December 06, 2004

• I was thinking I probably won't upgrade a sound card in a pc that I will probably be getting rid of, so I guess I am wondering: what company of speakers to go for, and, 5 speakers or 2?
• I adore my Harmon-Kardon speakers. /not much help
• for basic stereo earth shattering sound connected with any anolog output, the Altec Lansing FX6021 3-Piece System is second to none. You can probably demo one at a local Apple Store and can get it for 100 bucks cheaper at amazon.com. other options include such things as a usb audio interface or the Airport Express from apple (as you will be switching to an iBook anyway). the airport express has an optical output which can be put to good use with a home entertainment center.
• There are thousands of speaker manufacturers, and hundreds of good ones.Stick with the speaker specialists, except for BOSE, who make the world's worst loudspeakers. NEVER buy speakers marketed by electronic equipment manufactures such as JVC, Sony,Pioneer etc. Stick with the speaker specialists, except for BOSE, who make the world's worst loudspeakers. As to 5.1 or stereo, idelity is fidelity.Always auditon Loudspeakers in stereo. Then ,get matching surrounds, if home theatre is what you are after. Give me a budget and form factor you are prepared to live with, and I can better advise you.
• budget is probably 100-200, maybe 250. I just want good sound.
• Also, what are the respectable speaker only companies, and are wireless systems worth it?
• For 200 bucks, nothing compares (as I mentioned above)
• The rules of physics require a 3 inch woofer to accurately reproduce mid-range frequencies. Those Altec Lansings linked to violate every rule of fidelity. One inch is the correct size for a tweeter, not a driver. Further, they have 10% THD which is ABYSMAL. They wouldn't be worth the gunpowder to blow them up. For your budget, you want a pair of bookshelf speakers with; one inch aluminium dome teeeters, and 3 inch poly drivers, butyl rubber surrounds and 1/2 inch MDF enclosures. 5-way gold plated binding posts to allow decent gauge speaker wire, as well. What Big Box retailers are in your area, that we look at their web-sites and narrow down your choices?
• Frys, Best Buy, Compusa....etc. etc. etc. I live in a major area, but have no real specialty stores. Also, I thought bookshelf speakers wouldn't allow to be hooked up to a computer?
• oh pardon me. I read "or even hook up to my stereo". I assumed your had an amp you were runnng your computer audio output to.
• No, but, I would look forward to doing such a thing.
• so there is a way to run your computer to a good auxilary system? What would that require, an amplifier, reciever, what else?
• At the high end of your range, you'll find that you can get some pretty inexpensive studio monitors that I happen to like: Fostex PM.05 | amazon link. I use Fostex PM1s for my home music studio, and for their price, I think they're the best near-field monitors you can get. Also, they're self-powered. The downside is that you'll want to have a decent add-on or new sound card that has 1/4-inch outputs. It's a bit on the high end, but if you're looking near those prices studio monitors, with a very good and flat frequency response, will give you the best results, not to mention that after several hours of gaming, you might notice a big less "ear fatigue" than with crummier speakers that have ringy upper-mid-range or other similar problems.
• toohep: I have one PC (the one I use for music) hooked up to my old NAD 3225 amp with a pair of cheap-but-OK peakers. Sounds far better than most "PC" speakers will. My rule of thumb for buying audio equipment: spend money until you (a) run out of budget or (b) can't hear the difference any more.
• *a bit less "ear fatigue," that is.
• I haven't listened to my CD chager since I received a hard drive with 10,000 songs on as a XMAS present, 2 years ago. I use the 3.5 mm mini stereo output jack on the back of the computer to run to my Yamaha reciever, connected to MIssion 754 towers. I thought everyone did this, and that's what we were talking about. So-called computer speakers simply have low current power supplies built in . They ALL suck compared to a real audio system.
• Okay, new question. What do I need to run my computer into an amp? Would I still need a better soundcard, or any special adapters? Really, I know nothing when it comes to audio equipment.
• That depends on your soundcard. If you have a bog-standard one, you probaly only have mini output jacks. If you have an RCA-style output on your sound card, that's ideal for typical receivers. Many receivers aside from the RCA inputs have mini input, so all you'd need is a double-male cable from your nearby electronics store. If you don't have a receiver already, the combination of receivers and decent speakers will put you well over your range. I have a great Yamaha receiver that I use for my TV/DVD/CD/mp3 listening, and on my computer, as I said before I use the Fostex monitors. The advantage of the Fostex monitors is that they're internally powered and bi-amped (a separate amplifier in the enclosure for the tweeter and the woofer), which saves me a lot of space in my home studio. For the Fostex, if you don't have a sound card that has 1/4-inch output, you may need to get an adapter, mini male to split 1/4-inch stereo female, which you can also get at radio shack. Then you'd use standard instrument cables from the jack to the monitors. I can't vouch for that particular setup, though, as I have a sound card with a breakout box that has 1/4-inch outputs.
• For a sound card with a standard 1/8" jack, you can just get a 1/8"-to-RCA Y-cord. You should be able to find one at just about any electronics/audio store. That's how I'm currently listening to MP3s through my ancient hi-fi receiver! Onboard sound is usually the suck. It might be worth it to invest in a half-decent soundcard (USD$40 or so).
• Well, see, with a laptop an upgraded soundcard might not be available. (RCA are the red/yellow cables right?)
• Radio-shack y-adaptor. $1.95, max. Run to phono cables into an unused input set on the back of your amp. As mentioned though, your sound card probably bites. So... do you have an amp laying around? And/or some speakers?
• No, my plan for that is to go with my techno-phobe uncle to some secondhand shops and get an amp. But do I need a reciever, or is that the same thing, or what? All I have is a computer right now.
• Is what I am hearing that I basically need to find a way to go from 1/8 connection to amp to speakers? What does this connector look like? baby talk would be appreciated at this point.
• From a laptop, you'll definitely have little wiggle-room as far as upgrading goes. Plus, you'll be going out of a headphone jack, which carries variable power, rather than an "output" jack which carries line-level (a fixed amount of power). The downside of going out of a headphone jack is the likelihood of distortion when you plug it back into a receiver. So really what we're deciding is probably between an audiophile solution and a simpler, though probably not as good-sounding one. In the audiophile category, you have PareidolaticBoy's suggestion of separate Receiver (same as amplifier, more or less, but it has more functions than just "amplification") and Speakers, and what I use, which are self-powered studio monitors. For sheer volume and sound quality, both will be good. But if you don't have a Receiver or speakers, the self-powered monitors might be cheaper. You also have the lower cost solution, which if you don't have a lot of experience with audio, you may not notice any degradation from the higher-end options, which would be a good set of Harmon/Kardon self-powered computer speakers from the computer store. They may not sound as good, but you also may not notice the difference if you don't have a lot of experience with audio. For about $100 you can probably get some good ones. So you can choose the pricier solution which will definitely sound good or the more affordable one which may not sound noticeably worse or very bad at all. Ultimately, though, trust your ears. If you get something and you don't like how it sounds in the space you'll be using it, take it back and try something else.
• Does anyone have experience with using a USB connection to an amp? How is the sound quality? Drawbacks?
• No offense to uhmyang, but I suspect one would get better sound from these similarly priced Klipsch Promedia speakers - which I don't own, but I've known people who swear by them, and the basic setup seems superior to those of the Altec system (6 1" drivers? Why?). Personally, what I do is connect the output of my laptop to my compact JVC system, which actually sounds surprisingly good for the price (at least IMHO). On preview:

  Does anyone have experience with using a USB connection to an amp? How is the sound quality? Drawbacks?

  I own a Xitel USB HiFi Link. The sound is actually quite good - but I don't use really use it any more (in fact, I'd be willing to sell it pretty cheap - if anyone here wants it). For some reason, I don't think it played very nicely with my Fujitsu laptop - in that I used to have WMP, or even Flash w/ sound, sometimes crash my computer HARD. I discountinued use of the HiFi link, and did some other cleanup steps, and the problem hasn't recurred. I'm not at all sure , However, that the Xitel was at fault (and I haven't heard of other people having this problem). Anyway, I find that the built-in sound from my laptop is actually pretty good.
• I just went through researching speakers too. I got these after listening to many many sets of speakers. It is something you should do as well, take in a favourite CD and play it on different sets. I disagree with the idea of a surround sound system for music (I play games and music on mine too). I'd go for a 2.1 system (2 satellites and a sub-woofer).
• Also: If you're mostly listening to music, and are therefore willing to give up some bass in exchange for mids and highs, these look awesome.
• no offense taken. i almost bought a pair of klipsch but found they were quirky with powerbooks. any adjustment of the sound caused high pitch static. a friend that works for apple said that they have the same problems with all their klipsch demos. i found the quality and ease of use of the altecs really crisp, but that's just my experience. unlike many technically minded gurus here, i don't pay much attention to the specs --- i pay attention to the music when i demo them. maybe there is something about the altecs that appeals to the ears of drummers. don't have a clue to the mechanics, but for stand alone computer speakers --- i consider the altecs a sonic delight and much more distinct than klipsch. of course, i've heard other people swear to the contrary. ahh well -- my advice --- buy what your ears like. cheers

• i pay attention to the music when i demo them.

  Well, that's (ultimately) all that matters.
• As far as the sound card goes, I've been doing a bit of research into this myself, for other reasons. For a WinXP box, the best bets at the moment seem to be the Chaintech AV-710, the Turtle Beach Catalina 7.1, and the M-Audio Revolution 7.1. All are based on the VIA Envy24 chip which VIA seems to be marketing very aggressively, thus the cheap prices and volume of choices. The only downside to the Envy24 is that it doesn't support the fancier types of 3D sound effects in video games. The Chaintech is the cheapest and gets quite decent reviews, and it's dirt cheap at only about $35. It's only limitation, if any, is that it only has spdif out. The Catalina is around $50, but has digital spdif in and out. However, reviews are slightly sketchy and it may be actually not quite as good sound as the Chaintech. Would still be much better than your on board sound. The Maudio Revolution 7.1 seems to have the best sound/price combo at the moment, but it's $99 and the consensus seems to be that it's only slightly better than the Chaintech. Just to confuse things, Maudio also has a Revolution 5.1, but I haven't had time to look into that yet. I suspect it would not be any advantage over the Chaintech. If you wish to research more in depth, I suggest starting at AVSforum.com, which seems to be a hide out for computer-centric audiophiles. Be warned, the discussions get pretty involved.
• Incidentally, this amp is getting some serious attention at the moment. See this review for instance. It's cheap, portable, _supposed_ to sound good and I've bought one, will be able to play with it this weekend. If anyone is interested I can drop a review here. If it is reasonably powerful, cheap good used speakers aren't hard to pick up, could be a way to go. *shrug*
• I have a small music server hooked straight into my hifi here, using a different M-Audio card to the ones mentioned above, the 24/96. The sound is quality is excellent, and the RCA phono outputs (exactly the same as any other audio component in your stack) makes it simple to connect to any amp/speakers combo. You might also want to consider hanging on to your desktop machine and using that for playing music, just controlling it from the laptop. That is what I have done and it works very well indeed. The first one was stuck in an old PlayStation 2 case [self link] to hide it away, but it was limited space-wise, so now I use a more conventional box with the soundcard mentioned above. This is controlled through any web browser, so you can choose and play music from anything on the network. Quality and flexibility - I love it. It would also have the benefit of finding a use for the old machine when you upgrade.
• Thanks for the mention of the AudioPhile, Gamecat. I've been looking into quality sound cards for a couple weeks now, and it just gets more and more complicated, but I hadn't come across the AudioPhile 2496 yet. Every little piece helps.
• Also, M-Audio makes a mighty fine card with a breakout box: the Omni-Studio if you're interested in doing home recording. With 4-in, 4-out, you can do quite a bit in a small studio, except perhaps a big drum recording setup.
• NEVER buy an iBook. They are monumental pieces of shit. Logic board sucks, and there's only one memory expansion bay. 128 MB (256 in the new 14.2s, I think... my company bought a crap load of the 12" right before the bigger ones came out) wired to the board on the bottom. God forbid you want to upgrade your HD size, you have to completely disassemble the damn thing. I fix these things for a living and nothing I can say will let you know how horrible they are. If you want a good machine, the 15" Powerbooks are the way to go. (A few hundred more, but well worth it) I have three of these, one for each gen, and I've never had a hardware problem. (17"s too expensive and they have screen problems.) /hijack
• Debaser, I have an iBook and I had a multitude of problems with it for the first two years. After five replacements because of logic board failure, we got in touch with AppleCare and said we wanted a new laptop, no matter what kind, as long as it wouldn't break down. Turned out right about then they'd finally fixed whatever was wrong with the logic boards and I've had the same iBook now for a whopping six months without failure, which is a record. (Except now the damn letters are rubbing off the keys. Jeez.)