If I were to say recommend me some GOOD speakers, would you say...

yaggayagga Havn't you heard? ... New
edited July 2007 in Hardware
Klipch? I am looking for a nice upgrade. I want good sound quality, not necessarily loudness, although they both generally come with each other. Recommend me some. I always like the idea of surround sound, but in reality, my current set is 6.1 and I've only used the rears about 3 days out of the last 4 years, so I'm open.

Also, regarding sound cards and motherboards. Are sound cards recommended with good speakers, or is onboard sound just as good nowadays?

Price is no object :eek: but but but, if the right deal comes shoot it my way anyway, speakers are pretty stable in price, though.

Comments

  • cambrosecambrose
    edited July 2007
    I don't know if you want to hear this or not, but my mom bought some bose computer speakers for her PC, and they are amazing. We bought them from Sam's club. Just my .02 though.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Anything in the 500w RMS range from Klipsch or Logitech. Their 5.1 sets with that wattage are their premium models, and they sound amazing. Make sure they have SPDIF. :)
  • KwitkoKwitko Sheriff of Banning (Retired) By the thing near the stuff Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Use a dedicated sound card, definitely.
  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Kwitko wrote:
    Use a dedicated sound card, definitely.

    I'm curious as to why you would. I've never really been able to determine if a sound card would be worth the buy - mind breaking it down?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    No interference from the mainboard. Better DSP. Better drivers (Anything but X-Fi).
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited July 2007
    NiGHTS wrote:
    I'm curious as to why you would. I've never really been able to determine if a sound card would be worth the buy - mind breaking it down?

    I recommend Logitech Z5500's for speakers and the difference from onboard to a dedicated sound card is MASSIVE when you have good speakers.

    For a sound card I hands down I recommend m-audio for sounds quality. Creatives is better for gaming tho and its sound quality is close.

    Heres a few m-audio cards

    Good

    If your an audiophile you will want this (Im looking at the second one I plan to buy it in a few weeks and upgrade from my Audigy 2 ZS)

    Also the op amp looks upgradeable on the audiophile series.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Find reviews for Auzentech, mAudio and Terratec. All of them are fantastic, and not Creative (Very important). I run an Auzentech X-Mystique, and it's wonderful.
  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    See this is what I've never understood.

    How can an Audigy be fantastical at movies and gaming, but not music? They can deliver a punch when an explosion occurs without a hitch, but they have a hard time with alternating pitch and tone or something?
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    It's all in the drivers/DSP. You know how video cards have to do DirectX, and OpenGL, and MPEG4 decoding, and MPEG2 decoding, and H.264? And that not all cards do all of them equally well?

    Same thing for sound cards. Some DSPs are just better at doing certain tasks than others. So happens that the Audigy has nice hardware, but horrible drivers that should never see the light of day.
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited July 2007
    Thrax wrote:
    It's all in the drivers/DSP. You know how video cards have to do DirectX, and OpenGL, and MPEG4 decoding, and MPEG2 decoding, and H.264? And that not all cards do all of them equally well?

    Same thing for sound cards. Some DSPs are just better at doing certain tasks than others. So happens that the Audigy has nice hardware, but horrible drivers that should never see the light of day.

    Accuracy its just there windows drivers that suck the reverse engineered alsa drivers on linux are amassing they sound much much better for music then the windows drivers. (The linux drivers only support up to the audigy 4, No x-fi support at all).
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Reverse engineered, READ: Not creative's own drivers. They've been modified by competent people.
  • NiGHTSNiGHTS San Diego Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    Interesting, thanks for the information.
  • Your-Amish-DaddyYour-Amish-Daddy The heart of Texas
    edited July 2007
    Oh yeah. In linux my prologic system sounded CRYSTAL! In windows, it's a bit fuzzy, but I can hit my EQ and take some of that out. And real audiophiles have SOUND SYSTEMS, not speakers for a computer. My soundcard has a thick braid of RCA cables running out of it.
  • ThelemechThelemech Victoria Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    I am not an audio expert but I have a pair of Harman-kardon speakers that sound absolutely sonically excellent,
    They cost me about 100 minus sub couple of years ago.
    I listen to much more music than is recomended by the Surgeon General!!!!!!!!
  • aznherb36
    edited July 2007
    I was big into audio when i was like 15, joined a audiophile sony forum and learned a good amount about home audio, and stuff like that. I went from old Technics tower speakers to Athena AS-F1 towers speakers and the quality is awesome. Along with the two speakers is a center channel H/K, 2 rear sony satallite speakers mounted on the ceiling, and a KLH subwoofer that does the job fine. pushing all this is the Sony STR-DE595 Receiver.

    I have the audigy 2 as well. I can say this thing bumps very nice, and with MOST songs the surround sound actually works great as long as you calibrate your speakers.


    If you got the few extra dollars, build a home audio system and convert it to a computer/home audio system. This Dell 20" widescreen + audio system is glory:bigggrin:
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited July 2007
    If you want to upgrade a bit go for a good pair of computer speakers, Kilpch or Bose.
    If you start looking around you will notice that 'real' audio speakers are a lot more expensive than computer speakers. They are built to fill a room with sound.
    In a similar way when you move to a m-Audio or AuzenTech sound card you get much more precise handling of the D-A conversion of the signals. You also get much cleaner sound.

    To be honest, I don't really like 5.1. Unless you game a lot don't bother. If you listen sitting at your computer then get good computer speakers and use the on board sound. It might be that with good speakers you can hear that it isn't as good as you would like. If so then get a real sound card.
  • steelclashsteelclash SC
    edited July 2007
    Altec Lansing makes very good PC speakers.
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited July 2007
    Your Amish Daddy wrote:
    And real audiophiles have SOUND SYSTEMS, not speakers for a computer. My soundcard has a thick braid of RCA cables running out of it.
    For hardcore ones yah, but... my cerwin vega's sound much lower quality (Probably because my amps a pos) then my Logitech Z5500's. (However the logitech Z5500's didn't shine till I changed the speaker wire a few weeks ago.)
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited July 2007
    I have a set of Logitech Z680s and they are great. A little boomy and need some adjustment but awesome for gaming. The Z5500's replaced the 680s and sound a bit better, especially in the low-frequency ranges. Awesome bang for the buck IMO.
  • muddocktormuddocktor
    edited July 2007
    I agree about the Z5500's, especially if you find them on sale. I found mine on sale for less than $240 delivered about a year ago.
Sign In or Register to comment.