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One Sound System, Two Computer Systems?

M

Maezr

Senior member
Is this possible? Both the computers'll be in the same room, is it possible to set this up, so I don't have to buy two speaker systems?
 
Sure, just use splitters. I wouldn't recommend it. I would rather buy cheap speakers and have some sort of individual sound on each system. I really wouldn't try to use both systems at the same time with splitters (the sound is not pleasant on the ears).
 
I don't plan on using both at the same time, but just having both hooked up, and having one system 'actively using' the speakers... would that still make it sound like crap?
 
1 set of speakers, 2 computers is possible

At radio shack they sell audio Y-splitters/combiners that can accept a single audio signal from the two computers and send it to a single speaker source. Since were talking PC and multimedia speakers I do not believe there will be a huge loss in quality.

Another option would be to use a separate signal splitting box or A/B Switcher box. Send both computer output wires to the box which then has the option of switching between to the two computer inputs to output to the speakers. This would mean that the A/B switching is manual and it may not be possible to have a "combined" signal like in the first option.

Either choices can probably be found at radio shack, or if you would like a higher quality component then perhaps try partsexpress.com.
 
I did something that is just the opposite. I have a splitter coming from my front FR channels that splits it so I can have my front speakers and my headphones hooked up at the same time. I haven't noticed any loss in quality.
 
Are you sure your speakers don't have more than one input connection?

My old yamaha's have 2 1/8th jack inputs...
 
I have my desktop and development server / MP3 jukebox both hooked up to a stereo receiver with real speakers, works very well.

And like Paulson says many decent PC speakers have 2 inputs.
 
Simple solution...

Get a Male to Male stereo mini plug cable long enough to reach from computer to computer.
Go from the "line-out" of one sound card to the "line-in" of the other sound card, with the speakers hooked to the sound card where the "line-in" is plugged in.

Mix your sound using the Volumn Control panel. Works great.

Only one draw back, you have to have the computer on with the speakers plugged into to use sound on the other.


The "Splitter" cable idea thingy is a really bad idea. Very poorly mixed signal. The sound card can mix it properly and send it to the speakers. MUCH cleaner sound.

Hope that helps
 
In addition to what has been said, combining outputs works differently than splitting an output. One output has the tendency to drive or load the other. That is one reason the result may sound terrible. In addition if the outputs can put out a lot of power, you can wreck something by not putting a load between them.

Some sound cards even have enough power to drive non-amplified speakers pretty well. Not a good idea to hook the output of them directly to another soundcard output.

A inexpensive thing people used to do to was to use resistors to isolate the two sources. I think resistors from 100 ohms to 1000 ohms should be OK. Join the two resistors and attach the amplified speaker where they are joined.


source 1---------470 ohms -----------\____________speaker
source 1---------470 ohms -----------/

To explain, hi fi outputs are low impedance, and they are intended to drive inputs that are high impedance. (Outputs to drive unamplified speakers are very, very low impedance) They do it that way (which is an impedance mismatch) to give you a very flat, extended frequency response. By joining two outputs directly together, you are forcing one to drive the low impedance of the other.

If you don't have any soldering experience, hardware stores have very small twist on wire caps ("wire nuts") or crimp-on splicers to join the connections, usually used in house wiring.
 
KF is technically correct, and I even thought about whether that was an issue before making my post. However, I know way too many people who have done it without issue to believe it is something to worry about. Most likely the reason is that it sounds so bad when both machines try to play at the same time that people avoid it. I am pretty sure KF is correct that if both systems outputted a strong signal at the same time damage could occur, I have just never heard of it actually happening. I had a setup like this for about a week one time when I was waiting for some parts. If you definitely won't ever produce sound from both systems at the same time, then it isn't an issue at all (this is a setup that is likely to have the occasional mistake though).

The splitter solution will result in quality loss (almost by definition), but whether you can perceive that quality loss with depend on the quality of the splitter, the quality of the cables, the length of the cables, and how much of an audiophile you are (Did you know that some can hear things that are not humanly possible? 🙂 j/k).
 
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