Speakers advice

[-lynx-]

Just wondering what's good/bad/ugly out there. Not really into 5 satellites setups - there's plenty of those but I have SB Live 1024 and it's not 5.1 - speakers 1 & speakers 2 outputs.

Tried to find something with a sub and 4 satellites (conveniently moving a house very soon and already planned to rewire my computer room to accomodate ) but there's not many of those around and some rather confusiong specs for those that are available...

Personally, I find it difficult to accept that anything smaller than a free standing box can generate decent sound and most of computer sound systems look more like a joke rather than a sound system but I'm probably wrong . Help?

[Staga]

Maybe pair of Jamo CS-5 active speakers in front and you can still use old 10$ PC-speakers as a rear speakers if you want to.
Bad thing is they are Hi-Fi so they cost about 200$/pair but sound quality is in its own class  
 http://www.audioadvisor.com/product.cfm?productid=3371

[Staga]

... And if you think you're rich enough here's a solution: Genelec  

...Maybe one day... At least I can dream  

[Gunthr]

 http://www.klipsch.com/

(Pro-Media 4.1)

For once, I wanted to get some REALLY good speakers. These are them.    

[RoadfRash]

I use the Cambridge sound works, 4 small satlites and a sub that will rattle the floor, a little pricey but sounds very nice, make ship guns a real kick or hearin those 20, 30 ,and 37mm go off , it's great! <G>

[TheWobble]

Unless you have something against them, NOTHING I MEAN NOTHING, can beat a good set of headphones, im talking some good Soney type that cover your entire ear, they cost around $65-110 dollars, but they are all I use,  I DID have a Bose Acoustic waveform box (costs about $1000) and it did sound amazing, but there is just nothing that I have heard that even comes close to My Sony MDR-V700DJ headphones
 
For $150 dollars they are pricy for headphones, but when you consider that they saound better than a $200-400 set of surround sound speakers they are quite a value.


I have listened to almost everything out there, even the outlandishly expensive Klipsh(sp) seta and still My headphones sound BETTER,
Plus with headphones you can crank it up all ya want and dont have to worry about annoying others.

[MrSiD]

Sounds like you never heard a good pair of speakers Wobble..

Hybrid electrostatics can produce a sound as clear but much better in depth and feeling than any headphone.

[rosco-]

 $6.00 cable plugged into my home sterio, all i can say is WOW.

[SOB]

Bah, headphones or mere speakers?!?  Nothing beats having a subwoofer strapped under yer arse!  
 http://www.matthoffman.cc/chair.html

The first time I downloaded Mitsu's explosion sounds and dropped a 1k egg with a Jabo, the resulting explosion nearly made me wet myself!


SOB

[TheWobble]

 

Sounds like you never heard a good pair of speakers Wobble..
Hybrid electrostatics can produce a sound as clear but much better in depth and feeling than any headphone.

Actually, i HAVE heard lots of good and some of the BEST speakers out there..
For my B-Day my GF decided to buy me some new speakers, we went to best buy and went to their soundroom where they have..I dunno about 40 different setups.. I listened to almost all of the ...  i ended up taking the Klipch Pro Media 4.2 ehich is an AMAZING setup.  it cost about $300 if I remember right, they were very good, until I went back 2 days later and heppened to get to messing with the heqadphones, thats when i started playing with the soney headphones, i bough them with the intention of using them for when I dont want to wake anyone or if My gf wants to watch TV (in same room)

After listening to those headphones, I had no use in the klipch set up.  I ended up taking the klipch stuff back and bought a new chair and a new keyboard with volume control.

The Soney headphones wew CLEARER, MORE PRECISE, had DEEPER SHARPER BASS.

You can toy with whatever speakers you want but once you pick a RELLY good set of phones, you will never go back. You could MABY drop about $700 for set of speakers that MIGHT come close..but I doubt it.

Dont take my word for it, TRY THEM, see for yourself...Do what I did, buy the best speakers you can afford, and then buy a set of those headphones and try them both, you can always take one of them back....and it probably wont be the headphones.

The reason headphones sound better than speakers is because with speakers the sound bounces around the room and is usually at least 2 feet away..therfore the soundwaves can do things before they reach you...With headphones however the sounds is being channeled DIRECTLY into your ear, there is no loss of intensity at all, all frequencies arrive at the same rate with no dissaption.


 

Hybrid electrostatics can produce a sound as clear but much better in depth and feeling than any headphone.

Umm, lets see..how about a PRICE on a set of hybrid electrostatic speakers...lemme see here...  I could not find a pair (thats 2 spakers) fur UNDER $1500...so yea, maby those MIGHT sound better...never mind the fact that thaty cost 10x as much..
go ahead...show me a set of electrostatic speakers for UNDER $1000  


Beside all that technical crap..You would probably have to spend OVER $400 to get the level of sound quality You would get from a $150 set of headphones.  

Oh and if your a bass nut, you would be amazed at how they sound..you wouldent think that headphones could produce much bass..but they will blow yer mind..LITERALLY.

[This message has been edited by TheWobble (edited 03-21-2001).]

[AKSeaWulfe]

 

Originally posted by rosco-:
$6.00 cable plugged into my home sterio, all i can say is WOW.

Same here Rosco. Mine is a Studio-Standard by Fisher. It's powering two JBL 500s. My soundcard is the SB Live! 1024 with LiveWare!3.0 installed.

You've never experienced Aces High until you feel the floor beneath you quake from flak bursts, or rumble from gun fire and vibrate from your engine.

It's amazing.
-SW

[Westy]

 http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/hardware/features/speakers/

What a coincidence

-Westy

[Staga]

Cool looking?
-Absolutely yes.

HiFi?
-I would like to see some charts of frequency range with dB levels and amplifiers noise ratio, not "my opinions" before making any judgements.

Always makes me wonder when manufacturer gives lowest bass freq 30Hz but don't tell what was the dB level.

Brand X gives from 32Hz to 20KHz +/- 2.5 dB and
Brand Y gives from 28Hz to 22KHz +/- 6dB.

I would buy Brand X    

[This message has been edited by Staga (edited 03-22-2001).]

[-lynx-]

Thank you all - I tend to agree with Wobble on the subject of headphones but wanted something that would make general noise too

Price was relatively important too - $300 things look fantastic but...

Ordered Labtec 2515 - I'm refurbishing one room as a computer room with in-walls wiring etc already planned. Will put those satellites in the corners with no wires underfoot - should be OK for litsening to CDs while I'm working too .

[MrSiD]

I own large hybrid ESL:s and I would never trade the sound of them for headphones =)

And yes, $2000 ESL:s are the cheapest available range. For $4000 you can expect to have medium quality.

Wobble: I've never seen headphones that can produce the wall shaking blasts 20hz - 100hz area that my subwoofer produces. The headphones might give your ears what they need (although hearing 20hz thru headphones is pretty difficult), but the body lacks the punch.