Authentic speaker setup for my cocktail cabinet?

[gizmo1990]

I've tried posting this in the audio section but I get the feeling it would be better (ie I might actually get some answers!) in this one. Please feel free todelete my post in the audio section mods!

Basically as per the title. I'm doing a self build and would like some nice unobtrusive ones to place under the control panel. You know the kind of deal, big hole drilled into the side and a speaker screwed in and a nice round cover over the top?

Ideally I'd like the amplifiers built in so that I could just plug them into the pc but I don't now if things like that are available? I'm not very knowledgable on audio stuff so any kind of advice in this area would be appreciated. So for instance how would I wire the speakers themselves to the amp? And then the amp to the pc jack?

[drventure]

I'm very happy with the Altec Lansing conputer speakers I picked up for my cab. They're small, fairly cheap, you can decase them and mount em however you want without ruining the sound, they have a separate subwoofer that you can tuck just about anywhere.

Just screw the speakers in place and put some kind of grill over em (lots of people use those custom cut fan grills for pc modders.

[Deadly]

If it were me - I'd follow the traditional way "like a bally midway cocktail" and have the speaker mounted internally and a flat speaker grill on the outside. IMHO it looks much classier.

[gizmo1990]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Deadly have you got a picture of what you're talking about?

drventure, are there any photos of doing this precedure?

[drventure]

Well, my cab build is anything but "normal". but I do have some build pics of the speakers that I used

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=88515.msg990845#msg990845

That points to the start. Run down the thread a ways to see the further steps and the end result.

I've been very pleased with them. Even same fairly critical audio heads have said it sounds pretty good (all things considered).

I think the sub has a lot to do with that though.

[opt2not]

Funny, i was just looking into my audio options and found this on Bob Robert's site:

http://www.therealbobroberts.net/aab.html

Ignore the Jamma part, since you're going with your PC. Cheap, easy to use amplifier. Just replace the speakers and you're set!

[Jack Burton]

Here's what I would do.

Find a set of pc speakers that has a the second speaker on a separate plug.  So that on the back of the main speaker you have input, power, and speaker ports.

Now install your speaker wherever you want on your cab and connect it to the speaker port on the back of the main speaker.

Secure the main speaker somewhere inside the cab and you're done. 

If you want to you can open up the main speaker and disconnect the speaker inside and use it only as an amp.  This will give you more realistic acoustics compared to an original cocktail.

A set like this would work very well:

[CheffoJeffo]

The first question that you need to address is do you want authentic or do you want good sound ?

If you want authentic, then buy a 6x9 8ohm speaker and connect a basic amplifier circuit (I buy kits for these all the time for MAME boxes ... a little soldering and your done ... or buy a cheap pair of PC speakers and rip out the amp)

OTOH, it you want it to sound good, go a completely different route and get a decent pair of amplified PC speakers with a subwoofer.

FWIW, I've always gone authentic for cabs.

[gizmo1990]

CheffoJeffo, yeah I want it authentic. Where can I buy these circuit kits you are talking about?

[Franco B]

Nice to see you working on it still

I'm not sure if any of [these] are suitable but I remember seeing them at Maplins recently.

Maybe Cheffo could take a look and see if any of them would be good for you.

[gizmo1990]

Hey Franco!  

Yep it's coming together finally! I'm a bit vexxed by the audio stuff tho. I was looking at those kits too but I don't understand how they work? As in where do I connect the 2 speakers to on them and how do I then plug the circuit board into the pc??

Oh and... surely the circuit board needs power? How is that achieved?

[Franco B]

I'm not sure buddy to be honest.

I recently bought one of [these] from US ebay for a project after they were reccommended by a few of the guys in another thread. I think it was about £12 shipped.



At least that has RCA in from your PC (from a 3.5mm>twin RCA cable) and speaker terminals.

I have not tried it yet but they are meant to be good, especially for the price.

EDIT: They take 12vDC so you can just power it from your PCs PSU.

[CheffoJeffo]

I power my amps using 12V from the PC's power supply. the inputs and outputs are clearly labelled. The kits I have used are comparable to this kits on the page that FrancoB provided:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=10502

The amp that Franco bought looks nice and is a luxury version compared to the kits that I normally use.

[gizmo1990]

Thanks again for the replies guys.

So would I be looking at soldering the power connection too

Sorry if I'm being a bit of a idiot here. I don't know anything about this stuff but I'm willing to try if I can be clear what it is I'm doing!

[Franco B]

Yeah I imagine you would need to solder the power connections as well as the input/output terminals.

To be honest for the £4 difference you may as well get the ready assembled one I linked to. Its 2x14w, has phono inputs, spring type speaker connections and a DC input socket. It also has bass, treble and volume controls. You could easily de-solder the volume pot and mount it somewhere on the cocktail if you wanted to.

[apfelanni]

As i remember and experienced it , most audio installations in arcadecabs were awful . Cheap audio amps combined with lousy small speakers. If i don't go the road of abusing pc speakers ( for bartops ) i sometimes use plug n play mini amps and fullrange speakers of reasonable size . Those 4 and 5 inch speakers cost 5 , the amp is around 30 euro. Nice value for the cash .

[gizmo1990]

franco, they don't seem to sell those ones anymore. I'll check with the seller though.
Do those ones have a power connection built in? I don't understand how they would be connected to the pc? Surely the only power connection available would be the internal leads connected to the pcs psu? And if that's the case does the amp have a lead with that connector on the end?

[Franco B]

Power wise it has a standard DC socket so you would need a plug like one of [these].



I'm not sure which size until I measure it. You would solder two wires to the plug and then connect that to your PC PSU. If you didn't want to butcher your PC wiring you could pick up a female PSU molex plug from a molex splitter etc and wire the DC plug to that (yellow and black wires for 12v)

Alternatively you could probably find a 240v AC-12v DC plug in transformer (wall wart) with the right sized DC plug but that would just take up more space inside your cocktail and require another socket.