Hi All, A long while back I had a 5.1 Cambridge Audio surround sound system (the DTT3500 Digital to be exact) which came with an amp which connected to the PC via either a dual front/back 3.5mm audio cable or optical din (?). Unfortunately the amp went pop (lost output to all the left hand speakers and the sub) so that got chucked; but I kept the speakers and sub (they all still worked) as I liked their size and sound production with the hope of one day replacing the "amp". So, finally getting round to replacing the "amp". Any suggestions? or would I just be better off replacing the whole lot? keeping in mind that I doubt I'll get the use the rear speakers so a 3.1 setup is probably my aim...? Hope my ramblings make sense! Cheers,
I'd personally replace the lot. The speakers are likely to be a fairly high impedance (~16 Ohms or more) which most amps won't like plus as far as I know, none will have a subwoofer amp built in either. I'd say an amp and a set of bookshelf speakers of another bit-techer's recommendation, if you have the space, would probably see you fit You wouldn't be losing much in the lack of a centre speaker IMHO either.
I swapped out a 5.1 Cambridge Audio / Onkyo combo for a 2.0 DAC + Amp with some weighty but ageing Tannoy speakers and tbh I think the latter was better. Azur 351A is a really nice piece of kit for the PC.
Chucked, chucked? Or still able to get it back chucked? A lot of amps have internal fuses as well as the main one at the plug and it could be as simple as replacing one or more fuses to fix it. I've got a NAD CD player sitting on my desk just now and it has four internal fuses. Even if it isn't a fuse but a more critical component such as a FET or OPAmp they're often fairly easily (post it to Margon if you're not confident) replaceable for peanuts. Equally yea, lots of cheep-ish low/mid/high quality HiFi gear on ebay of which generally the lowest quality are better than these designed for PC AIO packages. My preferred listening is through a pair of old (40 year-ish) Goodmans speakers and a modern NAD amp.
You can get a good Hi-Fi setup for not that much! Check your speakers for the impedance.. If they're 8 or 4 ohm, you're in luck! (You can get 4 ohm amps) Otherwise you'll have to get new speakers, too. But if you look about you can get a good set brand new for about £150 for both!
Unfortunately, chucked chucked; during our last move (3 years ago). Thanks for the input guys. Will check the impedance of the speakers when I get home tonight. Will probably end up buying a cheapo set of speakers to fill the gap while I save/lust for something better
