sound card speaker setup question

[incognito247]

if you have a 4.1 sound card with a front and rear output, can you connect unpowered speaker sattelites directly to it? or does it have to be powered speakers?

i tried it on a motherboard soundcard with just a line out and i got no sound but i was hoping that with a 4.1 sound card with front and rear outputs would power non-powered speakers for sound. anyone know if this would work?

 

[tk11]

It may work but it won't be very loud and it will sound like crap. Sound cards just don't have room for a decent amplifier so they can only handle tiny desktop speakers at most.

 

[incognito247]

thx tk11. i'll just have to buy some nice 2.0 speakers then. appreciate the feedback.