Converting USB speakers to Analogue

[tuftywhite]

I would be grateful if anybody has any ideas about how I go about converting USB Soundsticks to 3.5mm analogue so they can be used with AirPort Express?

 

[aussie_geek]

I would be grateful if anybody has any ideas about how I go about converting USB Soundsticks to 3.5mm analogue so they can be used with AirPort Express?

I doubt that you can do that mate. The sound sticks are powered speakers (ie they draw both the Power and sound signals from the usb port).

Airport express just spits out sound signals - just like the kind that comes out of an iPod / cd walkman etc. The sound is then amplified by the stereo system that you are plugging it into.


aussie_geek

 

[Poeben]

I doubt that you can do that mate. The sound sticks are powered speakers (ie they draw both the Power and sound signals from the usb port).

Airport express just spits out sound signals - just like the kind that comes out of an iPod / cd walkman etc. The sound is then amplified by the stereo system that you are plugging it into.

Sounds like it would be possible but not something the average user would care to or know how to attempt. The biggest problem I think would be bypassing the DAC and feeding analog audio to the built in amplifiers. Then, as aussie mentioned, you would still need to power the speakers--conveniently available via a USB port

 

[Mertzen]

I doubt that you can do that mate. The sound sticks are powered speakers (ie they draw both the Power and sound signals from the usb port).

Nope .. they come with a power brick ..

 

[tuftywhite]

Speaker conversion

Thanks for all of your input.

They're powered from the mains into the Sub woofer big thingy, that glows.

I just need to be able to plug it into an iPod or AirPort Express, as the short sightedness of Apple means that you cannot use these speakers with the Airport Express, even though it has a USB port on it for printing, you can't use it for sound.

It would be great to be corrected on this, but don't want to lay out £99 to find it doesn't work.

Thanks again.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

The speakers you're discussing (which, admittedly, I have no experience with) probably carry a digital signal into the receving speaker (subwoofer?) where there's a D/A converter that does the conversion.

If you can find that conversion circuit and its output, it may be as simple as splicing in a connector. You may even be able to retain the USB functionality.

I could be absolutely wrong, but the signal *has* to be converted to analog *somewhere.* Try finding that point and working from there.