Device to drive speakers for Media PC needed

wildefalcon

I know nearly nothing about audio, except I like a reasonable quality sound, and am probably fussy enough - - most car speakers don't sound right to me.

I have a Media Centre PC in a smaller living room with a mix of hard floors, and soft furnishings.

At the moment the Sound is handled by an early 1990's phillips system, with CD and tape player. This is stereo, with surround sound.

However the only inputs are left and right RCA jacks, which are currently connected to the front speaker outputs from the PC, which has 8 plus 1 channel surround sound, including S/PDIF via co-ax.

The room has been wired for rear speakers.

I want to ditch the Phillips, as it is too big, and doesn't powerup on the AUX selection, which, reasonably enough, confuses the spouse.

So, I want to replace it with a device that connects to the co-ax, or the pletora of minijacks on the PC, that can powerup from cold without intervention, as I use a socket that senses when the PC is in standby and switches all the other things off.

Ideally, it must be able to power a little subwoofer.

I don't want a radio, or any other things.

Cost is also a consideration, and, not being an audiophile, higher quality would probably be wasted. Say, €100.

The speakers are old units I've accumulated over the years, as I like the sound they produce. So I don't want new ones.

What device will do this? Is it an amp, or a receiver? Or a home cinema system?

Where can I get one?

Thank you for any help or advice!

WildeFalcon.

The Ritz

I don't think that a device exists that meets all of the requirements you set out or the budget.

It sounds to me as thought the nearest thing to meet your requirements is an AV Receiver, but I don't know of any that "power-on" without intervention (mine don't in any event) when they get an incoming audio signal, they don't "power" subs, they just have an output fro a sub that has a built-in amp, and the budget you mention won;t cover it. In fact the only thing it will do is the most important thing - it will take in an SPDIF or multi-channel input and hook up to your speakers.

I have little or no experience with all-in-one systems but someone else may know of one which meets your needs.

Cheers,

Ritz.

wildefalcon

I've been doing more research, and I think you are right. I want an A/V receiver.

But I think I was unclear about the power-on requirement.

When I say power on, I want a device that, when plugged in, or switched on at the mains, becomes active.

So it must have a mechanical switch, that can be left in the "ON" position.

and, also, when it receives power, must NOT go into standby.

It must power-up on the channel/source/input that the PC is attached to.

The PC controls the mains power sockets the AV receiver and the monitor are plugged into, when the PC is in standby no electricity goes to the sockets. Its a power saving device.

I want to be able to hide this AV receiver and never go near it again, as the PC handles everything.

The Subwoofer I can buy seperatly, I presume.

Thank you for the help so far!

WildeFalcon

The Ritz

I haven't come across an AV Receiver which would behave in the way you describe - all Receivers I've come across go into standby when "powered up" i.e. connected to the mains, and require an input to be selected.

One option you could consider would be getting an IR blaster and using your PC (or your remote, if you're using one with MCE) to trigger the receiver to select the appropriate input when you power up the PC.

I haven't used a PC to control an IR blaster in this way, but a bit of Google research would lead you in the right path.

As for powered subs, that's easy to source, decide your budget and shop around (online) - Richersounds is as good a place to start as any, they have a forum here on Boards and do good deals.


Ritz.

Idleater

OP,

There are plenty of devices that can be adapted to suit your requirements.

Have a google for some headphone amps, combination DAC's or mini hifi separates such as those from pro-ject audio. These usually can be built up to more powerful systems with more inputs and outputs etc by adding and connecting more boxes over time.

wildefalcon

Update.

I was in Asda yesterday, and spoted a 5.1 home theatre system.

It's a box with a subwoofer in it which amplifies the 5 channel from the Motherboard.

It doesn't take the SPDIF, but has 6 RCA jack inputs instead. These connect up to my Motherboard 3.5 stereo minijack sockets just fine.

I can use the relay system that Microsoft have built into the media player remote as suggested by The Ritz (thank you).

It also came with 5 speakers.

And best of all, it only cost 40 sterling!

I've connected it up and it is working very well. The front speakers are quite tinny, and are of poor enough quality, however I'm sure I can replace them with the fairly decent speakers from the old HiFi, once I get the resistances right.

So far, happy enough!

WildeFalcon