Powering speakers with a generic PC power supply

[Sylver]

Good evening family!

I wasn't sure if I should post this in sound or mods... xD Let's get to the point:

Today, a couple of pretty average Creative speakers, leaning towards bad, have bounced into my hands, and the bounce has been so bad that they arrived without a single jack to hold onto :vayatela: I mean, each one separately and with the cables exposed. Neither one has a power outlet, so they have no power supply. I've searched without knowing the model and they are part of a 2.1 with a subwoofer, I don't know the power of the subwoofer.

Here's a picture of the complete 2.1 in question, I only have the "turbines" which are the speakers :risitas:

And now comes the fun part:
I would like to know if I can use a generic PC power supply to fix this pair of orphaned turbines so they sound decent. I don't really need them, but they would make a great addition to a desktop for sporadic use. I've googled for a while and only seen some crazy experiments with car radios and power supplies and not much else.
If anyone has any idea how to approach this, I'll listen carefully to their explanations, and any suggestion is always welcome

Greetings, comrades!

[Bm4n]

The amp is in the sub, so without the amp there is no need to feed.

[Sylver]

@Bm4n:

The amp went in the sub, so without amp there's no need to feed.

Thanks Bm4n.
I guess so and I forgot to mention that I would need more things to feed them, so let's patch things up… With the amplifier from an old music system or a decent old radio I could carry out the experiment, right?
What else would I need?

Mostly I'm asking if anyone has done this before, so that I could comment on the steps they followed, where they got the necessary parts from, etc. Or in any case what you think I would need.

Thanks a lot for reading :sisi:

Best regards

[incrediboy]

you need an amp, get it from wherever you want but… you need an amp

[Sylver]

Yes, yes, I know that, but I don't know how to set it up so that it works decently. Let's say I take the amp from an old radio, and when it comes to supplying current and handling the total power... how do I manage it?
Because the amp will offer a maximum power, it will also receive a limit, plugging in a power supply without controlling the watts could blow it... those are the details I'm missing, and well in a certain way until I present the amp I also don't have many values to handle, but that's the way it goes, so you understand me.

Thanks for the recommendations

[ferelxyx]

at an electronics store you buy a simple 5W amplifier or similar and ready

but I think it's better for you to skip everything, because it's cheaper to buy new speakers

or you buy one of those cheap ones and remove the amplifier for yours
regards

[Sylver]

Good idea ferelxyx, thank you very much for the advice.

If I bought a cheap 2.1, could I connect the speakers I have with the two that come with it and set up an acceptable 4.1? I know I would distribute the power among the 4 and lose sound level, but if it's possible I can try.

Regards

[Obione]

You can't, a 2.1 would have amps for sub and 2 satellites. A couple of passive speakers worse than hitting a father with a sweaty sock, the best thing is that they end up in the ecopark or you give them to someone who has messed up a satellite.

[Sylver]

@Obione:

You can't, a 2.1 would have amps for the sub and 2 satellites. A couple of passive speakers worse than hitting a father with a sweaty sock, the best thing is that they end up in the recycling center or you give them to someone who has messed up a satellite.

What a tough... :risitas:
Okay, I understand. In that case I think they will go to a radio that a colleague has set up in his bathroom with only one speaker plugged in the same way, bare wires in the old rear connections. There I suppose they will work normally xD

Thanks to all for the suggestions family

Best regards!

[Obione]

Well now that I read it, it sounds crappy indeed :smirk:

I think it's worth stretching a bit with the sound system, it's not something that will become obsolete like a micro or a graphics card. If there's no money, there's no money, a small Logitech setup can do the job but if you want to enjoy a sub, I'd get a 2.1 Corsair SP2500 (to say something serious within the computer brands) and if you want quality, I'd look at some M-Audio BX5a Deluxe on Thomann for less than 200€.

[Bm4n]

A pair of B&O Beolabs is what you need, without a doubt.

[Sylver]

The M-Audio look really good, without a doubt, and the BeoLab that Bm4n suggests are cool, to be honest. But I must clarify that this entire thread is to rescue those Creative speakers that I received for free, just to make good use of them and not throw them away, obviously I already have speakers in good condition:risitas: specifically all these:

WOXTER BIG BASS 260 Multimedia Audio Speakers

Logitech LS21 2.1 980-000056 Speakers

Teac PowerMax 120, 2x 120 Watt pmpo Multimedia Speakers | eBay (xD)

But thank you very much for your suggestions :sisi: The truth is that when I have money and move to a larger place, the M-Audio would be a curiously necessary investment, since I would be spending most of my free time producing music.

Best regards!

[Bm4n]

I was saying it ironically, they cost 1000 bucks, it was the most expensive thing I could think of. Like Ferel told you, buy an amp board at an electronics store or you can also plug it into any old sub you have lying around if not second hand. And for 50€ you can buy some normal speakers.

[Sylver]

@Bm4n:

I was saying it ironically, they cost 1000 bucks, it was the most expensive thing I could think of. Like Ferel told you, buy an amp board at an electronics store or you can also plug it into any old sub you have lying around if not second-hand. And for 50€ you can buy some normal speakers.

Well, I'm just glad I didn't need them, what a laugh the price :lol:lol:
Well yes, I'm about to do that or else for my friend's radio xD but that still seems like a waste to me, first I'll exhaust the amp way, see if I could get something around or in some small store, I have to look, but if I get it I'll feel pretty good, I've been trying to do experiments with speakers for quite some time but I've never developed them well…
I have a 15" speaker in the storage room, and I want to turn it into a subwoofer that blows, for which I need a low-pass filter apart from an amp in good condition, that's my next goal if I can get this pair going... xD

Thanks a lot for the advice guys, bye

[Obione]

If the board can't cut it using the sub output, you'll need 2 filters, or what's the same, an "integer" crossover. Then you take 2 line signals to each amp.

15" is a beast jejeje How many watts does that ask for?

[Sylver]

I read something about the whole crossover, I searched a lot on forums and such but the part of "designing your own low-pass filter" kind of got away from me... xD

Well yes, it's a curious beast and to be honest, I have no idea how much it asks for, because I rescued it from a disassembled baffle in a polygon, but by eye it must ask for 200W or more on the low side :risitas:

This may one day be part of an album of threads on HL titled "Sylver's Experiments, nightmare level", with most frustrated or developed with luck within a decade... xDD

Saludos!

[Obione]

It's that a Crossover for a sub separates highs in stereo and lows in mono, at the same frequency. If you don't do it this way it's a mess and as you can understand it's not that simple. It's that it's not even worth setting one up if it's for a cheap system, even less so when the baffle is passive. If it were an active sub though...

Look it's a little gadget like this:

THE BOX HPF1 - Thomann Cyberstore Español

The connections are 3-pin XLR and you really only need 2 but well, the idea is the same and it could also be used with XLR-TS/TRS cables (1/8" - minijack). If it's passive it's better.

[Sylver]

Well yes, the truth is that I see it as viable. It's not too expensive either, although the issue is that I should splice the cables with XLR.
Thanks for looking for the gadget Obione, I'm quite likely to get it if I get some money for Christmas.
If both the sub and the pair of Creative speakers go ahead, I'll leave you here the test

Best regards!

[Obione]

But they are 20€ for shipping, for a cheap equipment it would hurt me. You could go to a specialized audio or car hi-fi store that sometimes have cheap gadgets, even some electronics.

[Sylver]

Yes, I was thinking about it a while ago when a colleague bought a microphone and three more stories from Thomann and raised the price to 80 euros…
I'm looking for electronics shops in my area, but either I go out little here or I'm disoriented, because I can't find any, this is already my problem for not coming to my house much xD
A couple of days ago, I missed two subwoofers that were donated on hard2mano, I pulled my hair... :nono:
Do you think I'll find loose parts in a car hi-fi store? I have the impression that I will only find monstrosities to burst trunks...

Regards