Why will the Boston Digital BA735 speakers from an old Gateway computer not work with my new Dell Inspiron 531S with Vista Windows, I did not order speakers because they were so good with my 2000 Gateway computer which is long gone so I thought I could use them! Dissapointed!

Well, you could try upgrading the sound card to one that has S/PDIF on it so you could use the speakers.

I have the same speakers. These are as their name says digital speakers. The problem is that the driver in your Gateway computer sent a digital signal to the analog speaker output. Your current PC sends a normal analog signal to the analog output and the boston speakers can't work with that. Finding a driver for your new computer that does the same trick is the only way, but I don't think that is available anymore . If you find it, let me know. On another note I have tried to connect the boston speakers to the digital output of my stereo, but that does not work. Could you try this and report if it works with you?

I have the same problem with my speakers. My ear phones work but not my speakers. My husband took the speakers apart and decided that the card in the bass speaker was defective. After reading your notes now I am not sure if that right either.

This situation happened to me two years ago when I transferred those great Boston Acoustics Digital BA735 speakers to my current computer. And I fixed the problem.

There are three major issues here:

1) The speakers are digital.
2) The audio port on your computer is probably analog.
3) The audio settings are set to analog.

First and foremost, you must make sure that the problem is NOT the speakers. Just try them out in your Gateway2000 again to make sure.

Next, plug the speakers into your computer's audio port. We're not sure yet if it really is just analog, or if it can support both, or what. (I say this because if you recall, the audio port from your Gateway2000 looks just like a regular analog audio port, yet it supports digital speakers.)

After plugging in the speakers and booting up your computer, open up your Volume settings. You can find this under Start-->Settings-->Control Panel-->Sounds and Audio Devices. Once you have the settings open, go under Options and click "Advanced Controls". This will give you a button on the bottom left of the controls, right beneath "Mute All."

Click on Advanced. Once here, you will notice Tone Controls to adjust the Bass and Treble, and below these, you will see "Digital Output Only." Click on the little white box next to "Digital Output Only" to put a check mark in there. Hit close. Make sure that your Main and Wave audio levels in the volume settings are high enough to hear something (I suggest at least half volume, or highest volume for testing purposes).

Test out the sound again. If it works, then fantastic! You've solved the problem! Congrats. :-)

If it doesn't work, then you know the problem lies in the sound card. What you need to do now is to install a digital sound card into your computer. "Oh no, another purchase?" Actually, you should be able to just use your old Gateway2000 sound card! Afterall, it was just a PCI-Slot sound card in the first place, so it should be compatible with your new computer, provided that there is a free PCI slot. Removal and installation of PCI cards is very simple and not too difficult. If you've never done it before, I suggest consulting a computer geek friend of yours, or to look on the internet for PCI Installation guides.

Remember: the computer must be off before you remove or put anything into the case. And always make sure to discharge static from yourself before you touch any of the parts inside. An anti-static wrist guard is HIGHLY recommended.

Once you've installed the sound card, plug the speakers into the card, and boot the computer. The Windows XP drivers should be enough to recognize the card and allow it some functionality. Reboot again to insure that the drivers are installed properly.

Test the sound again. If it works, congrats!

If it doesn't work, open up your Volume Settings again (it's called Play Control on my work computer). Under Options, click Properties. At the top, there is an area where you can choose what sound card/drivers/Mixer Device is being used to output the sound. Click on it and choose "SB Live!" or whatever the Gateway2000 sound card is.

Hit OK, and test your sound again! This SHOULD finally fix your sound problem. Congratulations!

...In CASE all of the steps above didn't fix your problem, the last thing you could do is to try and find your Windows Me CD book and install the Windows Me drivers for the sound card, from the SB Live! CD or other install discs. I did this before, and it wasn't quite compatible with XP, but then I downloaded some drivers online, which also were compatible, but wouldn't quite work correctly. But having installed BOTH sets of drivers simultaneously somehow fudged the system into allowing the sound to work. ONLY TRY THIS IF YOUR SOUND REALLY ISN'T WORKING. 'Cause it's normally not a good idea to install programs or drivers into your computer if they were meant for a different operating system.

If you have any questions with the above steps, you can e-mail me at GokuHB@hotmail.com for more help. I'm a guest here and certainly not a regular user of the forums, so I won't be checking this forum again for updates. I just wanted to help out. :-)

--Harold

Has anyone tried these speakers with a DVD player?

I tried to plug my set (which is in great condition. I purchased it for 25¢ at a yard sale) into the coax audio-out on my DVD player. The coax is a RCA jack, as is the digital-in on the 735's. Oddly, though, it resulted in weird, non-static distortion when I turned on the DVD. Does anyone know if a special coax cable is needed?

quote Maggiem

Why will the Boston Digital BA735 speakers from an old Gateway computer not work with my new Dell Inspiron 531S with Vista Windows, I did not order speakers because they were so good with my 2000 Gateway computer which is long gone so I thought I could use them! Dissapointed!

EXACT same problem here. Did you find a resolution?

I just installed some old BA735's in PCLinuxOS, and they work excellently.
Also using the SB-Live! CT4830 soundcard from the old Gateway2000.
My current mobo is nothing special, with Athlon XP 2800+ cpu.
But the sound is awesome, as expected.

Now that all of you highly educated professionals have posted your opinions, would you like to know how to make the speakers work? First of all, locate a 1/8 to 1/8 male stereo connecting wire (or go out and purchase one). Now remove the digital cable from the back of the computer and from the subwoofer. Take the new 1/8 to 1/8 stereo male connector, plug one end into the analog input of the subwoofer and the other end into your computer. Then take the speaker wire that you removed from the analog input of the subwoofer and plug it into the other satellite speaker. NEXT?..... CRANK UP THE VOLUME!!!. . . . . .
You're welcome.

My BA735s don't have a separate analog for the sub woofer (there are 2 models of the BA 735s)so your fix doesn't help me. I was able to get a driver from Gateway's site and install the old card. It works fine but the sound doesn't compete with the Audigy 2 card I have. I tried that first with the digital connection on it but it wouldn't work. You would think there was some sort of connector out there to make the set work with analog.

The PCnut was absolutely right, it worked like a charm. $6 for the wire at radioshack. I am very glad someone KNOWS what they are talking about out there. Thanks, PCnut.
mike

quote thepcnut

Now that all of you highly educated professionals have posted your opinions, would you like to know how to make the speakers work? First of all, locate a 1/8 to 1/8 male stereo connecting wire (or go out and purchase one). Now remove the digital cable from the back of the computer and from the subwoofer. Take the new 1/8 to 1/8 stereo male connector, plug one end into the analog input of the subwoofer and the other end into your computer. Then take the speaker wire that you removed from the analog input of the subwoofer and plug it into the other satellite speaker. NEXT?..... CRANK UP THE VOLUME!!!. . . . . .
You're welcome.

Wow, 5 months later, and people are still e-mailing me about this issue.

Unfortunately, thepcnut and mickeyg, Polski is right. Not all versions of the BA735 have an analog input, otherwise boom, you're right, that's all you need to do.

Thanks for the suggestion, though, because my model doesn't have analog input, so I wasn't able to give that solution.

Also, my instructions were for Desktop PCs with Windows XP. Vista is another animal, and the instructions are similar, but not exactly the same. Those with Laptops could try to follow the directions, but obviously not the part where you have to install your old SB Live! soundcard.

Best of luck, everyone!

I have had these speakers on my 6.5 year old Gateway and still love the sound, and I have been an audiophile for a very long time now.

Now I am getting a new high end PC and would like to know the power specs of these speakers; how many watts per channel and sub woofer?

Can't find it so far...

Thanks if you can help...

My Boston speakers worked fine with my Gateway PC and although my new replacement PC supports both digital and S/PDIF outputs I still am having real issues with any bass output on ANY music. Any ideas anyone, I'd welcome the chance to give these a second try before they are consigned to the recylcing plant!!