You can use a good quality Bluetooth speaker that connects to your computer by Bluetooth and its completely wireless so you have more options on where to put your speaker.

What I have done back when we had parties (pre covid) was to cast my phone or laptop to my TV and it plays through the sound system of the tv. Added bonus is to cast you tube videos, so it's like being at a concert. Or with smart TV use the you tube app on the tv. I really like the ability to cast directly to the TV though Bluetooth my various devices.

Do Bluetooth speakers sound as good as stand alone speakers, I would think not?

Thank you for suggesting incorporating it with my TV. I am planning to buy a big screen TV and more importantly, a really good soundbar. Sounds like I need to look into what you are suggesting.

Do I need to be sure the new TV I'm buying can support this? I'll probably get a Samsung.

Can you suggest a site to look at, preferably You Tube, to get an understanding of "casting?"

Many thanks to you once again. I know you have been on Gardenweb for many years, how many exactly?

I discovered GardenWeb at least 15 years ago, it continues to be the best site on the web!!

Thanks again,

Ginny

I have a pair of powered Audio Engine A2 speakers in the bedroom, connected to the equivalent of a Sonos system that sends high quality sound over Wifi. They offer tremendous heft and broad spectrum coverage in a small package. The newest version is called A2+ and can be connected either via a wire to a PC or other sound source (like my older model) or via Bluetooth.

For the wireless sound transport, there's always Sonos, that's the best system on the market. You could buy a Sonos Connect device and send your music collection AND all possible internet streaming sources using Wifi to your receiver and "good speakers". And use other Sonos speakers to have the same sound in other parts of your home if desired. If you have Sonos speakers in other parts of the house, it will work in the other direction too, sending what's playing through your receiver (whether a CD, or TV, or whatever) to speakers elsewhere in your house. .

Sonos hardware is almost like the Apple ecosystem in that after just a small amount of user input, it sets itself up and will immediately recognize at a later date when new equipment is added and must be connected to what's existing. It couldn't be easier to use. I've set it up for several sets of tech challenged friends and all love it.

Alternatively, Audio Engine also has a product called Music Streamer, a less expensive and less capable alternative to what Sonos does. Music Streamer is a box that provides audio input that connects to your receiver. It gets the input from your Wifi, and so would get whatever is sent to it from your PC. Said more simply, set up Pandora on your PC and use the software to send the signal to the Music Streamer hardware and play it through the recieiver and its attached speakers.

With Sonos, it's easier, you use a smartphone app or a webpage to control what's played and Sonos automatically does the heavy lifting.

Thank you Elmer for going to lengths to describe to me what you have. This also is new to me but I'm all for learning. I will look up Sonos right now.

I think you are also a long time member of Gardenweb.

Thank you again, so much!!

I was looking for the same thing when I got a new computer recently. You may laugh, but I took a chance on a $30 Taotronics computer sound bar because of the thousands of excellent reviews. I figured I’d just return it to Amazon if it was crappy...but it wasn’t. It takes up little room, is nicely designed and provides quite good sound, including good bass. If you think you have to spend $400 money to get good sound, you’re wrong. The model I got is at the very low end of the Taotronics line; you can spend more for presumably better, more powerful speakers, but this one has enough punch and clarity that I’m satisfied. As a starting point, here’s what I went with:

https://www.amazon.com/TaoTronics-Computer-Speakers-Soundbar-Cellphone/dp/B07X84XN25/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=YHO1RT8FVMPJ&dchild=1&keywords=taotronics+computer+speakers&qid=1605380902&sprefix=taotronics+computer%2Caps%2C215&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzR0lRNzQ1SEpDVTdWJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTYzNDc2MVNJR1UzTlpaRThNQSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMjYwMTU2TlAzNkhXSDFXRFhFJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

if you really need something to blast you out of your chair, you could always go with a regular TV sound bar, but I doubt you would have to go more than $150 to get something spectacular.

That does look good. Thanks for the idea. I hope to go with listening to my iPhone and Mac through the new TV I'm buying and a really good soundbar but there will be times that just hearing it from computer speakers/soundbars will work. I will definitely look into what you suggest, price can't be beat!

Lots of ways to do this. Even though much of my music comes from CDs, FM radio, etc., most comes from my computer. My TV is connected to my computer via HDMI and a cheap soundbar to the TV. Then, I decided to run an analog audio cable from the TV audio out to my existing receiver (and speakers). But that only works if they are in the same room. This is a work in progress as I upgrade the audio system, but my computer files (and TV) all get the benefits of these upgrades.

Bluetooth is known to degrade the sound, but Bluetooth5 is pretty good and the differences may only be apparent to Audiophiles!

I got a Bose Soundlink Revolve and it's fantastic.

Bose Soundlink Revolve

I only rarely listen to music now days. Unless driving and trying to stay awake, or nerves calmed. Even then I prefer talk radio or audio books.

The only bluetooth audio device I have in my house is a headset which I've used mainly for audio books while walking.

I didn't realize bluetooth didn't have the bandwidth to keep up with higher bit rates.

As a test, I just now tried transferring a 17 minute 772 kbps flac song over bluetooth to my laptop in the same room and it just barely kept up.

The image shows 102 kilo BYTES(capital B) per second which would be 816 kilo bits per second.

The song is 772 kilo bits per second so if it had transferred at the same rate beginning to end it would have just barely kept up.

But I noticed it was initially transferring at about 91 kB/s (728 kb/s) so it would have been dropping a few frames, stuttering, or however it handles the loss.

But it should be plenty fast enough for (even 320kb/s) mp3 quality songs though, right?

ETA: Just for the heck of it I just transferred the same song back from my laptop to my desktop using wireless wifi. 20 seconds or less over wifi as opposed to almost 20 minutes over bluetooth. Now I remember why I never use bluetooth to transfer files. It is (relatively) slow. Or at least mine is. :)

It must have been 15 years ago that I bought a pair of Yahama speakers. The size per speaker is 3.5 in wide X 10 in high X 6 in deep. Those plug directly into the sound ports on a desktop computer and will play either monaural or stereo. Those support an accessory monaural reflex bass speaker. (The bass speaker is about 2.5 the size of one of the single speakers.) These do a good job of reproducing music and were not overly expensive. Most of the time, I do not activate the bass speaker and the sound for everyday use is very good. These do require an AC outlet for power. If you are budget cutting, the pair of speakers without the bass is good. I bought these at Best Buy.

I ordered the Taotronics Mini Soundbar Kudzu9 liked but now that I'm trying to set it up (also talked with support) apparently it needs two headphone jacks and my "Late 2012 Mac desktop" only has one. I was therefore told it won't work. Is there any workaround?

I confess I haven't read the recent posts which I will, but for now I want to be sure this won't work. Thanks!

Taotronics Mini Sound Bar

ginjj-

What jacks do you have? Can you post picture(s)? It needs one headphone jack and one mic jack.

You can see the back as well as the specs for my Mac desktop "Late 2012" it's called. Thanks!

"Late 2012 Mac"

Ok...well my first thought is to use the Bluetooth capability so it's wirelessly connected. Another possibility (and I don't know if this will work since I'm not a Mac/audio expert) might be to plug in a $5 headphone splitter since this converts one jack to two. However, check this out with someone who knows more than I do so it doesn't end up damaging something. Good luck.

Thanks for all your ideas, I will call Apple Support and see what they say.

Unless you're going to plug a set of headphones that includes a mic into the soundbar, can't you just use it as a set of speakers?

It looks to me like all you have to do is plug the soundbar's USB power cord into your computer's USB and the green audio in plug into your computer's green audio out jack.

The soundbar doesn't have a builtin mic anyway, right? I don't have it but if I did I would just be using it for the speakers and would leave the mic jack hanging.

Maybe I'm missing something though.

I contacted my Mac User Groups chat group and was advised to just plug the blue audio cable into the headphone jack on the Mac and forget about the other one. It works. Thanks to everyone again! Usb plugged in for power.

Thanks for the followup post. Glad it worked and that the fix was so simple. :-)