home cinema speakers + PC

bbreezeuk · 15 Jul 2006 at 17:10

hi all,

basicly i have just been given some spare sony home cinema speakers and i was wondering if anyone knows how i can connect them up to my pc without using an amp and maybe a new sound card if its needed, the speakers have standard speaker wire comeing out if them which i tink maybee an amp is needed

cheers

Dr.EM · 15 Jul 2006 at 17:20

Yes, you will need an AV amplifier for them. Once you have one (bear in mind it is likely to cost far more than a set of PC speakers, but should be better in the end) it should connect to the PC digitally.

bbreezeuk · 15 Jul 2006 at 17:27

Dr.EM said:
Yes, you will need an AV amplifier for them. Once you have one (bear in mind it is likely to cost far more than a set of PC speakers, but should be better in the end) it should connect to the PC digitally.

great

, thanks m8 guess im going to have to spend a fair bit of money for a good amp

tom_nieto · 16 Jul 2006 at 13:10

If the speakers are only little satellites, then you'll not have to spend too much I don't think. Bear in mind that you can get a good AV amp second hand for £100 or less.

bbreezeuk · 16 Jul 2006 at 13:35

tom_nieto said:
If the speakers are only little satellites, then you'll not have to spend too much I don't think. Bear in mind that you can get a good AV amp second hand for £100 or less.

they are satelites but its a 5.1 kit and each speaker is 142w with a 140w sub

Dr.EM · 16 Jul 2006 at 13:37

A photo might help us to make some reccomendations

bbreezeuk · 16 Jul 2006 at 13:51

sorry should have thought

fish99 · 16 Jul 2006 at 16:37

I'm guessing that's one of those all-in-one kits, presumably the amp is built into the sub or it could even be in the DVD player. These sort of systems often don't have digital inputs or 6 channel analogue inputs.

Whats the model number?

bbreezeuk · 16 Jul 2006 at 17:22

yeah the amp is in the dvd player but i dont have it

james.miller · 17 Jul 2006 at 16:37

you need another amp then lol look at richer sounds, see if they've got any going cheep

bbreezeuk · 17 Jul 2006 at 19:03

ok as im not going to get a decent price for em im going to save for an amp, im a total nooob to home cinema so can you guys tell me do i need an amp or reciever as i havent a clue

cheers

bbreezeuk · 18 Jul 2006 at 21:55

bump

squiffy · 18 Jul 2006 at 21:59

Personally I woudn't bother use them with a proper AV amp. Although you can if you want to.

Make sure you setup the 5.0 to the very highest crossover frequency, you don't want to send low bass to the sats. A single cable from av amp to subwoofer for .1 LFE

A cheap Yamaha will do. Like the earlier poster said, checkout Richer.

cokecan · 18 Jul 2006 at 21:59

i got somethin similar to these, also sony. they are just standard satalite speakers, no amp in the sub etc.

im usin an old old old old sony STR-DE495 with mine lol. for you, could look at somethin like the yammy RXV357 second hand to keep the cost down??

james.miller · 18 Jul 2006 at 22:02

ebay dude. A friend of mine recently picked yp a yamaha rxv-620 for £40-odd. utter bargain at that price.

bbreezeuk · 18 Jul 2006 at 22:06

problem is, i dont hjave a clue what to buy as ive never had a home cinema system and im only getting one as i got the speakers for free from a m8, can you give me a rough idea of what to look for, i also want to connect my pc, games console and tv to this, any help would be much appreciated

cokecan · 18 Jul 2006 at 22:09

all you need is an AV Reciever/Amplifier.

its just an amp that can decode dolby digital, DTS and other flavours of surround sound and output it to the connected 5.1 speakers or more (or less, you can use it as a stereo amp too). some come with built in radio recievers etc. They are also all capable of switching between video sources.

say you have an xbox and sky digital, you can connect both of these to the av reciever, then connect the video output of this to a telly and bobs ya uncle, you can now switch between xbox or sky when ya want

yamaha's, denon's and pioneer's i think are regarded as some of the best makes to go for (someone correct me if im wrong

just goin from what ive read and heard around)

bbreezeuk · 18 Jul 2006 at 22:16

cokecan72 said:
all you need is an AV Reciever/Amplifier.

its just an amp that can decode dolby digital, DTS and other flavours of surround sound and output it to the connected 5.1 speakers or more (or less, you can use it as a stereo amp too). some come with built in radio recievers etc. They are also all capable of switching between video sources.

say you have an xbox and sky digital, you can connect both of these to the av reciever, then connect the video output of this to a telly and bobs ya uncle, you can now switch between xbox or sky when ya want

yamaha's, denon's and pioneer's i think are regarded as some of the best makes to go for (someone correct me if im wrong just goin from what ive read and heard around)

Thanks m8, i will have a look on ebay for a 5.1 av reciever, oh and how much was that sony you have

cokecan · 18 Jul 2006 at 22:18

i got the speakers and the amp in a deal for bout £250 from richer sounds about 2 - 3 years ago. they've served me well for all that time but im now in the middle of upgradin them to somethin bigger, better etc.

one thing to note, richer sounds usually sell a lot of discontinued stuff, the sony amp i have is 2-3 years old now, but god knows how long it was out before i bought it??? i know its damn old cos its only got 1 optical input on it, pretty much everythin nowdays comes with at least 2

i think egay, avforums and possibly richer sounds would be your best bets for a cheap and pretty decent amp

bbreezeuk · 18 Jul 2006 at 22:27

ive noticed on ebay a lot of people are showing pics of the back of the amps and i noticed that on most there are only 5 inputs for speakers so where does the sub connect up