does these work?

Rogue Leader

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That is a home theater speaker setup and does not include any sort of amplifier/receiver, you need to buy a 5.1 channel amp such as:

http://smile.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR343-5-1-Channel-V-Receiver/dp/B00WSED53A/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1444230596&sr=8-15&keywords=onkyo

To drive them. There are cheaper ones out there, this is just an example. But TBH if you're going to spend $300 on a set of speakers, you should at least consider a decent receiver to play them.

Also one last thing, what kind of outputs does your laptop have? Just a headphone plug? Does it have an optical output? If not then I would not waste the money on any of this without buying a USB Optical output sound card such as:

http://www.turtlebeach.com/product-detail/sound-cards-accessories/audio-advantage-micro-ii/31

Otherwise save your money and buy a pair of good powered speakers and be done with it.
 

greens

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Most motherboards have 5.1 built in...
Does the back of your motherboard of 6 multicolored jacks?
If yes; you can drive those speakers, but not all that well.

All an amplifier does is amplify, and while the PC isn't going to be the best source, its not going to be too quiet either.

 

geofelt

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Probably not.
Virtually all motherboards will include sound capability enabling you to simply plug in the appropriate inputs.
For exact details, go to the JBL web site and download the manual for your unit.
 

Rogue Leader

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NO, this is an unpowered speaker set with positive and negative cables, you can't just plug them into a 5.1 channel output.

Please make sure to know the product before answering questions.



He is asking about an unpowered speaker set.
 

Rogue Leader

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That is the product however you read the specs wrong, the subwoofer is powered the speakers are not.

Note under "Features"

Easy-to-Install System

Easy connectivity to any audio/video receiver makes for worry-free setup and big movie sound within minutes.
 

galeener

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as in powered the sub has its own amp but still needs to be connected to a receiver. If you put jacks on the end of the satallites that are compatable with your motherboard it would drive the sats same for the sub but out of the box no you cannot just hook these up to your motherboard. Some sound cards yes but not any motherboard sound jacks I have seen l;ately.
 

Rogue Leader

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Being that this question is posted in the Laptop forum I doubt he has the 5.1 output jacks as well. Optical is even a stretch.

Also adding 3.5mm plugs to the end of unpowered speakers and trying to run them off of essentially line outputs is one of the worst ideas in existence. The speakers will be severely underpowered, and the distortion if you try to turn them up can damage the driver even at such low power.
 

galeener

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Why do you think I said still needs to be connected to a receiver. Will it work yes will it work well with out an amp or receiver no. I cant remember the connections but i think there are some external sound cards for laptops I know creative used to make one.
 

Rogue Leader

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You said to put ends on the speaker wires and plug them directly into the motherboard, which is a terrible idea.

Yes there are external sound cards, some have analog 5.1 outputs like a motherboard, and/or optical, and or digital coaxial. There is no motherboard or sound card in existence that can drive standard positive/negative speakers. Yes you can wire up a 3.5mm plug, and hook them into the analog output and get sound, in the same way I could bang two rocks together and call it music.
 

galeener

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I said he could do that I started the post with this "as in powered the sub has its own amp but still needs to be connected to a
receiver. "Dont just take part of the post and interpet it to your own meaning. He asked a question I answered it and said he could add jacks , I didn't say this is the greatest idea in the world or it would sound great any where in my post. Could and should have two different meanings last time I checked. What he should do is buy a computer compatable speaker set or buy a cheap 5.1 amp/receiver.
He could probably pick a used one up for less that 50 dollars some where. If he has an optic connection from his motherboard he could get an amp with optic also this would make it a one cable hook up from computer to receiver/ amp. There are also hdmi pass throughs, but that is newer tech for receivers which he could probably still find semi cheap.

As this is a laptop I think he is very limited to what he can do it would be nice to know which laptop he has so the suggestions would be more helpful.

and no where did i say to put ends on the speaker wires all I said is that he could or at least thats what i meant.
 

Rogue Leader

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Guy read your post again, you said

If you put jacks on the end of the satallites that are compatable with your motherboard it would drive the sats

Then you said:

same for the sub but out of the box no you cannot just hook these up to your motherboard. Some sound cards yes but not any motherboard sound jacks I have seen l;ately.

There has been precisely 0 sound cards and motherboards ever made that can drive positive/negative wired unpowered speakers. Yes there are some complete dogshit unpowered speakers that are essentially headphones shaped like speakers that will play off your PC's headphone jack but thats not whats being discussed. And There are a minuscule amount of laptops that have any other audio output than a headphone jack. A couple of high end gaming laptops have optical but otherwise nope.

The point is if you took 4 seconds to look up what the poster was talking about you would not post ridiculous solutions. This happens here often. I don't know if people are hell bent on getting the highest best answer score possible, but in the end if you're gonna answer questions you should at least take a minute to look up the parts they are asking about, realize he is posting in the LAPTOP forum, and know that providing an unrealistic ridiculous solution is not something you should be doing, especially for someone who is asking here and therefore doesn't know better.
 

galeener

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Listen GUY There is a difference in saying ITs a good idea and what can be done everything I said could be done just because you don't like that answer doesn't make it wrong. I state no were did I say he should do this just that he could. Your continual argueing with me is not helping the op at all. He states I am going to buy he does not have this speaker set up yet. I did try this and my JBL csb5 speakers did work they sound tiny and dont get loud but it worked. Would I run this as a set up for speakers no but could I if I had to I COULD. This is running them off a dell which is no means a high powered gaming system.
As for post count look at how many posts I have and how posts I have had does that seem like I am running up a post count you have been a member 4 years less than I have if any one were to look at just post count and time not the actual posts it would seem like you are the one running up post counts not me. And I am not saying you are but to even include that is a pretty shitty response. If your going to personally attack me on a forum at least prove that I am wrong that it wouldn't work at least i did try this in my own time. and not just spout off this wont work. Do I recomend it no. There are some nice external sound cards he could use also but would still need an amp/ receiver to run these correctly. He could also run it to an amp through hdmi if he got a newer amp/receiver. Numerous posts later he has found out this would be a bad idea to try unless he know what he is doing. Then it is still not going to work the way he wants.
We have not even heard back from the op letting us know what laptop he even yet. I also did look at the parts and the tech sheet with them. I also own some jbl sat speakers. Instead of just arguing with me maybe we should wait until he post what laptop he has and then what he would need to be able to drive this speaker system correctly. Or to offer him another solution.
Also just on a note there are several 5.1 receivers on ebay for less that 50 bucks some for around 20 used.
 

Rogue Leader

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I couldn't care less about post count, I've been doing this computer stuff for the better part of 28 years, and I answer questions on here as a hobby. I was on this site when it first started but then left for, well obviously a long time. My point was your solution offered nothing to the table, you didn't need to test it out to know its a bad idea. Not only that you brought up things that have nothing to do with his situation and things that don't exist. And I apologize for generalizing but I have seen folks who don't know better get sent off on tangents here because after 1 or 2 people post a correct answer to a question, someone else jumps in with something either wrong or crazy, and for some reason they run with it. People then go and spend money off of bad advice. That shits just not right. I don't know what the motivation is.

Either way it doesn't even matter this poster hasn't even come back yet so we are arguing over nothing. This escalated way to quickly and I apologize if I offended, but if you go take a look back at my response to you all I did was say it was a bad idea and why.
 

galeener

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And I agreed with you it was not a good idea just a poissibility. Would I do it my self as a solution no I would not. Some of the solutions I didn't put in were usb to powered dac but most of those systems would run over 1k bucks and I don't think thats what the op had in mind either. I am an electrical engineer and do a lot of weird stuff so I quess I should curtail some of the answers to whats feasable to the average user.
 

Rogue Leader

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Well thats understandable, I have a friend on my race team who is an EE and the stuff he comes up with is very innovative... He is very helpful and always knows how to "make it work".

Just as a better example, look at the first 2 replies besides mine, they didn't even look up what the system was, at least you knew it was not a powered system!