[cam]

ok, so I have the perfect gift idea for my dad and I just need to tap the brilliant minds of head-fi for a feasability check and a bit of extra help.

First off, I am aware this is not headphone related, and to whomever that may offend, I am sorry. I come here though because I am consistently pleasantly surprised by the wealth of knowledge available on these boards.

I am going to convert a no-longer used Dell PC my family has (450 MHz Pentium 1 - YES! (my personal pc is a 447 MHz compaq...)) to a cupboard mounted media center. It will most likely run linux, and will be used solely to play ripped tracks (maybe lossless, depends on the price of HDDs, etc). It will not have an internet connection or any utilities unrelated to the playing/ripping of music.

Here's my proposed setup, including question marks:
1. XMMS (winamp-like prog)
2. Audigy 1 Line Out(old soundcard from my comp - I'll use this opportunity to upgrade myself to a chaintech

)
3. ???

I need some type of amp to power 5 relatively inexpensive (budget I guess you'd call them) speakers: 2 sets of 2 bookshelf speakers and one speaker from an old ghetto blaster. This amp needs to be as inexpensive as possible - my dad is by no means an audiophile, he just enjoys having music playing - more analytical of the songwriting than the recording/playback quality. The 5 speakers all terminate in normal speaker wire, if that changes anything. Right now they're all connected to the 2 speaker outs of a 6-disc changer/ghetto blaster (yeah that's right: 5 speaker cables where 2 belong, times two including grounds).

4. Speakers.

Ok, so I guess I need confirmation that this will work, and I also need some suggestions for some sort of amp to take signal from a line out to 5 speakers.

Thank you very much, I await your wisdom,
Cam

 

[blessingx]

Well I'm already deviating from your request, but instead of just having a player like XMMS, consider a jukebox like NetJuke. I don't believe it requires a stream, but I could be wrong (no experience).

 

[davvy]

You can disregard this is you wish, but the whole point of this site is to convince people to spend more of their money. So that is what I am going to do.

I really think that if you are going to go to the trouble of doing this project you should invest a bit more $$$ and do it really well. It is going to take you quite a lot of time and effort to set up so it would be a shame to end up with a substandard result for the sake of a (relatively) smallish amount of money.

If I was you I would just stick with 2-channel. 2-channel CD audio sounds best played out of 2 speakers, no need for, or benefit in having 5. Either take the best of the speakers you already have or buy a cheap set of name-brand bookshelf speakers off Ebay. Personally I like Missions, but everyone has their personal preference. That way you only need a budget 2-channel stereo amp (they can also be found cheap on Ebay).

Forget the Audigy 1. It is a last-generation gaming card and even a non-audiophile will be disappointed with the sound quality for playing music. Sell it on Ebay and get an EMU 0404 (costs less than $100) or if your budget is absolutely stretched get a chaintech for less than $30.

And you must rip everything lossless. I use and recommend FLAC but there are other formats that are good also. That way you only have to rip once. Make sure you use EAC to rip so that you can guarantee that you have perfect rips. A 200G hard drive can hold nearly 600 FLAC rips and is only about $100 these days.

And lastly, good luck. Your Dad is a lucky guy.

 

[cam]

I don't know what I was thinking as I was typing XMMS, for I was thinking rhythmbox or something similar. This netjuke looks interesting, but why would I want that over a conventional media player?

Also, I've been looking at the supposed phenomenon, the tripath t-amp, all over head-fi and elsewhere and wondering if it might fit the bill. It only has 2 speaker outs, but could I perhaps use 2 of them (the price is right!) after a simple y-splitter or am I being dumb/lo-fi?

thanks for the quick response,
Cam

 

[cam]

sorry davvy I missed your post when I replied last time, so to your comments:

As for cash outlay: I am not prepared to spend a lot, as I really don't have a lot of cash as it is. However, I am prepared to continue to improve upon this, and due to my leaving for uni next year I'm sure my new chaintech will end up in the media computer relatively quickly (think next september).

As for two channels: I hear you in full, and I truly wish I could ditch 3 speakers, but the room(s) this is for complicate things. You see, one pair of bookshelfs (Missions actually - I didn't know the name was well-known, now I do) is in the living room, while the other pair is in the dining room. The ghetto blaster speaker is in the kitchen (yeah it's sweet to be washing dishes and getting only the left channel - I get to hear the bass thumping away while the guitar solo is out in the dining room...). No walls separate these rooms but they are at odd angles to each other and even split level (the living room is below grade), hence the impossibility of using a 2 ch setup.

I use flac myself and will probably set this computer up to do the same. I am shopping around for HDDs, and will probably get one around 120 gig - I doubt my dad has over 200 cds.

Thanks for the help / support - this has the potential to be really sweet in addition to being somewhat inexpensive - more expensive than the sweater and novel I typically go for, but for what he's getting I don't think you can beat it.

Thanks a bunch - great responses so far,
Cam

PS - amp opinions???

 

[cam]

Well, it's getting closer to christmas and my thread fell off the front page so I figured I would employ the *shameless self-bump*

Sorry to whom it may offend and thanks to those who reply with amp suggestions,
Cam

 

[cam]

ok - I am a post whore.

That said: time is getting tight, because I need to set this up as well, not just assemble the components. I'm going to NCIX tomorrow to pick-up a 120 gig hard drive and a chaintech. I now need to find something to power the speakers and that's where you guys come in: please suggest some solutions to this gap in my signal.

Line out --> ________ --> 5 bookshelf sized speakers.
Cost is an object.

TIA,
Cam

 

[Regus]

well you could as you suggest use two (or perhaps three) of those t-amps, some duct tape (increases the MacGyver feel)

and a y-splitter... there probably are betters ways of doing this (say getting a sound card with multiple dedicated outputs), but you are on a budget and with the Audigy 1 you are not exactly going to be blown away either way

I think it will do just fine - there are no doubt people on this board that could give you a more qualified answer, and evaluate the consequences on current requirenments of parallel coupling two or three t-amps and so on and so forth, but I think you can get away with it without blowing anything up

And regardless of what you do you do you are unlikely to get cheaper amplification than from the t-amps... and you will need to split the signal somewhere... You might benefit from a pre-amp before splitting but I really couldn't say if it is needed - I seriously doubt it though...

So my suggestion is, buy a roll of duct tape, two or three t-amps and give it a go...

 

[cam]

Ok, computer hardware is a go, and slackware is running nicely on the box. Now in the 2 days I have left before christmas, I plan on getting a good jump on ripping my families CD collection while also searching for an amp solution.

Does anybody believe there's any reason not to buy two of these T-Amps and run them from a splitter from the line out on the audigy? I'm not looking for revolutionary sound quality, just something on par with or better than the lame ghetto blaster we had in there before.

Thanks in advance for any input, and thank you to those who have already enriched me with their advice.
Cam

 

[Panther37]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cam I am going to convert a no-longer used Dell PC my family has (450 MHz Pentium 1 - YES!

I know I'm being anal but there was never a 450MHz Pentium 1. The original pentiums went up to 200MHz. I suspect you have a Pentium 2. Slap some ram in there and you could be running Windows 2000 Pro, I had it up on a P1 133. If you're gonna ad a hard drive bigger than 32Gb, you are going to have to get a PCI Controler for your HDs. The P2 Intel BX chipsets would only recognize 32Gb HDs and under. I'm shure you can find a cheap ata100/133 card off ebay for under $30.

 

[JeffL]

If you need a cheap amp, the Sonic Impact Tripath amp is great. 15 watts @ ~30$.

I would stick with 2 channel, NOT 5.1, 4.0, whatever...and use multiple amps for each room's speakers.

 

[geardoc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cam ..snip I'll use this opportunity to upgrade myself to a chaintech )..snip

How's the Linux support for the Chaintech?

 

[450]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Panther37 I know I'm being anal but there was never a 450MHz Pentium 1. The original pentiums went up to 200MHz. I suspect you have a Pentium 2. Slap some ram in there and you could be running Windows 2000 Pro, I had it up on a P1 133. If you're gonna ad a hard drive bigger than 32Gb, you are going to have to get a PCI Controler for your HDs. The P2 Intel BX chipsets would only recognize 32Gb HDs and under. I'm shure you can find a cheap ata100/133 card off ebay for under $30.

P1 went up to 300mhz. The desktop versions stopped at 233, but mobile stopped at 300. Pentium 2 233, 266, 300, 333. Second wave, 350, 366, 400, 450. Pentium 3 300mhz exists too.

Windows 2000 Pro runs great on my Pentium 200 w/96mb RAM.

 

[Panther37]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450 P1 went up to 300mhz. The desktop versions stopped at 233, but mobile stopped at 300. Pentium 2 233, 266, 300, 333. Second wave, 350, 366, 400, 450. Pentium 3 300mhz exists too. Windows 2000 Pro runs great on my Pentium 200 w/96mb RAM.

Yeah I remembered about the 233 desktop after I posted. I though that p3 started @ 450. I thought the p2 went all the way to 450 or 500. It all old technology anyway so it's not a big deal.

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

You can disregard this is you wish, but the whole point of this site is to convince people to spend more of their money. So that is what I am going to do.

Quote:

ok - I am a post whore.

LOL, the truth!!!!

-Ed