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Need Advice on MAME Conversion
Beretta:
you'll need a amp.. you can either hack one from a set of cheap speakers but those are usually under 5 watts. or buy a small 50-100 watt amp from best buy, etc.
someone posted a 20 dollar amp on ebay think it was about 60 watts that would do the trick, do a search it was'nt to long ago.
some sound cards have a onboard amp.. but those are usually only about 2 watts, so normally you will need amp, most sound cards would'nt be able to drive the speakers directly.
bkenobi:
The cheap amps are T-Amps. I've read good things about them, but don't expect them to perform like a $$$$ unit. They are simply a very competent single channel stereo amp. They sound good but won't drive anything huge. Of course, this is a perfect application if you are talking smaller speakers (4.5" arcade speakers for instance).
DashRendar:
I do have an old 5.1 speaker and sub set, but that seemed like overkill for an arcade cabinet. It would be easy to interface with the PC though, but I actually think the original arcade speakers are great quality, and was hoping to keep them.
But I'd rather use that then buy another piece of hardware (amp). Spending too much money as it is! :dizzy:
I'm guessing MAME games can only take advantage of 2 speaker stereo, right? IE, no sound would be coming out of the other speakers in a 5.1 speaker setup?
Beretta:
ya i dont know of any games that had surround sound.. maybe something really new like > 2000 maybe games like DDR (never actually played one)
anyway if you're only using stereo you should still get sound out of all of them.. it's just there will only be L and R not front left, rear left, etc
you could buy a few cheap sets of speakers.. sometimes you can get them for a few bucks online.
then take the amp out (usually a little DIL chip), might take 2 or 3 depending on the power of the amp most are only a few watts.
you might as well pick up a amp on ebay for say 20 bucks.. because if you're not gonna use that 5.1 setup you got then you're gonna be buying another set anyway.
it sounds like you really wanna use the original speakers so i think you would be the most happy just buying a small amp.
bkenobi:
I personally disassembled an old 2.1 set of PC speakers. I just wired my cab speakers up to the amp and kept the sub as is. It sounds fine for what I use it for. The other cab I just used the speakers on the TV. I originally was going to install dedicated ones, but that is an Area 51 cab and it doesn't have any other place to put the speakers (HUGE glass from CP all the way to the top...speaker was originally in the CP).
Anyway, if you are going to buy something (PC speakers or amp), you would be better off with the amp IMO. The impedance of most speakers is different than what PC speakers use. Also, you will probably spend ~$20 shipped for a set of speakers. You could instead spend the same amount on a decent quality amp (for the purpose) and you won't have any issues. Your call... :dunno