How to Hook External Powered Speakers to a Laptop

Powered speakers can enhance your laptop's sound quality.

External speakers can enhance the sound experience of your laptop for watching movies or participating in video conferences or online chats. Speakers with external power must receive both the sound signal from your laptop and electrical power to function. The external power may be batteries inside the speakers, or it may be a standard household plug. Some powered speakers draw power from your computer through a USB cable, but these are less common than battery or plug-in units.

Things You'll Need

• Speakers
• Power source

Instructions

1. Find the power source on your speakers. This will either be an external cable or a battery compartment. Plug the speakers into the wall or place the appropriate size batteries in the compartment.

2. Turn on your laptop and wait for it to fully start up.

3. Locate the output jack on your laptop. This is generally a small round hole on the side or front of your laptop casing. There will usually be a small icon that looks like headphones (an arch with solid or rounded endpoints) to indicate this is the proper jack, or it may say "Line Out."

4. Plug your speakers into the output jack using the cable attached to your speakers. If you are using USB-powered speakers, you may not have a separate jack. In this case, simply plug the cable into a USB port.

5. Turn the power button or knob on your speakers on and allow your computer to recognize the new hardware. This may take a few minutes as your computer processes the hardware. Some computers may not require the recognition process.

6. Follow any onscreen prompts if you computer needs to search for software to interact with the speakers. This is not necessary with all types of speakers.

7. Play music or sounds on your laptop and adjust the speaker volume as desired, using the knob on the speakers rather than the computer's internal controls.

References

• Bose: Connecting a Computer