5.25" PC Drive Bay Speakers & Subwoofer from the 90s

[@elizabethandrews3714]

I feel like the 90s were a time when technology was increasing at a pace when more and more things were becoming possible, and there were no norms yet for what computers and computer technology was supposed to look like, so developers were free to just make literally anything and see what happened, because it might be successful and become the new normal, who knows

[@mo3bius58]

Absolutely true! On the other hand, also customers did not really know what tech was useful or not. So even a crappy product could break even and the company behind it did not go bankrupt.

[@MemeReviewer]

The 90s were an era where anything was possible.

[@jakestocker4854]

True, and it definitely went on into the early 2000s and even peaked in the early 2000s in some aspects. It's similar to the video game industry imo and part of me just misses when companies would take risk on weird things.

[@erik365365365]

Absolutely but we also had gotten to the “why not?” Eta from the “how?” And “why?” Era

[@soriac2357]

I think it actually started with the late 70s, where suddenly things were possible that used to be big, bulky, nerdy and unreliable. Those was the era of early "home" computers, although they weren't called that yet, the time of the first foray into the digital era, with equipment considered absolutely stone age by todays standards. But it was really the 80s where things get their priming. The 80s were an amazing time, where the future knocks at the door every day. Computers became regular household items, everything from living to entertainment suddenly got the big boost, you had crystal clear music on a plastic disk, could carry your music around in "tiny" cassette players, you had computer power at home like the big systems had just a decade earlier, even mobile phones or world wide computer connections already showed up. It was the time of the future. Granted, the 90s were when things finally got into full gear and max steam ahead, that was the era of the internet, where the computer finally was ubiquitous and showing its full potential. But it already started in the 80s, both were great decades to be alive 🙂

[@devinsweazey7948]

theoretically, with a large enough case, could you have both the drive bay crt and this speaker setup running together to have an all in one system.

[@nothin1456]

Laptop put it in lap hahaha

[@tobiwonkanogy2975]

sounds ridiculous but maybe a 6 bay or 7 bay one does exist . you sacrifice the disk drive and or floppy . of course would love to see it too.

[@oldfrend]

@@tobiwonkanogy2975 full towers are a thing, esp. in this era.

[@ionstorm66]

@@tobiwonkanogy2975 There are cases that only have 5.25 bays up front, like 10-11 of them.

[@limeflashlight4101]

@@nothin1456 laptop

[@smakfu1375]

I remember seeing these on the shelf at CompUSA and thinking “Yes, just what I always wanted - magnets and mid to low frequency generation in close proximity to spinning magnetic media!”.

[@subtledemisefox]

lmao I didn't even think of that! That's hilarious. Probably not a big deal these days, but would have been devastating to contemporary hardware. What were they thinking!?

[@frogz]

omg!!! me too!!!

[@dashcamandy2242]

Just play Janet Jackson's "Rhythm Nation." lol

[@Colt45hatchback]

@@subtledemisefox im sure they were thinking something along the lines of, if we sell enough of these, we can go into data storage aswell and have a heap of repeat customers 😂

[@djk8541]

It'll be fine, I ran karaoke nights for years with the hard drive being exposed to vibrations from 18" and 15" subwoofers and never suffered a drive failure. I doubt that little system can do much damage

[@vinceontheweb]

Clint thank you very much for providing handmade subtitles on your videos. I use them because it makes the videos easier to understand for me and I enjoy reading your additional commentary and jokes that you sprinkle throughout them. Please never stop providing them because they do indeed have an impact.

[@mootbooxle]

❤

[@PressThatButton]

It’s this kind of retro content that was the exact reason I started watching your channel and absolutely loved it. I’m glad you’re getting back to that simplicity with this video. I know the simplicity is unintentional, but I absolutely love this kind of simple retro content.

[@StevenOBrien]

You might like his second channel, LGR Blerbs.

[@SirSmilie]

I love that clint is finding treasures he had forgotten about. Nothing like the old moving everything rediscovery process!

[@TortureBot]

I had 2 of the exact same "subwoofer" 5 1/4" speaker units in 2 old LAN gaming rigs. The main advantage was not needing wired speakers, as I had 8 to 10 rigs going here at home for monthly LAN gaming parties. Big space saver.

[@albertpintor3522]

I still remember my middle school compaq and hp computers having a mono speaker in the tower below the disc drive

[@PeTTs0n88]

That Twin Sound honestly sounded lot better than I anticipated too. ^^ Especially compared to most alternatives, like you mentioned I've had HPs, Compaqs and Dells with integrated speakers and well... yeah.

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

Thinkcentre SFF had built in speakers too, but they sound awful

[@grigoris.7732]

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised by that sound quality. Man, there's just the weirdest nostalgia from seeing those old towers.

[@danielgorry4705]

I had a 5.25 bay speaker system similar. It is fantastic, as it had the volume control and 3.5mm jack up front. So when you left the computer to go pee you unplug the headphones so you can hear when the round started again. Saved a bit of desktop clutter by avoiding external speakers.

[@Nukle0n]

Would be fun to put a low-pass filter in-line with that "subwoofer" and just let that get the lower end stuff.

[@pio80085]

I was thinking the same thing. Either using the "subwoofer out" on the sound card (if it has a filter back then), or just using a dedicated line level filter on it. Either way, it didn't sound like it had much if any low end anyway from the video.

[@eddiehimself]

@@pio80085 the sound card is a SB Live 5.1, the .1 being of significance there lol.

[@pio80085]

@@eddiehimself right. But do the outputs work correctly and does the software do the proper filters? I haven't played with my live 5.1 enough yet to say for sure, hence why I left it an open question. Clearly there's no filter in the "subwoofer" speaker itself. The 0.1 could still be an unfiltered out depending on the software.

[@youdontknowme5969]

makeit "fart" even more 🤣💨

[@jamesbolho]

@@pio80085 I just don't know why he didn't plug the sub to the sub-out instead of that splitter jank... It probably wouldn't make it great but it would work as designed at least.

[@brandonakey6616]

Thank you so much for not going the clickbait path. Your video titles are to the point and thumbnails don't have an overly surprised cut-out of your face plastered on. Like EVERY other tech channel.

[@ergosteur]

All of the Pentium II PCs at my elementary school had those “subwoofer” speakers installed, the teachers would get annoyed at us playing with the pivoting “feature”.

[@Sordi.Michael]

I remember all the towers at my high school in the mid ‘00s had similar units installed, but in black.

[@mrskwid1]

The real question is how many of them had gum Jammed in the hole.

[@ergosteur]

@@mrskwid1 gum, paper clips, bits of paper, pencils, pennies…

[@nalinux]

You are lucky to have a P2 ! I had a 8086. Maybe years before :)

[@Mick_92]

@Higgs Bonbon Sounds like you all made pretty good use of those machines! We didn't have dedicated computer workshop hours during highschool and I don't think we really made anything worth of note with the computer lab there other than research for the other classes. The biggest thing I can recall is learning what Wikipedia was from this one chemistry teacher. Fortunatelly, I already had a computer with an internet connection at home by then, so I could learn some useful skills by myself.

[@EmperorSquidysChannel]

There's nothing like a new LGR on a chill Friday morning.

[@ccuurrllyguy.]

100% agree with you. Have a nice weekend!

[@notthatntg]

bri'ish

[@SDRIFTERAbdlmounaim]

but if you're LGR himself then it's not a Friday morning.

[@youdontknowme5969]

🌄☕😎👍

[@ccuurrllyguy.]

HOW DARE YOU BRING UP SUCH A SAD TOPIC IN A CHILL ENVIRONMENT YOUR ACTIONS SHALL BE PUNISHED

[@Ralph-yn3gr]

You should get some massive server case with a ton of 5.25 inch bays and put that monitor and the speakers and the subwoofer in all at once for MAXIMUM INTEGRATION!

[@carefulman3673]

Okay

[@danparish1344]

The fact that it swivels removes any doubt whether it was created to be a gimmick or a legitimate product.

[@MikeSparksMusic]

Yes!

[@vwestlife]

Now you just need a Plus Deck 2C drive bay cassette player and an FM radio card, and you can turn your PC into an entire stereo system!

[@LGR]

You looking at my future video list? ;)

[@garloch]

@@LGR Man now i really want that video

[@the.internet]

I had an FM radio card with an old mid 90s Packard Bell PC and the tuning software was pretty impressive from what I remember. I'd defo like to see you try out one or two of those LGR...

[@PatrickLaske]

That soundcard has a subwoofer output, I wonder if the subwoofer is supposed to use that instead of standard line-out.

[@_i_don.t_need_a_unique_handle_]

I was losing my mind that he didn't use that subwoofer jack. I kept thinking that he'd remember and actually use it. Alas, he didn't and I'm disappointed.

[@ryanhardcastle725]

I miss inserting random things into my PC case. These days it's all about the RGB and cable management. 25 years ago we had blacklight strips, cigarette lighters and round IDE cables.

[@spagamoto]

I put a 3d printed drawer into my lone drive bay for my latest PC and it's been amazing.

[@ohioplayer-bl9em]

i dont understand RGB thing. it will certainly be looked at as a tacky trend in the years ahead

[@xaenon]

Please don't remind me of how old I am...

[@benm3382]

@@ohioplayer-bl9em I never got it either, doesn't do anything for me

[@TheAstropath]

We had the "subwoofer" speakers in all of our school computer lab machines here back in the early 2000's... They were good enough to get sound from every machine without needing desk space for speakers. There was always sort of garbage crammed in the subwoofer port at the front though.

[@StayMadNobodycares]

The same kids who stole the mouse balls.

[@grummpyyounggeek]

I remember back in Windows 95/98 within the Sound/Multimedia Control Panel item you could configure the layout and even the type of speakers that you had. Apart from the usual Stereo/Quadrophonic/Surround setup (5.1. wasn't an option until Me and 7.1 in XP) they also had some other odd layouts such as "Keyboard Speakers", "Monitor Speakers" and even "Desktop Speakers" as in speakers BUILT IN to the desktop tower itself, not 2 boxes as most people know it. I remember at the time thinking "What is the point of these options?" OK so monitor speakers could be used for Packard Bell or Compaq systems but I had never seen any of the other kinds of layouts. Today, your video solved that very mystery.

[@BlackHoleForge]

I had one of those subwoofer inserts. The key for getting the best sound out of it was to place it at the Top Drive bay. When I put it at the bottom like you did it calls the other plastic above it to rattle. But by placing it in the top Drive Bay there was enough air space for it to come out without interference. Don't get me wrong it's still sounded like crap when you turned it up to 100, but low level sounds and doom were great.

[@Mikeyridesit]

This is 100% correct. The "sub" being pressed against the bottom metal plate is not allowing it to do anything, I had one of these as well and it was actually not bad in my 4 bay case. I had the sub at the top and my DVD-CD burner down at the bottom. It was not as good as my Logitec with a 10" floor sub by a long shot but in my dorm, where space was limited, it was good enough for playing MP3s and watching DVDs in a small space. WinAmp was pretty helpful in getting the most out of it till about 85% volume.

[@OtioseFanatic]

since you had once of these, was that swivel intended or is his just busted?

[@BlackHoleForge]

@@OtioseFanatic mine was a solid front piece.

[@Mikeyridesit]

@@OtioseFanatic mine did swivel, but it was much tighter and didn't flop like that. Maybe a foam/rubber washer inside that broke down over time.

[@Mikeyridesit]

@@BlackHoleForge I'm starting to think there was more than one version of this. I've read other comments here and on reddit, and it seems to be a split of people who had one that swivels and ones that were fixed.

[@TheRealProcyon]

My grandpa and I had as hobby retro computers when he was alive, this was primarily 1980s computers, however he also used to have a couple of old Windows XP machines and other things. I really miss those days and I think he'd have loved your channel were he still alive. I recall the days where I would go to my grandparents to mess with retro tech with my grandpa. One of the things I'm planning to do when I have enough money from a job in information security is likely to recreate that feeling. It was so nice to mess with older tech.

[@Richard_Hu]

Wow something to put in the drive bays of the fractal design pop air! Would love to see a beige paint job (Sherwin Williams marshmallow seems close and wood grain vinyl!) Retro style cases with modern design considerations ain't exactly easy to find

[@CptJistuce]

The Pop Air only has one drive bay, I think it has to be for a BluRay drive. So woefully limited.

[@Richard_Hu]

@@CptJistuce the reg and xl have 2x 5.25 spacing in the front

[@CptJistuce]

@@Richard_Hu Good to know!

[@Phoenix7000]

A little late to this, but I was the one who donated the Twin Sound. Great video, I have to give a shout out to Elliott Electronic Supply and their sister store EE Surplus in Tucson, AZ where I found this thing. Great store.

[@jeffcicale]

Nothing beats a fresh LGR video on a Friday morning! Hope all is well Clint!

[@ThomasPerl]

I don't know if you hear that often, or often enough but not only are you producing great content but your subtitles are on another level too. So... Thanks.

[@BlaineEvans]

The rotation from the front on the sub is definitely deliberate. Notice how the plastic casing where it sticks out when you push it to one side is rounded. If it wasn't meant to rotate, that would surely be straight. As I say this, I'm only halfway through the video, so if LGR figures that out in the second half, well...egg on my face, I guess.

[@o0Donuts0o]

This was one of those comments you read right at the point in the video where it comes up.

[@mattparker9726]

AHHHHHHHHHHHH The smooth sound of Jazz and Clint's soothing voice, truely a cornerstone of the Vintage tech community. Thanks for the decade+ of great work.

[@Melechtna]

If you could fit in that cathode ray tube thing with those speakers, you'd have the earliest possible fully user upgradable AIO.

[@TortureBot]

If the speaker units had enough shielding. Otherwise they'd wreak havoc on the CRT, causing all kinds of crazy anomalies & color distortion.

[@Melechtna]

@@TortureBot thin lron plate should cover it

[@Mick_92]

It should be relatively trivial to find an old 4-bay case, if one wanted to do just this for whatever reason...

[@TortureBot]

@@Mick_92 I still have my old beige 6-bay full-tower from almost 20 years ago.

[@ohioplayer-bl9em]

that would be amazing

[@csumme7]

I had that sub woofer one. Had it in a Gateway 433 Celeron tower. Thanks for the memories.

[@KuntalGhosh]

These cd drive bays have enough space to actually squeeze in a pretty decent class d amp. Something like a tpa5152 can easily do 255w/2ch at 4ohm 1%thd , if u can make a 12v to 50v 600w power converter that takes your PC's 12v supply. Or much better would be to use another drive bay for a 48v 600w powersupply. 100w is way too much for general pc use. And something like a tpa3116d2 and some 6x9 inch car speakers should outperform 99% similarly priced pc speakers. I use two pairs of 6x9 sony xplod 100w rms speakers with sony car headunit that does 20w/4ch rms at 1% thd . Everything is powered from a 12v 20a meanwell powersupply set to provide 14.8v. the bass even without a subwoofer is enough to vibrate my windows & there is no distortion whatsoever unless i absolutely crank it. It has an awesome fm tuner , playes cds (i have large collection of cds) , plays dvd (also have a large collection of dvds) and super audio cds , has dual aux inputs. Rear ones are hooked upto my pc and the front one is plugged into a aptx bluetooth dac. And that's what i use for my pc.

[@pandemicneetbux2110]

You know what, I was looking at this thing like "haha cool another goofy 90s PC thing" but I just realized...yeah I could actually do this and have a good use case for it if only it was black. Mainly because I deliberately bought a PC with lots of drive bays, getting what would've been the absolute shiznit in 1999 with dual CD burners/readers, Bluray the works, plus a card reader in my Phanteks case. I don't actually need that second CD/DVD drive really, but I DO have a solid use case for sound stuff, because my old subwoofer sound systems are long gone and I've used headphones since then. Really, we should bring 5.25 bays back. There's still so much more you can do with them than just CD drives. Sound system hadn't occurred to me before.

[@erikmerz1742]

Check out the Scythe Kama Bay AMP 2000 Rev. B . It is a 5,25" drive bay amp with a 2x 10W Class D Amp.

[@KuntalGhosh]

@@erikmerz1742 2x 10w class d is like powering a tpa3110 with 12v and using 4ohm ohm speakers. I could fit something like that inside a 2.5inch ssd case. It would be a waste of cd drive space. + That small of a class d sounds crap.

[@KuntalGhosh]

@@Shibathedog prs d800 is a discrete design class d. It does not use chip amp. But that could also be used, it's a very good and tiny amplifier.. the amp i am talking about uses one single chip for everything and only requires some inductors capacitors resistors diodes and buck converter to use . The only thing u need to provide it is 52v dc. Or if u do not need 250w/2 u can always use a tda7498e that will happily do 100w/ch if u provide it with 36v supply. I prefer a nicely desinged discrete class ab. 100w per channel is the sweet spot for most. U generally don't need anything close to 100w to enjoy music. The subs could benefit from 300-500w.

[@KuntalGhosh]

@@pandemicneetbux2110 i really want to own a sick bluray drive that could read any optical disc. And also a nakamichi cd changer drive. Maybe a light scribe as well. I have a large collection of cds and dvds i like to keep them around. It just feels nostalgic sometimes to look at standard definition video.

[@mar4kl]

I'm planning to do a sleeper build of sorts in a 22-year-old case that a client gave me. The components inside were outmoded and not particularly interesting, but the case is sturdy, will accommodate an ATX or mATX build and has four front-facing 5-1/4" bays and two front 3-1/2" bays plus internal drive bays. I've been looking at different things that might fill the front-facing bays, and found some attractive options, like USB ports (since this case is too old to have any) and card readers. But all this made your video more interesting for me. There is a modicum of utility in passable front panel speakers. Nobody expects them to be great; all they really have to be is better than the tinny built-in speaker that you still find in some modern desktops. The subwoofer, on the other hand, was 100% gimmick that mainly preyed on consumers who didn't know what a subwoofer really is. A subwoofer works not so much by putting out loud bass noise, but rather adds depth to the sound by inducing sympathetic vibration. That's why it's supposed to be placed on the floor, and preferably under or near wood furniture. A properly functioning subwoofer mounted in a computer case would make the case resonate, which would most likely emphasize the wrong frequencies. In addition, it would cause anything loose in the case to buzz or rattle, causing unwanted noise. The "subwoofer" you demonstrated here, of course, is not a true subwoofer at all; it's just a front-facing speaker (maybe a pair; hard to tell without opening it up) made to look like a miniature subwoofer. I will probably not make it to VCF, but I hope you have a great time. Hopefully I will get to meet you at a future event.

[@vwestlife]

The bracket that came with the subwoofer has screw holes in it because it was an off-the-shelf part meant for mounting a PS/2 port.

[@willgilligan7605]

Hey there VW - you're one of my fav channels!

[@RemoWilliams1227]

Noice brand new LGR! I remember seeing ashtrays that fit the drive bay in the early 2Ks.

[@Raguleader]

When you think about it, if they can make decent speakers fit in a laptop, this doesn't seem so wild.

[@mar4kl]

I guess that depends on your definition of decent. Laptop speakers are never great, because you can only do so much in that form factor, and with no more than 14" of separation in the largest of laptops, stereo sound is kind of a wash as well. In my experience, laptop speakers range from being just good enough that you don't feel like you have to lug a set of headphones around for video chats and basic entertainment to complete trash. (The ones in my current laptop are complete trash that can't even deliver a decent video chat experience if there's another sound source in the room. But I bought that laptop to deliver lots of power in a svelte, lightweight form factor, not symphonic sound.) That said, I could see these speakers appealing to someone who had just spent most of his discretionary dollars on a gaming rig and didn't have enough left for a good speaker system. The speakers seemed good enough for basic gaming, at least until one could afford something better. That subwoofer was another story.

[@coyote_den]

@@mar4kl Take a listen to the new MacBook Pro's speakers. Apple really went all out on fitting the best speakers they could in the form factor. The bass is surprising. They're not the best speakers I have, or the loudest, but they are probably the best I've ever heard in a laptop.

[@immothep101]

But could they in the 90s? I feel like portable speakers with such a small form factor only really became decent (and somewhat affordable) over the last 10 years.

[@stevethepocket]

@@coyote_den If it took Apple this long to put decent speakers in a laptop, they've been slacking off. The tiny little speakers in my iPad Air 2 are better than any laptop I've ever used, and at least some desktop speakers even. Even though they're not facing toward me.

[@caseyrevoir]

Laptop speakers at the time sounded like cheap headphones lying on a table attached to a dying Walkman.

[@adhodgson1]

Not sure if anyone else remembers similar sets to these used with speech cards. The ones I had I think were in a 3.5 inch bay but can't remember. I remember it wasting a case slot at the back as the cable had to come through from the back of the speaker system in the case through a hole and then plug into the output of the speech card. For screen reader users it was actually quite good because it gave us an extra output for the speech which was separate from the general audio of the sound card before dedicated speech synths went the way of the dogs. The model I had even allowed you to angle the speakers somewhat by having a small tilt to the speakers which could be angled left or right. There was also a headphone jack on the front as well as a volume knob.

[@victorvangrimgamming6784]

Man, imagine if craft computing got ahold of thoes, RGB, and thumping techno in the server rack 24/7

[@JasonJrake]

the 80s-90s computer enthusiast in me is unreasonably impressed by this kind of stuff. The coolest thing I've ever seen in a drive slot is a double-5.25-bay compact crt monitor. I was told that they were designed for industrial-use automation-control computers where you needed a minimal display, but could relocate the whole tower to a workstation with a "real" monitor for maintenance. It was pointless for my uses, but in 1992, the power to turn any PC into one of those commodore- luggable-style thingies was amazing to me. I have not seen one on KZbin ever, but I hold out hope... Some bay-mounted speakers would have gone real well with that CRT 😊.

[@needfortweed8734]

Have you checked out the video that Clint talked about where he tested an amber CRT? Though that did take up the whole front, not only two 5.25 bays... I really want something like that amber monitor (either to put in the case or as an external monitor)...

[@jeremynolan5195]

Oh yeah, this is the type of nostalgic junky hardware I need in my day 😁

[@Choralone422]

I remember seeing drive bay speakers systems back in the day and thinking to myself how lousy most of them must sound at anything other than a moderate volume. Your experience with them was very satisfying! :) Throughout most of the 90's and the 2000's I used a combination of a Sony 2 channel stereo receiver (60 watts x2) and a set of Cambridge SoundWorks Ensemble speakers (2 satellites and 2 8 inch passive subs) with excellent results. I retired that system after the Sony receiver died after about 18 years of use. For the past 14 years or so I've been using a Klipsch Promedia 2.1 system where the satellites fit perfectly behind my current triple monitor setup.

[@rizkyp]

I remembered back in college, all the pcs in the computer science labs were equipped with speaker simmilar to this. I had gained a remote access on one of the labs and i played a homer Simpson voice remotely through one of the speaker in the labs. The labs were as quite as library so one can imagine the surprise to the user that was using that pc. 😂

[@alanluscombe8a553]

I don’t know much about computers but I love seeing this old tech. My dad had a pc repair place when I was a kid in the 90s and it’s amazing how many things I remember seeing when you show them

[@awesomeferret]

I'd really love to see a quick teardown of these on the Blerbs channel. That would be a great way to find out if that swivel thing is actually a feature, come to think of it.

[@DoctorFuzworth]

My favorite series on KZbin. The wonder of 5.25in bays.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

If you put both of these and the CRT bay into one of the desktop cases (instead of the tower here), you could totally make what would in essence be a Compaq Portable or something to that effect. Would be super cool to see you do something like that in the future (perhaps on an LGR Blerb).

[@punkrockllama]

I was just about to write a comment about what if there's nothing above the "sub" as he pops into that part of the video. Great timing

[@naman2000]

Love this so much! Thank you, Clint, for starting my day off with a great new episode!

[@Dukefazon]

Nice t-shirt! I love Blood! After I watched the episode (well, didn't even finish the episode) I hopped on auction sites to find if they have similar stuff. Sadly I couldn't find one, I really like the stereo one. I was convinced that you are holding the subwoofer upside down but I saw the text on the front. It's so weird that the subwoofer sounds so bad.

[@MrKozlosPL]

3 headphone jacks out front. Nowadays 1 is considered an optional feature most companies do without.

[@rcmero]

You can thank Apple for that.

[@alexm566]

to be fair, bluetooth works just fine. I haven't used wired since 2015.

[@markdupuy4111]

just found your channel and have binge watched. Brings back memories upgrading my first PC to Win 3.11

[@LGR]

Excellent, I hope you continue to enjoy!

[@dylan_00]

Very interesting video, I always love seeing these weird 5.25" devices! I suspect the subwoofer sounds bad because it's not doing any filtering, and it's trying to play all frequencies it's receiving. I've seen this before on other independent subs, I would guess it's expecting the audio to have been low-pass filtered before it receives it. Edit: Now that I saw the independent test of the sub it definitely sounds like it's distorting pretty hard, so my previous assumption probably does not hold true!

[@xPandamon]

Funny thing is, just a few days ago at work (IT) we got tons of new PCs. I noticed they have pretty big speakers at the bottom front in the case and wondered why nobody every tried to place a subwoofer inside a PC. After all, it's a big box, right? And now this. I love it!

[@Ranger_Kevin]

Sounds like a great idea - let's stick a subwoofer right above where the mechanical hard drives go. What could go wrong...

[@nalinux]

With a magnetic shield, no real problem. Hard drive are not so sensitive in fact. You really need to put a strong magnet close to them before seing damages. Someone made a video about it, don't remember where.

[@andrewkepert923]

Yes but if you’re playing Janet Jackson you deserve what you get.

[@DrakkarCalethiel]

@@nalinux it was Brainiac75 kzbin.info/www/bejne/pomshaWdh9CHa80 He used a massive magnet and even then needed quite some time to kill it.

[@trollsthatlol1]

In theory it's great! In practice? Yeaahhhh.. Lol

[@Ducky69247]

Nothing really. That's what.

[@MNGoldenEagle]

I almost wonder if that loud pop was a capacitor or resistor popping on the subwoofer that prevented it from operating properly, especially considering its mediocre bass output.

[@simontay4851]

It was the sound card driver being initialised.

[@crumpets2123]

OMG! A 5 bay case with the monitor and these speakers.. chefs kiss! x

[@Zimiorg]

5,25" Subwoofer - mechanical hard disk drives hate that trick :D

[@chumbawumba1959]

Ah man, how did I not know all of those 5¼ bay thingies existed ... like the eq and the vu meter doo-dads. I had a ginormous tower that had huge power supply and also six 5¼ bays to play with. My go-to reason for having this was to use slide-in 5¼ drive trays so I could have so much flexibility with versions of Windows and diff boot drives and/or specialized storage. Live and learn and exactly why I subscribe to LGR :)

[@youdontknowme5969]

I remember JDR Microdevices selling something like this. Wow, I forgot about them. It looks like they're not around any longer. I wanted their drive bay equalizer/spectrum analyzer so bad but I was young/dumb/broke back then. Plus, classic Winamp had its own, so... 😎👍

[@alicesavage69420]

WOW! I'm very thoroughly impressed with the Twin Sound and now I wish I could find one

[@WillyJunior]

I love how manufacturers always used to put the 'PMPO' wattage on the box of things like this in the 90s. It's a practically meaningless number.

[@CotyRiddle]

it is compleately meaningless.

[@itabiritomg]

that is a very cool feature. Some Dell's today have something similar: a better-than-none speaker in the front part of the case for emergency times when you need to hear something but there is no other speaker nearby

[@RandyDarkshade2]

I have a couple of these speakers, no subwoofer though. I could see the benefit in these for those who may lack desk space and to be honest I think these drive bay speakers sound just as good (or bad) as some PC speakers anyway.

[@FlyboyHelosim]

Fancy seeing you here!

[@Lachlant1984]

In 2001 my high school purchased some new Acer Vertion PCs, they had speakers like these fitted to them, they were in one of the 5.25 inch drive bays and they had a cable sticking out the back which plugged into the audio output. They weren't very good speakers. I'm not sure if they were installed by Acer when the computers were assembled or whether they were fitted afterwards. I also remember the school had some older AcerPower PCs which had internal case speakers that actually were factory installed because they were part of the case.

[@mrsvcd]

I have the bracket with mounting holes, it is for ps/2 mouse in my case.

[@GeckonCZ]

Yeah, that's exactly what it is... a mini-DIN bracket.

[@retropuffer2986]

Clint, find one of those mega tall tower cases with countless bays. Then fill it with as many drive bay add-ons you can possible fit! 😲

[@danieldavis2055]

From what I can recall in regards to the Apple mention, every single Macintosh all the way from the very first had a speaker present in it. It wasn't amazing but it was nice to have.

[@chouseification]

More exciting was the Sound Blaster Audigy that came with a half height 5.25" front panel face plate that connected to the sound card. The face plate had remote sensor, SPDIF in and out, TOSLINK (fiber optic cable version of SPDIF) in and out, stereo RCA in, big-jack headphone out (with volume knob), big-jack microphone in (with volume knob), MIDI in and out, and IEEE 1394 FireWire (6 conductor)... it was completely full of connections, and oh boy was it ever fun. If you wanted to DJ a party with MP3s in 1998, yeah you could do it. It raised a lot of eyebrows back then - of course it's a common way to do it these days. :D

[@Roxor128]

I bought an X-Fi card that came with one of those. Still got it. The actual card is providing sound in Mum's machine as my previous motherboard included the X-Fi chip built in, so I gave her an upgrade over the SB Live she was using before. Now I've got wireless digital headphones that take a TOSLINK output straight from the motherboard, rendering the matter of a sound card a moot point. Also, my current board is PCI Express only, so I can't use the old X-Fi card with it, anyway.

[@lazzzzze1]

Hi Clint, do you think you'll make a video related to your hifi setup specifically? I remember in some thrift episodes you mentioning getting some mid-century cabinets and speakers if you ever had the space. It'd be cool to see how you would mix retro and modern together.

[@metricton8167]

Dude, hit me like a herc pulse cannon with the nostalgia playing earthsiege. I played this game so much

[@CssHDmonster]

when you want to make sure your hdd is nicely shaken

[@RegulationGamingHP]

Earthsiege is wonderful. What a brutal, tactically rich, intense mech game. It's so good to see it here

[@NaokisRC]

So Clint , when are you going to get a case like an InWin 2000 and stick all of these audio devices into a single case can call it the worst Computer HiFi? 😂

[@kyanche]

Ahhh these kinda videos make me really want to go find a case with a ton of drive bays and have some fun.

[@cuteraptor42]

I feel like it's the best way to break your HDD in one step

[@cpm1003]

My 12yo and I are pretty excited for VCFMW tomorrow. It looks like a good show, and it's local for us. Hope to meet LGR!

[@cjsebes]

So cool! I would check the subwoofer speaker and make sure the speaker surround isn't deteriorated. Maybe replace it with a more substantial speaker that costs more than $1.49. And the loose action of that swivel is probably adding to the rattling noise. I'd love to build a super-tall PC tower with as many of those add-ons as I could install.

[@Roxor128]

Ah, drive bay speakers. Every machine I used in the university computer labs had them. With that swivel mechanism, too. Didn't get used for much beyond Windows 98 sounds and playing the odd game of Hexxagon between sessions of writing/debugging code. I got pretty good at it, able to pretty reliably beat the Craniac on Hard.

[@jakestocker4854]

As stupid as stuff like this is and as much as I love modern day ITX builds, stuff like this is still just so cool to me lol. Justs hits a certain part of my brain that I can't explain.

[@JaredConnell]

You're not alone. That's why he does these videos and they get so many views lol

[@jakestocker4854]

@@JaredConnell true that. Glad there's a place where we can all come to enjoy this goofy obscure stuff of the past lol.

[@davidromeroblaya7920]

Playing Carmageddon with jazz music in the background like a true gentleman.

[@colescrustycars]

Just curious, is the sub not supposed to be plugged into the sub output of the sound card?

[@WillyJunior]

Not really, that's for surround sound.

[@colescrustycars]

@@WillyJunior I gotcha.

[@RobynDavisAlbany]

Back in the day, I worked at Turtle Beach Systems and i remember all sorts of PC Audio strangeness and goodness around the office including some of these. I remember being impressed with the sound that came from drive bay speakers and the fun of drive bay equalizers.

[@uselessDM]

Wouldn't the vibration potentially damage your drive?

[@johntheexplainer]

Yes, if you play Janet Jackson.

[@uselessDM]

Topical reference.

[@JTSuter]

A new LGR video a great Friday makes!

[@SomePeopleCallMeWulfman]

I don't think that a subwoofer close to spinning harddisks is such a great idea.

[@danparish1344]

Luckily, it doesn’ barely works (by design?) so your disks will operate without disturbance

[@olik136]

it is about the same setup in every notebook- it will be fine

[@deadaccount6135]

When you were testing the windows sample music i kept yelling ' try with duke 3D music! ' Glad you did, love it. Man i miss my old Boston Acoustics surround & subwoofer setup. Sound is important! 👍

[@topkarat]

Dang LGR, a small video involving digging a machine out of storage? Storage is no small feat. Thanks for your dedication dude

[@SlamBolts]

Nothing like coming home from a long day out and sitting down with a cuppa and an LGR video, thanks for the uploads Clint!

[@Gamepadder]

I had no idea about the Elmhurst event! I will definitely try and make it out there on Sunday.

[@guillezeus]

I just love to see you testing, tampering and messing around with old, odd techy stuff. Keep it up Clint! Your videos are awesome and always good for a laugh. Cheers from Uruguay!

[@rotordave81]

We had that subwoofer model in the desktops at school. No prizes for guessing how long it took for rubbish to get stuck in that hole. We used to play Quake on the LAN on those computers at lunchtime, the headphone jack was handy for that.

[@GodsMemeTV]

11:07 - thats amazing!! I want one right now

[@Psilocervine]

oh my god, my friend had one of these and I thought it was just the COOLEST thing

[@macbuff81]

Reminds me of the times I walked through CompUSA as a kid in the late 90s :)

[@bslprints9935]

I'm glad you showed the sub with nothing above it! I was wondering exactly that!

[@TheRogueWolf]

The symmetry of the Twin Sound's front panel makes my brain happy.

[@JuanAuribus]

This reminds me of rack mount speakers, similar shape intended to stick very expensive, very small speakers into a mixing console or live sound equipment rack for some basic monitoring (if for some reason you can't use headphones)

[@Narwhil]

I don’t know how you keep finding weird tech from the 80s and 90s after a decade, but you do

[@Max_Marz]

Unlocked a core memory of sitting there flipping those speakers back and fourth and feeling them flush in the center. The one I encountered was installed in one of those under-monitor cases so it was right in front of you behind the keyboard. Made sense.

[@bradenlarsen2074]

These used to be in our production pcs at the radio station as a backup if our logitek digital mixers went haywire while we were making production things.

[@ciddax754]

Oh .. this brings memories. I once upgraded an old Compaq with an inbuild speaker to much, much more. That girl had the problem, she was not allowed real speakers or even a radio, as they would only allow her to listen to stuff the parents would not appreciate and that much too loud to. First I just thought she was joking, but her mum and dad was indeed kind of weird. Then she got an old computer from her dads workplace. To her deleight it had a speaker in it and the box was able to run winamp! The speaker was tiny and sounded like crap, but now she had an computer given by her dad that included a speaker. With the help of a friend, who was a car mechanic and had a lot of parts like amps, speakers all kind of damping material lying around, we were able to make it a really stealthy speaker system. In the end it looked exactly like before on the outside, but weighted easily twice as much. There was a LOT of place in that bigtower and we used it to place those speakers, the car power amps and such. No, she was not getting a 500 watt bass machine. In the end it was something around 150 watts RMS. But 150 watts can be turned up freaking loud and it sounded really decent. My friend upgraded a lot of car "sound systems" (in the 90ties the standard from the factory was not that great) and had no real use for all those old speakers, they installed from the factory. On their own they were maybe not HiFiesque but very efficent, to get some sound out of that anemic old car radio. To calculate the crossover was a nightmare and lots of trial and error. But it was really worth it. Most funny thing: When someone else was at home, she ran an EQ-filter to simulate that old anemic speaker from the original compaq case. And she only listened to music, her parents would listen too. After some weeks her dad bought her a pair of cheap "multimedia speakers" because it sounded "not that good". The man was an accounting clerk and had no idea about technology or music equipment. The speakers were only slightly better then the original speaker but came in a beefy looking housing. Those got upgraded by me too and were after it on par of halfway decent book shelf speakers. I could grab an old beaten up pair of high quality bookshelf speakers for next to nothing, which gave me most of the needed parts for that mod. We exchanged one of the amps inside the case against a bigger example and had the power needed for those beefed up desktop speakers. With a nicely lettered slot cover saying "speakers L R" it looked like just another 3rd party piece of hardware. Her dad just thought he made a nice deal and that those speakers were just what "new technology" can do. He was in for a surprise when he got a later generation of that speaker for himself after some time.