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MSI 7411 Motherboard Sneak Peek (share your thoughts!) - Page 103

post #3061 of 3488
11/10/09 at 2:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cb31 View Post

OK, I'm probably going to regret this but I'm going to buy a diva board as it is the only thing available in its class but I have a couple of questions first.

I fancy an Athlon X2 250 cpu, dual core 3.0GHz 65W TDP, which I presume is fine for Windows 7 MC with a couple of tuners and 1 xbox360 extender. It will also run a samba share so other computers can store data on its internal drives.

Do the latest boards come with a bios that will boot with that cpu? I don't want to buy another cpu just to upgrade the bios and I don't know anyone who has an amd cpu. I will be buying the board from www.ebuyer.com in the UK as I cannot find anywhere else that sells it.

Is DDR3 memory ok with this combination? It seems the same price as DDR2 so seems sensible to get 4GB of 1366 RAM. Thanks

I hope you won't regret it but from my personal experience you will. Still I have no idea how many people are using this board for more than a year without any glitch or defect. I guess that the ones who have these problems all comment in this forum. Typical about these remarks is that most of them say 'this is my 3rd or 4rd board..'.

Anyway, I just received my 3rd replacement and it didn't work. :-( I have to say that when I opened the box my first impression was that they have send me a used (and possibly) defect board. Stuff was missing and packages where open.

Your choice of processor can work with this motherboard as of BIOS 1.34.

http://www.msi.com/index.php?func=pr...=&prod_no=1654

Before you install you have to check what bios version is installed which you can find on the BIOS chip on the motherboard. There is a chip which says KMSx.xx (x.xx = 1.10/1.20/1.34). Some say that their processor didn't work so they had to buy or borrow and old processor just for upgrading the BIOS. You can find more information on this subject on the (unofficial) MSI forum. (http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=124174.0)

DDR3 memory is not supported. Only DDR2.

Be smart, don't buy ;-)
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post #3062 of 3488
11/10/09 at 9:16am
A board I purchased almost a year ago in November with the 1.10 BIOS was able to boot with an Athlon II X2 240 and the BIOS flashed successfully with this CPU. However, the board I purchased this past September would not POST consistently with that CPU or even a Phenom X3 8450. I have been out of the country so as soon as I can this board will be RMA'd.
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post #3063 of 3488
11/10/09 at 4:04pm
What speaker gauge fits in the terminal block for the 7411?
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post #3064 of 3488
11/10/09 at 4:05pm
Hello, been reading this forum for months in order to build a great HTPC and I feel that I have succeeded. However now that I own a 5.1 speaker system, the Sony Bravia HT-IS100 micro sytem, I cannot get the sound to adequate volumes. I have read pg 25 here, with Java Jack's setup guide, with all of the speakers plugged into the 5.1 amp card (which is connected to the psu), I turned off full-range, enabled bass enhancement, but I cannot get the sound to sound the way it does when it is powered through the powered and amplified subwoofer. That Sony sytem is rated for 450 watts max, and so shouldnt sound drastically different.

If anyone who has set up their system with the 5.1 amplifier card, could please please explain how they set it up I would GREATLY appreciate it.

Also, I spoke to MSI tech support about this and they basically said to try re-installing the driver they provide for the chipset. I also learned that it is not possible to have 5.1 sound from the HDMI output, they said it was only promised to do 2.0....if anyone has set up 5.1 thorugh HDMI or can confirm 2.0 only please explain.

OS: win 7 pro 64-bit
MB: is an older version, it has the yellow sub-out and smaller NB heatsink.

PS- thanks ahead of time, I know I'm asking alot but I've given up googling this problem into oblivion and know of no where better to ask.
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post #3065 of 3488
11/10/09 at 8:50pm
Those speakers should not be connected to the 5.1 amp card. They are only rated for 50W each (35W for Canadian/Argentinian models). They are designed to be connected to the sub/amp/receiver than comes with the package. Also, those speakers are rated for 800-20Khz. That's 800, not 80 so you are missing a wide range of frequencies. Also, they are 10 Ohm speakers. They only way you will get them to sound the way they do with Sony sub, is to use them with the Sony sub.

HDMI: The HDMI output is only capable of 2 channel PCM. It can however bitstream DTS and Dolby Digital (not DTS-HD or TrueHD). For 5.1/7.1 PCM, you need at least a 4xxx series video card.
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post #3066 of 3488
11/10/09 at 8:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by stgdz View Post

What speaker gauge fits in the terminal block for the 7411?

I know for sure 16 does. I'm pretty sure 14 does, I can't remember. I don't have any 14 ga to test at the moment.
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post #3067 of 3488
11/11/09 at 12:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by dadudster View Post

Naw, you did a pretty good job summing it up. The problem, I think, is mostly legal. The RIAA and MPAA don't want you to be able to decode DD/DTS (or better) signals from an input stream on a computer because then it would allow you to make PERFECT digital copies of their media without having to "break the law" (by bypassing their encryption).

Although there is always the issue of lag with software decoding, computers these days could probably still software decode fast enough for the sound to sync basically correctly (although a slight lag will inevitably still exist). If you look at my "Inconvenient Truth" thread on this forum related to that problem, you will see that Media Player Classic is actually able to recode a 2 channel PCM stream into 5 channels without a noticable delay in the sound. Decoding an AC3 stream is really no more time/processor intensive then recoding a 2 channel PCM stream, so it is feasible that a software decoder (like ffdshow) could handle it in "real enough" time.

However, the bigger issue here has to do with DirectShow messaging flags that are set by the audio chipset specifying the input signal type. In the case of the Realtek chipset, while it can recognize the type of signal being input via SPDIF, the chip has been designed to "block" that signal from being accessible by software decoders by setting the DirectShow messaging flag to indicate that the signal is just a 2 channel PCM steam (instead of an AC3 stream wrapped in a 2 channel PCM stream). As a result, for most of these sound cards, the only option you are given is to simply pass-through the AC3 signals to the SPDIF-Out. The signal is still technically accessible to your computer (as demonstrated by the popping noises that come out of your speaker if you try to have ffdshow decode the signal in graphedit), but since software decoders use the DirectShow messaging flag in order to determine HOW to decode the signal, the result is that software like ffdshow ends up decoding the signal incorrectly because it thinks it is a standard 2 channel PCM stream instead of AC3.

If you were to design your own software solution that just ASSUMED the SPDIF-In signal was AC3, then you might be able to get something to work. However, then you would have the problem that ALL signals sent to the SPDIF-In would HAVE to be AC3 (and more specifically, would HAVE to be either DD or DTS, but not both).

Again, the technology is already there to do everything we want, but this is mostly a legal issue. My guess is that the music and movie industries are using the DMCA (POS law, btw) to threaten the hardware manufacturers and none of the hardware manufacturers want to risk being sued.



Now, IF you manage to find a hardware component that will support AC3 pass-through (even if only to a software decoder) then you will have accomplished what many of us have been unable to accomplish, and I will say "kudos to you." It has been claimed that these hardware components will allow for software decoding, but I have not been able to confirm this myself:

- Sabrent USB-SND8 8-Channel 3D USB 2.0 External 7.1 Surround Sound Box with Digital Output ($25) I am planning on testing this one out myself and will get back to you if it is successful.

- ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Deluxe 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Audio/Video Enhancement Combo Card ($239!!!!) I don't have the money to afford one of these (although it does look REALLY cool).

One last thing to note, the D2Audio chip on the Media Live Diva does not have any DD/DTS decoding capabilities. While, from what I have been able to gather from JavaJack, the D2Audio chip has a lot of really cool functionality and capabilities, it seems like it is currently being underutilized by the Media Live Diva. It seems that the Media Live Diva relies mostly on the Realtek chipset for the majority of the handling of sound. The D2Audio chip is really only used to drive the 5.1 amp card (or 7.1 analogue pass-through card), and even then, the D2Audio chip isn't doing ANY additional signal decoding. It is basically just taking the "analogue" signal sent from the computer, applying some "filters" (via equalization, renormalization, etc.), and then passing that signal to the speakers.


this made a lot of sense. thanks!
I went ahead and did some more research =) and found surround decoders selling in ebay for $128. I think they can do the job (in a way). I was thinking,you can just use 3.5mm-to-RCA cables to route the analog output of the device to diva board right?

the only drawback is it will damage you 128$.

what you guys think?
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post #3068 of 3488
11/11/09 at 12:14am
here's the ebay item# 260399061246
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post #3069 of 3488
11/11/09 at 5:38am
I think I read somewhere else in this thread about some pops and crackles from their board when playing blu-ray titles.

I recently put together my WIN7 (32 bit) machine using the 7.1 preamp board and have loved it so far.

I've installed all updated ATI and REALTEK drivers but playing my first blu-ray disk (Transformers 2), I get all these very distracting pops and crackles when playing this disk.

I am playing blu-rays through PowerDVD 9. BTW, I get nothing when trying to play through TMT3 (no sound, video).

Everything else I throw at this board sounds fine - music, dvds, rips, recorded tv, etc.

So, I throw Die Hard - Live Free or Die Hard blu-ray in and it plays fine. No Pops or crackles.

Is this a decoding issue? Any help would be appreciated. Not sure what else to do at this point.
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post #3070 of 3488
11/11/09 at 6:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cb31 View Post

OK, I'm probably going to regret this but I'm going to buy a diva board as it is the only thing available in its class but I have a couple of questions first.

I fancy an Athlon X2 250 cpu, dual core 3.0GHz 65W TDP, which I presume is fine for Windows 7 MC with a couple of tuners and 1 xbox360 extender. It will also run a samba share so other computers can store data on its internal drives.

Do the latest boards come with a bios that will boot with that cpu? I don't want to buy another cpu just to upgrade the bios and I don't know anyone who has an amd cpu. I will be buying the board from www.ebuyer.com in the UK as I cannot find anywhere else that sells it.

Is DDR3 memory ok with this combination? It seems the same price as DDR2 so seems sensible to get 4GB of 1366 RAM. Thanks

I bought my board from ebuyer about a year ago. I upgraded the CPU to a Phenom II 705e shortly after the BIOS was released to support it. The board broke in the same way that others describe on this thread, after 4 months of careful use. Found fans spinning, blank screen, does not post.

Ebuyer's return system is great and they even pay for pick-up of the board. The warranty is 1 year from receiving the board, or replacement board! This may become a very good selling point for you in the future! The replacement new board,from their own stock of course, was only a couple of numbers along in terms of it's serial number, so was clearly the same stock they had at release in the UK. This board would not POST with the 705e and the 1.20 BIOS that they ship with. I bought another cheap CPU to upgrade the BIOS and carried on. This board has been running fine for 3 months.

Do I think it will break within a year? Probably and hopefully. Do I think it will break before I would naturally upgrade it. Definitely. My worst fear is that when it fails, ebuyer don't have any left in stock and I have to go through MSI's RMA system which from all accounts is bad. I believe ebuyer/their suppliers bought a few of these boards when they were released and that stock is just slowly going down, along with their price. So please only buy one!
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post #3071 of 3488
11/11/09 at 8:30am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vladd View Post

Those speakers should not be connected to the 5.1 amp card. They are only rated for 50W each (35W for Canadian/Argentinian models). They are designed to be connected to the sub/amp/receiver than comes with the package. Also, those speakers are rated for 800-20Khz. That's 800, not 80 so you are missing a wide range of frequencies. Also, they are 10 Ohm speakers. They only way you will get them to sound the way they do with Sony sub, is to use them with the Sony sub.

HDMI: The HDMI output is only capable of 2 channel PCM. It can however bitstream DTS and Dolby Digital (not DTS-HD or TrueHD). For 5.1/7.1 PCM, you need at least a 4xxx series video card.

wow, awesome reply! Thanks alot Vladd. So I guess I will have to use the Realtek outputs, like s/pdif to get 5.1 out to the sub system if I dont get a dedicated video card. Thanks again.

EDIT: where did you get the frequency range numbers, I can't find them at sony's site, or about 5 other sites that list tech specs for this system. Also, isnt the bass crossover supposed to take care of the sub-800hz range if it is connected via the sub-out on the board?
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post #3072 of 3488
11/11/09 at 3:27pm
I have an ATI software question. I just did a fresh install of Win7 64 bit and installed the latest version of the ATI Cat software intended for this OS (v9.10). Cat detected the name, resolution, and refresh rate of my monitor properly (Acer 213h), but it is displaying the Windows desktop with a 1" gap on all sides between it and the monitor's bezel (like letterboxing but on all four sides).

I've used Win7 RC and Vista with the same PC and monitor previously combined with several Cat versions, and each time the these borders appeared. However, each prior Cat version also provided manual controls to expand the desktop to fill the screen. With this version, I don't see this controls. Do they exist for this Cat version (v9.10) and if yes, where?

I can accomplish the same thing via the monitor's controls if necessary, but I haven't had to do so to this point and would prefer to expand the desktop's edges via software if possible.

Thanks in advance!

Eric
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post #3073 of 3488
11/11/09 at 3:50pm
Belay my previous question. I just stumbled on the solution by using the "Force TV Detection" option within the Cat software. I say stumbled because forcing detection created another generic TV object within Cat. When I selected it by accident I lost the image completely for several seconds but it did return to my original monitor object. At this time the second TV object disappeared and the screen now extended to the monitor's bezel as originally desired. Further, white text on the screen now looks better. White text had a "rainbow effect" with a multi-colored tinge prior to the desktop edges expanding to fill the screen-go figure...

I suspect that the Cat's original auto configuration for my monitor was inaccurate dispite displaying the proper parameters for my monitor.

I'm posting this in case someone else encounters the same problem.

Eric
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post #3074 of 3488
11/11/09 at 4:52pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zmau0 View Post

wow, awesome reply! Thanks alot Vladd. So I guess I will have to use the Realtek outputs, like s/pdif to get 5.1 out to the sub system if I dont get a dedicated video card. Thanks again.

No problem. Sorry I couldn't give you better news but at least you know why it's doing what it's doing.

Quote:
Originally Posted by zmau0 View Post

EDIT: where did you get the frequency range numbers, I can't find them at sony's site, or about 5 other sites that list tech specs for this system.

I can't remember exactly how I found this document but: http://www.docs.sony.com/release/HTIS100_EN_ES.pdf (Specs near the end)

The sub plays the <800hz range which fills in the frequencies that the satellites don't play.

Quote:
Originally Posted by zmau0 View Post

Also, isnt the bass crossover supposed to take care of the sub-800hz range if it is connected via the sub-out on the board?

If the speaker response curve doesn't include sub-800hz frequencies, they simply won't produce any sound (or very low sound) at those frequencies. It doesn't matter what you set on the crossover. Imagine shining a flashlight through a blue filter. Even though you are sending the full color spectrum, you only see the blue on the other side of the filter (the speaker would be the filter). It's an oversimplified explanation but you get the point.

Example: In the following frequency response graph (we'll use the pink solid line for this example), the speaker would sound the same level from about 50hz and up. From 50hz downward, the resonse curve drops so 40hz would play at a lower level, 30hz even lower and 10hz would be imperceptible.



Edit:

If you set the Bass Management in Windows to 120hz, then it will send all <120hz frequencies through the sub-out. the problem is that you are then missing the 120-800hz frequencies. Even though the sub will play them, Windows is not sending them. Even though Windows is sending them to the satellites, the satellites can't play them (and it could blow them). I'm guessing on the 120hz but 80-120 or 125 is typical for the sub crossover point, I'm not sure what the Windows default is.
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post #3075 of 3488
11/12/09 at 12:40pm
I'm done with the experiment. Sound card died completely and had only HDMI sound via TV speakers. I got an open box deal on newegg, so I couldn't RMA.

I now have a Gigabyte MB w/optical out to my good ol' Yamaha amp and, my goodness - I"m glad to be out. Some advantages ....

1 - Sounds better and it's louder

2 - Effects / stereo / theater / concert hall, etc. are one click of the remote away

3 - less heat in the box

4 - I can listen to the radio whilst changing MB's / installing Win 7

5 - Radeon HD 4200 w/ 128 MB sideport memory

6 - half the cost of this MB

It was a novelty, perhaps down the road when more folks are in this game I'll give it another go.

Keep RMA'ing those boards everyone.
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post #3076 of 3488
11/12/09 at 1:37pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by demian42 View Post

I'm done with the experiment. Sound card died completely and had only HDMI sound via TV speakers. I got an open box deal on newegg, so I couldn't RMA.

I now have a Gigabyte MB w/optical out to my good ol' Yamaha amp and, my goodness - I"m glad to be out. Some advantages ....

1 - Sounds better and it's louder

2 - Effects / stereo / theater / concert hall, etc. are one click of the remote away

3 - less heat in the box

4 - I can listen to the radio whilst changing MB's / installing Win 7

5 - Radeon HD 4200 w/ 128 MB sideport memory

6 - half the cost of this MB

It was a novelty, perhaps down the road when more folks are in this game I'll give it another go.

Keep RMA'ing those boards everyone.


I am disappointed that so many people are having issues with their boards. I don't know if they changed components from when I got my boards or not. Mine have been solid since Oct. 08 on one and Jan. 09 on the other.

I can only speculate as to why others have had issues. Needless to say I am sorry for the difficulties people have experienced this platform.

I will continue to try to bring more players to the table for a similar solution. I think it is a great concept and hope to see future success with more players.
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post #3077 of 3488
11/13/09 at 10:32am
Will the 5.1 amp Diva deliver audio with Win7 64x? I ask because I was looking for drivers for the D2Audio card and Realtek audio and found nothing for Win7. Drivers at MSI's website for both audio parts were for Vista only. As I'm using the 64 bit version of Win7, I installed the Vista 64 bit driver for the D2Audio device and it appears to have installed correctly. However, the Realtek driver crashed during installation. I did not see 32 or 64 bit options for the Realtek driver.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Eric
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post #3078 of 3488
11/13/09 at 11:12am
As you can read elsewhere in this thread, you only need to load the Realtek drivers if you wish to use the front panel headphone or microphone connectors from the motherboard or SPDIF. I have not used these drivers with my Win 7 installation, but I believe you can get the Win 7 drivers here or from here.
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post #3079 of 3488
11/13/09 at 1:45pm
I've only had a few issues with my Diva:

1) Athlon X2 5050e can't do reliable Bluray playback because the Hypertransport is too slow. Use only Phenoms for an HTPC.
2) Upgrading BIOS to support Phenom IIs kills your OS--you have to reinstall from scratch.

After doing #2 I replaced the 5050e with a Phenom II 905e (full speed Hypertransport) and it's been working fine, knock on wood, since July.

I'm pretty sure I have a first generation board (complete with wrong size audio bracket). Maybe those early boards used better components? I have mine in a standard micro ATX tower with real fans and good ventilation. The processor is 65W and the drives are WD greens. No discrete graphics card, so not much heat in there aside from the 5.1 amp card.

I wonder if people are cooking their boards in these special HTPC enclosures? Maybe they are using passive cooling? Or if they are stacking their HTPC with other heat producing audio equipment? Might be the correlation why some folks are having 3 or 4 boards dying--thermal failure.

Anyway, just trying to provide one success datapoint.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Java Jack View Post

I am disappointed that so many people are having issues with their boards. I don't know if they changed components from when I got my boards or not. Mine have been solid since Oct. 08 on one and Jan. 09 on the other.

I can only speculate as to why others have had issues. Needless to say I am sorry for the difficulties people have experienced this platform.

I will continue to try to bring more players to the table for a similar solution. I think it is a great concept and hope to see future success with more players.
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post #3080 of 3488
11/13/09 at 3:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by DonTHB View Post

As you can read elsewhere in this thread, you only need to load the Realtek drivers if you wish to use the front panel headphone or microphone connectors from the motherboard or SPDIF. I have not used these drivers with my Win 7 installation, but I believe you can get the Win 7 drivers here or from here.

Thanks for the feedback. I don't need any of the features you mentioned so I'll try it sans Realtek first.
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post #3081 of 3488
11/14/09 at 3:19am
well I ordered one from a local supplier..

couple of questions

will my philips HTS3100 speakers have a problem with the board?

details here http://www.p4c.philips.com/cgi-bin/d...&scy=dk&slg=en

from these CPU's which one is best?
http://www.scanmalta.com/eshop/components.html?cat=242

Dont really know because this is my first AMD experience.

Any suggestions on a good case to keep it cool? 10x
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post #3082 of 3488
11/14/09 at 7:55am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Salnitro View Post

will my philips HTS3100 speakers have a problem with the board?

If you ordered the amp card version, those speakers will not handle the power. That system is rated for 25 W/channel and the amp card produces 100 W/channel. You also need a powered sub and you can't connect the amp card to the amplifier unit.

If you ordered the 7.1 preamp model, your HTS3100 only has 2 channel inputs.
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post #3083 of 3488
11/14/09 at 9:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vladd View Post

If you ordered the amp card version, those speakers will not handle the power. That system is rated for 25 W/channel and the amp card produces 100 W/channel. You also need a powered sub and you can't connect the amp card to the amplifier unit.

If you ordered the 7.1 preamp model, your HTS3100 only has 2 channel inputs.

so what kind of speakers would I need? I thought the board could supply unpowered home theatre sets so I dont get the problem.
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post #3084 of 3488
11/14/09 at 10:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Salnitro View Post

so what kind of speakers would I need? I thought the board could supply unpowered home theatre sets so I dont get the problem.

It can supply unpowered speakers (except for the sub) but the speakers you have would not be able to handle the power if you turned up the volume. This amp card would blow your speakers. Your sub is a passive sub and is powered by the amplifier unit. You would need an active (self powered) sub or sub/amp combo.
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post #3085 of 3488
11/14/09 at 3:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by vladd View Post

It can supply unpowered speakers (except for the sub) but the speakers you have would not be able to handle the power if you turned up the volume. This amp card would blow your speakers. Your sub is a passive sub and is powered by the amplifier unit. You would need an active (self powered) sub or sub/amp combo.

ok so say I connect the speakers all I have to do is keep the sound 'low'? I thought the amp could power 100watts max and not blow my 24 watts speakers.

So Can I work with these speakers and replace the sub? If so any decent subs which wont break the bank?
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post #3086 of 3488
11/14/09 at 8:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Salnitro View Post

ok so say I connect the speakers all I have to do is keep the sound 'low'? I thought the amp could power 100watts max and not blow my 24 watts speakers.

So Can I work with these speakers and replace the sub? If so any decent subs which wont break the bank?

You can use the speakers with the amp card. I was just warning that turning it up can overpower the speakers and blow them. The amp will output 100W to any speaker but your speakers can only handle a quarter of that. If you keep the volume low, you should be fine but your speakers should typically be able to handle as much or more wattage that your amp produces.

Sorry, I don't have a good recommendation on a sub, I haven't bought or looked at them in a while. I would look for Open box or Black Friday specials though.
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post #3087 of 3488
11/15/09 at 3:15am
Thanks for the help vladd, any suggestions what CPU to buy from the link I posted?

EDIT, I guess I'll work with just these speakers for now and replace them when I can in summer, I hate being a student.
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post #3088 of 3488
11/16/09 at 10:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vladd View Post

You can use the speakers with the amp card. I was just warning that turning it up can overpower the speakers and blow them. The amp will output 100W to any speaker but your speakers can only handle a quarter of that. If you keep the volume low, you should be fine but your speakers should typically be able to handle as much or more wattage that your amp produces.

Sorry, I don't have a good recommendation on a sub, I haven't bought or looked at them in a while. I would look for Open box or Black Friday specials though.

Apart for bumping on the CPU help I'd like to ask another question.

Is it possible to bump the wattage of the speakers by adding resistances/circuits? I have some soldering experience and i'm supposed to become an electrical engineer in 2 years time.
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post #3089 of 3488
11/16/09 at 11:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Salnitro View Post

Apart for bumping on the CPU help I'd like to ask another question.

The best is the 95W X4 620. If you want to use less power, you can use the 65W x2 250.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Salnitro View Post

Is it possible to bump the wattage of the speakers by adding resistances/circuits? I have some soldering experience and i'm supposed to become an electrical engineer in 2 years time.

You can't bump the wattage of the speakers but by adding resistance circuits, you can lower the wattage that is sent to them. Your front/rear speakers are 4 ohm and your center is 8 ohm so the circuits would need to be a little different. But to be honest, by the time you built the circuit that you would need (high wattage resistors can be expensive), you could probably have bought a new set of speakers that can handle the amp wattage. Basically, if you can find 4 Ohm resistors rated for 25 watts, you would need 3 for each of your front/rear speakers (12 total) and wire them in parallel with your speaker.

See http://www.bcae1.com/spkrmlti.htm for an decent reference to the process. You can replace "speaker" with "resistor" for your needs.
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post #3090 of 3488
11/16/09 at 11:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Salnitro View Post

Apart for bumping on the CPU help I'd like to ask another question.

Is it possible to bump the wattage of the speakers by adding resistances/circuits? I have some soldering experience and i'm supposed to become an electrical engineer in 2 years time.

That really won't help the 'wattage of the speakers'. Where you issue is, is that the voice coil size of your speakers won't dissipate the heat that the higher power amp will supply. In general, voice coil size is a very real indicator of power handling - regardless of what a speaker is labeled as handling. If it says it can take 50-200 watts, but the voice coils are tiny - it's all marketing hype.

Adding resistors (ceramic would be required, to 'take' the heat) will soak up power - at the expense of sound output. Really, to take full advantage of what this system can do, you should replace the speakers (either build them, or buy them).

HTH,

-PGPfan
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AVS › AVS Forum › Video Components › Home Theater Computers › MSI 7411 Motherboard Sneak Peek (share your thoughts!)