Make 2.1 Into 5.1

[dirt]

I have a Sound Blaster Live 5.1 sound card.

I have a Creative I-Trigue 3300 2.1 speaker system.
I also have a Altec Lansing centre channel and rear left & right satellite speakers from a 5.1 Altec Lansing system that had a blown sub-woofer.( I can`t get a replacement unless i buy a whole new speaker system)

I would like to keep the Creative 2.1 system and just add the centre channel and 2 rears from the Altec Lansing system.

The Creative sub is connected into the SoundBlaster rear out jack.
There are no more jacks in the back of the sub.

There is only the one line out jack left on the SoundBlaster card.

I want to connect 3 other speakers.

Can i combine the 2 speaker systems to get 5.1 surround sound ?

 

[Mr5oh]

If it is just the woofer being blown, have you thought about just replacing it? Is the amp still good in the 5.1 system?

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[dirt]

The amp is the sub-woofer.
Power for the speakers comes from the sub.
I could buy a whole new system for approx. the same price.
as a sub replacement.
I bought the Creative speakers from a friend for cheap,just
so i would have sound to make do for now.

Being the speakers are still good from the other system i would like to combine them if possible.

 

[the_Prisoner]

So the amp is blown not the speaker/driver/woofer?

If the amplifer is gone, then replace. If it is just the driver maybe you can just replace it.

the Prisoner

I'm not a number, I'm a free man! <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by the_Prisoner on 10/14/04 10:32 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Mr5oh]

The amp is the sub-woofer.

The amp and the driver are different, like the_prisoner said. No matter what it is, it is repairable. Anyways, since you don't have plugs for them, you could always just buy y-splitters to add the extra speakers in, but its not going to help you a whole lot. Each time you plug an extra speaker into the amp you will reduce the ohms a little, thus reducing the power. For each additional speaker, assuming it is getting the same amount of power, you will gain roughly 3db of sound, but by reducing the ohms you are still losing some power (power goes up when ohms drop, but you are now sharing the power with two speakers), meaning you probably aren't gaining the 3db. (Confused yet?)

So is it the speaker or the amp that is bad?

Your best bet may be to try and have the other set repaired, otherwise just use some splitters to hook up extra speakers. You can try and PM Crashman, he may be interested in repairing it for you.

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[the_Prisoner]

As Mr5oh said, is it the freaking amp or the speaker?!

I can repair either but with the shipping cost it would be to much.

If it is the woofer, you could just replace it, easy to install. The amp wouldnt be that hard either but that would need some instructions.

I didnt look up the specs but I dont think that they can handle low ohms. At least you would think with this type of system.
Then again they have really cheap amps.

I use MidFi to semi HiFi items, meaning not consumer stuff, so I dont know much about low end speaker systems like this.

The issue really if these systems can merge.

the Prisoner



I'm not a number, I'm a free man! <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by the_Prisoner on 10/14/04 11:40 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[dirt]

The sub-woofer is the amp.
There is no separate amp. All speakers plug into the sub then the sub plugs into the sound card.
No amp
It`s the Altec Lansing 5100.
I should just contact Altec and see how much for a new sub. The warranty period has expired of course.
I just thought it might be possible to add the centre and two rears to the 2.1 Creative system that I am now using.
It sounds great it`s just not 5.1

 

[Mr5oh]

The sub-woofer is the amp.

<b>A amplifer makes power.
A speaker/sub makes sound.

Which of those two don't you have?</b>


We all understand that the amp and sub are in the same enclosure, almost all PC speakers are made this way.

Either one can be fixed, generally doesn't cost that much either, if you have the abilities to do it yourself, you could fix it generally for $2-5, if you have to pay someone, which I am guessing is the road you should take, it will cost a little more.

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[dirt]

O.K
It took me a while, but i finally understand.
I`m not sure which is blown and i don`t have the knowledge
or skill to fix.
I guess i will take it in to someone to repair.

I thought i could easily add the speakers using some type of adapters.

Too bad but not that easy.

Thanks for helping me see the forest thru all the trees !!!

 

[Mr5oh]

Glad we finally understand each other! Anyways, you can add in the extra speakers using splitters (Splitters are about $0.50-$0.95 USD, locally for me), but you aren't really going to gain anything, and you aren't going to really have true surrond sound (Just a bunch of front, left and right speakers) :frown: .

Repairing this stuff really is generally very easy, while it does take some skill, the parts for this stuff are very cheap. Find someone you can trust, maybe you can find some knowledgeable student who does this sort of stuff as a hobby, to fix it for you. If you could find someone like this, it would cost next to nothing most likely.

I have an electronic surplus store locally here, and they mess with some of this stuff on the side. (Might give you an ideal of where to start looking).

Repairing it really is the best option, it shouldn't cost that much, assuming you find someone who actually repairs it, and doesn't want to replace the whole thing, plus you will have true surround sound, plus you won't have paid that much for them.

Sorry we couldn't help more. You don't happen to be in the US do you? Anywhere near the midwest, theres a few of us here on the board that tinker with this stuff? (That I know of off the top of my head, probably others in other countries as well)

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