Luciano, the TDA1558Q looks like it would be a good choice. At first glance it looks like it doesnt need any external components either. It is a little more expensive but the main thing is that Rapid doesnt seem to stock it. Ill keep it in mind as a backup plan but i think im going to stick with the LM386. Thanx anyway

skimask, no i dont know what those things mean. I do have a few soundcards from old PCs just laying around doing nothing so i guess you could call them expendable. I will still go with your idea and add the volume control in to start with though. Ill be making it all up on a breadboard first anyway and im sure i have some variable resistors spare too.

I kind of get what AC/DC coupling means but im not sure what i would go with. Arnt sound cards line-level (i believe that means 0V and below) so i would assume DC since the voltage should never cross 0V.

Do you know what the output impedance of your sound card is? Does it really matter?
Erm, I wouldnt have thought so but since you mention it i guess it might. I didnt think the sound card would matter because its inputting to the chip. I have heard that the impendance of the speaker matters though. These speakers are the type that only have a part number on them and no other usefull information. A quick google search says they are 4 ohms. One of the 2 (LM386 or the first one i was looking at) said it can be used for both 4 and 8 ohm speakers