How Do I Connect Speakers To PC

[Dadog]

So... I recently bought myself a pair of Polk Audio RTi A1s for my birthday. Long story short, I have no idea how to connect them to my computer.

 

Things I have:

Schiit Audio Mangi 2 Amp

3.5mm Jack on PC

~100$

 

So, I think that I need a DAC that supports speaker wire and a 3.5mm input. Am I right? What else do I need? Any suggestions on quality stuff at roughly 100$?

[One and a half]

So... I recently bought myself a pair of Polk Audio RTi A1s for my birthday. Long story short, I have no idea how to connect them to my computer.

 

Things I have:

Schiit Audio Mangi 2 Amp

3.5mm Jack on PC

~100$

 

So, I think that I need a DAC that supports speaker wire and a 3.5mm input. Am I right? What else do I need? Any suggestions on quality stuff at roughly 100$?

 

The speakers require an amplifier to work, according to Polk minimum 25W to 125W power output/channel. The Magni at 16 ohms is 1.8W/channel, not enough to drive the Polk, you would break the Polk overdriving the Magni.

 

For $100, pre-owned the only way. Additional 3.5mm stereo cable to the Magni, and an RCA pair from the Magni to the amplifier. Oh, you would need speaker cables to run from the amp to the speakers.

 

$100 is what I would spend on an AC power connector, actually falls short of that, never mind.

[davidbeinct]

You need an amp. Either a 2 channel integrated or an AVR. At your budget you need one with the DAC built in, or you'll have to go out from the computer sound card with a 3.5 to RCA adapter. Best bet at or near your budget is AVR. Go HDMI into the AVR from the computer.

 

DENON AVR-S500BT 5.2 Channel A/V Receiver w/Bluetooth | Accessories4less

[Audio_ELF]

Given your budget you are quite limited.

 

Is it possible for you to return the Polk speakers? Then get something like a pair of JBL LsR305 which (I think) can be got for around $200 for a pair and just need a connection from your computer.

[anwaypasible]

get on ebay and hunt for a used home theater receiver that has low distortion.

filter out all the items out of your price range and go through them, grabbing the model number and go to the manufacturer's website to get the operation manual.

towards the end of the manual are detailed specifications.

 

i'll give you some distortion numbers to get close to:

8 ohms 20hz - 20khz 0.09% thd

8 ohms 1khz 0.7% thd

 

you should be able to find someone selling an old receiver because they upgraded for the new HD resolution audio formats easy.

finding one with low distortion might take some time.

 

those distortion numbers date back at least 13 years.

 

hell, there are car amplifiers with lower distortion & higher signal to noise ratios than home theater receivers.

i got a dell 1,000 watt power supply for about $30 on ebay for my subwoofer amplifier.

90 amps of 12 volt DC power. but that is for 750 watts rms that isn't turned up all the way.

you wouldn't need 90 amps.

 

the only thing i'm unaware of with the car amplifiers is if they will do strong azimuth information.

i was looking at one with 0.01% distortion & 102dB signal to noise ratio.

was about $60 & it is new (not refurbished) with a warranty.

hey, they've even got adjustable crossovers to cut the bass from the speakers to make 'em play cleaner.

a bit far from the normal, i know.

but the specs are good, as is the price.

[wgscott]

For $100, this thing is a good deal:

 

SMSL Q5 PRO Stereo Amplifier USB Optical Coaxial DAC with Subwoofer Output 2x40W

 

I have it in my garage sound system and it drives two large bookshelf speakers, taking output from an ATV2 via optical. It also does USB, coax and analogue in.

[CR250]

BestBuy has the Sony STRDH130 on sale for $100. That's all you need.

[anwaypasible]

BestBuy has the Sony STRDH130 on sale for $100. That's all you need.

 

there you go.

that receiver has 8 ohms, 20 Hz – 20 kHz, THD 0.09% (8 ohms, 1 kHz, THD 1%)

the picture of the back shows preamp outputs, might be worth looking into to see if those preamps are usable with the amp powering the speakers at the same time.

 

 

the SMSL Q5 pro is $115 and it is only 20 watts x 2 for 8 ohms.

sure, the Q5 pro has 0.04% distortion but you'll probably increase the distortion to higher percentages than the sony trying to get the speakers to play louder.

[Dadog]

BestBuy has the Sony STRDH130 on sale for $100. That's all you need.

 

Sorry guys, thought this would be way easier for me to grasp, coming from headphones, these are the first serious speakers Ive purchased.

 

Alright, now I'm looking at the Sony STR-DH130 and the SMSL Q5 pro. Which is better for my use? Can the Q5 Pro power the speakers fine? What connectors do I need?

[CR250]

get on ebay and hunt for a used home theater receiver that has low distortion.

filter out all the items out of your price range and go through them, grabbing the model number and go to the manufacturer's website to get the operation manual.

towards the end of the manual are detailed specifications.

 

i'll give you some distortion numbers to get close to:

8 ohms 20hz - 20khz 0.09% thd

8 ohms 1khz 0.7% thd

 

you should be able to find someone selling an old receiver because they upgraded for the new HD resolution audio formats easy.

finding one with low distortion might take some time.

 

those distortion numbers date back at least 13 years.

 

hell, there are car amplifiers with lower distortion & higher signal to noise ratios than home theater receivers.

i got a dell 1,000 watt power supply for about $30 on ebay for my subwoofer amplifier.

90 amps of 12 volt DC power. but that is for 750 watts rms that isn't turned up all the way.

you wouldn't need 90 amps.

 

the only thing i'm unaware of with the car amplifiers is if they will do strong azimuth information.

i was looking at one with 0.01% distortion & 102dB signal to noise ratio.

was about $60 & it is new (not refurbished) with a warranty.

hey, they've even got adjustable crossovers to cut the bass from the speakers to make 'em play cleaner.

a bit far from the normal, i know.

but the specs are good, as is the price.

 

I get why you would use specs to making a choice, but the truth is that specs like the ones you list, are useless. Specs can be manipulated to make them say whatever you want. They're not even close to being accurate.

[anwaypasible]

I get why you would use specs to making a choice, but the truth is that specs like the ones you list, are useless. Specs can be manipulated to make them say whatever you want. They're not even close to being accurate.

 

contrary to what you believe, specification manipulation isn't hard to avoid.

there's a book i found online that talks about distortion measurements.

 

all you need to do is answer a few simple questions about the test.

1. at what operating level was the measurement made?

2. at what frequency, or over what frequency range, was the measurement made?

3. what input termination and output load where used?

4. was noise part of the measurement, or was this a pure distortion test?

 

the 'specs like the ones i list' answer all of the questions except for number four. (i simply didn't include the rest of the information)

 

that book can be found here: https://books.google.com/books?id=d7ft6F8ZUdcC&pg=SL543-PA1&lpg=SL543-PA1&dq=manipulating+distortion+specifications&source=bl&ots=1iZN-rKean&sig=wRG1q131NjkBUxLrig-zEuVFaLM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6jJHW2cTKAhVsvIMKHbEKCCMQ6AEIQDAG#v=onepage&q=manipulating%20distortion%20specifications&f=false

 

you said 'specs can be manipulated to make them say whatever you want. they're not even close to being accurate'

yet the FTC enforces truth in advertisement laws that prevent what you say can happen.

 

'When consumers see or hear an advertisement, whether it’s on the Internet, radio or television, or anywhere else, federal law says that ad must be truthful, not misleading, and, when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence. The Federal Trade Commission enforces these truth-in-advertising laws, and it applies the same standards no matter where an ad appears – in newspapers and magazines, online, in the mail, or on billboards or buses. The FTC looks especially closely at advertising claims that can affect consumers’ health or their pocketbooks – claims about food, over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, alcohol, and tobacco and on conduct related to high-tech products and the Internet. The FTC also monitors and writes reports about ad industry practices regarding the marketing of alcohol and tobacco.When the FTC finds a case of fraud perpetrated on consumers, the agency files actions in federal district court for immediate and permanent orders to stop scams; prevent fraudsters from perpetrating scams in the future; freeze their assets; and get compensation for victims.'

 

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising

 

if those questions about the distortion test aren't clearly answered in the technical specifications (usually found in the downloadable owner's manual off the manufacturer's website) and you are scared of being lied to, don't buy the product - it's that simple.

 

**edit**

 

here's something to chew:

'When someone tells you that one amplifier is definitely going to sound better because its THD is rated at .002% vs an amp with .05%, you can be pretty sure that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Many people believe that THD below 1% is not audible and I believe they're probably correct. The fact is, especially in an automobile, the amplifier is the least of your worries. Speakers used for mids and highs commonly produce between 1% an 5% THD and for subwoofers the numbers can easily reach 10%. This doesn't even take into account all of the resonances'

 

Total Harmonic Distortion

[Jud]

you said 'specs can be manipulated to make them say whatever you want. they're not even close to being accurate'

yet the FTC enforces truth in advertisement laws that prevent what you say can happen.

 

 

I'm an attorney.

 

You're probably too young to remember the ads in back of comic books (when comics were 12 cents) telling you that you could buy "X-Ray Specs" that would let you see through walls for a couple of dollars.

 

The FTC truth in advertisement laws were in place then, too.

 

So you can be confident the law prevents audio equipment specifications from being manipulated in advertising to the same extent you can be confident you really can see through walls with X-Ray Specs.

[Audio_ELF]

You're probably too young to remember the ads in back of comic books (when comics were 12 cents) telling you that you could buy "X-Ray Specs" that would let you see through walls for a couple of dollars.

Is there not in FTC advertising laws something about expectation and what a reasonable individual would expect. In UK advertising generally selling "X-Ray Specs" would be illegal as there is no such thing, but in a satirical or comic publication you could do it without falling foul of the law as no reasonable person would actually expect them to work.

 

On the other hand advertising an amplifier with "specification" figures a manufacturer would have to be careful that they had managed to obtain those figures under verifiable, repeatable conditions. A UK retailer got censured for claims on advertising for cables a few years back; the first advert they go away with by showing / measuring a drop in EMI (as I recall) but they were still forbidden from correlating the EMI to an improvement in sound quality.

[Jud]

Is there not in FTC advertising laws something about expectation and what a reasonable individual would expect. In UK advertising generally selling "X-Ray Specs" would be illegal as there is no such thing, but in a satirical or comic publication you could do it without falling foul of the law as no reasonable person would actually expect them to work.

 

These weren't part of the comics themselves, Eloise, but were in a separate section for actual non-satirical advertisements.

 

There's quite a long tradition in the US of rather shady advertising for items such as weight loss supplements, "natural Viagra," etc., that run for weeks or months until the government asks the seller to provide proof of claims and the seller simply stops (likely to return later under another corporate name with claims for some other product of dubious safety and usefulness). Next to this sort of stuff, which can kill people (as it came close to killing Lamar Odom), the government has no time or money to waste on checking audio equipment specs.

[CR250]

I'm an attorney.

 

You're probably too young to remember the ads in back of comic books (when comics were 12 cents) telling you that you could buy "X-Ray Specs" that would let you see through walls for a couple of dollars.

 

The FTC truth in advertisement laws were in place then, too.

 

So you can be confident the law prevents audio equipment specifications from being manipulated in advertising to the same extent you can be confident you really can see through walls with X-Ray Specs.

 

For the record, I said manipulated, not fabricated. I'm sure that most of us here, that has any real experience with audio knows that amp specs are notoriously unreliable. There's no set standard that a company must adhere to when measuring their products. That said, I have an offer for you Jud. I notice you have a DMA-150. I have the Sony integrated I mentioned earlier, that I bought for a pair of computer speakers. Both amps are rated for 150 watts/ch into 8 ohms, but mine is integrated and has a preamp. I would be willing to let it go for an even swap. You would have to pay shipping, of course. I can only be so generous.

 

As for the rest of it, I think you guys have been fooled by anwaypasible's sense of humor. Read his comments again. He has to be kidding, nobody is that naive. The Sony amp has 8 ohms. He learned everything there is to know about audio from a book on the internet. I'm sure federal and local law enforcement has fraudulent amp specs high up on their to do list.

[Snowmonkey]

You're probably too young to remember the ads in back of comic books (when comics were 12 cents) telling you that you could buy "X-Ray Specs" that would let you see through walls for a couple of dollars.

We had those ads, but they were even more florid, purporting to enable you to see through ladies' clothes. They were even accompanied by illustrations of ladies in their underwear. It was never made clear why the specs were powerful enough to penetrate the outer clothing, but not the underwear.

[anwaypasible]

regarding x-ray glasses, the actual shades could of been a lens (filter) necessary to make a special camera work.

but that doesn't translate to amplifier specifications because the amplifier doesn't need anything obvious to make them work.

what is needed is clearly said, an 8 ohm load.

raising or lowering the input to the amplifier might change those results.

but included in the specifications are the minimum - maximum levels the inputs tolerate and could easily be followed.

 

you shouldn't oppress the government with your reason being they don't have time or money.

that puts tax payers in a panic as they wonder why these categories of government are getting paid to do a job you claim they aren't doing.

it sounds like hate speech that supports recession, rather than supporting.

i say here is help, you said they can't help even though that is their specific job.

if we had it your way then people would be hiding nuclear processors inside things to support terrorists as they gather up numbers, as well as processing power, to overthrow the system already in place.. all because the people paid to do the job 'has no time or money to waste checking'.

 

i think when people care to hate it is a hypocrisy to care.

[anwaypasible]

There's no set standard that a company must adhere to when measuring their products.

As for the rest of it, I think you guys have been fooled by anwaypasible's sense of humor. Read his comments again. He has to be kidding, nobody is that naive. The Sony amp has 8 ohms. He learned everything there is to know about audio from a book on the internet. I'm sure federal and local law enforcement has fraudulent amp specs high up on their to do list.

 

but there is a set standard.

you can only connect test measuring equipment so many ways.

you suggest they are connecting the test equipment differently? like what, plugging the probes into a potato before it goes to the amplifier outputs?

 

i have to be kidding why?

i gave you the requirements for a test.

you didn't support definition.

 

nobody is that naive?

look at how many people follow the speaker placement guide despite testing or factual reasoning for the guide to honestly be useful.

they don't know the propagation of the room to any small percentage of certainty when following their guide.

 

arguing without definition is childish.

please don't claim to know what i've learned or where i've learned it from. it is slander.

[esldude]

but there is a set standard.

you can only connect test measuring equipment so many ways.

you suggest they are connecting the test equipment differently? like what, plugging the probes into a potato before it goes to the amplifier outputs?

 

i have to be kidding why?

i gave you the requirements for a test.

you didn't support definition.

 

nobody is that naive?

look at how many people follow the speaker placement guide despite testing or factual reasoning for the guide to honestly be useful.

they don't know the propagation of the room to any small percentage of certainty when following their guide.

 

arguing without definition is childish.

please don't claim to know what i've learned or where i've learned it from. it is slander.

 

Your posting is meandering and difficult to follow. Is it a language issue? Is English not your native language?

 

If so, don't be ashamed, it is no insult. It might illuminate why your sentence structure is hard for us to understand. Maybe a little more detailed back and forth would lead to better communication.

[esldude]

The amp in question is supposedly using this chip:

 

http://www.st.com/web/en/resource/technical/document/datasheet/CD00205863.pdf

 

This datasheet gives far more detailed parameters and conditions of testing. I would characterize it more as a 30-35 wpc amp at both 4, 6, and 8 ohms. It does appear it would be quite sufficient for the original poster's speakers and his use as desktop listening.

[anwaypasible]

Your posting is meandering and difficult to follow. Is it a language issue? Is English not your native language?

 

If so, don't be ashamed, it is no insult. It might illuminate why your sentence structure is hard for us to understand. Maybe a little more detailed back and forth would lead to better communication.

 

the difficulty following my sentence structure is your problem. why are you trying to make it my problem?

i didn't struggle in english class.

as far as meandering, the word means wandering aimlessly.

yet, if i had no aim i wouldn't be able to post because there would be no words without aim.

 

'esldude' is one person, it is slander to speak for others.

[anwaypasible]

The amp in question is supposedly using this chip:

 

http://www.st.com/web/en/resource/technical/document/datasheet/CD00205863.pdf

 

This datasheet gives far more detailed parameters and conditions of testing. I would characterize it more as a 30-35 wpc amp at both 4, 6, and 8 ohms. It does appear it would be quite sufficient for the original poster's speakers and his use as desktop listening.

 

a chip datasheet tells you what could be the best details of an amplifier.

but considering the rest of the circuitry connected before or after the chip, those details in the datasheet aren't necessarily the final outcome.

[esldude]

a chip datasheet tells you what could be the best details of an amplifier.

but considering the rest of the circuitry connected before or after the chip, those details in the datasheet aren't necessarily the final outcome.

 

That is exactly right. It is the best you might get. You might get less or you might get close. As at least one person here owns one of these and reports they power his speakers well I am guessing the final product is close to what is possible.

[esldude]

the difficulty following my sentence structure is your problem. why are you trying to make it my problem?

i didn't struggle in english class.

as far as meandering, the word means wandering aimlessly.

yet, if i had no aim i wouldn't be able to post because there would be no words without aim.

 

'esldude' is one person, it is slander to speak for others.

 

It also is a problem for you. Communication involves two or more people. Whether it is because of us or you if the ideas don't get conveyed then communication does not happen. I am not the only one to have trouble following your posting style.

 

I am not trying to make it a problem. It is a problem. If you wish to continue with a take it or leave it approach that is fine. I was actually trying to facilitate communication with you and others. As I said, it was meant as no insult, just an honest view of your posting style in hopes of more communication taking place.

 

I will assume English is not your native language since you demurred from saying.

[anwaypasible]

It also is a problem for you. Communication involves two or more people. Whether it is because of us or you if the ideas don't get conveyed then communication does not happen. I am not the only one to have trouble following your posting style.

 

I am not trying to make it a problem. It is a problem. If you wish to continue with a take it or leave it approach that is fine. I was actually trying to facilitate communication with you and others. As I said, it was meant as no insult, just an honest view of your posting style in hopes of more communication taking place.

 

I will assume English is not your native language since you demurred from saying.

 

considering you can reply, at length might i add, to my post .. i've got reason to believe you can comprehend what i've said.

thus justifying pointing out the obnoxiously childish choice you've made.

you are on my ignore list for hate-speech.