How to set up passive speakers.

[KipperKlank]

So I bought a pair of these bad Bois

Speakers : https://imgur.com/gallery/y883Z

There a pair of akai ss-30 reel to reel tape monitoring speakers (from a little research. Correct me if I'm wrong)

Picked them up at an antique shop for $20 because I recognized the brand and I thought they looked cool XP. The only input is a single 1/4 in. ts jack. Says 8 ohms and a maximum handling of 5 watts.

I thought that the requirement seemed a little low to drive these speakers, so I plugged in a headphone output for my phone with an adapter into one of these speakers. The audio that comes out of them is a little quiet, but so far it's nice quality. I can definitely hear a good range of frequencies coming from the single diaphragm in here.

I'm just wondering what exactly I need in order to drive these speakers appropriately.
I feel like the sound that could come out of them could possibly be really nice if I had the correct setup. They are passive.
I have taken the front panel apart and so far the insides seem to be in very nice shape. There's no dry rotting anything.

 

[lovinthehd]

Something like a used receiver off craigslist would work well enough and perhaps make your budget happy? Maybe an inexpensive t-amp (like one of these). How much do you want to spend? Will have to be careful with the volume control with a max handling of 5W, tho.

 

[KipperKlank]

Something like a used receiver off craigslist would work well enough and perhaps make your budget happy? Maybe an inexpensive t-amp (like one of these). How much do you want to spend? Will have to be careful with the volume control with a max handling of 5W, tho.

Seems like I'd have to splice wires. Is there anything with a 1/4 in ts jack for output? I haven't found anything. An I like the small for factor too.

 

[lovinthehd]

Could make your own (but 12 g is not needed, how long a cable do you want?), or buy a 1/4" to 1/4 speaker cable and cut one end. A 1/4 inch plug on speaker cable is a bit odd.

 

[BMXTRIX]

They have what looks like some decent ones on Amazon designed for speaker level input.

https://www.amazon.com/Hosa-SKJ-603-inch-Speaker-Cable/dp/B000068O75/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1502227200&sr=8-3&keywords=ts+speaker+cable

Get two of them in the length you need, and connect them to an amplifier. Looks like a fun little setup.