Possible to share speakers between two pc's

sahjin · 18 May 2011 at 10:52

Hi

I am in the process of putting together my new pc and one issue has cropped up that has me stumped as i guess it's not a problem many people come across, i have a macbook pro that i work on and then my new pc - how can i use the same set of speakers for both - is it even possible...

I don't really want to buy a second set as for one reason it would just look odd and second i don't really have the space for a second pair of speakers also the ones i've got now work just fine so i don't really want to buy a new set if that was the only way for it to work...

Has anyone come across this before, i seen this article http://www.techrepublic.com/article/share-speakers-between-two-different-computers/5238134 but don't know how relevant it is..

btw the speakers i have now are logitech 2.1 they connect to my mac using the standard green coloured jack if that helps...

Marsman · 18 May 2011 at 11:18

Some speakers have a 2nd input, so I'm guessing the ones you have don't have this feature. I'd get an audio switch box. They can be bought fairly cheaply on the famous auction site. Normally they have RCA/phono connectors, which obviously speakers 3.5mm jack cannot be plugged into. You can get cables that have 3.5mm socket to 2 RCA/phono's, so you can connect the speakers. You would then need 2 normal 3.5mm jack to 2 RCA/phono cables, much more common than the other type, which you would then use to connect the laptop and the PC to the switch box. That's one way of doing it.

Other way would be to, get a 3.5mm splitter cable. Would have to be the opposite to the normal, 1 jack, 2 sockets. You would need 1 socket, 2 jacks, but they are pretty uncommon. Connect the speakers to the 3.5mm socket, and one end to the laptop, the other end to the PC. In theory that's the easier way of doing it, but you would need to get a long enough splitter cable, otherwise there will be not enough cable to have both PC and laptop a good distance apart. Most 3.5mm splitters are pretty short.

Auraomega · 18 May 2011 at 11:27

Speaker switch box, all you have to do is flip a switch and the input device changes from one system to the other, just make sure you get a decent quality one.

andy_mk3 · 19 May 2011 at 11:30

Macbook Pro > PC Line In > Speakers

Cheapest and simplest solution!

Auraomega · 19 May 2011 at 13:23

Not everyone keeps their PCs on all the time, and if your PC is a power house, a switchbox will be cheaper than the bills to keep it running indefinitely.