Cambridge PCWorks 2.1 speaker upgrade

Badger · 11th February 2004, 1:36 PM

I got these speakers for 17 bucks, and for the price I am pretty pleased, however the satellites are really scratchy and buzzy. I was thinking of just hooking something else up instead of the satellites (just spring connectors).

the Sub is pretty good, has a fair bit of midrange, but is doesn't matter too much when the sub is under the desk in front of you. This would only be for my wifes PC as I just scored a set of z-560s for my box...

The manual says something about not connecting any other speakers as the supplied ones were "specially designed for the system". AFAIK it won't make much difference except for the crossover point and power requirements.

I also have a set of unpowered speakers which came with the compaq I bought many moons ago, they worked very well in the compaq with the old school amplified sound card, but with the new box they are really quiet.
They have quite good sound though, lots of mid and good treble, so i was thinking of connecting them to the 2.1 system instead of the satellites.
They are, of course, connected to the soudncard with a headphone jack (actually one speaker plugs into the cable of the other with a RCA looking plug, then that cable goes to the jack). They hang off the side of the monitor, so they are quite convenient.
Is it just a matter of snipping off the headphone jack and connecting the two sets of wires to the amp/sub box?

anyone forsee any problems?

Dougal · 11th February 2004, 4:53 PM

You might want to check the impedance and wattage of the 2.1 speakers and see how close they are to the old compaq ones (Check on the speaker driver if possible as it might be slighly realistic, not what the box etc says)

If the compaq ones draw too much power (Doubtful if they worked on a soundcard amplification) they could blow the crappy amp in the 2.1 system.

Badger · 12th February 2004, 9:31 AM

aha, yes I forgot about the impedance. I'll have a glance at that.

edit: the wattage isn't going to matter as long as the compaq speakers are higher or equal to the old ones - correct?

11th February 2004, 1:36 PM	#1
Badger Caveat lector Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Adelaide, SA Posts: 8,910	Cambridge PCWorks 2.1 speaker upgrade I got these speakers for 17 bucks, and for the price I am pretty pleased, however the satellites are really scratchy and buzzy. I was thinking of just hooking something else up instead of the satellites (just spring connectors). the Sub is pretty good, has a fair bit of midrange, but is doesn't matter too much when the sub is under the desk in front of you. This would only be for my wifes PC as I just scored a set of z-560s for my box... The manual says something about not connecting any other speakers as the supplied ones were "specially designed for the system". AFAIK it won't make much difference except for the crossover point and power requirements. I also have a set of unpowered speakers which came with the compaq I bought many moons ago, they worked very well in the compaq with the old school amplified sound card, but with the new box they are really quiet. They have quite good sound though, lots of mid and good treble, so i was thinking of connecting them to the 2.1 system instead of the satellites. They are, of course, connected to the soudncard with a headphone jack (actually one speaker plugs into the cable of the other with a RCA looking plug, then that cable goes to the jack). They hang off the side of the monitor, so they are quite convenient. Is it just a matter of snipping off the headphone jack and connecting the two sets of wires to the amp/sub box? anyone forsee any problems? __________________ Facta sunt potentiora verbis Actions are more powerful than words Fas est et ab hoste doceri It is proper to learn even from an enemy Ex gladio veritas From the sword, comes truth

11th February 2004, 4:53 PM	#2
Dougal Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Melbourne Posts: 519	You might want to check the impedance and wattage of the 2.1 speakers and see how close they are to the old compaq ones (Check on the speaker driver if possible as it might be slighly realistic, not what the box etc says) If the compaq ones draw too much power (Doubtful if they worked on a soundcard amplification) they could blow the crappy amp in the 2.1 system. __________________ <Sig Competition - Most Gullible gets a prize>

12th February 2004, 9:31 AM	#3
Badger Caveat lector Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Adelaide, SA Posts: 8,910	aha, yes I forgot about the impedance. I'll have a glance at that. edit: the wattage isn't going to matter as long as the compaq speakers are higher or equal to the old ones - correct? __________________ Facta sunt potentiora verbis Actions are more powerful than words Fas est et ab hoste doceri It is proper to learn even from an enemy Ex gladio veritas From the sword, comes truth Last edited by Badger; 12th February 2004 at 9:41 AM.