Continue to Site

Welcome to our site!

Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

  • Welcome to our site! Electro Tech is an online community (with over 170,000 members) who enjoy talking about and building electronic circuits, projects and gadgets. To participate you need to register. Registration is free. Click here to register now.

Connect 1 set of speakers to 2 computers?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I've got a couple of computers sitting side by side on the floor next to my desk. I have them connected to a single monitor, keyboard and mouse with a powered KVM switch.

So I've got two sets of powered computer speakers cluttering up my desk with their wires and power supplies. I'd like to get rid of one of the speaker sets, but I'm disabled by severe chronic muscle and joint pain, so it would be difficult for me to get down on my hands and knees on the floor behind the computer cases and swap the speaker mini-plug from one computer to the other.

A Google search turned up a speaker switch for $31.75 (including shipping) that would allow me to share a single set of speakers between two computers.

SPEAKER SWITCH - Share 2 Computers with One Speaker Set

I'm a disabled senior trying to scrape by each month on a small Social Security disability pension, and all of my electronics and computer equipment consists of hand-me-downs from generous friends, neighbors and even strangers I've met online. So, even though $31.75 doesn't sound like much to most folks, for me it represents bit of a bite out of my monthly budget.

Some fellows at another web site called MyCE (My Consumer Electronics) have suggested I just use a simple "Y" connector between the computers and a single speaker set. I'm worried that doing that might allow voltage from one sound card to leak back into the other sound card and damage it.

I know next to nothing about electronics so I'm wondering if this is a valid concern.

Will in Seattle
a.k.a. "Clueless"
 
Yeah i was thinking about the damage thing too...but then again...Y-connectors also work just fine converting stereo to mono for TVs.
 
If you want to play it safe, put a series 1k resistor in each leg. Will knock down the audio level by about 6 db.
 
Maybe a simple DPDT switch from Radio Shack allowing the input to one set of speakers to come from system A or system B.

Ron
 
Last edited:
DPDT toggle switch, or the summing resistors. DO NOT just parallel (bridge) the LINEOUT from the two computers.
 
Buy an inexpensive audio/video switch such as this. Just ignore the video inputs.
 
Buy an inexpensive audio/video switch such as this. Just ignore the video inputs.

The plugs on the speakers and jacks on the computers are 1/8" stereo (Tip, Ring, Sleeve).
 
You have my sympathies. Arthritis is starting to make my floor crawling days a thing of the past.
I checked a couple of stores on line. The results were not promising.
Radio Shack's cheapest audio-video switch box was $17. Still bites some.
Walmart's least expensive was close to $35. I did find they had KVM boxes (starting at sub-$40) that had audio switching built in. Here is the results page:
Search results for audio switch - Walmart
Check your KVM unit and see if it has audio.

If you are handy with blades and soldering guns, consider getting a Y-cable and putting non-polarized electrolytic capacitors in the left-right legs of one side, to block DC flowing between PC sound cards. It's been a while, but IIRC you can make non-polarized caps by soldering two electrolytics together end to end, positive to positive. As for cap size: Umm, one to ten microFarads? 10 Volts or higher? Audioguru would probably know best.
Take care.
kenjj
 
The plugs on the speakers and jacks on the computers are 1/8" stereo (Tip, Ring, Sleeve).
Good point, I forgot about that. You'd have to buy adapters which would be kind of kludgey.
 
You could give the below circuit a try. A few bucks of parts from Radio Shack some of which you may have laying around. The speakers should have a 1/8" audio (stereo) cable to plug into the Speakers Out. You would also need a pair of 1/8" male to male stereo patch cords. That or hack in half a single patch cord and solder directly to the switch. Shove the mess in a cheap Radio Shack box and that should be that.

Not recommended for the discerning audiophile. :)

Ron
 

Attachments

  • Speaker Switch.gif
    Speaker Switch.gif
    10.7 KB · Views: 697
Thanks, guys, for all those suggestions!

I'm afraid I'm not too handy with a soldering gun and due to a circulation disorder I have difficulty sitting up for very long so my days of hobby projects are behind me.

I had an idea last night that should do the trick. Definitely low tech: I shopped around on the web for a couple of cheap six foot headphone extension cords. I plan to plug an extension cord into each of the two sound cards and put the female ends of the cords up on on my desk, and tie them to the speaker mini-plug with a twist tie. Then when I need to switch computers, I can just pull the speaker plug from one female connector and plug it into the other. Voila! Instant switching with no cross computer voltage feedback.

Not the most elegant solution, but the total investment will be under five bucks (and justone trip to the floor on my hands and knees to plug the little suckers in the first time).

I think I'll head down to the dollar store right now to see if they have any of those cords in stock today.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest threads

New Articles From Microcontroller Tips

Back
Top