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Is there a thread or a source I can read for what I'm looking for in computer speakers? I plan on using mine primarily from my thinkpad, and the last logitech set I got had terrible ground loop problems. also with the ipod
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Sep 27, 2008 13:36
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What is the cheapest cable hiding solution for (white) walls? Needs to fit component plus a minijack to stereo cable.. its going up one wall and across the ceiling
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Sep 27, 2008 19:29
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Not an Anthem posted:What is the cheapest cable hiding solution for (white) walls? Needs to fit component plus a minijack to stereo cable.. its going up one wall and across the ceiling Buy some cheap white raceway from your local DIY store. Shouldn't be more than $2-$3 per meter. Since you're going over the wall and ceiling, the better-hidden option would be to go through the wall/ceiling*, but that would be either more work or more costly. *) Assuming you live in the US where walls are made from wood and sheetrock, in stead of brick/stone.
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Sep 27, 2008 20:21
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I have not considered going through the wall/ceiling, are there DIY tutorials for this? Its an old place and the ceiling is plaster. Is there a cheaper place to get that raceway whatever stuff online? I am getting a bunch of cables through monoprice and I don't mind waiting a week. I also don't know what a "DIY store" is.. diy audio store? Don't know of any in chicago, I know a decent audio place but they dont sell it.
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Sep 27, 2008 20:49
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Guilty posted:Is there a thread or a source I can read for what I'm looking for in computer speakers? I plan on using mine primarily from my thinkpad, and the last logitech set I got had terrible ground loop problems. also with the ipod I've heard from several sources that the Logitech Z5500 is hands-down the best computer speaker system.
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Sep 27, 2008 20:56
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Not an Anthem posted:Is there a cheaper place to get that raceway whatever stuff online? I am getting a bunch of cables through monoprice and I don't mind waiting a week. I also don't know what a "DIY store" is.. diy audio store? Don't know of any in chicago, I know a decent audio place but they dont sell it. DIY stores are the places where you pick up stuff to do DIY projects with, Lowes is the only name I know in the US. Here's a link to their site. edit: home depot would have this stuff as well, but I can't find it on their site.
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Sep 27, 2008 21:00
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Oh duh, yeah thanks. I'm going to home depot today anyway.
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Sep 27, 2008 21:04
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Not an Anthem posted:Oh duh, yeah thanks. I'm going to home depot today anyway. My pleasure. You should be able to find these things near the spools of electrical wire and that sort of stuff.
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Sep 27, 2008 21:12
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Im currently looking at the Denon AVR2309CI. It has 4 HDMI in (I want a minimum of 3 but 4 is preferred), plus 1080p upscaling. It meets my budget, but I wondered if there was anything better for the price?
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Sep 29, 2008 18:30
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ok I've got a sever ground loop problem going on, and I've isolated the conflict to between my external hard drive and my speakers, when they're both plugged into the computer and running, I get a huge hum. Is an isolator going to help fix that? Or do I get new speakers? If it helps, I'm located in germany where the currents might be different.
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Sep 30, 2008 09:47
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Guilty posted:ok I've got a sever ground loop problem going on, and I've isolated the conflict to between my external hard drive and my speakers, when they're both plugged into the computer and running, I get a huge hum. Is an isolator going to help fix that? Or do I get new speakers? If it helps, I'm located in germany where the currents might be different. Well, to get rid of that hum, you need to electrically decouple your audio signal from the noise that is introduced by your external hard drive. A ground loop isolator will do just that, so you should be good. Conrad.de has one for 18 euro (search for Masseschleifen-Isolator). You should be able to pick a cheaper one up (for a bit more than 10 euro, typically) at a good electronics or car parts shop. All isolators you'll find will use RCA plugs, so don't forget to pick up the right adapters from two rca to 3.5 mm as well. pim01 fucked around with this message at 21:18 on Sep 30, 2008 |
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Sep 30, 2008 21:14
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Quick question: I just got a cheapo home theater system from a guy who threw it in with a TV I bought, and I need a bit longer cable for the speakers - can someone tell me what the name of this type of cable is called (if it isn't proprietary), and if extension cables exist for them? Click here for the full 1632x1224 image. thanks!
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Oct 1, 2008 22:41
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SgtScruffy posted:Quick question: I just got a cheapo home theater system from a guy who threw it in with a TV I bought, and I need a bit longer cable for the speakers - can someone tell me what the name of this type of cable is called (if it isn't proprietary), and if extension cables exist for them? That is hella proprietary.
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Oct 2, 2008 01:08
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fahrvergnugen posted:That is hella proprietary. Well, drat. is there any way I can get an extension to it, short of stripping the outside wire and jerry-rigging something?
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Oct 2, 2008 01:57
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SgtScruffy posted:Well, drat. is there any way I can get an extension to it, short of stripping the outside wire and jerry-rigging something? It's probably just a signal and ground wire. Go for it.
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Oct 2, 2008 02:02
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Thoughts on not using a center channel speaker? I've seen atleast one person in the AV Setups not having one, claiming they are a scam. While it seems to make sense that stereo speakers should be able to reproduce central sounds, elsewhere online there are claims that this only works if sitting directly in the center.
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Oct 2, 2008 16:36
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Not using a center speaker is fine if your fronts are good speakers.
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Oct 2, 2008 17:06
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qirex posted:Not using a center speaker is fine if your fronts are good speakers. True, but only if your surround-sound decoder can matrix a "phantom" center channel. Most can, but you have to be careful about this, because otherwise you'll get a situation where the receiver merrily decodes 5.1 and then you don't get any dialogue from your DVDs.
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Oct 2, 2008 17:33
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On Unicornback posted:Thoughts on not using a center channel speaker? I've seen atleast one person in the AV Setups not having one, claiming they are a scam.
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Oct 2, 2008 18:57
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Use a center channel. It provides most dialogue in DVDs, making it stand out from the other sounds, and allows you to control the dialogue level. It's great in games for voice chat and for sounds directly in front. I just set ventrilo to use only the center, and it's made a significant improvement by providing separation over in-game sounds.
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Oct 2, 2008 21:08
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fahrvergnugen posted:True, but only if your surround-sound decoder can matrix a "phantom" center channel. Most can, but you have to be careful about this, because otherwise you'll get a situation where the receiver merrily decodes 5.1 and then you don't get any dialogue from your DVDs.
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Oct 2, 2008 23:18
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I guess I was wondering if anyone had any first hand experience not using a center channel. My fronts are Wharfedale Atlantic 200s, which I have loved for about 7 (christ!) years now. The Wharfedale Sapphire center has always left something to be desired -- it seems to be very compressed/tinny. In a general need to buy new toys I'm looking for some new floor standing speakers to bi-amp with my new Onkyo 606 in the upcoming months. I'm liking AV123s In the ~$600-$800 range. I'm trying to figure out if I'm going to benefit more by upgrading the center first, as I still love my fronts. Basically I guess I realized what I really need to do is just get off my rear end and demo the hell out of the center vs. phantom and see if it works for me. I'd still be interested in thoughts from those running bare-center or who have run that way.
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Oct 3, 2008 04:30
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A proper, matching center will always be better than phantom unless you can't place the center speaker optimally or close to optimally (ie near the L/R speakers in height which should also be around sitting ear height). Movies are mixed with a dedicated central channel for a reason. Of course, I've been without a center channel since I first put together my set-up, but that will be changing soon. Phantom sounds pretty good granted you're in the sweet spot but otherwise it's messy.
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Oct 3, 2008 10:08
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There's a difference between a "phantom" center and a 2-channel mixdown. IMO not having the receiver try to do sneaky timing and echo tricks is preferable.
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Oct 3, 2008 19:45
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qirex posted:There's a difference between a "phantom" center and a 2-channel mixdown. IMO not having the receiver try to do sneaky timing and echo tricks is preferable. Are you saying a "phantom" center is the two front speakers with sneaky timing and echo tricks? and that a 2 channel mix down is the "clean" version with no processing done? do any receivers even have that option?
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Oct 3, 2008 21:07
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I think we're dealing with a vocabulary issue here. There's several ways to do it. The Dobly Digial standard way [which might be called "phantom"] is to split the center signal equally between the fronts with some kind of volume adjustment and in my experience sounds fine. There's also a lot of "virtual cinema" modes on receivers that try to emulate the experience of actually having a center and surround speakers and those in my experience tend to suck. In any case if you're actually not getting the center channel audio at all you've set up your equipment wrong. As far as going without, I've heard a lot of setups with a center that was either tonally different, too big or too small for the mains and it can range from being pretty unnoticeable to just plain annoying. Also there are some DVDs that have a dedicated stereo mix, usually older ones. If you only have 2 speakers it's usually better to pick that one over the surround one. qirex fucked around with this message at 21:52 on Oct 3, 2008 |
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Oct 3, 2008 21:50
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I don't yet have a speaker solution for my new TV and I was wondering how people usually accomplish the corner speaker that will be at one end of the couch. i.e. no matter how I arrange the furniture, one of the speakers will need to have wire go over the carpet--likely mostly under the couch, but there will probably be a section that won't be hidden. This is just an example--I haven't figured out how I'm actually going to set it up yet. But for this example, what do you do about the right rear speaker? (In the picture the "wall" does end there so there is only open space at the end of the couch)
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Oct 3, 2008 21:51
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ChiliMac posted:This is just an example--I haven't figured out how I'm actually going to set it up yet. But for this example, what do you do about the right rear speaker? (In the picture the "wall" does end there so there is only open space at the end of the couch)
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Oct 3, 2008 22:08
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ChiliMac posted:I don't yet have a speaker solution for my new TV and I was wondering how people usually accomplish the corner speaker that will be at one end of the couch. i.e. no matter how I arrange the furniture, one of the speakers will need to have wire go over the carpet--likely mostly under the couch, but there will probably be a section that won't be hidden. Get long cables for the rears. Your room setup is very workable, since the couch will hide a lot. Wallmount the rears, run the wires to the floor behind the couch, and follow the wall to the TV area. You can cover it with raceway if that's an issue. Lower the volume of the rears relative to the rest since they're much closer to you. Dominoes fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Oct 3, 2008 |
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Oct 3, 2008 22:24
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Dominoes posted:Get long cables for the rears. Your room setup is very workable, since the couch will hide a lot. Wallmount the rears, run the wires to the floor behind the couch, and follow the wall to the TV area. You can cover it with raceway if that's an issue. Lower the volume of the rears relative to the rest since they're much closer to you. There would really not be any wall for the right rear, that's part of the problem--what if it was arranged so that there was no wall behind the couch? Actually you just reminded me that I don't need the rears right on the couch.. what about a layout like:  Little filled circles being the speakers.
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Oct 4, 2008 03:24
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I have a set of stereo speakers on my desk that is hooked up to my sound card, I also have an xbox 360 hooked up to my monitor with the RCA Audio portion of the cable converted into 3.5 stereo which is currently hooked up to nothing. I want to run both lines to the same set of speakers and use some sort of switch to easily press a button and change between audio sources because I hate going under and switching the cord everytime I want to change audio sources. I've googled around and I can't seem to find poo poo for it so I'm hoping someone here has had a similar situation and has remedied it. Thanks in advance.
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Oct 4, 2008 19:40
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dirigible stew posted:I have a set of stereo speakers on my desk that is hooked up to my sound card, I also have an xbox 360 hooked up to my monitor with the RCA Audio portion of the cable converted into 3.5 stereo which is currently hooked up to nothing. http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10112&cs_id=1011201&p_id=3027&seq=1&format=1#largeimage this with 3.5mm female to 2 RCA male, and 3.5mm male to to RCA male first ones kinda hard to find...
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Oct 5, 2008 08:20
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Question regarding ripping CDs in FLAC: If I'm ripping a CD in FLAC format in Winamp, what's the difference between the Encoder Options? Specifically, is "Fast Encoding" going to be better quality than "Best Compression"? The terms are rather vague. Edit: Also, I noticed that all FLACs have fluctuating bitrates, and I assume the compression factor has something to do with it. I know that uncompressed WAVs always have a bitrate of 1411 Kbps. Maybe I just don't know how FLAC works, so could someone enlighten me? And for that matter, is there a difference in quality between WAV and FLAC? I would naturally assume WAV to be higher quality, since it usually yields a higher bit rate and larger file sizes, but again, I'm not sure. Cosmopolitan fucked around with this message at 10:38 on Oct 5, 2008 |
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Oct 5, 2008 10:24
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Okay! I just want to make sure my plan will work before I lay down the money. I want to get the RCA audio output of my old tv to headphones. I asked a week ago and someone recommended I get a headphone amp. So if I got this amp and this cable, I could plug the RCA end of the cable into the TV, the 1/8 inch into the input of the amp, and my headphones into the output without problem. Is the correct? I also noticed that I could get this cable, but I do not think the power output of the tv is going to be enough to power these headphones. Rusty Kettle fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Oct 5, 2008 |
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Oct 5, 2008 17:30
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Anunnaki posted:Question regarding ripping CDs in FLAC: Flac is completely lossless. When you play it back and it's decoded, it resembles the original wav file bit for bit. Think of it as a zip file optimized for audio. Fast encoding and best compression will result in the same quality (the original file). The only difference is file size and length of time it takes to encode. Since it's an archival format, I'd recommend putting it at best compression. The encoder will spend longer looking for ways to make the file smaller once, but it'll take up less disk space for as long as you have it.
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Oct 5, 2008 18:35
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sund posted:Flac is completely lossless. When you play it back and it's decoded, it resembles the original wav file bit for bit. Think of it as a zip file optimized for audio. Fast encoding and best compression will result in the same quality (the original file). The only difference is file size and length of time it takes to encode. Ah, I see. Thanks. 
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Oct 5, 2008 19:22
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I have done some serious testing with and without my center channel, and I do prefer it there for true 5.1 mixes. That said I definitely need a better center speaker. While my Wharfedale bookshelfs are still good enough for me, I might upgrade them and use them as surrounds. This would also make matching a center channel much easier as that Wharfedale line has been discontinued. I'm thinking two new bookshelfs for mains (6.5" woofer) and a new center. I'm considering the AV123 XLS-Oncore Monitors and X-CS center ($548.00 + shipping + wait for black finish) The other setup I'm considering is: KEF IQ3 L/R and the IQ2C for center. I also like that the IQ3 can be bi-amped. ($505 shipped) Does anyone have any experience with KEF speakers? I haven't been able to dig up any useful reviews. http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=31326 http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=31613 Recommendations for my front row setup would be awesome too. I'm looking for the $500-700 range for the L/R/C. I'm running an Onkyo 606, Wharefdale Atlantic 200s would become surrounds, and a Velodyne Vx-10 sub.
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Oct 6, 2008 00:51
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Ok so recently my speakers for my computer just stopped working. My audio device seems to be still working when i check it. I don't really know what the problem is really. What could the problem be?
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Oct 6, 2008 03:35
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On Unicornback posted:I have done some serious testing with and without my center channel, and I do prefer it there for true 5.1 mixes. That said I definitely need a better center speaker. While my Wharfedale bookshelfs are still good enough for me, I might upgrade them and use them as surrounds. This would also make matching a center channel much easier as that Wharfedale line has been discontinued. those kefs are a killer deal.. i really like the kef sound. do you have good bookshelf stands? do you have some and theyre going to surround position? If so think about getting the kef iq5s, the extra $100 that would go toward a pair of stands can be put towards those.
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Oct 6, 2008 05:49
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Here's a simple question that I hope I'm just being retarded / not looking in the right place... If I were to set up a mono-block amp set up, 5 amps one for each channel, what pre-amp/source could I use that has Pro Logic II, Dolby Digital, DTS, etc. decoding? Is there no simple discrete multichannel decoder that can take SPDIF or other digital input and just spit out 6 RCA jack analog line level outputs? What am I missing, here? Sniep fucked around with this message at 07:56 on Oct 6, 2008 |
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Oct 6, 2008 07:53
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