Seth=L
Screenwriter
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2006
- Messages
- 1,313
- Real Name
- Seth L
I am a tinkerer of sorts and had a great idea not long ago to use a computer speakers amplifier to power full range speakers. It sounds like a silly proposal, but I gotta say I couldn't be more satisfied.
At Wal-Mart they sell a 2.1 PC speaker system for $24.99 before tax. The system is from a reputable company, Altec Lansing. Just in case you were wondering, the model number is "121i".
Here is a link- http://www.alteclansing.com/product_...s.asp?pID=121i
What comes in the box is the powered woofer, two satelites, and a familiar green color coded 1/8" mini-jack cable. It is very easy to hook up and provides the average user with reasonably good sound from a set of $25 speakers. but it has it's problems, like lame 2.5" single driver satelites and a pathetic, boomy, cheasy 4" "sub".
Needless to say I am not the average consumer, and right away I was trying to figure out how to make the thing sound better. I did find that if you take a almost empty paper towel roll and push it into the bass port it decreased the SPL's but, decreased boominess, and increased the extension. This made it sound better but not satisfactory.
So it sat in a box for a few weeks, then it dawned on me. Why not connect some efficient bookshelf speakers to it. After all the Sonic T amp isn't breaking ground as a powerfull amp and neither are single ended triode tube amplifiers.
It just so happened that I had some reletively nice and efficient bookshelf speakers, Infinity Interlude 10s. The powered 4" woofer has speaker clip terminals instead of 1/8" mini-jack or RCA jacks. The speaker clip terminals will accept 16 gauge wire, so that is what I used.
The front of the "sub" has one tone knob, and volume knob and a woofer volume knop. The woofer volume knob is marked as "BASS". Now you can turn the woofer all the way down on the unit, unlike some other PC speakers where the sub is always on. There is also a very bright, annoying blue LED on the front that you may want to cover with electric tape.
I figured to utilize the "sub" unit as an amp would be to just disconnect the woofer, that way I know that it is not robbing me of power, even though it probably isn't necessary. To disconnect the woofer, be sure it is unplugged
, remove the ten screws on the outer edge of the amplifier plate on the rear. There may be some glue holding the amplifier plate in place, but it should still come out relatively easy to remove.
Once the amplifier plate is off you may find somethings semi-surprising. The first thing I notice is the output stage has discete transistors, all equal in size. The power ratings state 5.5 watts RMS for the 2 channels and 9 watts for the woofer. I figure after removing the woofer from the loop that frees up some watts for the 2 channels. The power rating also states 20 watts RMS system power, so I am probably only going to get something shy of 10 watts per channel if I really need it. It also has two 2200uF caps and a descent size power transformer, considering.
Anyway, back to disconnecting the woofer. There are several removable cable clusters, on 2 wire black and green is the woofer. If it is not black and green, just check and see which 2 wire bundles is coming from behind the woofers mount. The best way could be to disconnect it from the amp and tape it to the side of the box, in my case I took the woofer entirely out of the enclosure (note that I had to cut the wire to do this).
How does it sound:
I put it back together once I had removed the woofer and proceeded to do a test a using my NHT 1.5s. Of course it did the 1.5s no justice, they just aren't efficient and as they are acoustic suspension they don't have much bass to start with. Puny amps and bass light speakers just don't work.
Next I tried the Infinity Interlude 10s, much better. These speakers have a tendacy to be bass heavy anyway so the Altec did a little more than round it out, but in near field who needs tons of bass anyhow?
The Good:
There are a lot of things to be liked here. The attenuation knobs all move smoothly. The tone knob can tame the highs down, that is a very nice feature instead of fixed highs. Now that the speakers that came with it where naturally dull so they needed lots of highs to sound right, so I am surprised it wasn't fixed frequency. The enclosure is very basic, unlike many of the PC speakers you see that are kind of gawdy and unsightly. It has one 1/8" mini-jack in, so you can get your own 1/8" to RCA stereo cables. It has discrete transistor output stage. And most importantly, IT IS CHEAP!
The Bad:
No bass control, and the thing is weaker in the bass department. Then for that you could buy the Sonic T preamp. There is also the annoying blue LED on the front, but you can fix that with some tape. The power switch is rear mounted so if the enclosure is somewhere hard to access you may want to just leave it on at all times. And lastly it doesn't have lots of power, but that is the competition here, low powered amplifiers.
Conclusion:
If you want descent sound on the cheap and you have some extra speakers laying around, I know I do, then, hey it is only $25. If you don't have speakers You could get those Insignia NS-B2111s for $50 at Best Buy.
Here are some pictures, there will be more posted below, where the unit is taken apart and the sub or power woofer is taken out.
The main unit itself in my living room, it is know powering more efficient BIC floorstanders-
And the rear-
It looks nasty on the back because I got tired of air leaks before when I was still using it as a pc speaker system.
So I just thought I would share this wonder with the world, I hope that someone will try it out and post what they think.
At Wal-Mart they sell a 2.1 PC speaker system for $24.99 before tax. The system is from a reputable company, Altec Lansing. Just in case you were wondering, the model number is "121i".
Here is a link- http://www.alteclansing.com/product_...s.asp?pID=121i
What comes in the box is the powered woofer, two satelites, and a familiar green color coded 1/8" mini-jack cable. It is very easy to hook up and provides the average user with reasonably good sound from a set of $25 speakers. but it has it's problems, like lame 2.5" single driver satelites and a pathetic, boomy, cheasy 4" "sub".
Needless to say I am not the average consumer, and right away I was trying to figure out how to make the thing sound better. I did find that if you take a almost empty paper towel roll and push it into the bass port it decreased the SPL's but, decreased boominess, and increased the extension. This made it sound better but not satisfactory.
So it sat in a box for a few weeks, then it dawned on me. Why not connect some efficient bookshelf speakers to it. After all the Sonic T amp isn't breaking ground as a powerfull amp and neither are single ended triode tube amplifiers.
It just so happened that I had some reletively nice and efficient bookshelf speakers, Infinity Interlude 10s. The powered 4" woofer has speaker clip terminals instead of 1/8" mini-jack or RCA jacks. The speaker clip terminals will accept 16 gauge wire, so that is what I used.
The front of the "sub" has one tone knob, and volume knob and a woofer volume knop. The woofer volume knob is marked as "BASS". Now you can turn the woofer all the way down on the unit, unlike some other PC speakers where the sub is always on. There is also a very bright, annoying blue LED on the front that you may want to cover with electric tape.
I figured to utilize the "sub" unit as an amp would be to just disconnect the woofer, that way I know that it is not robbing me of power, even though it probably isn't necessary. To disconnect the woofer, be sure it is unplugged
, remove the ten screws on the outer edge of the amplifier plate on the rear. There may be some glue holding the amplifier plate in place, but it should still come out relatively easy to remove.Once the amplifier plate is off you may find somethings semi-surprising. The first thing I notice is the output stage has discete transistors, all equal in size. The power ratings state 5.5 watts RMS for the 2 channels and 9 watts for the woofer. I figure after removing the woofer from the loop that frees up some watts for the 2 channels. The power rating also states 20 watts RMS system power, so I am probably only going to get something shy of 10 watts per channel if I really need it. It also has two 2200uF caps and a descent size power transformer, considering.
Anyway, back to disconnecting the woofer. There are several removable cable clusters, on 2 wire black and green is the woofer. If it is not black and green, just check and see which 2 wire bundles is coming from behind the woofers mount. The best way could be to disconnect it from the amp and tape it to the side of the box, in my case I took the woofer entirely out of the enclosure (note that I had to cut the wire to do this).
How does it sound:
I put it back together once I had removed the woofer and proceeded to do a test a using my NHT 1.5s. Of course it did the 1.5s no justice, they just aren't efficient and as they are acoustic suspension they don't have much bass to start with. Puny amps and bass light speakers just don't work.
Next I tried the Infinity Interlude 10s, much better. These speakers have a tendacy to be bass heavy anyway so the Altec did a little more than round it out, but in near field who needs tons of bass anyhow?
The Good:
There are a lot of things to be liked here. The attenuation knobs all move smoothly. The tone knob can tame the highs down, that is a very nice feature instead of fixed highs. Now that the speakers that came with it where naturally dull so they needed lots of highs to sound right, so I am surprised it wasn't fixed frequency. The enclosure is very basic, unlike many of the PC speakers you see that are kind of gawdy and unsightly. It has one 1/8" mini-jack in, so you can get your own 1/8" to RCA stereo cables. It has discrete transistor output stage. And most importantly, IT IS CHEAP!
The Bad:
No bass control, and the thing is weaker in the bass department. Then for that you could buy the Sonic T preamp.
There is also the annoying blue LED on the front, but you can fix that with some tape. The power switch is rear mounted so if the enclosure is somewhere hard to access you may want to just leave it on at all times. And lastly it doesn't have lots of power, but that is the competition here, low powered amplifiers.Conclusion:
If you want descent sound on the cheap and you have some extra speakers laying around, I know I do
, then, hey it is only $25. If you don't have speakers You could get those Insignia NS-B2111s for $50 at Best Buy.Here are some pictures, there will be more posted below, where the unit is taken apart and the sub or power woofer is taken out.
The main unit itself in my living room, it is know powering more efficient BIC floorstanders-
And the rear-
It looks nasty on the back because I got tired of air leaks before when I was still using it as a pc speaker system.
So I just thought I would share this wonder with the world, I hope that someone will try it out and post what they think.
