[John Hanley]

My five-year-old computer is an HP Pavilion 760n running XP which came with
a set of Polk Audio N279 speakers that play fine when plugged in to the old
computer. My new computer is an HP Pavilion d4890y running Vista and the
speakers are built in to the HP w2207 monitor. The new monitor/speakers
play fine, but a bit 'tinny'. I want to hook up the old Polk Audio speakers
to the new computer, but when I do, the speaker volume is barely audible
even at maximum volume. Any thoughts on what may cause this large
difference in sound level? The old Polk Audio speakers are not separately
powered. Thanks.

[Don Pearce]

On Wed, 11 Jul 2007 14:02:50 GMT, "John Hanley"
wrote:

My five-year-old computer is an HP Pavilion 760n running XP which came with
a set of Polk Audio N279 speakers that play fine when plugged in to the old
computer. My new computer is an HP Pavilion d4890y running Vista and the
speakers are built in to the HP w2207 monitor. The new monitor/speakers
play fine, but a bit 'tinny'. I want to hook up the old Polk Audio speakers
to the new computer, but when I do, the speaker volume is barely audible
even at maximum volume. Any thoughts on what may cause this large
difference in sound level? The old Polk Audio speakers are not separately
powered. Thanks.

The sound card in your old computer had a power amp in it - the new
one doesn't. So you have a choice - swap in the sound card from your
old PC - probably not a great idea. Or you can get a set of powered
speakers; they are pretty cheap. Or finally you can find and old
amplifier somewhere to feed the Polk speakers from the new PC.

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

[Eeyore]

John Hanley wrote:

My five-year-old computer is an HP Pavilion 760n running XP which came with
a set of Polk Audio N279 speakers that play fine when plugged in to the old
computer. My new computer is an HP Pavilion d4890y running Vista and the
speakers are built in to the HP w2207 monitor. The new monitor/speakers
play fine, but a bit 'tinny'. I want to hook up the old Polk Audio speakers
to the new computer, but when I do, the speaker volume is barely audible
even at maximum volume. Any thoughts on what may cause this large
difference in sound level? The old Polk Audio speakers are not separately
powered. Thanks.

Speakers have very different sensitivities in terms of the number of decibels
they produce for one watt of input power. Offhand I can think of some as low as
80dB and as high as 101dB.

Very accurate speakers are often rather lower in sensitivity than those simply
designed to make a noise.

Graham

[Eeyore]

Don Pearce wrote:

"John Hanley" wrote:

My five-year-old computer is an HP Pavilion 760n running XP which came with
a set of Polk Audio N279 speakers that play fine when plugged in to the old
computer. My new computer is an HP Pavilion d4890y running Vista and the
speakers are built in to the HP w2207 monitor. The new monitor/speakers
play fine, but a bit 'tinny'. I want to hook up the old Polk Audio speakers
to the new computer, but when I do, the speaker volume is barely audible
even at maximum volume. Any thoughts on what may cause this large
difference in sound level? The old Polk Audio speakers are not separately
powered. Thanks.

The sound card in your old computer had a power amp in it - the new
one doesn't.

LOL.

I missed that. I suppose he's got the speakers hooked up to the line out.

To the OP. An output designed to drive speakers should be appropriately marked.
Are you familiar with the differences between a speaker level output and a line
level output ?

Graham

[Michael Black]

Eeyore ) writes:
Don Pearce wrote:

"John Hanley" wrote:

My five-year-old computer is an HP Pavilion 760n running XP which came with
a set of Polk Audio N279 speakers that play fine when plugged in to the old
computer. My new computer is an HP Pavilion d4890y running Vista and the
speakers are built in to the HP w2207 monitor. The new monitor/speakers
play fine, but a bit 'tinny'. I want to hook up the old Polk Audio speakers
to the new computer, but when I do, the speaker volume is barely audible
even at maximum volume. Any thoughts on what may cause this large
difference in sound level? The old Polk Audio speakers are not separately
powered. Thanks.

The sound card in your old computer had a power amp in it - the new
one doesn't.

LOL.

I missed that. I suppose he's got the speakers hooked up to the line out.

To the OP. An output designed to drive speakers should be appropriately marked.
Are you familiar with the differences between a speaker level output and a line
level output ?

Graham

I thought it was that a speaker level output was increasingly missing
from soundcards.

IN the early days, it was normal to have an actual amplifier, albeit fairly
low power, on a soundcard, because who knew what speakers you'd be
using with the soundcard. Then as the field grew, it became pretty common
to find "computer speakers" that had amplifiers in them (not necessarily
more powerful than what had been on the soundcard), and hence the "power
amplifiers" went away, since there was no need for them. (Or maybe it's
the reverse, output amplifiers disappeared from soundcards, causing
the rise of amplified speakers.)

Michael

[Eeyore]

Michael Black wrote:

Eeyore ) writes:
Don Pearce wrote:
"John Hanley" wrote:

My five-year-old computer is an HP Pavilion 760n running XP which came with
a set of Polk Audio N279 speakers that play fine when plugged in to the old
computer. My new computer is an HP Pavilion d4890y running Vista and the
speakers are built in to the HP w2207 monitor. The new monitor/speakers
play fine, but a bit 'tinny'. I want to hook up the old Polk Audio speakers
to the new computer, but when I do, the speaker volume is barely audible
even at maximum volume. Any thoughts on what may cause this large
difference in sound level? The old Polk Audio speakers are not separately
powered. Thanks.

The sound card in your old computer had a power amp in it - the new
one doesn't.

LOL.

I missed that. I suppose he's got the speakers hooked up to the line out.

To the OP. An output designed to drive speakers should be appropriately marked.
Are you familiar with the differences between a speaker level output and a line
level output ?


I thought it was that a speaker level output was increasingly missing
from soundcards.

IN the early days, it was normal to have an actual amplifier, albeit fairly
low power, on a soundcard, because who knew what speakers you'd be
using with the soundcard. Then as the field grew, it became pretty common
to find "computer speakers" that had amplifiers in them (not necessarily
more powerful than what had been on the soundcard), and hence the "power
amplifiers" went away, since there was no need for them. (Or maybe it's
the reverse, output amplifiers disappeared from soundcards, causing
the rise of amplified speakers.)

Amplified speakers are probably more popular (and versatile) anyway.

Another reason for disappearing speaker outs is multi-channel sound.

Graham

[John Hanley]

"Eeyore" wrote in message
...


Michael Black wrote:

Eeyore ) writes:
Don Pearce wrote:
"John Hanley" wrote:

My five-year-old computer is an HP Pavilion 760n running XP which
came with
a set of Polk Audio N279 speakers that play fine when plugged in to
the old
computer. My new computer is an HP Pavilion d4890y running Vista and
the
speakers are built in to the HP w2207 monitor. The new
monitor/speakers
play fine, but a bit 'tinny'. I want to hook up the old Polk Audio
speakers
to the new computer, but when I do, the speaker volume is barely
audible
even at maximum volume. Any thoughts on what may cause this large
difference in sound level? The old Polk Audio speakers are not
separately
powered. Thanks.

The sound card in your old computer had a power amp in it - the new
one doesn't.

LOL.

I missed that. I suppose he's got the speakers hooked up to the line
out.

To the OP. An output designed to drive speakers should be appropriately
marked.
Are you familiar with the differences between a speaker level output
and a line
level output ?


I thought it was that a speaker level output was increasingly missing
from soundcards.

IN the early days, it was normal to have an actual amplifier, albeit
fairly
low power, on a soundcard, because who knew what speakers you'd be
using with the soundcard. Then as the field grew, it became pretty
common
to find "computer speakers" that had amplifiers in them (not necessarily
more powerful than what had been on the soundcard), and hence the "power
amplifiers" went away, since there was no need for them. (Or maybe it's
the reverse, output amplifiers disappeared from soundcards, causing
the rise of amplified speakers.)

Amplified speakers are probably more popular (and versatile) anyway.

Another reason for disappearing speaker outs is multi-channel sound.

Graham

Thank you gentlemen, you were very helpful. After reading your replies, I
went to my local electronics store and have bought a set of powered speakers
which are working very nicely and much better than what I had. Always
learning....