Last night i realized my current 5.1 creative z-640 speakers were not as loud as i would like. Then i realized that i had some old speakers in the storage that were around 50 watts each plus a sub. So i was talking to a friend and i told him about my idea of using regular speakers rather than my current creative 5.1 and he said that my soundcard wouldnt have evnough power for it and if i even did do it i would just get a really quiet sound out of them. Is this true? I thought that since my soundblaster audigy has a digital out i could just get a digital out/in cord and connect the digital out to the computer and digital in to the reciever, then hook up the speakers. BTW these speakers i am using are oldschool and are the wire kind, is that a problem? My reciever is pretty new and somewhat decent. So my question is, will this work, will i get loud, quality sound that is better than my current 5.1 creative z-640 speakers?

Hey, I would have thought ud be ok, as long as your reciver can amplfy the sound comming from the sound card. Jon

I guess you will have to hook them up and try them before you will know if they sound `better' or not. The amplifier will certainly make them louder.

K ill give it a try

Your friend is right on. Aside from a few exceptions (emachines on board sound, a few sound cards) the speaker output on PCs is unamplified and will be very faint if used on passive speakers. What you do is route a wire from the 3.5mm PC speaker output jack and into the back of your stereo amp, then hook your passive speakers to that amp. http://www.national-tech.com/popupspecs/2rca-ste-6.htm If you want surround sound you will need a second amp for the rear speakers. I've bought several older amps at garage sales for $5 each in order to set up each of the kids' machines this way using large passive speakers.