Computer Sub?

[HannaS10 10+ year member]

I want to make a sub box with maybe a 10" sub in it. Does anyone know how i would hook it up to my computer? Would I need an amp?

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[darksparkz 10+ year member]

You'd need a sound card and a reciever.

The Creative X-Fi Platinum has an optical out to any reciever, something like a simple Harmon Kardon AVR reciever should work. The Chaintech AV-710 is an alternative as well, but I think that is only for 2.1 setups.

Both above mentioned are PCI sound cards.

 

[Atimm693 10+ year member]

I want to make a sub box with maybe a 10" sub in it. Does anyone know how i would hook it up to my computer? Would I need an amp?

You could get a plate amp and an RCA to headphone cord into your comps regular speaker output plug, it works and is much cheaper.

 

[andar 10+ year member]

Well having a sound card with a subwoofer output would be good.

I have my computer set up so it splits from the regular audio out to my computer speakers and then into my reciever where i have floor speakers and a sub hooked up to.

 

[HannaS10 10+ year member]

You could get a plate amp and an RCA to headphone cord into your comps regular speaker output plug, it works and is much cheaper.

how much would this be. I have about $100 limit.

what kind of plate amp and cord?

 

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

You'd need a sound card and a reciever.
The Creative X-Fi Platinum has an optical out to any reciever, something like a simple Harmon Kardon AVR reciever should work. The Chaintech AV-710 is an alternative as well, but I think that is only for 2.1 setups.

Both above mentioned are PCI sound cards.

$5 or $200, a digital out is a digital out

optical or coax sp/dif is a complete bypass of the sound card

no sense buying a $200 card to perform that function

and to get more than 2 channels from a computer, you need to use the analog outputs anyways, or have an audiofile that's encoded in AC3, and configure your codecs to dump it raw through the sp/dif.

i flee...............

 

[HannaS10 10+ year member]

ok what obout this for the sub?

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=290-724

 

[billabongcr 5,000+ posts]

or go to sams and buy one of the surround sound setups..5 surround sound speakers plus an 8' woofer+ported box for $60.00. that rattles the plates on the walls //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[acold7dusta 10+ year member]

ok what obout this for the sub?http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=290-724

of all the subs on PE u picked the ugliest, shittiest sub on there

 

[HannaS10 10+ year member]

or go to sams and buy one of the surround sound setups..5 surround sound speakers plus an 8' woofer+ported box for $60.00. that rattles the plates on the walls //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

what plates on what walls? do u have a link? i couldnt find it.

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

yeah you can get a decent surround sound package for 50-80 bux, then not only do you get decent bass you get a speakers to place around to enhance the music more...

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[HannaS10 10+ year member]

yeah you can get a decent surround sound package for 50-80 bux, then not only do you get decent bass you get a speakers to place around to enhance the music more...
//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

then what do i need to hook it up to my computer?

 

[bubbagumper6 5,000+ posts]

The reciever will take a simple Red/White RCA input...you can buy a 10$ cable that has a headphone jack on one end (goes into speaker port on computer) and Red/White jacks on the other end (goes into reciever)

 

[TeoTorriatte 10+ year member]

A sound card with a sub out is certainly the easiest way to do it, but it is not mandatory. It would be a good idea to have a decent set of powered computer speakers as well (something better than the usual crap that comes with computers)... but even low-powered crappy speakers will work with a sub.

For a computer sub, a ported 8" driver usually works quite well. Something like this would do the trick:

Sub: Dayton Quatro 8" -- put it in .75 to 1 ft^3 tuned to 35hz. --> $50

Amp: 100W Plate amp --> $90

Cables: (2) of these: 3.5mm Stereo to RCA pair, and maybe some of these if you need to extend your cables. --> ~$5

Wire up like this:

Sound card --> 3.5mm to RCA --> Plate amp input (wire to sub) --> Plate amp output --> RCA to 3.5mm --> Desktop speakers

The only real downside to this setup is you need to set it up like a car audio system with multiple amps... you would need to set the sub amp gain and the speakers' volume knob at a fixed level, and then use the keyboard or on-screen volume control as your actual volume control.

 

[Relax 10+ year member]

DO you have computer speakers already?

Mine have a 3.5 stereo plug output. I then run a 3.5mm to RCA cord to my amp. Amp has XO- and I am done.

For a small room for computer- you could easily get away with:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=300-784

+

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&Partnumber=295-485

in a small ported enclosure(or larger if you got the space.) Thats under $100.