I just moved into a new place and I’m trying to hook up a speaker system that runs the length of my apartment so I can hear music in every room if I’d like to. The music is all running out of my computer so the base must come from that. I have a speaker system that’s currently hooked up to my computer and it works well in one room but I’m having difficulty extending the system outward from there and was hoping to get some advice on here as to the best way to go about it.
Now, maybe it will be difficult to describe without seeing the systems that I have and what slots they have available but I’ll try to describe it as best as possible and hopefully I can get some suggestions
Here’s what I have right now and perhaps you can tell me how to do it or what additional devices I might need.
I have:
A computer (duh). It seems to have three slots available for audio: pink, green and blue. The pink is the mike and the green is currently being used for my speaker system.
a 5.1 audio speaker system that’s connected into the green slot. The base of this system has slots for the four speakers, but nothing extra for addtional wiring.
An Aiwa stereo system with two speakers, probably around a decade old. It has two pullback slots for copper wiring to be inserted in for the speakers. It also has two R/L tabs: one for surround speakers and one for Video/Aux.
A Sony Audio/Video control center with a HUGE number of slots on the back. Everything from TV to CD to stereo and the like. It also has places for copper wiring to be tied in. With both the Aiwa and the Sony I’ve tried connecting them directly into the computer and it just hasn’t worked. Maybe I’m not connecting them from the right slots. But if I can get it to, this might be the base I’ll need, in which case I’d need to connect the 5.1 system and the Aiwa (if neceesary) into this.
A 6 foot Y adapter audio cable that, in theory, can connect the Sony system into the computer (which, again, has failed to produce sound when I tried).
A Hometech HTS4 speaker system whose function is to connect a number of copper wire speakers into one location. The problem is that that’s all it does. It has no slots or tabs for cords, only copper wiring.
Lots and lots of copper wire.
So maybe I don’t need all of this. I’m pretty much thinking I don’t. But I’m listing it all to give an indication of what I have available for use. Heck, maybe I need something completely different from what I have right now (though I hope not).
So any suggestions? What’s the best way to get this whole thing up and running so music can flow through the computer out to a number of speakers all through the apartment?
Tell me about your sound card. What symbols do the jacks have on them?
It sounds to me like you have only one stereo output. The output should be connected to a LINE IN or AUX input on an amplifier/receiver. Speakers alone will not work, as there is not enough “oomph” (an extremely technical term which I shall not endeavor to explain here) to drive the speakers.
Have you considered a small 50-100mW FM transmitter driven by the soundcard? That way you could listen on any FM radio in your place within maybe 300 feet of the computer. Here’s a kit that will let you do that for under $60.00. If you’re not adept in building kits, you could always pay a local college kid in an electronics course a 12-pack to build it for you.
My soundcard is RealTek 97 Audio and it wouldn’t surprise me if this needs to be upgraded a tad.
I think that I do only have one stereo output on the computer system. The blue slot appears to be for sound to come IN to the system, not out like the green one. So if that’s the case all I have is the one slot, which I could hopefully use to connect up with the Sony system.
The card will work fine for what you want to do with it.
Yes, the blue is for LINE IN - line level audio INTO the computer.
Take the green out to AUX or LINE IN on the Sony - should require a stereo mini-plug to 2 RCA plugs. Then hook the speakers to the Sony. That will provide the audio power required to run the speakers.
And remember, if you mute the computer audio or turn the volume all the way down on the screen, your audio will disappear on your streo system as well.
Well…good news and bad news. For some strange reason, I couldn’t find a Line In on the Sony system. At least, playing around with the plugs over there wouldn’t produce any sound. Maybe the system itself is to blame. The Sony isn’t mine and I’ve never seen it work before so maybe it was just bad before it came into my possession.
But on the Aiwa I got sound to come in right away! So that appears to be the way to go. It’s too late tonight but tomorrow I’m going to try running wires through the Hometech system and see if I can split it off from there. I probably won’t get my computer speakers to work from there but I can always move those over to the television I suppose.
Anyway, it’s certainly a place to start. Thank you very much for your help Rico.
If anyone else has any more suggestions before tomorrow night’s trial I’m all ears.
