Tucson Annie
New Member
Hi Guys,
As some of you know, I'm teaching myself about op amps and audio amplifiers and stuff....rather than just building others' circuits, I'm kinda starting from scratch to learn how they work...
So, I had this brilliant idea (just kidding) and thought I'd run it by the experts to see if I am on the right track....
I have a particular PC with an onboard sound card that I watch movies on sometimes. For some reason, when I watch old British mysteries (Lord Peter Wimsey or old Agatha Christie) the volume is so low that even with my powered speakers cranked up I have problems hearing....
So, my idea is to use an op amp chip to make a little amplifier to go between the sound card and the input to the powered speakers, a preamp if you will...
Things I will need to figure out are the output impedance from the sound card, the input impedance to my little powered speakers (they are 10 dollar cheapos) and I'm sure a bunch of other things.....
Let me say that I am NOT an audiophile.....I don't care how 'perfect' it sounds...and it doesn't have to be stereo....I'm talking about old made-for-tv mysteries from the 70s so the sound quality sucks anyway...I just want to be able to crank up the volume....
I know I need to be careful so I don't blow up my PC's sound card.....but other than that, am I missing something that would make this project a bad idea?
Thanks in advance!
Annie
As some of you know, I'm teaching myself about op amps and audio amplifiers and stuff....rather than just building others' circuits, I'm kinda starting from scratch to learn how they work...
So, I had this brilliant idea (just kidding) and thought I'd run it by the experts to see if I am on the right track....
I have a particular PC with an onboard sound card that I watch movies on sometimes. For some reason, when I watch old British mysteries (Lord Peter Wimsey or old Agatha Christie) the volume is so low that even with my powered speakers cranked up I have problems hearing....
So, my idea is to use an op amp chip to make a little amplifier to go between the sound card and the input to the powered speakers, a preamp if you will...
Things I will need to figure out are the output impedance from the sound card, the input impedance to my little powered speakers (they are 10 dollar cheapos) and I'm sure a bunch of other things.....
Let me say that I am NOT an audiophile.....I don't care how 'perfect' it sounds...and it doesn't have to be stereo....I'm talking about old made-for-tv mysteries from the 70s so the sound quality sucks anyway...I just want to be able to crank up the volume....
I know I need to be careful so I don't blow up my PC's sound card.....but other than that, am I missing something that would make this project a bad idea?
Thanks in advance!
Annie