• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Stereo amplifier for a PC

Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
3,187 (0.60/day)
Location
Czech republic
Processor Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard Asus TUF-Gaming B550-Plus
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon Rx 580 Nitro+ 8GB
Storage HP EX950 512GB + Samsung 970 PRO 1TB
Display(s) HP Z Display Z24i G2
Case Fractal Design Define R6 Black
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster AE-5
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME Ultra 650W Gold
Mouse Roccat Kone AIMO Remastered
Software Windows 10 x64
I have Tapco S8 speakers and they are great. They don't have volume control though, so I am thinking about buying some amplifier, because controlling the volume from Windows sucks big time! Also I cannot use any shielded cables, which doesn't really improve the sound (the hell when I receive a SMS... lol).
I have Auzentech X-Fi Forte card, which has optical and regular analog output. Is there any stereo amplifier out there which would support optical input and some ballanced output? Aside from regular RCA connectors the speakers support TRS and XLR ones. Does anyone have any knowledge in this field please?
 
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
7,704 (1.22/day)
System Name Back to Blue
Processor i9 14900k
Motherboard Asrock Z790 Nova
Cooling Corsair H150i Elite
Memory 64GB Corsair Dominator DDR5-6400 @ 6600
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 3090 Ultra FTW3
Storage 4TB WD 850x NVME, 4TB WD Black, 10TB Seagate Barracuda Pro
Display(s) 1x Samsung Odyssey G7 Neo and 1x Dell u2518d
Case Lian Li o11 DXL w/custom vented front panel
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Saffire PRO 14 -> DBX DriveRack PA+ -> Mackie MR8 and MR10 / Senn PX38X -> SB AE-5 Plus
Power Supply Corsair RM1000i
Mouse Logitech G502x
Keyboard Corsair K95 Platinum
Software Windows 11 x64 Pro
Benchmark Scores 31k multicore Cinebench - CPU limited 125w
Um.... Your speakers ARE amplified internally, those are studio monitors, do NOT attempt to amplify the signal going into them you will blow the inputs or worse the drivers themselves.

If you want volume control buy a cheap mixer, if that doesn't work for you, sell the monitors and buy a set of speakers with separate volume control.
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
3,187 (0.60/day)
Location
Czech republic
Processor Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard Asus TUF-Gaming B550-Plus
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon Rx 580 Nitro+ 8GB
Storage HP EX950 512GB + Samsung 970 PRO 1TB
Display(s) HP Z Display Z24i G2
Case Fractal Design Define R6 Black
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster AE-5
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME Ultra 650W Gold
Mouse Roccat Kone AIMO Remastered
Software Windows 10 x64
Ah! I see.
But, how do I solve the cabling problem? I hate to use that with good soundcard and speakers.
 
T

twilyth

Guest
I'm thinking of something similar, but my plan is to get some good bookshelf speakers, maybe some used Klipsch or something like that and hook my old stereo reciever up to the computer. I don't think that the vast majority of amplified speakers come close to decent stereo speakers so if you want good sound, why not go the whole 9 yards. If you don't mind used equipment, you can get good deals that might even work out to being cheaper than going with computer specific audio. JMO.
 
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
7,704 (1.22/day)
System Name Back to Blue
Processor i9 14900k
Motherboard Asrock Z790 Nova
Cooling Corsair H150i Elite
Memory 64GB Corsair Dominator DDR5-6400 @ 6600
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 3090 Ultra FTW3
Storage 4TB WD 850x NVME, 4TB WD Black, 10TB Seagate Barracuda Pro
Display(s) 1x Samsung Odyssey G7 Neo and 1x Dell u2518d
Case Lian Li o11 DXL w/custom vented front panel
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Saffire PRO 14 -> DBX DriveRack PA+ -> Mackie MR8 and MR10 / Senn PX38X -> SB AE-5 Plus
Power Supply Corsair RM1000i
Mouse Logitech G502x
Keyboard Corsair K95 Platinum
Software Windows 11 x64 Pro
Benchmark Scores 31k multicore Cinebench - CPU limited 125w
Ah! I see.
But, how do I solve the cabling problem? I hate to use that with good soundcard and speakers.

Um?

You hate to use a mixer with a good sound card and speakers?
I have a studio and I use a mixer, professional recording / mastering studios use mixers...

A mixer is pretty much just a preamp, even a half decent one will not introduce a noticeable amount of distortion or noise into the system.

Wiring would depend on the mixer, you can use analog unbalanced input, some will take digital inputs or balance analog inputs, outputs can vary along the same lines.
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
3,187 (0.60/day)
Location
Czech republic
Processor Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard Asus TUF-Gaming B550-Plus
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon Rx 580 Nitro+ 8GB
Storage HP EX950 512GB + Samsung 970 PRO 1TB
Display(s) HP Z Display Z24i G2
Case Fractal Design Define R6 Black
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster AE-5
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME Ultra 650W Gold
Mouse Roccat Kone AIMO Remastered
Software Windows 10 x64
No, I hate to use unballanced cabling :)
My soundcard has two output connectors, standard analog and SPDIF. I would like to connect through the latter to the mixer as you suggest, and from that to the speakers (connectors mentioned earlier), simply so that I don't hear any annoying noise.
 
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
652 (0.11/day)
Location
Bay Shore NY
System Name BACKTOTHEFUTURE
Processor Stock I7 920
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-DS4 BIOS F6
Cooling 4 120mm 1 140mm top fan
Memory 12 gigabytes of DDR3 1333 RAM
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 780ti
Storage Samsung 1.5 terrabyte Steam Drive and 2 Samsung 750 gig Sata 2 in Raid 0
Display(s) HP LP3065 30" Monitor
Case Antec Three Hundred
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DS
Power Supply Solid Gear Neutron 750 watt
Software Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit
Here is what I do

I often use my older receivers as stereo amps for other PC projects when I am just looking for good stereo sound. They do that job well. I would get decent bookshelf speakers and a powered sub and use either a lower cost receiver with a decent amp or a good analog stereo amp. The advantage of a new receiver today is that you have the option of using HDMI audio or analog audio or any number of video inputs while being able to decode Dolby True HD and DTS Master for great prices. I do believe you can downmix the 5.1 HD Audio formats to stereo and still get very high fidelity sound. You have a lot of flexibility. They do have remotes you know. ;)
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
3,187 (0.60/day)
Location
Czech republic
Processor Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard Asus TUF-Gaming B550-Plus
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon Rx 580 Nitro+ 8GB
Storage HP EX950 512GB + Samsung 970 PRO 1TB
Display(s) HP Z Display Z24i G2
Case Fractal Design Define R6 Black
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster AE-5
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME Ultra 650W Gold
Mouse Roccat Kone AIMO Remastered
Software Windows 10 x64
Thanks for the opinion, but that is out of question. I payed a lot for my speakers and really don't plan buying new ones :)
 
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
7,704 (1.22/day)
System Name Back to Blue
Processor i9 14900k
Motherboard Asrock Z790 Nova
Cooling Corsair H150i Elite
Memory 64GB Corsair Dominator DDR5-6400 @ 6600
Video Card(s) EVGA RTX 3090 Ultra FTW3
Storage 4TB WD 850x NVME, 4TB WD Black, 10TB Seagate Barracuda Pro
Display(s) 1x Samsung Odyssey G7 Neo and 1x Dell u2518d
Case Lian Li o11 DXL w/custom vented front panel
Audio Device(s) Focusrite Saffire PRO 14 -> DBX DriveRack PA+ -> Mackie MR8 and MR10 / Senn PX38X -> SB AE-5 Plus
Power Supply Corsair RM1000i
Mouse Logitech G502x
Keyboard Corsair K95 Platinum
Software Windows 11 x64 Pro
Benchmark Scores 31k multicore Cinebench - CPU limited 125w
No, I hate to use unballanced cabling :)
My soundcard has two output connectors, standard analog and SPDIF. I would like to connect through the latter to the mixer as you suggest, and from that to the speakers (connectors mentioned earlier), simply so that I don't hear any annoying noise.

I can relate to not wanting to use unballanced cabling, but your runs are short and realistically as long as you use a decent cable you will not hear any extra noise.

bluejeanscable.com ;)

But obviously finding a mixer with balanced ins and outs would be best.
 

OrbitzXT

New Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2007
Messages
1,969 (0.32/day)
Location
New York City
System Name AX-01
Processor Intel Core i5-2500K @3.7 GHz
Motherboard ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
Cooling Zalman 9700
Memory Kingston HyperX T1 Series 8GB DDR3 1600 MHZ
Video Card(s) GTX 590
Storage Intel X25-M
Display(s) 42" Samsung LED HDTV
Case Antec Twelve Hundred
Audio Device(s) HT | OMEGA STRIKER 7.1
Power Supply Kingwin 1000W
Software Windows 7 64-Bit
Posted in wrong thread, if a mod sees please delete =p
 

alfieabel

New Member
Joined
Oct 9, 2010
Messages
5 (0.00/day)
To play music files through my music, used as recommended by a 3.5-mm to 2 RCA cables. The sound quality of speakers is pretty horrible. Can anyone suggest possible causes of this situation? Could it be that my amp was pre-digital?
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
3,187 (0.60/day)
Location
Czech republic
Processor Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard Asus TUF-Gaming B550-Plus
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon Rx 580 Nitro+ 8GB
Storage HP EX950 512GB + Samsung 970 PRO 1TB
Display(s) HP Z Display Z24i G2
Case Fractal Design Define R6 Black
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster AE-5
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME Ultra 650W Gold
Mouse Roccat Kone AIMO Remastered
Software Windows 10 x64
I came by my own thread by accident, and realized I might have a good reason for BIG necro.
I didn't solve this back then because it didn't have too gihh priority and I never got the answer I'd like, but I recently found something that might be what I was looking for.

So let me rephrase my original question:

I have active speakers which lack volume control (there's something on the rear of each of them, which equals useless), and I hate to click mouse and screw around with various sliders, because it's pain in the ass and generally awkward approach.
Is this what I want? http://www.smproaudio.com/index.php/en/products/monitor-controllers/nanopatch
It looks like simple hardware volume control (I understand I should not use external apmlifier of any kind with active speakers, ever).

Please confirm :) Thanks.
 
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
652 (0.11/day)
Location
Bay Shore NY
System Name BACKTOTHEFUTURE
Processor Stock I7 920
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-DS4 BIOS F6
Cooling 4 120mm 1 140mm top fan
Memory 12 gigabytes of DDR3 1333 RAM
Video Card(s) EVGA GTX 780ti
Storage Samsung 1.5 terrabyte Steam Drive and 2 Samsung 750 gig Sata 2 in Raid 0
Display(s) HP LP3065 30" Monitor
Case Antec Three Hundred
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DS
Power Supply Solid Gear Neutron 750 watt
Software Windows Vista Ultimate 64 bit
You CAN use a receiver....

I came by my own thread by accident, and realized I might have a good reason for BIG necro.
I didn't solve this back then because it didn't have too gihh priority and I never got the answer I'd like, but I recently found something that might be what I was looking for.

So let me rephrase my original question:

I have active speakers which lack volume control (there's something on the rear of each of them, which equals useless), and I hate to click mouse and screw around with various sliders, because it's pain in the ass and generally awkward approach.
Is this what I want? http://www.smproaudio.com/index.php/en/products/monitor-controllers/nanopatch
It looks like simple hardware volume control (I understand I should not use external apmlifier of any kind with active speakers, ever).

Please confirm :) Thanks.

I hope this clears things up. If you can find a reasonably priced receiver with pre-outs for the mains you can use the receiver as a processor/ pre-amp. Its simple. You just run from your PC probably 3.5mm stereo to RCA to any of the analog inputs. You can do digital too if you want to from the PC to the digital inputs on the receiver. All you have to do is run RCA cables from the pre-outs to each of your speakers left and right. You don't need to use the internal amp at all and you can have volume control with a remote. :toast: I've been doing that for years in my man cave.
 
Joined
Oct 4, 2007
Messages
2,452 (0.41/day)
System Name PC
Processor i7 9700KF
Motherboard MSI Z390 A PRO
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3000mhz
Video Card(s) PALIT RTX 4070 Dual 12Gb
Storage 2X Crucial MX500 2TB SSD, Samsung 850 pro 512gb SSD
Display(s) DELL C34H89x 34" Ultrawide
Case Corsair Obsidian 550D
Audio Device(s) Audioengine A5+ Speakers
Power Supply Corsair RM750
Mouse Logitech G403
Keyboard Corsair Vengeance K70
Software Windows 10 64bit
I came by my own thread by accident, and realized I might have a good reason for BIG necro.
I didn't solve this back then because it didn't have too gihh priority and I never got the answer I'd like, but I recently found something that might be what I was looking for.

So let me rephrase my original question:

I have active speakers which lack volume control (there's something on the rear of each of them, which equals useless), and I hate to click mouse and screw around with various sliders, because it's pain in the ass and generally awkward approach.
Is this what I want? http://www.smproaudio.com/index.php/en/products/monitor-controllers/nanopatch
It looks like simple hardware volume control (I understand I should not use external apmlifier of any kind with active speakers, ever).

Please confirm :) Thanks.

Yes that will do the job for you ;)
Thats a passive volume control to go in-line between your soundcard and monitors
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2009
Messages
3,187 (0.60/day)
Location
Czech republic
Processor Ryzen 5800X
Motherboard Asus TUF-Gaming B550-Plus
Cooling Noctua NH-U14S
Memory 32GB G.Skill Trident Z Neo F4-3600C16D-32GTZNC
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon Rx 580 Nitro+ 8GB
Storage HP EX950 512GB + Samsung 970 PRO 1TB
Display(s) HP Z Display Z24i G2
Case Fractal Design Define R6 Black
Audio Device(s) Creative Sound Blaster AE-5
Power Supply Seasonic PRIME Ultra 650W Gold
Mouse Roccat Kone AIMO Remastered
Software Windows 10 x64
I hope this clears things up. If you can find a reasonably priced receiver with pre-outs for the mains you can use the receiver as a processor/ pre-amp. Its simple. You just run from your PC probably 3.5mm stereo to RCA to any of the analog inputs. You can do digital too if you want to from the PC to the digital inputs on the receiver. All you have to do is run RCA cables from the pre-outs to each of your speakers left and right. You don't need to use the internal amp at all and you can have volume control with a remote. :toast: I've been doing that for years in my man cave.
I am afraid I don't understand. You will probably laugh, but I have absolutely no idea what receiver, preamp, pre-out. I am no audio nerd at all. I just bought good speakers someone recommended, lol.
I also read I must never ever use amplifier of any kind with active speakers.
 

Yo_Wattup

New Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2012
Messages
788 (0.18/day)
Location
Brisbane, Australia
System Name Desktop/Gamer/Digital Audio Wokstation ||| HTPC
Processor 2500k @ 4.65ghz ||| AMD A8 @ 3.6ghz
Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V Pro
Cooling Noctua NH-D14 with single Blue Antec Tri-Cool 120mm ||| Stock
Memory 16GB G.Skill Ripjaws X 1600 @1900mhz 8-9-9-24 ||| 8GB G.Skill 1600 CL9
Video Card(s) 2x HIS HD6950 2GB Crossfire, 6970 clocks ||| HD6550D
Storage 120GB Intel 320 series SSD + 2TB storage ||| 1TB Seagate
Display(s) 32" Sony Bravia LCD 1080p ||| 50" Hitachi Plasma 1080p
Case Raidmax Raptor modded to 7 fans ||| A compact HP Case
Audio Device(s) Firewire audio interface + two 9" studio monitors, 450 REAL watts ||| onboard
Power Supply Corsair TX 750W ||| generic 400W
Software Win 7 Ultimate + Win 8 consumer preview||| Win 7 Pro
Benchmark Scores Never drops below 60fps Battlefield 3 everything on max, fov 90. :D
Posted in wrong thread, if a mod sees please delete =p

Ive always wondered why there is no way to delete a post of your own... :rolleyes:
 
Top