Need advice hooking up computer with Infinity RS5 Loudspeakers

[zarkon]

Hello All, So I finally got a nice computer. I went ahead a put a Santa Cruz sound card in it. At this point, I haven't bought any speakers to go along with it, BUT I do have a pair of Infinity RS5 lying around that are not being used. I wanted to find out
a) Should I connect RS5 to my computers, and if so how (Using an external amp?)
b) Put RS5 up for sale and buy a new system for my computer?

Thanks.

[Mpowered]

I don't know how good those speakers are, but just hook up a reciever to the Santa Cruz and the speakers to the reciever

[ribitch]

i agree with mpowered. use the amp in your reciever to power the speaker and then connect your comp to the reciever.

[zarkon]

Thanks a lot for your advice. I am definitely going the reciever route. One more question, my audio card has an S/PDIF interface. So should I invest in buying a receiver with S/PDIF capabilities?

[Mpowered]

Originally posted by zarkon
Thanks a lot for your advice. I am definitely going the reciever route. One more question, my audio card has an S/PDIF interface. So should I invest in buying a receiver with S/PDIF capabilities?

If you have the money to do so go for it. If you are not to picky about your sound quality you won't notice a thing. I know many people like that. But if you notice little things in sound quality it can make a difference. SPDIF allows just one less route for the audio to travel in analog format thus lowering the chances for sound degredation. But if you use crap wires components anywhere else it won't matter how good the SPDIF connection is. Components include speakers, reciever, wires, etc...

I personally prefer an SPDIF connection in my setup over analog or optical.