Connecting built in speakers to my Laptop

castaway

castaway

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Fairweather has 4 built in speakers; 2 in the wheelhouse and 2 in the saloon. Now that the laptop is being used for more functions on board I am going to transfer my CD collection to the hard drive and get rid of the rather unreliable car radio/CD player.

But how do I connect the usual car type twin cable to some suitable socket (s) ?

Also would the speakers put much of a load on the laptop's battery?

Thanks Nick
 
The laptop output is a headphone output and will not drive your speakers with any sense (you'll get a quiet sound out of them - but not enough to be usable).
What has recently become available is a Belkin FM transmitter with a 3.5mm jack - plug this into your laptop and it will transmit it on FM - you can then tune in your dodgy radio to the same station and listen to the music/noise ...
PSeePlanet are doing them for 27 quid - but the same can be bought from Amazion for less than 1/2 !!
Alternatively - if your Radio bit is still dodgy then a new CD/Radio with an aux input would be helpful - and save you having to break the (current) law with an FM transmitter.... /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Ah yes I was worried that might be the situ...I know what you are refering to with the FM Transmitter, my daughter has one for her iPod that she uses in her car.

One of the troubles with my car radio set up on the boat is that the radio reception is so feeble ( I understand I'm not the only person to find this on boat/car radio instalatons) I think maybe I'll pinch daughters iPod set up and try it out.

Thanks, Nick.
 
Make sure the FM antenna for the radio is in a suitable location with a good clean connection into the back of the unit. We use the halfords cheapy one in a tall locker just next to the unit ... works ok for us!
 
[ QUOTE ]

One of the troubles with my car radio set up on the boat is that the radio reception is so feeble ( I understand I'm not the only person to find this on boat/car radio instalatons)
Thanks, Nick.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can I suggest next time your mast is down, fit a Triax UFO TV aerial.... it also feeds an FM radio, and the signal is excellent.

Dogwatch will back me up.
 
Halfords have a cheapish Sony with aux input on the front panel at the moment, best to use that with a good quality connection, then you can rip the cds to mp3 or ogg and get a lot more on the hard drive.
 
Please remember that the devices that transmit an FM signal are illegal in the UK.

To get around this, you could use this:

http://www.motor-world.co.uk/kroozin/show_prod.php?prod_id=1979

or this:

http://www.motor-world.co.uk/kroozin/show_prod.php?prod_id=10512

They connect to your stereo by plugging straight into the socket for the aerial. You then tune your stereo into their frequency to pick up the sound. They give a good quality sound as you are not relying on your aerial to pick up a signal, and they are legal too. Not too expensive either!
 
Whilst it is legal to own such an FM transmitter, it is illegal to operate one. You could be prosecuted under the Wireless Telegraphy Act.

Ofcom are contemplating de-restricting such devices, but with an ERP 33dB down on the Belkin unit.

Far better to get an amp and do it properly than to relie on such a poorly designed device - the spurii and harmonics are nasty to see.
 
If you enjoy fine music, you may be disappointed with the results of the FM transmitters. I have two different types and neither will give you anything like the clarity you would get from an FM radio station. Good idea to try out your daughter's ipod first.
 
I use an FM transmitter in the car, and intend to use it in the boat as well. Mine was £3 off ebay (just search for 'FM Transmitter'). The sound quality is as good as radio reception (not as good as CD though). I've linked mine to MP3 player and laptop in the past - works great!

I know they are 'technically' illegal to use - but when they are being sold on the high street in Dixons I don't really believe the police would enforce the law surrounding them (especially given the limited range - about 10 feet - so unless someone is very close they wouldn't be able to tell you were actually using it!)
 
We have bought a different device. As we live aboard Heerenleed we did not fancy filling a lot of space with CD's. So we found a device that plugs into the computer on one side, and on the other side it has a small electronic box with a cable that plugs into the car stereo antennae-socket. It needs a separate 12V supply. The aereal plugs into the electronic box as well. Then, you can choose between two frequencies one of which you preset on your car stereo. Was not very cheap, approx 75 euros, but works very well and gives good sound quality. There is an alternative for car stereos that have a cassette facility. It slides into the cassette player and has a wire that comes out and must be plugged into your computer. It's a lot cheaper but don't know how it works. We opted for not having loose wires criss crossing the charts table

cheers
 
How about this solution?

Connect the 4 pairs of speaker cables to a 4 way car amplifier. You will also need one of those cables that at one end has the plug that fits your laptop headphones output, and on the other end 2 cinch plugs - the red and white ones like those used in home stereo. This cable connects your laptop with the amplifier.

Put the amplifier on a switch so that it can be turned off.

There are also switches that exist that will allow you to direct your music to all four or just 2 speakers, so you can decide where to play your music.

I think this is the easiest solution and will also give you the best sound quality.

regards
James
 
Agree - Buying a car amp is the logical way to go if you want to get rid of the cassette/cd/radio head unit.

The laptop battery will not have any 'extra' load on it, but given that the life of a laptop battery is only a couple of hours, and they are fairly power hungry; you might as well get a new head unit that will accept mp3 cd's. Do away with the laptop...
 
What exactly is wrong with your head unit? The only thing you have mentioned is the FM reception, which is almost certainly an aerial issue and solveable?

If you were going to buy an amp, you might be better spending the money on a head unit which accepts a phono input, then you can plug it into your laptop, or an MP3 player, or whatever. If you wanted to spend the money, (£300+), you can get a JVC which plays DVDs aswell.

I've tried a couple of FM transmitters, and the quality is poor and irritating.

Cheers

Richard
 
It is several issues really. a) I never know where my CD s are ...in the car , home or on the boat. b) The head unit is a bit flaky and starts fast fwding the CD and then refuses to turn off and finally c) the FM reception is very poor despite having bought a fancy aerial from my local auto shop ..particularly on radio 4 which always seems to have a poor signal.

I thought that it would be a good idea to try to consolidate every thing into one unit.i

Regds Nick
 
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