Quick question for anyone familiar - are the speakers that used to come with HP's computers proprietary? Basically, I built a new computer from some surplus parts for my relatives, who had a clunky old HP. They got everything up and running ok, except for the speakers - which, apparently according to their descriptions, have a blue jack on the wire for audio - and no power cord.

So, based on my understanding, it seems like these speakers are possibly drawing power from the motherboard, and are thus proprietary? Has anyone else ever heard of or encountered this who can verify this for me?

Either way - looks like they're stuck getting new speakers. (Well, at least they got a free computer out of the deal...)

8/9/2008 9:36:40 PM

I've never seen proprietary speakers, but some incredibly cheap computer speakers are unamplified and work off the unamplified output from the audiojack. Even if they did end up working though, they're probably shitty enough that it's worth spending 20+ bucks on new ones.

8/9/2008 10:16:29 PM

Those colors on the back can differ from brand to brand and most likely the speakers they are using are 2 watt which don't draw much power at all.

Doesn't make sense that the speakers aren't working...are they sure they have the volume up on the operating system/proper drivers are installed and configured. This has happened to me before.

8/10/2008 1:35:54 AM

Try ahving them plug it in to the headphone jack.

8/10/2008 2:10:57 AM

^Right on. If they're unpowered speakers they need to go to the powered output and not the line output.

8/10/2008 12:44:28 PM

The speaker jack on soundcards doubles as a headphone jack. There are no real differences between a "headphone" jack or a "speaker" jack on most computers. You can confirm this by plugging your headphones into the "speaker" jack on the back of a computer. Be sure to start with the volume low since the highest system volume settings are probably going to be loud enough to deafen you. Both a "speaker" and "headphone" output port on a computer are considered to be "line level." A speaker level output is not going to be found on any but the strangest computers and would NEVER be a headphone port since that would be way too much power.

Unpowered speakers do not require a special type of extra amplified jack. Were the headphone jack on a laptop or pc amplified in any way greater than the speaker jack on the back of your system, then you would probably hear a lot about people going deaf from using them. Anyways, unpowered speakers are incredibly shitty almost without exception since they're basically crappy headphones that you can't wear. Just get some $20-$60 logitech speakers and you'll be much better off.

[Edited on August 10, 2008 at 6:54 PM. Reason : ]

8/10/2008 6:45:27 PM