How to connect 4" car speakers to a PC

[MadDoc]

Hi everyone,

I'm building my own MAME cabinet from scratch and having a lot of fun.

I have purchased a pair of 4" Pioneer TS-G1031I dual cone speakers to use in the cabinet. They are 4 ohms, normal power 30W (max power 190W).

How can I connect these to a normal PC in the cabinet? The ends of the cables are not like any I've seen before. Do I need some sort of amp to connect them to before I connect them to the PC's sound card?

[adder]

i would recommend a LEPAI 2020A+
i use one and they are great
(you use the MP3 socket on the rear of the amplifier to connect to your PC, using standard 3.5mm audio cable with regular male plugs both ends)

[jtslade]

These are awesome, it works perfectly for my groovy arcade ms pacman cocktail.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MadDoc]

Thanks adder.

The unit you mentioned is no longer available on Amazon. Would this work instead?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/LEPY-2024A-Plus-Amplifier/dp/B00SATAEEA/ref=pd_sim_23_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1QST3Z1XAXR7CB4CEC4Z&dpID=51R9%2BFjg13L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_

[adder]

LEPAI changed their name to LVPIN; i would only purchase a LEPAI or LVPIN unit. i can't offer any advice on units with other names, you have would have to purchase at your own risk 

here you go:   
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291589670306

note: although it states to use a 12V 2A power adapter with these amplifiers, it is better to use around a 12V 5A power adapter

[MadDoc]

Thanks adder!

Just ordered.

[adder]

cool, they are really good
i think i heard about someone damaging his lepai amp by turning it on without any speakers, so make sure you never turn it on without speakers connected
ps. if you dont get enough bass out of those car speakers you are using, try using some old hi-fi speakers from eg. a car boot sale etc
you could just place them in the bottom of your arcade cab
it sounds really cool when you crank the bass in some of those old eighties games eg. scramble and have that low floor-shaking rumble sound going on    (push in the tone knob on the lepai amp and set bass at max)

[mrcram]

Hi everyone,

I'm building my own MAME cabinet from scratch and having a lot of fun.

I have purchased a pair of 4" Pioneer TS-G1031I dual cone speakers to use in the cabinet. They are 4 ohms, normal power 30W (max power 190W).

How can I connect these to a normal PC in the cabinet? The ends of the cables are not like any I've seen before. Do I need some sort of amp to connect them to before I connect them to the PC's sound card?

Your running mame roms! Not surround sound Dolby 5.1! You don't need an amplifier and other fancy useless ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. 3.5mm audio headphone jack is all you need. Plug jack to your speaker plug on PC and cut end of wire and solder wires (left audio right audio ground) to speaker. This is all and sounds fine just like regular arcades.

[adder]

Your running mame roms! Not surround sound Dolby 5.1! You don't need an amplifier and other fancy useless ---steaming pile of meadow muffin---. 3.5mm audio headphone jack is all you need. Plug jack to your speaker plug on PC and cut end of wire and solder wires (left audio right audio ground) to speaker. This is all and sounds fine just like regular arcades.

well then he wouldnt be able to change the volume unless he kept going to his windows desktop to the volume control icon and messing around with that.. not that it would help much as the sound would be so quiet anyway, as he wouldnt be using an amplifier

lots of the regular standard arcade cabs had sh*t, harsh, zero bass speakers in them, correct.  why would you want to imitate that though. and that aside lots of games in mame have sound/music designed to be heard through an amplifier with good speakers

[Phreakwars]

Running it without an amp sounds weak. I tried it with my son's cocktail cabinet (when testing) and it wasn't very loud at all, even with being cranked up 100%. His is running 6.5" Sony X-plod speakers. The onboard sound simply did not have the power to drive them. Sure it would probably take less power to run 4" speakers, but then you run the risk of over stressing the components. An UNDERPOWERED speaker is more dangerous to the components then an OVERPOWERED one, on an overpowered AMP, you can adjust the volume down. Underpowering can destroy the speaker. Any audiophile knows this. Standard speaker jacks on a PC can run maybe a set of headphones at best. I'd much rather do it right and without all the wire splicing/soldering and use a Lepai (Lepy) 2020A+ or equivalent..

You can get one here for about $25 (ships with a 3Amp power supply, which works fine)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1HE2V64865

And if I was gonna do any splicing, I'd splice the 12v power connector and power it with my power supply and not the standard plugin adapter for it because of the previously mentioned issue of needing around 5A to drive it and not the weak 2A it ships with.

That's like trying to drive a huge Rockford Fosgate AMP with a motorcycle battery.

[mrcram]

What are you guys talking about?  Volume is fine and plenty loud with 3.5mm cable hack.  Here is a recent multicade I put together wired from speaker port directly to 4" speakers.  It is not even set on high.  Volume is plenty loud enough and not soft like you mention. I've done this hack on several multicades and sound is perfectly fine and loud.



On another note, who frequently changes their volume control on their cabinets? set it at one volume and leave it alone.  If you want to add amplifiers and a bass box and 20 speakers go ahead.  All I was saying is that you can simply hack a 3.5mm cable to speaker from PC and your set.   

[adder]

On another note, who frequently changes their volume control on their cabinets? set it at one volume and leave it alone.  If you want to add amplifiers and a bass box and 20 speakers go ahead.  All I was saying is that you can simply hack a 3.5mm cable to speaker from PC and your set.

i do have to change mine quite often as i sometimes play games quite late eg. around midnight, but i need to keep the volume down really low so as not to disturb other housemates trying to sleep in the room next to mine (i ended up getting really quiet soft click cherry microswitches to help with the issue)

i agree though, if u just have your cab in a garage or some room without others at nighttime sleeping nearby, u could just leave it at one volume; i expect i would do that myself

[Phreakwars]

What are you guys talking about?

Something called "CLIPPING". It can happen when you underpower a speaker. It might sound good at first, but it's not something long term, that will keep your speakers healthy.

[mrcram]

wow! now I know you have no idea what you are talking about.  What does clipping have to do with wiring 4" speaker to a PC? The original post was wiring a 4" speaker to a PC. Yes, if you are running sub woofers and a ---steaming pile of meadow muffin--- load of speakers, then yes you would need a nice amplifier to avoid clipping.  A full blown car stereo system and a simple right and left speaker on an arcade cabinet are two way way different things.  You are not underpowering anything.  Man, what were they thinking with arcade PCB jamma boards??? they should have thought about the clipping issue with running the speaker wire though the jamma harness instead of a nice external amplifier.   

Again, a 3.5mm cable hack is sufficient to have 4" speakers to your PC.  Yes, the sound will be perfectly loud enough.  No, you will not be able to adjust without doing so in windows.  If you want full blown sound with bass and the works, get an amplifier.  This was simply a cheap alternative suggestion that works fine.     

[Phreakwars]

Jamma boards have internal amps, motherboards do not. You go ahead and wire it that way if you like. When the day comes that those speakers start sounding like crap, don't ever say you were never told how that happens.

[mrcram]

Nonsense. Weird that my multicade with speakers directly wired has worked fine for the last 6 years. I guess if my speakers go out, I guess I will replace the $8 they cost now a days.

[raz]

Hey guys, I've been looking into different sound alternatives for my first arcade build. I've stumbled upon the possibility of using car speakers in my cabinet but haven't taken the plunge yet. I've got a few of questions for those of you who have gone this way (lepai/small amp + car speakers):

1. Is the  sound quality better than using a budget 2.1 pc speakers ?
2. Why did you choose car speakers and not speakers(drivers) designed for home hi-fi ? something like http://www.visaton.com/en/chassis_zubehoer/breitband/bg20_8.html for example
3. Did you make any enclosure for the speakers? are they just using the whole available space as a speaker box ?

Since my cabinet is going to take a fair amount of space in the house I'd like to be able to use it to play music as well and thus my preoccupation with the sound I'd be able to get with thees different set-ups. In my current design I would mount the speakers on the sides of the cabinet.

Sorry for hijacking the topic

[Phreakwars]

Hey guys, I've been looking into different sound alternatives for my first arcade build. I've stumbled upon the possibility of using car speakers in my cabinet but haven't taken the plunge yet. I've got a few of questions for those of you who have gone this way (lepai/small amp + car speakers):

1. Is the  sound quality better than using a budget 2.1 pc speakers ?

This depends on what 2.1 system you are talking about. If it's one like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9FD3FR8493

It would probably sound pretty crappy. A step up, would be something like these, which I have purchased several pairs of and they perform quite well

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1N80PR9496

These would probably be on par, and maybe even a little more full range then a simple 4" car speaker setup.

2. Why did you choose car speakers and not speakers(drivers) designed for home hi-fi ? something like http://www.visaton.com/en/chassis_zubehoer/breitband/bg20_8.html for example

Easier to mount for one thing. And, less bulk. I'll give you an example... in this image below you see some 6.5" Sony X-plod's mounted into my son's cocktail cabinet. If I had wanted to have a regular ole 2.0 or 2.1 system mounted in there, it would have taken up precious space, plus I would have had to find a way to mount it to where the sound came out of the ports.



Here is another example from a bartop project. Again, mounting a preboxed, pre amp'd speaker wouldn't be very easy. I would have had to tear them apart to make it work.

Since my cabinet is going to take a fair amount of space in the house I'd like to be able to use it to play music as well and thus my preoccupation with the sound I'd be able to get with thees different set-ups. In my current design I would mount the speakers on the sides of the cabinet.

If playing music, perhaps a Jukebox program in the cabinet is on you mind, then for your own audiophile sake, you're gonna want speakers that will produce a fuller range of sound then a 4" speaker would, and you WILL require an AMP contrary to what others might tell you. You'd be VERY VERY hard pressed to find ANY set of computer speakers being sold that do not have an internal amp to drive them. This is done for a reason, even in the cheapest 10 watt RMS pairs. The only ones that don't, are those little 2" cube speakers which take next to nothing to power them. And who wants to jam to their tunes on 2" speakers? Or jam to tunes using non powered 4" speakers?

You could go as far as your imagination and amplification takes you when it comes to sound. If a Jukebox/Arcade cabinet is your game, then for sure, try going 5" or bigger. I was tempted to put 6x9's in my sons because he wanted a jukebox in his as well, the only reason I didn't is because I wasn't sure about mounting depth. Now that I have his 6.5" speakers in, it became clear I could have easily put in 6x9's. But no biggy, he has what he has, and it sounds AWESOME!! The bass reproduction is fantastic. Something you would never get without eventual clipping on a non amplified setup.

[raz]

thanks for sharing the pictures ! Great insight on using car speaker in arcade builds.
I wouldn't consider using them without an amplifier in any case.
Gonna do some digging and see what fits my budget