I used a PC power cable because they are double insulated (not only is the outside insulated nicely, each wire is individually insulated on the inside) and I know it can handle far more current than this system is capable of producing (after all, these same cords have been used for SLI systems actually drawing more than 400 watts of power in heavy gaming.) This way I don't ever get a little unpleasant surprise from reaching over that cord to the switch. Still, there's no reason a truly good set of speakers can't last for as long as you need them and I have no idea when my financial situation will change, so I decided to take steps.) I took a good thick gague extention cord (it had to be thick enough to handle the theoretically possible current this system could use but yours may not have this issue,) cut the hot wire (that's the one with the smaller prong if you live in the US,) I put in a toggle switch that can handle the current (not really a problem, most can even handle what an air conditioner can use, much less an efficient speaker system that only uses what it needs.) and finally I put in a toroid in the hopes it would keep any extra noise from being introduced from this process (so far so good.) I took it a step further though and took a PC's power cord and ran it to the cord for the on/off switch (and I put a toroid over the point where I connected it to the main plug) then I shortened the modified extention cord since it no longer needed to be so long and that's just more room for troubles to crop up.

The 2.1s don't run nearly as hot due to a much simpler amp system. I didn't want to void my waranty on my speakers and the on/off switch is pretty inconvenient with these (it's on the sub) but they get a bit warm even just idling so I wanted them off when not being used to ensure they will last as long as possible (after seeing people talk about having the Promedia 5.1s last 6+ years I feel a lot more confident though. Oh well.Īnyway, you can always do what I did. I never understood why people want thumpy bass.

Altec lansing atp3 speaker system