PCI Card as Reciever?

[hhara]

Is there such a thing? After having a brief look at newegg everything appears to just have 3.5mm (or is it 2.5mm) outputs, SPDIF or optical. Basically what I am looking for is some type of PCI card that has 6 connections to each of my speakers in my 5.1 setup through regular speaker wire. The reason is so I no longer need to spend 200$ on a sound reciever. Or, if I dont plan on buying a reciever then I am not limited to the very few currently available "computer" 5.1 setups (only one I can think of the is the Z-5500).

I thought about this for a bit, and even though I am a Computer & Eletrical Engineer I couldnt think of any reason why this hasnt been done other then the fact that the power required to run 5 of the speakers (assuming the subwoofer is plugged in) would probably be too much - but thats just a guess. Maybe something to do with digital and analog signals as well? I am not sure.

Any correct insight would be appreciated.

 

[Xeth]

Your guess is probably right, any card based amp would be limited to about 300W (assuming it draws power from the ATX power supply), and it would be hard to cram the components + heatsink into a card that fits and is quiet enough. I don't think it's impossible but it makes much more sense to just put the amp into a relatively roomy subwoofer cabinet.

I have seen mods where people put amps into their computer cases though, but they're always much bigger than even a double height card when you include the heatsink.