Direct Sound from PC...What kind of speaker?

**Zebelkhan** · 02-02-2005, 05:16 PM

Hi all,

I did a search on this but nothing came up.

I have my carputer connected to the auxilury input of my HU. That is fine if I am listening to my music stored on the PC but if I want to listen to the radio I have to switch off of the auxiluary so the PC sound gets cut off. If I have GPS on, then I cannot hear it anymore. I am thinking to add a small speaker (without any amplification) to the PC line output and switch to it so I can hear the GPS sounds. Can anyone tell me if sound from the onboard EPIA-V motherboard is amplified enough to drive a speaker, and if so, what size (ohms?-watts) I need to have loud sound? Sound quality is not very important for this purpose.

Thanks.

**hondaguru** · 02-02-2005, 05:55 PM

you could buy a cheap speaker from walmart that isnt powered and if the sound was up enough on the pc you will be able to hear it fine. It'll work

**Confused** · 02-03-2005, 05:04 AM

Get a small set of cheap computer speakers, and put a switch on it. Ideally get some speakers that use a 5/12v power supply, and hook it up to the power supply of the carputer. Non-amplified speakers won't be too loud, especially over the noise of the radio and the road noise.

Garry

**Zebelkhan** · 02-08-2005, 01:24 PM

Originally Posted by Confused

Get a small set of cheap computer speakers, and put a switch on it. Ideally get some speakers that use a 5/12v power supply, and hook it up to the power supply of the carputer. Non-amplified speakers won't be too loud, especially over the noise of the radio and the road noise.

Garry

Thanks for the help. I used a handsfree cell phone speaker and its amplifier. Built a little distribution box with a relay for switching (capable of switching 4 connections at once). Ran RCA cables from carputer, the speaker, and the HU to the box. Everything is nicely tucked in behind the 7 inch lilliput. The system works great and switching is done automatically when I select the AUX mode on my HU. I can hear a lot of alternator noise from the hands free speaker but I think I can fix that by adding some ferrites or choke.

My bigger problem is that the picture on my lilliput screen is now all distorted! It is actually blurred out because there is a lot of ghosting. My guess is that it is getting a lot of interference from the relay box with unshielded connectors and all the RCA cables right behind it. But this is only a guess since I don't know anything about this stuff. I am just learning as I go.

How can I fix the problem? Moving them from behind the screen is not really an option. I have been told if I wrap the distribution box and back of the display in aluminum foil it will get rid of the interference. Is that true?

Thanks for your help.

**Zebelkhan** · 02-08-2005, 04:46 PM

I thought I could cure the alternator noise by a couple of ferrites but that did not work. So now I have both problems: Noisy speaker and ghosty screen!

Any help?

**stevieg** · 02-10-2005, 05:55 PM

Is the speaker near the screen. Are the wires running near each other? Power away from signal, VGA/audio away from each other. Try using a ground loop isolator on the audio if you're having problems. Aluminium foil doesn't usually help.

**Zebelkhan** · 02-10-2005, 06:28 PM

The screen got fixed by itself! I did not do a thing but it workd fine now. I have no idea but I am happy. The speaker noise however is not going away. The speaker is only a few inches away from the screen but I have no other place to put it. The wires to the speaker run alongside of the power lines from the carputer and then split off behind the screen. The split point is where I have the relay. The relay routes the PC sound to either the speaker or HU. Audio and power lines are separate from this point. Sound from the HU however is very clear. Sound from speaker is very noisy.

**stevieg** · 02-11-2005, 05:04 AM

Originally Posted by Zebelkhan

The screen got fixed by itself! I did not do a thing but it workd fine now. I have no idea but I am happy. The speaker noise however is not going away. The speaker is only a few inches away from the screen but I have no other place to put it. The wires to the speaker run alongside of the power lines from the carputer and then split off behind the screen. The split point is where I have the relay. The relay routes the PC sound to either the speaker or HU. Audio and power lines are separate from this point. Sound from the HU however is very clear. Sound from speaker is very noisy.

Where are you powering the speaker from?