j010101011001

I'm wondering if there's any way to split the signal from a speaker cable so I can hook up four speakers to a 2.1 system. I have a creative system with left and right outputs coming from the subwoofer. The other two speakers I have are big, integrated tweeter (sic?) things with the old-school output that has two wires, black and red (negative and positive I'm guessing) splitting out at the end. So is it possible to somehow hook them up to the subwoofer? I'm thinking about a setup where two female adapters go in to one male and the male plugs into the subwoofer. Then the four speakers plug in to the female adapters. If this would work, I need to know how to connect the old speakers to the adapter. Any advice on this would be helpful. Also, I don't want to bother with a reciever or amp, unless I could build my own for cheap. The whole project needs to come to < $10.

PHLAK

Yes you can do this.....it's an easy splice and clamp!! BUT......your going to lose quality......alot of quality. You might not notice it if the volume it turned up and your right beside all the speakers but when you are listening to music in the room you should notice that the quality is not as good. Just from experience....I hooked up a sub box from my pick-up that had 8 inch subs in it and it sounded good up close but I had to turn the volume up twice as much as I had before and I lost quality!!! Thats my 2 cents....good luck!!

j010101011001

The old speakers have both red and black wires, which I suspect are negative and positive. Just splicing them together into one is probably where the loss of quality occurs. So any ideas on how to combine them without losing quality?

ÃœBER<>POOP

Quote: Originally Posted by j010101011001 The old speakers have both red and black wires, which I suspect are negative and positive. Just splicing them together into one is probably where the loss of quality occurs. So any ideas on how to combine them without losing quality?

solder them?

Purchase crimping butt-connectors from radio shack?

sorry. i couldn't keep from saying "crimping butt-connectors"

Edit: the quality drop is usually due to power handling and impedance difference. Most home speakers are 4 ohm, and most car audio are 8, so phlakz'r, you might be putting a higher load than necessary on your amp. Higher is usually better, or the amp might fry. See how long a car amp lasts if you short it out.... and it doesn't have short protection... crossed wires *short* has low impedence [resistance]

check to see the speakers have the correct impedence and can handle the power from your amp, and you should be set. Also, the sound output from the sub part of a 2.1 system might not have the low range avaliable to the satellites [high-pass crossover], so larger speakers might not have the low end punch you are likely looking for anyway.

PHLAK

I did that way back in the day.....I just wanted to let him know what I experienced....yes you live and learn...I have moved up to like a 600 dollar sound system....(actaully it is ran through my home entertainment system)!! I just threw that in to let him know that it can be done...but like you said do it right!!! Peace out!!

Lunamods

Make sure you also hook them up in phase or it will cancel out the lower end and make the high end sound horrible. You wont lose the low end out of your sub, just the satellites.

EDIT: Also, UBER<>POOP mentioned impedence. If your speaks are 4 ohm and the second pair are 4 ohm, hook them up in series this will give an 8 ohm imp. If you hook them up in parallel this will result in a 2 ohm impedence, bad on the amp, although it may handle it. The same goes for other values,2 x 8 ohm in series = 16, in parallel = 4 ohms, so if you have 8 ohm speakers you will probably be safe running in parallel.Most solid state amps will do fine at 4 ohms.

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j010101011001

Whoa Luna, information overload. Okay, first off, how am I supposed to hook up speakers in phase? I understand what you mean by in phase, but not how it relates to wiring.

Lunamods

Quote: Originally Posted by j010101011001 Whoa Luna, information overload. Okay, first off, how am I supposed to hook up speakers in phase? I understand what you mean by in phase, but not how it relates to wiring.

Make sure that the positive and negative of the new speaks are hooked up with the same polarity as the original pair. If speaker A + B have the positive/negative hooked up accordingly to the speaker terminals make sure that speaks C + D are the same,respectively.

Its like having a compressor with 2 pistons, one on each end. If both move together in unison then no pressure will build up inside the cylinder. If they move opposingly,then pressure will build up in the cylinder, and thats what we want, sound pressure. 2 speakers in a room moving outward will compress the air in the room generating sound. If one is moving in, there will be no compression as the one moving in will make up the difference in volume of air and cancel out the low end. It can also cancel high frequencies but consumer grade speakers generally arent accurate enough to achieve this completely, but the highs will sound muddy.

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ÃœBER<>POOP

Quote: Originally Posted by Lunamods Make sure that the positive and negative of the new speaks are hooked up with the same polarity as the original pair. If speaker A + B have the positive/negative hooked up accordingly to the speaker terminals make sure that speaks C + D are the same,respectively. Its like having a compressor with 2 pistons, one on each end. If both move together in unison then no pressure will build up inside the cylinder. If they move opposingly,then pressure will build up in the cylinder, and thats what we want, sound pressure. 2 speakers in a room moving outward will compress the air in the room generating sound. If one is moving in, there will be no compression as the one moving in will make up the difference in volume of air and cancel out the low end. It can also cancel high frequencies but consumer grade speakers generally arent accurate enough to achieve this completely, but the highs will sound muddy.

damn, spoken like a pro

again, "crimping butt-connectors"

Lunamods

Quote: Originally Posted by ÃœBER<>POOP damn, spoken like a pro again, "crimping butt-connectors"

Well not exactly PRO, but I do have small recording studio in my basement and have been recording for a LONG time under an aprenticeship at a larger local studio. So, I have my share of experience in everything audio.

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