Is there a way to connect PC speakers to a receiver?

[PCFan]

I recently bought a new Pioneer 820 receiver to connect to my monitor. I currently using Creative Series II 20 speakers. I don't mind buying new speakers and a subwoofer if that's my only choice and I might do that eventually if I decide to buy a new TV as currently I don't have a TV in my bedroom, just a monitor. So is there a way to connect my computer speakers to this receiver?

[K-amps]

Originally Posted by PCFan

I recently bought a new Pioneer 820 receiver to connect to my monitor. I currently using Creative Series II 20 speakers. I don't mind buying new speakers and a subwoofer if that's my only choice and I might do that eventually if I decide to buy a new TV as currently I don't have a TV in my bedroom, just a monitor. So is there a way to connect my computer speakers to this receiver?

A speaker is a speaker... in most cases 2 wires coming out (-) and (+), go ahead connect these to the receiver in the right place (Left Main/ Right Main etc).

Just be sure not to over drive the speakers (wattage) or the Receiver (Speaker impedance).

Need to think about what impedance the PC speakers are. You want them to be 8 ohms or higher. Some higher end receivers can handle 6 ohms but little handle 4 ohms that some PC speakers can be. For that you need a separate power amplifier to drive 4 ohms speakers.

On the other hand of your PC speakers are powered and only accept a line level RCA input, then you would need to use the "Pre-outs" on your receiver and send the un-amplified signal to the powered (amplified) PC Speaker. Unfortunately the 820 does not have pre-outs, for that you would need to upgrade to the 1120. So the 820 cannot easily power a powered set of PC speakers (or subwoofer) unless you wanted to rig an L-pad circuit.

Hope this helps.

[aramis109]

Chances are those Creative speakers are some weird ohm rating that would not be safe to connect to your receiver.

[richieb1971]

Aren't PC speakers already amplified?

If the connector on your PC speakers is a 3.5 jack then its suitable for headphone jack. If thats the case, then you can use any 3.5 jack on the receiver or the monitor to get audio from it.

If you are trying to hardwire the PC speakers to the terminals on the back of the receiver, I would heavily advise that you do not do that.

[K-amps]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

Aren't PC speakers already amplified?

If the connector on your PC speakers is a 3.5 jack then its suitable for headphone jack. If thats the case, then you can use any 3.5 jack on the receiver or the monitor to get audio from it.

If you are trying to hardwire the PC speakers to the terminals on the back of the receiver, I would heavily advise that you do not do that.

Not all are, some are unpowered, but I checked that his Creative Series II 20's are infact amplified.

In this case He either needs an L-pad circuit and run it off the speaker output of the receiver or if the 820 has a headphone jack, he could use that.

Typical values for an L-pad running off speaker outputs would be a 27dB reduction required.



Connect a series 90 ohms, shunted by 8 ohm to ground would give you about 2.1volts at the input of the speakers. This assumes full power of 28.34v is present on the speaker output of the receiver.

You can vary the resistance values but keep the ratio of the series (90ohms) to shunt (8ohms) values constant. e.g. 67ohms and 3.24 ohms would work also. Just never go below 8 ohms for the series resister (or you overload the receiver). The shunt resister is also known as the parallel resistor.

Look at a schematic here: http://www.diyaudioandvideo.com/Calculator/LPad/

put in the values of Z=69 ohms, and Attenuation = 27db and power = 100 watts, hit calculate, it will show you the schematic of how the circuit needs to be laid out.

Instead of the speaker, you will hook those lines via 1/8" headphone jack to your PC speaker input.

In this scenario, you are using the Pio 820 as a pre-amp... waste if you ask me

Just buy yourself some real speakers...

[lucv13]

Originally Posted by K-amps

Not all are, some are unpowered, but I checked that his Creative Series II 20's are infact amplified.

In this case He either needs an L-pad circuit and run it off the speaker output of the receiver or if the 820 has a headphone jack, he could use that.

Typical values for an L-pad running off speaker outputs would be a 27dB reduction required.



Connect a series 90 ohms, shunted by 8 ohm to ground would give you about 2.1volts at the input of the speakers. This assumes full power of 28.34v is present on the speaker output of the receiver.

You can vary the resistance values but keep the ratio of the series (90ohms) to shunt (8ohms) values constant. e.g. 67ohms and 3.24 ohms would work also. Just never go below 8 ohms for the series resister (or you overload the receiver). The shunt resister is also known as the parallel resistor.

Look at a schematic here: http://www.diyaudioandvideo.com/Calculator/LPad/

put in the values of Z=69 ohms, and Attenuation = 27db and power = 100 watts, hit calculate, it will show you the schematic of how the circuit needs to be laid out.

Instead of the speaker, you will hook those lines via 1/8" headphone jack to your PC speaker input.

In this scenario, you are using the Pio 820 as a pre-amp... waste if you ask me

Just buy yourself some real speakers...

HUH!!!!! I think the answer he's looking for is - No because you have powered speakers....