How do I wire one ceiling speaker to my PC?

[RichTJ99]

Hi,

I have 4 speakers in my living room & I think i want to make one dedicated to TTS annoucements. Since my HS2/CCTV server runs 24/7, I think i want to have that be the source.

With that being said, I have one speaker (for now) I am going to use. Whats the best way to do this (distance in wiring is probably 50-75 feet)?

Should I run the two wires to a cheapie two speaker setup (one speaker has the amp, the other speaker is a "slave") - similar to this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16836110035

then wire my living room speaker to the one I cut off. Then plug that 1/8" stereo jack into my audio output (which should send the audio to the speaker by the PC & the living room).

I am not sure if I am going about this backwards.

I have an AB8SS but no second amp yet. That is the plan for down the line.

Im looking for a cheapie solution.

Thanks,
Rich

 

[TonyNo]

In my living room, my main receiver is always on when someone is home. When the TV is not on, my HA system is the audio source. If the TV is not on, I'm listening to music that comes from my server. The connection is a 50' shielded PC audio cable (1/8" type).

Does your receiver have an EQ loop, like a master in/out that everything runs through? You could get a mixer and connect your PC to that. I will be doing this soon.

 

[ver0776]

Running the computer to an amp to the ab8ss is a solid method. I would focus on finding a cheap amp option.

elk sells one for $42:
http://www.automatedoutlet.com/product.php...at=0&page=3

If you want one of those Elk amps, I would send you one for $35 shipped.

Any old little used stereo will work too. If you are eventually going to run 8-16 speakers to your AB8SS, you are better off with a stronger amp or stereo. For a few speakers the elk is ok.


Vaughn

 

[SteveQ]

Rich,

I have a whole house audio system with speaker pairs in the Living room, bedroom, garage, and a single speaker in the TV room. I used the slave speaker from an unused set of computer speakers for the TV room. I use my old stereo to power the whole system. I have an old manual "Niles switchbox" to select the rooms I want. I also have an X10 module controlling a relay that switches the TV room speaker ON for announcements. This system has been running for 2 years without problems.

Steve Q

 

[DavidL]

Rich,
I would wire each speaker to wherever your equipment "closet" is. Once it's there, you have lattitude to change / upgrade the approach at any point.

Take a look for some old stereo amplifier / receivers. There are zillions of them in dumpsters with the advent of "Home Theater". Pipe the PC sound card low level output to the stereo amp(s) to that speaker wire. You can use PC software to switch what source goes to what speakers under what occasions. Sources can be PC media or text to speech output, or analog external sources piped into the same sound card's microphone inputs.