so that makes roughly around $86 for the D2...I thought.

So I was very surprised by your comment and you're right!! In the US, it's priced as a "premium" sound card, even more expensive than the Auzentech Prelude and selling for close to $200!!!

Maybe it's just overpriced by NewEgg. Or maybe it's just Asus products in the UK are being sold much cheaper (relatively) than the US. I got the Asus GTX 285 video card because it was the same price as what I paid for my XFX GTX 260, although that was a few months ago. ... Anyone else in the UK here should take note of these strange price differences for Asus products.
 
Yeah now i've decided to just stay away from passives and just go for a pair of audioengine a5s. I'm sure you could get a better sounding passive setup for $350 but to me it's not worth dealing with extra bulky gear and messy wires when legitimate powered options are out there.

The audioengines and their cables can just be packed into their nice little pouches and zipped all over the place. That's just not going to happen with passive speakers.
 
They are pretty sweet powered speakers.. Also with 50watts per channel with 0.05 THD your going to have to spend some dough to match the power. That being said I am keen on buying some Energy RC-Mini's for 89 bucks a piece - and then finding something to amplify them with.

RC-10s would be even better but too big for my setup.

Pete
 
Actually i'm probably just going to match them with the audioengine's s8 subwoofer. It was designed to work with the a5s, so it should be at least "good enough" even if it's not the best value for its price range. I am aware that you can get subs that blow the s8 out of the water for the same price, but i have ocd so I kind of need brand conformity. Also, its smaller size will make moving it around less of a pain, and it works well with audioengine's wireless adapter if I every feel the need to add wireless.

Anyway... It sounds good on paper... Its got:

- 8" downfiring "long-throw" woofer
- 125W RMS of power output
- 27Hz - 180Hz frequency response
- >95dB signal to noise
- <0.05% THD
 
Subs don't really have to match your speakers. I think you can find a better value sub then the audioengine one..

For 350 bucks - that's pretty big time. I look at something from HSU..

http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/stf-1.html

I am sure people have other ideas as well. There are a bunch of nice subs what you get over 300 dollars..
 
aesthetics? On a sub..its a black box either way. <g> But hey its your money. The whole point about going passive is that you both save money and get better sound.
 
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