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New speaker-project for a retro PC: Extremely generic-looking retro-style 2.1 speaker setup

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First post, by khyypio

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A video link:
https://youtu.be/3Ct-6nDCjBk

Hello fellow geeks!

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My retro PC with dual sound cards lacked proper speaker setup, so I decided to find some old computer speakers to repurpose. My only criteria for the speakers was that they look as generic 90s computer speakers as possible, and soon I came across the perfect pair:

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The procedure was pretty much the same as in my previous speaker projects: remove the internals from the enclosures, stiffen, dampen and paint, and put better full-range drivers inside.

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Of course, the enclosure also needed a subwoofer, so I built the enclosure myself, which looks like it could be from the same product family as the main speakers.

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Full-range drivers: Visaton FR 8 JS
Subwoofer: Visaton W 130 S
Amplifier: Dayton Audio DTA-2.1BT2

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In the next post some project pictures for those who are interested 😀

Reply 1 of 6, by khyypio

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Reply 2 of 6, by NeoG_

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I remember watching your first project months ago, I didn't know you posted here. Absolutely love the new attempt, I bet it sounds significantly better with the dedicated subwoofer. I also didn't realise you had done a pair 4 years ago so went back to watch that one too.

It would have been unbelievably cool if you kept the speaker shells original and used a multi-conductor cable to extend the controls on the front of the speaker back to the amplifier!

Also I noticed in the youtube comments that you said that S/PDIF is not possible with your Glyde system, I guess you chose to route the SB Live through the Orpheus because normally the SB Live is silent in DOS. It is possible to enable the SB Live DSP/mixer in pure DOS using EK1M allowing you to chain the Orpheus through the SB Live and then output S/PDIF. But I guess it doesn't matter since the amplifier is only analog and bluetooth.

My go to audio track in NFS4 would have been Naked and Ashamed 😀

98/DOS Rig: BabyAT AladdinV, K6-2+/550, V3 2000, 128MB PC100, 20GB HDD, 128GB SD2IDE, SB Live!, SB16-SCSI, PicoGUS, WP32 McCake, iNFRA CD, ZIP100
XP Rig: Lian Li PC-10 ATX, Gigabyte X38-DQ6, Core2Duo E6850, ATi HD5870, 2GB DDR2, 2TB HDD, X-Fi XtremeGamer

Reply 3 of 6, by Joseph_Joestar

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khyypio wrote on 2026-02-09, 10:30:

My retro PC with dual sound cards lacked proper speaker setup, so I decided to find some old computer speakers to repurpose.

The end product looks phenomenal. Nice work!

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Core 2 Duo E8600 / Foxconn P35AX-S / X800 / Audigy2 ZS
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 980Ti / X-Fi Titanium

Reply 4 of 6, by badmojo

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If this forum had a like button I would have smashed it 👍 That sub matches so well!

Life? Don't talk to me about life.

Reply 5 of 6, by khyypio

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NeoG_ wrote on 2026-02-09, 12:18:
I remember watching your first project months ago, I didn't know you posted here. Absolutely love the new attempt, I bet it soun […]
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I remember watching your first project months ago, I didn't know you posted here. Absolutely love the new attempt, I bet it sounds significantly better with the dedicated subwoofer. I also didn't realise you had done a pair 4 years ago so went back to watch that one too.

It would have been unbelievably cool if you kept the speaker shells original and used a multi-conductor cable to extend the controls on the front of the speaker back to the amplifier!

Also I noticed in the youtube comments that you said that S/PDIF is not possible with your Glyde system, I guess you chose to route the SB Live through the Orpheus because normally the SB Live is silent in DOS. It is possible to enable the SB Live DSP/mixer in pure DOS using EK1M allowing you to chain the Orpheus through the SB Live and then output S/PDIF. But I guess it doesn't matter since the amplifier is only analog and bluetooth.

My go to audio track in NFS4 would have been Naked and Ashamed 😀

Thanks! Yeah, it´s a pretty cool concept to route the original dials to those of the amplifier but in practice it would´ve been just a mess, even succesfully modified I´d just have unnecessary bundle of cable hovering on my desk and I´m not having that 😁 "Naked and Ashamed" would´ve been a much beefier track to demo but I just started randomly recording those games and selected the footage I had on hand. The menu music would´ve been the best choice but visually it was just boring.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2026-02-09, 13:12:
khyypio wrote on 2026-02-09, 10:30:

My retro PC with dual sound cards lacked proper speaker setup, so I decided to find some old computer speakers to repurpose.

The end product looks phenomenal. Nice work!

badmojo wrote on 2026-02-10, 05:07:

If this forum had a like button I would have smashed it 👍 That sub matches so well!

Thanks guys! 😁

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