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I bought a set of Audioengine 2's for my little hobby table setup. They are absolutely brilliant, now I just need to find a better source than my cheapo DAB/DLNA radio. I also got a ~$55 discount because they had been unpacked and photographed, the cables weren't even unwrapped. Score!
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Feb 8, 2012 19:08
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Vidaeus posted:Or is there a better pair of passives I can get for my price range since I already have an amp I can use? Since you're in Australia, you may want to go the DIY route. Dan (of Dan's Data fame) has raved about The Loudspeaker Kit's offerings on several occasions: http://www.theloudspeakerkit.com/categories/DIY-Speaker-Kits/ You may also want to scour yard sales and flea markets etc. for older used speakers. Brands like Tannoy and B&W are highly regarded.
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Mar 21, 2012 08:27
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Goddammit 
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May 12, 2012 11:53
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Philosopher King posted:So what is the best of the lovely range speakers for under $100? I'm a total novice at anything audio and all I care about is hearing diablo growl really clearly. Best PC speakers in that price range? Logitech. Otherwise, go hunting flea markets etc. for a cheap stereo amp and a set of bookshelf speakers. Wire it up to your PC with a 3.5mm jack to stereo RCA cable.
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May 28, 2012 11:58
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Stereo-only and a bit more budget-minded, but I'm using a similar setup for my PC and in fact as my main stereo in the living room:
The amplifier was free because my dad upgraded to surround sound, and I bought the speakers used from a colleague for less than a quarter of their original price. It blows any PC speaker set ever made clear out of the water with no effort at all. For the bedroom, I use my Audioengine A2s with a FLAC-capable MP3 player and/or a netbook with an Edirol UA1X USB sound card. This also trounces any PC speaker set ever made.
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Sep 4, 2012 14:40
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KingEup posted:I'm on the hunt for some new speakers of the wireless variety. The idea is to get rid of all the cords hanging out of my iMac bar one (the power cable). You can get a wireless audio adapter from Audioengine that's essentially a wireless 3.5mm jack cable that can also function as a USB sound card. You can use it to turn an amp or a set of powered speakers wireless. http://audioengineusa.com/Audioengine-W3 I'd go for that (or another similar product) and the best set of powered speakers you can find, no use limiting yourself to only speakers with built-in wireless. If you can find a set of speakers with a USB port, you don't even have to use an additional power adapter for the receiver. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 12:01 on Sep 6, 2012 |
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Sep 6, 2012 11:58
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powderific posted:Yeah, they are pretty drat similar looking. Audioengine designs and manufactures all their drivers in house and they've been making the a2 for years now. I have a set that I love. The nocs look like they may have been inspired pretty heavily by the a2's. I think the Nocs are slightly bigger, they have 3" woofers compared to the A2s 2.75" woofers.
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Sep 8, 2012 10:13
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Don't use WD40 for cleaning electronics, it leaves residue. Use a spray cleaner designed for electronics, they're not that expensive.
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Sep 12, 2012 16:49
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Ain't nobody gonna burn you at the stake for finding a set of speakers that you like, but computer speakers from Logitech, Klipsch and Creative aren't much of a comparison. All dedicated computer speakers are generally awful.
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Nov 4, 2012 10:41
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japtor posted:I researched A2s for a while before buying and the main complaint about the A2s (when people have a complaint) is lack of bass, while the A5s seem to handle it fine. While the amount of low bass in the A2s is definitely lacking compared to larger speakers, the amount of mid-bass they've been able to pull from a 2.75" woofer and a teeny-tiny little bass reflex cabinet continues to astound me. Nothing else even remotely similar in size achieves the same sharp kick drum sound that the A2s do. Stuff like Bose's tiny lifestyle speaker systems don't even come close, even with subwoofers. I haven't heard the A5s myself, but if they're more or less the same as the A2s with even better bass and volume capability, that's pretty awesome right there.
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Nov 6, 2012 12:57
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Call Now posted:Audioengines are impossible for me to buy, by the way.  How so?For gaming, instead of speakers I'd get a decent pair of headphones or a headset if you use voice chat.
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Nov 29, 2012 12:48
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Laserface posted:I am considering upgrading my Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 GMX setup to some of the Audioengines, probably the A5+. I have a mid 2011 iMac and I am wondering if I should bother getting the 24-bit DAC as well? Sound output from Macs is generally quite good. I wouldn't bother with the DAC.
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May 12, 2013 12:12
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Those are relatively inefficient speakers. They'll probably be OK with a T-amp (or Lepai or similar small amps in the 20 watt range) for near-field use, ie. as desktop speakers where you sit relatively close to them, provided you're not looking to play at high volume. However, if you need them to play loud enough to fill a normal-sized room with music, you will need an amp with a bit more oomph. As a reference point, my speakers have a sensitivity of 90 dB and I power them with an old 50 watt Pioneer stereo amp. They can play adequately loud for the room they're in, loud enough for a decent movie experience and definitely loud enough to severely annoy my neighbors. Your speakers have a sensitivity of 87 dB, which means they're slightly less efficient. Unless you want to play at PARTY LOUD sound levels, 50 watts should be fine, though. I'd look for a used hifi stereo amp of some sort, with 50 watts per channel or more. They can be found for hardly any money, doesn't matter if it's from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or almost new, as long as it works. Make sure it plays cleanly in both channels and that the volume knob etc. work without making too much noise (you can fix that with some electronic cleaning spray, though). Go newer if you want a remote, obviously. The most important part is an RCA line-level input of some sort and all amps have at least a couple of those. Find an old amp with wood paneling for massive hipster cred. Look for brands like Pioneer, Marantz, NAD, Yamaha, Denon, Onkyo, Technics, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Kenwood, Carver, Rotel, Sony, Sansui, Luxman, I probably forgot a bunch of old-school brands. But have a look on craigslist and wherever people sell used stuff. You can probably pick up a really good amp for next to nothing because the owner got tired of not having a remote control or something. Don't buy one of those tiny "400 WATTS!!!" amps you see advertised once in a while. They're bullshit, probably just a set of standard 20 watt Philips ICs inside. Not worth the money. As an example, I just found one from a brand called Kinter, that advertised itself as a "500 watt class-D amplifier". It's powered by a normal 12 volt barrel plug like on an electric razor or whatever. Must be one huge-rear end mother of a wall-wart to deliver that much power, not to mention a cable as thick as a garden hose to handle nearly 50 amps. Looking at the specs, it's more like 5 watts per channel. A filthy lie factor of 100, that's a new record, I think. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 08:46 on May 13, 2013 |
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May 13, 2013 08:27
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the yeti posted:I've finally done around to wanting to replace my Logitech 5.1 set that I've abused for 5 or 6 years (yeah, computer speakers Absolutely. But don't think you absolutely have to get the Audioengines, necessarily. They're good, but there are lots of great speakers out there, especially if you aren't dead set on getting active speakers. Personally, if you can do the additional power wiring, I'd go for a set of their active speakers and plug them directly into your PC. Unless you want to use multiple sources, there really isn't any reason to get a receiver. With the active speakers, you can always add a 5.1 preamp later if you want surround from multiple sources.
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May 14, 2013 17:14
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I know) and I'd like to take an upgrade path that would get me good 2.0 or 2.1 speakers off the bat, with the ability to add satellites later on. Primarily I'm interested in surround because of gaming, most of my audio consumption is music.
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Hob_Gadling posted:Best bang for the buck is always going to be headphones. If you listen to music as a hobby and are strapped for cash, a ~$100 pair of headphones can be an excellent way to get started. You don't even need $100 headphones. A set of Sennheiser PX-100 II can be found for less than $70 quite easily, and they sound absolutely amazingly good. They don't just "sound good for the price", they sound good period. I've had a set of PX-100s for almost 10 years now, they've been with me just about everywhere. They're durable, portable and very comfortable and they sound great. My sister has a set of PX-100 IIs and they sound just as good and look to be built even tougher.
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May 28, 2013 08:22
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DiyAudio is usually relatively free of audiophoolery, although I admit I've mostly frequented the speaker section. Most of those guys have their heads on straight.
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May 29, 2013 15:35
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Are the speakers on the laptop good enough? Because there are lots of reasonably-priced conferencing/meeting microphones around, both with 3.5mm and USB connections. Some of them can even be daisy-chained together. What you need is at least 180° coverage or more depending on how your people are sitting around the table. A 360° or omnidirectional microphone is probably best. Skype should be able to handle echo cancellation, there may be an option you have to enable. If you want a speaker as well, look at something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Spreed-USB-Conference-Speaker-Microphone/dp/3936710058 It's a USB sound device, which is a well-established standard. It should work with Skype no problem, and probably have built-in echo cancellation. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 21:12 on May 29, 2013 |
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May 29, 2013 21:09
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MMD3 posted:is that $250 amp those guys sell just a T-amp in a shiny housing? In the sense that it's a class-D amp? Yeah, sort of. But it's got a different chipset compared to the Lepai amps, with significantly higher power output and certainly more R&D poured into it. I've worked at Bang & Olufsen, and ICEPower is their pride and joy. Everything they make is powered by a variant of the chipset in that amp, so they've poured tons of R&D money into making it as good as possible.
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May 29, 2013 22:45
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Lepai with the LEDs blacked out?
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May 31, 2013 22:38
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Logitech's offerings are supposed to be pretty decent and they can be had for not much money at all, if all you want is a set of stereo speakers that can keep up with Youtube and the like.
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Jul 6, 2013 18:13
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Yeah, I've got an Acer monitor too. The built-in speakers will do for mail notifications and the like, but that's about it. Really, just about any set of active speakers will do. And you can get some really really cheap sets if there's a deal on: http://www.amazon.com/New-Logitech-...gitech+speakers They don't even need a separate power supply, they're USB-powered.
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Jul 6, 2013 18:28
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GokieKS posted:LEGO is awesome. Cheap, sturdy and endlessly reconfigurable. Bonus point if you used a randomly-colored patchwork of bricks.
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Dec 4, 2013 00:02
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I have a set of A2's as well, and they're great. Obviously, they're quite small and won't fill your living room with high-volume sound like a set of big speakers will and I'd never use them for super bass-heavy stuff. But having said that, the sound quality is really really good. The level of bass they do put out is astounding for how small they are, they go surprisingly deep before they have to give up. They lend a solid and well-controlled foundation to any piece of rockin' music I've played on them so far. Use them as PC speakers and they'll go plenty loud that close to your ears. I have a set of very good ~$1800 full-size floorstanding speakers in my living room, and I've been giving some serious thought to replacing them with a set of A5's and an A8 subwoofer, based on how impressed I am with the A2's. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 19:38
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Laserface posted:I was honestly surprised at how little bass the A5s produced. thankfully I had a spare sub laying around to hook up to fill that in. Having them close to the wall should boost the bass, unless they're flush against the wall, blocking the bass reflex port.
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Dec 6, 2013 07:51
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E: the A2+s have a builtin DAC, so there's no need for the D1. Use the plain A2s if you want to use a separate DAC. I've had a set of A2s for a while now, and I'm still impressed by the sound quality and amount of bass those little things can deliver. I've also had a set of A5+s as my main speakers for about a week now, and they're not just awesome pc speakers, they're just plain great speakers period. I can see why some people call them muddy or boomy, they probably had them sitting directly on their desks. They absolutely need to be elevated about 15cm or so, otherwise they'll cause resonance. Tilting them backwards a bit would probably help too, if they can't be elevated for some reason. They play deeper than most so-called 2.1 "subs", and so much clearer. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Jan 21, 2014 |
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Jan 21, 2014 07:34
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Tactical Lesbian posted:I have them, just wanted to know what you guys thought of them We're not the ones listening to them. What do you think? What was it, a $300 system when it was new? $400? There are a whole lot of options in that price range if you want to replace it, but you have to listen to them yourself to make an informed decision. As PC speakers go, they are definitely not bad, you'll probably have to move into "real" bookshelf or monitor speakers to move further up the sound quality ladder.
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Jan 23, 2014 10:55
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Tactical Lesbian posted:how they might fare up against a decent set of bookshelf speakers or monitors in terms of quality. Not a snowball's chance in hell, the gap between PC speakers and even basic hifi speakers is enormous. Even something like a set of cheap active monitors from Behringer, M-Audio, Tannoy, KRK etc. will absolutely blow any set of PC/multimedia speakers clear out of the water in terms of sound quality. You'll lose the boomy bass chest thump that your sub delivers, but honestly I'd much rather be without it. And you can always add in a decent active sub later. Actually, making GBS threads all over PC/multimedia speakers as a whole isn't really fair. I mean, even the likes of Cerwin Vega, B&W and Bang & Olufsen have multimedia speakers on the market these days, and they sound really really good. But they're also more expensive than the usual cheap-and-cheerful PC plastic speakers. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Jan 23, 2014 |
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Jan 23, 2014 11:56
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The remote certainly looks nicer, I guess. But eh on Bluetooth, do people really use that for sound? Perhaps I'm just getting old.
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Jan 23, 2014 20:36
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Yeah, the built-in toslink is quite nice, and I assume the dedicated sub output has a low-pass filter on it? If so, that's one thing the Audioengine A5+s lack. I can see why the line outs are full-range for daisy chaining speakers, but if they had put a selectable active crossover in there or on a dedicated sub output, it would have been awesome. As it is now, I just put my subwoofer's crossover to around 55hz where the A5+s roll off naturally and it sounds great. But technically the A5+s are still at least *trying* to play low frequencies (I tested and they will indeed try to play 1Hz), which isn't really optimal. I could solve it with an external active crossover, but then I wouldn't be able to have the speaker volume control the sub's volume.
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Jan 23, 2014 21:13
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powderific posted:Isn't what you're talking about a high pass filter on the speaker input that triggers when there's a sub plugged in rather than a low pass on the output? Most self powered subs seem to have their own low pass built in. Thinking about it, yeah that's exactly what I meant.
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Jan 23, 2014 22:48
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ghana rheya posted:I made the switch about a year ago to the M-Audio AV-40's for my desk. I will never go back to any pc/multimedia speakers I find. Ever. Good choice. The only possible upgrade now is an even better set of monitors.
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Apr 6, 2014 02:48
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MondayHotDog posted:I'm thinking about getting a DAC and/or soundcard and a new set of speakers. I need to keep it under $250 total, but I'm willing to buy used. I've heard good things about the Schiit Modi and Klipsch ProMedia 2.1s. I already have a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones, so I want a DAC to drive those. I like a V-shaped sound, and use case is for music (rock and folk), gaming and movies. Any recommendations? For a quality DAC, if you have an S/PDIF or TOSLINK output, you don't have to spend more than ~$30: http://www.amazon.com/D03K-Digital-...eywords=fiio+d3 If you want something that connects over USB and comes with a dedicated headphone output as well, maybe look into the FiiO E10K. Or the Behringer UCA202, which is less than ~$30 and is pretty well-regarded, but I don't know how beefy the headphone output is. E: The headphone output on the UCA202 is probably not powerful enough. Personally, I would get a quality inexpensive DAC (FiiO D3 or Behringer UCA202/222) and a separate quality inexpensive headphone amplifier, such as this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/B-TECH-BT928-HEADPHONE-PRE-AMP/dp/B0016N5Q1S I've used a FiiO D3 for a while now, it's great. Before I moved to a preamp+DSP setup, I used a Millennium HP-1 headphone amplifier for a while. Unfortunately I think it's only available in Europe. It's black and boxy with an ugly yellow knob, and only takes balanced connections (so you need adapters), but it's inexpensive and powerful. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 08:20 on Jul 13, 2014 |
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Jul 13, 2014 08:04
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^^^^ drat, ya beat me!flyboi posted:How do people feel about the ADAM F5 speakers? I have the A5Xs and I absolutely love them. The major differences are that the F5s have a glass fiber/paper woofer instead of the carbon fiber/rohacell/glass fiber in the A5Xs, 2x25 watt per speaker instead of 2x50 watt per speaker (and the woofer amp is class AB instead of class D), and F5 is slightly bigger physically. The A5Xs can also be linked together ("stereolink") so one speaker controls the volume of both, which is nice for multimedia speaker use plugged directly into a PC. On the other hand, the F5s have a built-in high pass filter for integration with a sub if you don't run an active crossover. I think maybe the F-series has auto on/off, or maybe that's the Artist series? And of course the F5s cost less. The tweeter is the exact same brilliant X-Art unit. Depending on what kind of prices you're looking at (and what kind of equipment you'll be plugging them into), the bigger amps in the A5Xs and the stereolink capability may sway you. But then again, a Fostex passive volume control (or similar from another brand) isn't very expensive at all, and that eliminates one of the advantages of the A5Xs. And I don't think I ever use the full 100 watts per speaker. So the question should be "is it worth it for the slightly fancier woofer and will I ever utilize the power of the bigger amps?". KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Jul 15, 2014 |
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Jul 15, 2014 21:21
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The F-series has a combo XLR/jack connector and the RCA connector, so that's actually one input option more than the AX-series. If your budget is for the F5 or the A3X, I would definitely go for the F5. E: There's a ~$180 price difference between the F5 and A5X, per speaker. The A3Xs are also ~$18 (per speaker) more expensive than the F5s. Easy choice, get the F5s. You can also get the Audioengine A5+s, they're very nice speakers as well, a bit more toward the "flattering" side than the Adams. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 23:50 on Jul 15, 2014 |
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Jul 15, 2014 23:45
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Definitely don't get the A3Xs if you have any expectation of hearing bass. There is literally nothing below 60hz. If you're mastering chamber music, I guess they're OK by themselves, but for anything else they desperately need an 8" or 10" sub of some kind. Demoing should be the number one priority when buying speakers. Brand names, price and "pride of ownership" are all irrelevant if you don't like how the speakers sound.
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Jul 16, 2014 12:18
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flyboi posted:So I got the F5s, love them a lot however I'm trying to figure out what cable I need to use the XLR input. Is this what I need? http://www.guitarcenter.com/Live-Wire-3-5mm-Dual-1-4--Y-Cable-101172559-i1166742.gc That cable you linked can definitely be used (the "bal in" inputs take both XLR and jack connectors), it will simply turn the balanced inputs into unbalanced inputs, and work exactly the same as using the RCA inputs. Do any of the devices you use have XLR or balanced jack (TRS) outputs? If not, there will be no benefit from using the balanced inputs ("bal in") instead of the unbalanced RCA input ("unbal in"), and you should just use any normal stereo 3.5mm to RCA cable, that you probably have lying around anyway. If you do have XLR outputs on your device and want to use those, what you need is commonly called a microphone cable.
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Jul 21, 2014 14:36
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Well, there's the Cambridge DACMagic Plus, but that's kinda expensive. And the Benchmark DAC1/DAC2, but that's even more expensive (although supposedly it's the best DAC/preamp in the world). There's also the Matric Mini-i, which is expensive. The Emotiva XDA-2 is slightly less expensive, but nowhere near cheap. XLR outputs aren't really A Thing outside of pro audio, and they're you're going to be getting all kinds of multichannel stuff and mic preamps and whatnot. I use RCA from my DAC to my preamp, then RCA-XLR to my crossover, and XLR to my speakers. The only reason I do it like that is because the crossover is all-XLR, otherwise I would have used RCA for everything. E: I fully understand the inherent appeal in using the best available connector, but it won't do any difference to the sound. KozmoNaut fucked around with this message at 14:52 on Jul 21, 2014 |
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Jul 21, 2014 14:48
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flyboi posted:Well I guess I'll stick to my 3.5mm to RCA breakout cable then. There's no reason to run these through an amp, they're powered speakers I just liked the idea of a balanced signal to reduce hiss from interference on the cable. Oh well thanks! A balanced connection will help reduce the effect of interference received by the cable from other sources, but it's only really a factor on long cable runs and/or in electrically noisy environments. I certainly couldn't tell any difference in my living room.
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Jul 21, 2014 15:03
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In that case, you need a switchbox with RCA connections. You could use a preamp, but it would be complete overkill to add another set of volume and bass/treble controls into the mix when your speakers already have them built in. Something like this will do nicely: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011007&p_id=3027&seq=1&format=2 Disregard the component video connections, you'll only be using the audio connections.
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Aug 23, 2014 19:23
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CubanMissile posted:Audioengine a2+ users: How irritating is it to have volume control knob on the back of the speaker? I found it easy to live with. Basically just set it to a good level and instead control the overall volume from the player you're using.
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Sep 3, 2014 08:36
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