Help turning my PC into a sound center

[marcanthony]

Hi all

I have a huge collection of music on my PC in mp3 format and i want to use my PC to power all the music in my house.

Basically, im looking to have an amp and sets of speakers in 2 different rooms. I also have LCD tv's in those rooms and a bluetooth keyboard/mouse so basically i can use my computer which is based in my office, in any of the rooms with a LCD tv in as they are hooked up.

So once i have the speakers in each room that there is an LCD tv, i can control music selection via the bluetooth keyboard (as it has a small detachable media controller which i can use as a bluetooth remote control)

My problem is connecting the sound up.

I will soon buy 2 amps and 4 speakers (1 amp and 2 speakers per room) but how do i wire them all up to my PC. I have no experience with sound so have a few questions.

How do i connect 2 amps to a PC? Do the amps have to go in to a mixer or some unit first, then into my PC? Can someone give me a bit of advice on the best way to do this?

I dont have a soundcard in my PC, i use onboard sound to currently power some powered monitors via socket like the type that connects earphones to a walkman (i dont know the name of this type of socket)

Please help me, i have the speaker wires hidden under my new floors and walls so all i need is to get the PC connection sorted then i can buy all the stuff i need and im set to go

Thanks in advance

Marc

 

[marcanthony]

Im not after anything to blow people away, I just wanna hear music in multiple rooms - and since all my music is in mp3 format I have to use my PC. I cant think of a better way to play mp3's in multiple rooms than the way i have said.

I dont listen to music loud, and im not after top end system. My budget i suppose would be about £75 each for the amps and 4 speakers that are comparable to the amps. I was thinking about buying 8" car speakers and fitting them into the walls so they are hidden from view (since all the walls are stud walls with space behind to accommodate this) I guess £100 for all 4 speakers.

My only problem is connecting the amps to the PC. I was thinking about this... Since the input to an amp is normally RCA, can i get a soundcard with 2 RCA outputs? And also, since i may not want music in both rooms at the same time, incorperating a mixer into the equasion.

So im wondering (Hoping) that there is some kind of box, which takes an input from my PC, has 2 RCA outputs with each output controlled by a volume fader. Preferably the input to this magic box would be a simple phono (the type you plug headphones into i think) socket.

Does such a thing exist?

If it does ill be over the moon as it will be exactly what i want. Im after the easiest way to have what ive described. If no box exists i can live without the seperate channel volume control, i just need a simple way of connecting the amps to the PC, ideally from the speaker socket output already on my motherboard

Marc

 

[marcanthony]

Cheers guys, the info you have given me is superb, just what ive been looking for. I was going to head to Richer sounds as someone else told me to go, but the nearest one is about 15 miles away so difficult to get to for me.

Once again, thatnks for the info.

Marc