Audio Systems: Hooking Laptop to Large Speakers for wedding, laptop, homestereo

Question
Hello, I want to use my laptop to run music for my wedding. Expecting 150 people so the room will be large. Question is, can I do this? Will my laptop be able to handle this? I have a HP Compaq 6715b. How hard will this be?

Answer
You sure can (and yes, the laptop can certainly handle it since the ports for that HP model include: 1 headphone/line-out).

What you need to do it:
 Stereo home receiver and speakers.
 You will probably need a 1/8" stereo female to RCA stereo adapter to hook the laptop output to the amp.
You will also need a long 1/8" stereo audio cable. The length of this cable depends on how far you must reach to the laptop from the amp/receiver. Both of these adapters are available at Radio Shack.

How you do it:
 Turn the receiver and laptop OFF, first.
 Next, connect the headphone/lineout port (on the laptop) to the Aux input of your receiver (using the adapter to go into the RCA's on the amp/receiver).
 Be sure the receiver input selector is NOT on 'Aux' and turn it on.
 Next, boot the laptop and open the audio playback application you plan to use.
*So that we do NOT overdrive the receiver Auxiliary input, set the master volume for the laptop at 50% and set the WAV output at 50%. The idea is to run the laptop settings 'right down the middle' with no EQ added and let the receiver volume do all of the master volume functions.   If you want to run the master volume from the music application on the laptop, be very careful how loud you set the volume output on the receiver! Mice are notorious for making a slider peg at 100% instantly.
 Finally, turn the receiver Volume to ZERO, then Select 'Aux' as the input for the receiver.

Now you should be able to play the music in the application on the Laptop and (once you turn up the volume on the receiver) hear it played through the Aux of the receiver setup and onto its' speakers.

This is one scenario. There are other possibilities such as using a small PA system. Just send your headphone output from the laptop into a channel on the PA. You would need a 1/8" to 1/4" stereo adapter.
You could also use the Laptop audio out as a preamp and 'send' that to a  component power amplifier and speakers.

Good luck and have fun!
Jerry Mael