Speaker wire speakers

[The Pezman]

I read Andy's recent post for the DIY musician, and when he got to the part about speaker monitors I was reminded of an old question I've had:

Is it possible and/or worth it to interface speakers which use speaker wires to your soundcard? In my dream setup I'd get a superawesome 7.1 setup, but when speakers get that serious they don't plug into an eighth inch jack on your soundcard. This may seem kind of noobish because I haven't worked with higher end soundcards before, but I'm sure it's an issue I'll confront sooner or later.

[Yoozer]

If you want to use 7.1 get a soundcard with 8 outputs and see if this can be run in 7.1 mode (requires 7 speakers and a sub, naturally, not necessarily 1 amplifier to handle it all).

While making surround is really cool, my proposal to InGen about adding 6 ears to our heads and 1 big one on our backs hasn't gone through yet.

[The Pezman]

Errmmm...

But can you interface speaker wire to it? You know... address the question I asked.

[Fray]

No you cannot. Audio interface outputs are line level -- they're not powerful enough to drive speakers. PC speakers and active monitors have their own builtin amplifiers, which is why they can accept a line level input. Speakers that take speaker wire only are passive, meaning you'll need a separate amplifier. The upshot to this is that you can get higher quality amplifiers and speakers when you buy them separately (and oh but will you pay).

I'm guessing you're going to use this setup for listening, not for mixing? Just asking, because super awesome home audio speakers are not at all good for mixing -- they color the sound intentionally for the best listening experience. Studio monitors are deliberately flat and try to reveal problems in the mix. Point being, if you're doing music production, even mediocre monitors are going to be better than a $10,000 home theater system.

As for what kind of amp to get, I have no idea. That kind of stuff is way out of my price range