Speaker wire to audio jack?

ebilcake · 2 Jun 2016 at 08:48

I have an old pair of speakers, great quality but the main unit died a sudden death involving a child and fizzy beverage..

Anyway, I like to use the speakers for something else but not sure how to go about connecting old speaker wire to something that only takes standard audio connections or if it's possible.

bledd · 2 Jun 2016 at 08:51

You'd need to connect them up to an amp. They won't be powered otherwise.

Rexxar · 2 Jun 2016 at 09:41

I did this once, I cut the plug off a broken set of headphones and stripped all wires, twisted, then taped the speaker connections to this. It seemed to work pretty well over 20ft of cable but i don't remember having to power them. Give it a go if you have a 3.5mm jack or other parts lying about, whats the worst that could happen :-)

K.C. Leblanc · 2 Jun 2016 at 10:07

Rexxar said:
whats the worst that could happen

Well you could knacker the speakers.

EDIT: There are loads of cheap small amps about at the moment, they're designed for car audio but would be suitable. The Lepy Lapai LP-2020A is a common model.

ebilcake · 2 Jun 2016 at 10:07

Rexxar said:
I did this once, I cut the plug off a broken set of headphones and stripped all wires, twisted, then taped the speaker connections to this. It seemed to work pretty well over 20ft of cable but i don't remember having to power them. Give it a go if you have a 3.5mm jack or other parts lying about, whats the worst that could happen

Would it not cause an issue if the wires were touching?

I suppose what I need a mod of some kind I can connect older speakers to with amplifier with standard connections.

Does such a thing exist? Or would that be too easy.

K.C. Leblanc · 2 Jun 2016 at 10:12

ebilcake said:
Would it not cause an issue if the wires were touching?

I suppose what I need a mod of some kind I can connect older speakers to with amplifier with standard connections.

Does such a thing exist? Or would that be too easy.

What connector do the speakers have, most domestics amp/speakers still use the wire with bare ends in a clamp method.

ebilcake · 2 Jun 2016 at 11:09

K.C. Leblanc said:
What connector do the speakers have, most domestics amp/speakers still use the wire with bare ends in a clamp method.

Yep, just bare wire for both speakers with clamp/screw to keep them in place.

K.C. Leblanc · 2 Jun 2016 at 11:30

ebilcake said:
Yep, just bare wire for both speakers with clamp/screw to keep them in place.

Well in that case a cheapo amp like the Lepy I suggested should be fine.

ebilcake · 2 Jun 2016 at 13:58

K.C. Leblanc said:
Well in that case a cheapo amp like the Lepy I suggested should be fine.

Thanks, they look like they should do the job and are relatively inexpensive.

mistersprinkles · 3 Jun 2016 at 04:41

I can't believe the ignorance in this thread...

UNPOWERED speakers need an amplifier. The headphone jack out on your PC is not going to do it. Also, how are you going to plug a 2 mono outputs into a single stereo source, even if it were possible?

Get yourself a cheap amp with integrated DAC such as those from Marantz, NAD, Yamaha, TEAC, Denon, etc. USB to the amp, speaker wire to the speakers.

If you want to go the el cheapo route, get a 50GBP desktop amp and a cheap dac.

Rroff · 3 Jun 2016 at 15:29

mistersprinkles said:
I can't believe the ignorance in this thread...

UNPOWERED speakers need an amplifier. The headphone jack out on your PC is not going to do it. Also, how are you going to plug a 2 mono outputs into a single stereo source, even if it were possible?

Get yourself a cheap amp with integrated DAC such as those from Marantz, NAD, Yamaha, TEAC, Denon, etc. USB to the amp, speaker wire to the speakers.

If you want to go the el cheapo route, get a 50GBP desktop amp and a cheap dac.

There is a general lack of actual information to work from as well such as what the speakers are.

The speakers would likely be fine off a common ground so wiring them isn't an issue but you'd be lucky to get 2 watts out of your average PC audio output and most aren't really designed to direct drive low impedance speaker drivers even if they do have a reasonable amount of power.

mistersprinkles · 3 Jun 2016 at 21:16

2W? More like 100mW into 16Ohms IF that.

Rroff · 3 Jun 2016 at 21:27

Good number of higher end soundcards are specced for upto 2 watt, stuff like laptops and integrated <=100mW unless they have a headphone amp but yeah 16+ohms not designed for the 4-8Ohm of most speakers.

jackboy · 4 Jun 2016 at 10:02

Funny thread!!!

bledd · 6 Jun 2016 at 10:35

mistersprinkles said:
I can't believe the ignorance in this thread...

UNPOWERED speakers need an amplifier. The headphone jack out on your PC is not going to do it. Also, how are you going to plug a 2 mono outputs into a single stereo source, even if it were possible?

Get yourself a cheap amp with integrated DAC such as those from Marantz, NAD, Yamaha, TEAC, Denon, etc. USB to the amp, speaker wire to the speakers.

If you want to go the el cheapo route, get a 50GBP desktop amp and a cheap dac.

First reply has it covered