[Rich Billionaire]

I have a pair of self-powered Alesis 520 speakers and I want to
connect both my xbox 360 and my computer to it. What's the best way to
do that? I tried using a $6 audio splitter, but it didn't work out too
well because the sound signals from my pc & xbox were both weakened by
that type of connection. Do I have to buy a mixer or can I use
something cheaper? I want to get good sound and I want something that
will allow both the pc & xbox 360 sound signals to come through at
full strength but I'd prefer to use something that I don't have to
switch on and off or that requires electrical power. I'd prefer to
have it be something automatic and passive, similar to an audio
splitter but without its signal loss problem. I think I read there's a
decent mixer for around $70. I guess I'll buy that if I have to. I may
also buy a subwoofer to add to my system, which would complicate
things even more. I guess I'll have to have a mixer if I get the
subwoofer, right? I used to use Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers but I
wanted to upgrade to something bigger, so I got the Alesis 520 studio
monitors. I can't use a receiver since these speakers are self
powered.

[MiNe 109]

In article ,
Rich Billionaire wrote:

I have a pair of self-powered Alesis 520 speakers and I want to
connect both my xbox 360 and my computer to it. What's the best way to
do that? I tried using a $6 audio splitter, but it didn't work out too
well because the sound signals from my pc & xbox were both weakened by
that type of connection. Do I have to buy a mixer or can I use
something cheaper? I want to get good sound and I want something that
will allow both the pc & xbox 360 sound signals to come through at
full strength but I'd prefer to use something that I don't have to
switch on and off or that requires electrical power. I'd prefer to
have it be something automatic and passive, similar to an audio
splitter but without its signal loss problem. I think I read there's a
decent mixer for around $70. I guess I'll buy that if I have to. I may
also buy a subwoofer to add to my system, which would complicate
things even more. I guess I'll have to have a mixer if I get the
subwoofer, right? I used to use Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers but I
wanted to upgrade to something bigger, so I got the Alesis 520 studio
monitors. I can't use a receiver since these speakers are self
powered.

A possible short term solution is the Sima SVS-14 found at the Radio
Shack website and other places.

The real solution would be a preamp or external soundcard .

Stephen

[William Sommerwerck]

You don't need a mixer. Look around a simple switchbox.

[Roy W. Rising[_2_]]

Rich Billionaire wrote:
I have a pair of self-powered Alesis 520 speakers and I want to
connect both my xbox 360 and my computer to it. What's the best way to
do that? I tried using a $6 audio splitter, but it didn't work out too
well because the sound signals from my pc & xbox were both weakened by
that type of connection. Do I have to buy a mixer or can I use
something cheaper? I want to get good sound and I want something that
will allow both the pc & xbox 360 sound signals to come through at
full strength but I'd prefer to use something that I don't have to
switch on and off or that requires electrical power. I'd prefer to
have it be something automatic and passive, similar to an audio
splitter but without its signal loss problem. I think I read there's a
decent mixer for around $70. I guess I'll buy that if I have to. I may
also buy a subwoofer to add to my system, which would complicate
things even more. I guess I'll have to have a mixer if I get the
subwoofer, right? I used to use Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers but I
wanted to upgrade to something bigger, so I got the Alesis 520 studio
monitors. I can't use a receiver since these speakers are self
powered.

One option is to feed the Xbox 360 into the computer's line inputs. Then
both sources can appear at the computer's line output. Of course, this
means the 'puter will have to be ON. If you're like most of us, it's ON
most of the time anyway.

A powered subwoofer is likely to have its own low-pass filter on the input,
some have L & R inputs, so you might be able to use "Y" cords to split the
computer's output to both destinations.

--
~
~ Roy
"If you notice the sound, it's wrong!"

[Mike Rivers]

Rich Billionaire wrote:
I have a pair of self-powered Alesis 520 speakers and I want to
connect both my xbox 360 and my computer to it. What's the best way to
do that? I tried using a $6 audio splitter, but it didn't work out too
well because the sound signals from my pc & xbox were both weakened by
that type of connection.

First off, you aren't using a splitter (at least not functionally),
you're using a combiner. I would expect a bit of loss but given the
reason for the loss, it should be about the same amount for both the
computer and XBox. You can compensate for this by simply turning up the
volume a bit on your powered speakers. But since you're partially
shorting out the output of each unit with the output stage of the other
one, it's possible that one is being attenuated more than the other.
It's also possible that they both aren't at the same level (no reason,
actually, why they should be) and it was just never so easy to compare
them.

Do I have to buy a mixer or can I use something cheaper?

A mixer is the best way to have control over this, and there are some
pretty cheap mixers out there. None as cheap as $6, though.

I'd prefer to use something that I don't have to
switch on and off or that requires electrical power. I'd prefer to
have it be something automatic and passive, similar to an audio
splitter but without its signal loss problem.

It's just not possible. Again I ask, can you just turn up the volume at
your speakers? There's nothing wrong with that. You're not losing
anything that you can't gain back, unless you're already running your
speakers at full volume.

I think I read there's a decent mixer for around $70.

That's about the bottom of the heap. You can get a Behringer MX400
(http://www.behringer.com/MX400/index.cfm?lang=ENG) for $20. It's not
the greatest, it doesn't offer a master volume control, and it may not
last forever but it should work for your application. The Behringer
Xenyx 502 (http://www.behringer.com/502/index.cfm?lang=ENG) is about $45
and is more flexible. I don't mean to sound like a salesman for
Behringer here, but they've been making small, cheap mixers longer than
just about anyone and it's the first name that comes to mind. I expect
that Alesis may have something in this range as well, as does Mackie,
but for about twice as much.

also buy a subwoofer to add to my system, which would complicate
things even more. I guess I'll have to have a mixer if I get the
subwoofer, right?

Not necessarily. Most subwoofers that you're likely to find in your
price range and for your applications have a built-in crossover. You
connect the subwoofer to the mixer output and connect your main speakers
to jacks on the subwoofer.




--
If you e-mail me and it bounces, use your secret decoder ring and reach
me he
double-m-eleven-double-zero at yahoo -- I'm really Mike Rivers
)

[[email protected]]

Build the circuit on page 23 , just use two N-channel FETs instead of
triodes and use 12 volt B+.


http://www.pmillett.com/file_downloads/RCA_HiFi.pdf

You'll need differing resistor values of course.

[Rich Billionaire]

On 13 Sep 2008 00:15:00 GMT, Roy W. Rising
wrote:

One option is to feed the Xbox 360 into the computer's line inputs. Then
both sources can appear at the computer's line output. Of course, this
means the 'puter will have to be ON. If you're like most of us, it's ON
most of the time anyway.

That works perfect! My sound card has a subwoofer line out too, and I
can use Windows to adjust the xbox volume.

[Scott Dorsey]

In article ,
Rich Billionaire wrote:

I have a pair of self-powered Alesis 520 speakers and I want to
connect both my xbox 360 and my computer to it. What's the best way to
do that? I tried using a $6 audio splitter, but it didn't work out too
well because the sound signals from my pc & xbox were both weakened by
that type of connection. Do I have to buy a mixer or can I use
something cheaper? I want to get good sound and I want something that
will allow both the pc & xbox 360 sound signals to come through at
full strength but I'd prefer to use something that I don't have to
switch on and off or that requires electrical power. I'd prefer to
have it be something automatic and passive, similar to an audio
splitter but without its signal loss problem. I think I read there's a
decent mixer for around $70. I guess I'll buy that if I have to. I may
also buy a subwoofer to add to my system, which would complicate
things even more. I guess I'll have to have a mixer if I get the
subwoofer, right? I used to use Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers but I
wanted to upgrade to something bigger, so I got the Alesis 520 studio
monitors. I can't use a receiver since these speakers are self
powered.

You can get a switchbox to allow you to switch from one to the other.
Or you can make a summing cable... imagine a Y cable, with 1K ohm
resistors on each output so that the two outputs aren't directly tied
together.

With the summing cable you will lose some level. That's fine, you have
plenty of extra gain available, so just turn the volume up a bit.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."