Ideas? Setting up the tv and stereo, laptop as source

We're set with a good HDTV and a Sony Blu-ray player. For the audio, I've got a nice, really old NAD amp that sounds great but it's just too huge for the space. For speakers, I've got an old pair of Phase Linear speakers that, old as they are, are still quite sweet and clear (except for below about 250hz). But this is not the critical listening setup so I'm content.

What I want to do is this:

1 - put our old Dell laptop that is gathering dust into the setup mainly so we can listen to streamed audio and the big music collection on it's hard drive.

2 - get rid of the giant old NAD amp.

I'm imagining a single external box that is USB into the laptop. Then the box needs to:

3 - be able to take audio input from the Sony DVD player (RCA).

4 - produce amplified output to drive the unpowered Phase Linear speakers. Connectors are not a problem - the speakers take bare wires, so I'll just rig up whatever works.

I've looked at all the Creative and Soundblaster gear - I think they all would still require an amp between those boxes and the speakers. I checked Newegg - same stuff and worse.

Anyone know of an inexpensive single USB box that can do this, and have good d/a quality??

thx - nat whilk ii

Your NAD amp probably sounds great because it's made the old-fashioned way. One can get good sound in a relatively small package, but it's not necessarily going to be cheap. And the stuff that is cheap, isn't going to sound nearly as good as what you have, in all likelihood. It's 'easy' to design a good amp these days, but that doesn't mean it's cheap. Take it from me, I replaced a nice old 70s Kenwood receiver with some IC-ed up, high powered, digitally controlled Kenwood from the early 90s. As soon as I swapped the old Kenwood out, I was disappointed. (The old Kenwood was going to temporary use in my recording rig.) And then the new one died maybe only 5 or 6 years later. (But the old one kept right on, although some of the switches were getting hinky when I retired it.)

The current cheap tech home sound paradigm is powered speakers. Not necessarily an amp in every box, mind you. corners are sometimes cut. I've seen some $500-ish powered speaker pairs where there's a stereo amp in one box along with the speaker(s) but the other box of the stereo pair is just the speaker(s). To my way of thinking, that profound asymmetry is an extraordinary compromise that can't help but degrade quantity and uniform sound between sides.

But the integrated amp-speaker system dominates the home entertainment market.

So, to use your passive speakers, you're going to need a decent power amp of some kind. (Hint: which you've got. )

Speaking of NAD, their line is pretty up to date, from what I've seen. (Keep in mind I haven't bought hi fi gear since the 90s.) They seem like they've moved into the digital era in an interesting manner, seeming (at least from a distance) to be trying to maintain old values while integrating new technologies. (And I notice they have some class D type amps, or whatever we're calling them, so it's not like they're all stodgy.)

Your NAD amp probably sounds great because it's made the old-fashioned way. One can get good sound in a relatively small package, but it's not necessarily going to be cheap. And the stuff that is cheap, isn't going to sound nearly as good as what you have The current cheap tech home sound paradigm is powered speakers. But the integrated amp-speaker system dominates the home entertainment market. So, to use your passive speakers, you're going to need a decent power amp of some kind. (Hint: which you've got. ) Speaking of NAD, their line is pretty up to date, from what I've seen.

True, true, true, true.....just thought I'd throw out a line, see if somewhere there's a product that would make all my dreams come true...yeah, the NAD amp is about vintage 1983....and you can warm your socks nice and toasty by leaving them on top of it for 10 minutes, too.

nat whilk ii

I've never heard of an audio interface with an amplifier for driving passive speakers. I don't think such a thing exists.

Is your NAD an integrated amplifier, or literally just a power amp? If it is just a power amp, I would be very nervous about hooking the laptop audio output directly to it. You would want a preamp or at least a passive volume attenuator between the the laptop and the power amp. By the time you hook all that stuff up, you have a full sized stereo component system.

I would hit thrift stores and garage sales and see if you can find a receiver or an integrated amplifier that is small enough for the space.

BTW, in hi-fi speak, "integrated amplifier" is a preamp and power amp in one unit without a radio tuner or other frills.

If it's just the power amp, you could get a TC passive volume control for around $60. But, of course, the nice thing about an integrated unit or a receiver is (hopefully) some flexible routing. For instance, I have a Yamaha NaturalSound receiver from the mid 90s. It's a nice sounding unit, has a fair number of routing options (connections for two tape decks, integrated phono pre, of course) -- but the LED display went out a few years back, meaning I'm 'flying blind' -- and the digitally controlled FM tuner never could pull in many stations even with a decent antenna. Oh, yeah, and the neato remote-controlled motorized rotary analog program selector switch (no relays in the audio path!*) started getting hinky years ago and wants to be 'seated' just so or it goes all crackly. Aside from that, I love the thing...

*Another cute 'audiophile' feature is a switch that takes all EQ and even the balance control out of the signal flow, sort of a 'straight wire' switch.

If you want to spend between 300 and 500 bucks, you might check out some of the affordable end of the NAD lineup. I saw more than a few receivers on sale (sans phono pre) in that range, and I believe they all had digital ins (whether or not they had USB ins so you could take digital audio straight outta your computer, I don't know). But at least they haven't been bought by Harmon Int'l, the Corel of the recording/audiophile audio hardware scene.

I was just using the word "amp" very loosely - it's the NAD 7140 which is a full blown unit with radio receiver, preamp, power amp, turntable ins with a ground screw, and a lotta speaker-pushing power. No money wasted making it pretty, all the manufacturer cost went into quality components.

I think I'm falling back in love with it a bit...the result of this thread and poking around the various boards on old hifi gear...sometimes you gotta forgive a little spread in the horizontal dimensions for companions who've faithfully delivered the goods over a few decades;)

nat whilk ii