Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and the Yahoo Answers website is now in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.
Trending News
Splicing two surround sound speakers to 3.5MM headphone jack?
The speakers on my laptop are rather paltry, of course, they all are. I' looking to get some better sound and have two extra surround sound speakers laying around. The woofers in them aren't that big (maybe 2"). As such, I'd like to splice them onto a 3.5MM headphone jack, or USB if possible for a bit more power and better overall sound digitally.
Soldering the wires together is not so much the question, rather, is there anything electronically I need to know; adding resistors, upping the power (if I go the USB route for power). Would the laptop be able to drive the speakers sufficiently enough where I would not need an outside power source?
4 Answers
- ?Lv 79 years agoFavorite Answer
Laptops aren't able to properly drive passive external speakers.
The speakers built into a laptop are necessarily small
so that they will fit in the very limited space available.
They are not much, if any, different from those used in headphones.
Laptops' amplifiers are barely adequate for headphones, in any case.
Most people are unaware that "computer speakers"
have amplifiers built into them.
[This is why they require power supplies.]
>> Usually, the amplifier is in one cabinet,
and the other cabinet has only a speaker in it.
One of the best things to do is use an ordinary stereo receiver
and a pair of "bookshelf" speakers.
Connect the headphone output of the laptop to any line-level input
(Aux, CD, Tape Monitor, etc.) on the receiver.
- classicsatLv 79 years ago
You need an amplifier for sure, and that needs external power.
To get decent power to drive the speakers to sound good, you need several watts or more each, and that is beyond USB.
