Awesome sound without external speakers?

[dxiw]

I was thinking couldn't i buy some car audio or nice high qulity spekers like 2 or 4 of them and then mount them in the walls of the case witha grill and everything and then hook them to a small amp in the case and the to the sound card. It would be like having nice powerful clear speakers as part of the pc, no more having to haul around amillion speakers and cable. However, it would only be goodmusic because you can' get the surround sound effect of a dvd or something.

My plans are to buy 1 or 2 30$ a peice pioneer high quality speakers and mount them on the sides of the case or the top and then plug them to a small like 100W amp with 2 channels 50 for each speaker and then have a radio/cd player/wahtever integrated into my pc.

I could also buy some more speakers plug them to an amp and then to the sound card to hear the computers sound (winamp, windows, whatever) instead of from a radio or cd player or something.

 

[Maximouse]

I would watch out for the effects of the magnets on the Hard Drives. Maybe try it with an old HD first to see if they affect it.

Al

 

[kaltag]

that could be a big issue. try to find something you can wrap the magnet in. let us know if it woeks out!

 

[Captain Slug]

I would watch out for the effects of the magnets on the Hard Drives. Maybe try it with an old HD first to see if they affect it.

Al

Hard drives are well insulated from magnetic damage. The one thing I would worry about is the possibility of scrambling the BIOS of your motherboard or messing of the alignment of the electron gun in you monitor.

You'll have a to be pretty thurough in testing those speakers before getting them anywhere near your PC. I had a stereo near my PC and it killed my UV neon (condensed the gas in one end of the tube preventing them from getting excited enough to produce light) and burned a small portion of my monitor.

 

[Captain Slug]

Oh yeah, and another problem will be the reverberation of the speakers in the case itself. The sides of and average computer case are pretty thin and will most likely vibrate like a diaphragm when you run the speakers. This will RUIN the audio quality because it will be working against the speaker.

Professional speakers are made with wood and special mixes of plastic for a reason.

 

[twump]

i would advise against this. I had my comp sitting next to my home speakers and got constant lockups and crashes.as soon as i moved my speaker to a different location my comp was rock solid. the magnets wreak havoc on computers.


hd's aren't sheilded enough to protect from speakers magnets as they make a good size feild around the magnet. as mentioned above the bios chip is another thiing to worry about. all in all i don't think this mod is worth the damage you could do.

 

[Maximouse]

Hard drives are well insulated from magnetic damage.

Beg to differ. See the warning given in step #2 of this link.

http://howto.lycos.com/lycos/step/1,,3+119+23875+14941,00.html

Quote:
While hard disks retain data permanently, they aren't indestructible. Strong magnetic fields, abrupt jarring, and long-term wear and tear can all cause hard drive heads to "crash."

And this one:
http://www.birotechnology.com/articles/shielded.html

 

[grim]

would normal computer speakers be ok to put in the case? i would think that they are designed to not harm the computer

 

[Maximouse]

would normal computer speakers be ok to put in the case? i would think that they are designed to not harm the computer

I guess it would depend on how powerful the magnets are and how well the shielding in them is. I know how powerful car speaker magnets are and effects may not appear until after a while with them, but if the others were shielded properly then it might be ok.

 

[reidroach]

dont do it unless you ready to replace the stuff. just my 2 centas

 

[MajinSSJVegetto]

I think it would be fine.

EMI and the like doesn't harm stuff as easily as yall are saying.

Speakers are sheilded and dont do much. Do you think cases would come with a BUILT IN PC speaker if it did hurt stuff?
Granted, that is a fairly smaller speaker, but a speaker still wouldnt do much harm.

Monitors come with speakers built into them, it never hurts them much...

Be careful, but don't think that its just gonna instantly ruin everything.

People have 25-75 watt water pumps in their cases, which are mostly unsheilded and create much larger feilds than a speaker.
These sometimes cause distortation but can normally be placed within the case just slightly away from everything and work fine.

You will most likely use a 5-20 watt sheilded speaker, which shouldn't harm anything if its kept 3-4 inches from everything.

 

[dxiw]

what if i mounted the speaker internally but at the top of the case and in a box that stops the amgnet field or something that has magnetic shielding? Also, the case is 1mm thick steel takes forever to get through with a dremel maxed out, no way its going to reverb.

 

[MajinSSJVegetto]

Just to make sure it doesnt vibrate the case, put a rubber or foam materal everywhere the speaker touches the case. Rubber washers and such.

 

[james.miller]

I think it would be fine.

EMI and the like doesn't harm stuff as easily as yall are saying.

Speakers are sheilded and dont do much. Do you think cases would come with a BUILT IN PC speaker if it did hurt stuff?
Granted, that is a fairly smaller speaker, but a speaker still wouldnt do much harm.

Monitors come with speakers built into them, it never hurts them much...

Be careful, but don't think that its just gonna instantly ruin everything.

People have 25-75 watt water pumps in their cases, which are mostly unsheilded and create much larger feilds than a speaker.
These sometimes cause distortation but can normally be placed within the case just slightly away from everything and work fine.

You will most likely use a 5-20 watt sheilded speaker, which shouldn't harm anything if its kept 3-4 inches from everything.

i really cant agree with all your comments.

1) only speakers which specifically say "magnetically shielded" are actually shielded. most speakers are NOT
example: my lightning audio sub interferes with the picture on my tv from 6 feet away. that definatly is not shielded.

2) i have yet to see a pump that generates a field as large anywhere near as big as my L.A sub does.

most t.v and monitor speakers are, however. And, also most pc speaker systems are.They are your best bet. get a decent pair of cheap pc speakers that are shielded and, like MajinSSJVegetto said, keep them at least a few inches away from the components to be sure, and you should be fine

Dxiw:
1mm steel? flimsy as hell. thats gonna vibrate BAD. i cant even stop the 1inch think mdf enclosure of my sub from vibrating. best bet is to make small mdf boxes for you speakers inside your case to minimise the rattle.

 

[MajinSSJVegetto]

I don't think I've ever seen a speaker made for something besides tv or a PC, so... I guess they might make unsheilded ones

 

[james.miller]

oh yeah trust me they do. about 99% of hifi speakers are unshielded

 

[Captain Slug]

oh yeah trust me they do. about 99% of hifi speakers are unshielded

I would have to agree with james.miller (who agreed with me).

My stereo speakers are unsheiled and also misaligned the projector lenses in my big screen TV when I used the as surround sound boosters.

The speakers that are build into monitors are very weak (4 watts or less) and were make with extra rear sheilding. Speakers are NOT SHEILDED in the cone area and EMI leakage will expand in that direction. Most PC speakers are mounted in cases aiming away from all of the devices. But these speakers are so weak that they don't produce a damaging enough field (1/2 watt).

Metal is very flexible and resonates sound fairly well. Even if you mount it securely the rest of your case will act as a diaphragm adding as nasty tinnish sound.

I strongly advise against getting any speakers near a computer that were not made to be used with a PC. It's not safe, nor is it a smart thing to do.

 

[grim]

so can i be sure that tearing my pc speakers out of their plastic cases and mounting them in my case wont harm anything?

 

[heezer7]

See most of the post here are just bickering back and forth. the 99% of speakers aren't shielded i would have to disagree with. some are, some arn't. i have three speakers surrounding my monitor right now that are running through my sony amplifier. in my living room we have 3 large infinity speaker each with 15in drivers... by the tv with no effect. now if you use car speakers i will agree with the 99% statement.

 

[*spazzed*]

check this out

or run a search for "bucking magnets"

bucking magnets are usually for smaller speakers though



you won;t get anything remotley near to "good" sound, not unless you crossover sky high and use them as tweeters