Connect copper wire audio cables from speaker directly to PC

[deeper02]

I have been thinking of getting a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 Speakers and connect them to my PC. Unfortunately, I have little expertise in these matters and I want to get this set up for as cheap as possible. After reading more it turns out that I need copper wire to connect these speakers to an amp, and then 3.5 audio jack from amp to PC. I am wondering however if its possible to connect the speakers straight to my PC with some kind of adapter, thus avoiding the cost of buying an amp.

I realise an amp is needed to power speakers, but I believe that my motherboard is powerful enough to power them (I got a AsRock Z97 Extreme 6). I already have a Beyerdynamics DT770 250ohms which is perfectly driven by the motherboard.

link to speakers and motherboard:
http://www.superfi.co.uk/p-2442-wharfedale-diamond-91-speakers-pair.aspx
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z97%20Extreme6/?cat=Specifications

 

[Rogue Leader]

In a word, no.

NEVER do this.

Yes if you sit there long enough with a soldiering iron and the jacks you need you could make this work. The speakers will sound like absolute garbage.

Under-powering the speakers like that and then trying to get any volume out of them will cause a lot of distortion, damaging them fairly quickly.

There is no adaptor, the adaptor is a proper amplifier, even a cheap one.

 

[molletts]

You need an amp.

At best, you'll get a barely-audible, tinny sound (try placing your headphones on a shelf near where you intend the speakers to go then listening from your usual seat to get an idea).

At worst, their 6Ω impedance will damage your motherboard's audio output circuitry.

Either way, you will be wasting money buying quite good speakers without the means to drive them.

You can get fairly reasonable amplifiers quite cheaply - Vision Audio ones seem to be basically "last-generation" entry-level Cambridge Audio designs made to slightly less exacting standards. Alternatively, look on eBay for an older amp with a good pedigree - you can't go far wrong with an Arcam or even a mass-market make like Pioneer, Technics (Panasonic) or Sony.

 

[ssddx]

you absolutely need an amplifier capable of driving the speakers. your first assumption was right pc->amp->speakers

speakers require much more power to drive than headphones. the only speakers onboard can power are 2-3w pc speakers. you will notice that all other pc speakers are self powered and this is for a reason.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

You can buy a cheap amp from Amazon/Ebay for like $10. Sound quality won't be great, but it's adequate.

 

[ssddx]

all amps are not created equal.

you may be able to work with cheap amps like lepai 2020 but they have heavy distortion.

i recommend ones like the dta-120 myself.