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Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Best value for my money still a Klipsch Promedia 2.1? I'm not an audiophile or anything, just want something that sounds good in a gaming PC. Downstairs neighbors are a restaurant with a vaulted ceiling, so no worries about noise from the subwoofer.

# ¿ Sep 27, 2016 01:57

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 02:11

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

KillHour posted:

Need a budget.

I could go $200-$300, if the marginal improvement was sufficient to justify it. I got my current speakers almost 15 years ago for $120 (5.1 system I've been using as 2.1, finally blew out the third of the four satelittes).

# ¿ Sep 27, 2016 04:44

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Taima posted:

JBL LSR305 is the completely obvious and unassailable best choice unless you have a really small budget or a really big budget. Period.

I guess I should mention I watch Netflix while falling asleep; are those going to be negatively affected by being left on all night, pretty much every night?

# ¿ Sep 27, 2016 05:47

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Holy gently caress those things are huge.

How big of an upgrade are they over the Klipsch Promedia 2.1?

# ¿ Sep 27, 2016 06:36

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

I have a set of Creative 4.1 speakers that I bought ~17 years ago that have since been converted to 2.1 (lost a speaker in a move) that seem to be on their last legs (they were only $150 at the time). I live in a fairly small apartment, and my desk is mostly taken up with monitors, so space is a concern. It's a gaming PC, that is also my primary media consumption device. I don't listen to much music, it's mostly TV shows, movies, and video games. And I usually put on Netflix before I go to bed, and leave the computer/speakers on all night (the Netflix doesn't auto-play).

I'm probably looking to spend about $200, and even go a higher than that if it means a substantial increase in value (substantially better sound quality, longer lifetime, etc.). I'd have difficulty seeing spending more than $350 or so if it weren't really amazing. I could probably make room for a small amp and subwoofer if I needed to. What would be the thread suggestion? I think when I asked about this a year ago and decided to stick it out, the suggestion was the JBL 305; is that still the way to go? They seem big, given my space constraints.

# ¿ Oct 18, 2017 05:37

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Taima posted:

JBL LSR305 on sale for $100 each (but they are RED)

If you are ok with, or prefer, red speakers this is a GREAT deal on some incredible monitors for the money.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-...8&CJPID=4485850

Jesus, those things are hideous...

...and going to be on my desk in a couple of weeks. Thanks!

# ¿ Nov 9, 2017 02:41

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Do I need a box if I'm using the LSR 305s with a PC.

# ¿ Nov 26, 2017 21:13

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

So, I have a pair of JBL 305s plugged into my PC via an 1/8"/headphone jack to two 1/4" jacks. The speakers seem to have a problem with my widescreen monitor; they have a bunch of static, and when I do things on the widescreen monitor (play video, play a game, scroll the bar on a webpage, etc.) I can hear the static changing/getting worse/better. Shutting off or unplugging that monitor makes the static almost entirely go away, though I do still hear a little bit. I've run into the same issue with the speakers plugged into the same power strip as the monitor and a different power strip from the monitor, with three different DisplayPort outputs, with the power brick for the monitor moved away from the speaker cables, and with both the headphone jack on the back and the front of my PC case; I do not have the same problem with my USB headset. The stupid/small questions thread suggested it is either EMF from the monitor or from the video card; I ordered up a shielded cable and some ferrite chokes from Amazon. If it's the video card, the suggested solution is a USB DAC; is there a recommended USB DAC to get? This is a Windows PC running Windows 10, if that matters.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 19:52

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Ok Comboomer posted:

In order of increasing price:

Try a USB-C Apple Dongle thru whatever appropriate $5 USB-A adapter you like, if you need/want it. I have this one: Basesailor USB to USB C Adapter 2... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079LYHNSR?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Beyond that you could try a Behringer USB dongle for $20-30.

Beyond that you could try a Schiit Modi or similar tabletop DAC from like Topping or whatever for ~$100-130. If you want balanced outs for your JBLs (unnecessary but nice to have, arguably the �best� way to hook them up) a Schiit Modius for more money. Depending on what you get these will also let you hook up other things like Optical TOSlink or coax or Bluetooth and pair/stack with something like a headphone amp/preamp, which is a nice way to get an analog volume switch on your JBLs.

Alternatively you could grab something like a Focusrite Scarlet of the size you want (are you interested in doing music or production audio poo poo? Content creation? This is a good way to get two birds stoned at once) or even a desktop USB mixer if that�s your fancy.

This is a gaming/watching & listening to streaming/light productivity PC, no content creation or anything. I have a fancy-rear end mobo that has a USB-C out.

Given my use case, is it worth dropping the dosh on the nicer one? Would it be worth buying a PCI sound card, instead (or would that not fix the issue)? I'm not gonna say money is no object, but I spent $1500 on my monitor, dropping a few hundred on my sound seems pretty reasonable.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 20:23

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Ok Comboomer posted:

I dig. I recommended the USB-A adapter because my mobo has a limited number of Type C ports and a lot of Type A, but the Apple dongle will definitely do the minimum if all you want is to isolate your speakers and do all of your volume adjustment from software.

Do you want a fancy setup? What would that look like for you? Would you upgrade the 305s in the future to something nicer�nicer monitors, a receiver or amplifier and passive speakers?

Do you want headphones? Do you want nice headphones?

Do you want an analog volume dial? (I think you do. They are nice, tho you have to adjust them along with the software volume).

PCie sound cards are kind of a dead market these days in the face of USB. Not worth it IMO unless you want zero space occupation and you hate the Apple dongle for some reason/it doesn�t work for you.

If I personally had my computer hooked up to really nice monitors or a really nice stereo, and there was zero utility to having prosumer connectivity (ie a mixer or even so much as an external mic preamp for running a passive microphone)�I�d probably go with a Modi/Modius.

If I wanted to hook up one or more mics or 1+ instruments I�d probably look at an appropriate Focusrite or mixer.

A Gen 4 Focusrite Solo will run you $130 and do all of your basic �output to JBLs� poo poo, give you a volume knob with pretty lights, a mic preamp input, and a headphone out in a handsome red case.

A Modi will run you at the same price and be cleaner and smaller, and a Modius will be bigger and more expensive but give you balanced outs, but you�re probably gonna want to pair it with a Magni or Magnius or Asgard/Jotunheim/etc of your choice. It�ll probably be easier to integrate one of these DACs with a stereo receiver or amp down the road if that�s what you end up doing (a lot of us run these in Hifi setups to make our vintage/analog gear play with our digital stuff)

You are very much making me want to do a new audio build for my PC, but I just bought a house, so I'll probably save that for a year or two and just pick up the Modi (this is what you're talking about when you say "Modi," right?). Does it come with a USB-C and/or optical/SPDIF cable? My mobo has outs for both, would it be better to use the optical/SPDIF over the USB-C, and if I need to get a cable, is there a go-to recommended one (I hate that filtering out Amazon/NewEgg for poo poo that isn't drop-shipped garbage is so difficult these days)?

EDIT: Oh, yeah, and it looks like I'll need composite-to-XLR or 1/4" cables for the outputs; do those come with, and if not, are there thread-recommended ones?

I know it's a lot to ask, but you all may want to think about updating the OP.

Ham Equity fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Oct 2, 2023

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 22:01

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Ok Comboomer posted:

Yep, and you can use whichever connection you want. Is your optical out stereo or 5.1? Do you know how to change the settings if it can do both? USB should be fairly plug-and-play as far as outputting a stereo signal

you can get unbalanced composite to XLR or composite to 1/4� cables from like Amazon or better yet from Monoprice, Sweetwater, etc. They don�t have to cost more than like $10-20 max, but probably don�t go for the cheapest unbranded ones from a no-name seller either

If you want to spend a bit more you can also look at the bigger sibling, the Modius, which costs $100 more and has balanced XLR jacks so you can just do XLR-XLR. Better on paper, better at reducing any possibility of noise.

Best practice with the Modi/etc seems to be to leave windows audio level static and control volume with your downstream preamp/etc. So you might want to budget for a Magni/etc to go with it, but best let other goons chime in

The mobo supports 7.1, so I would bet the optical out is at least 5.1. Is the setting for that in the sound control panel? I work in IT, so I'm not a complete rube when it comes to this (I also used to work in event A/V, but consumer stuff is way different).

Okay, I'd rather fix it in one go than gently caress around with "maybes," so if the shielded cable and the ferrite chokes don't fix it, I'll probably invest in the Modius. My headset is the Razer Blackshark v2 Pro, which is a wireless bluetooth headset, so I'm not sure it's gonna get much out of an amp; when I do an audio refresh for my PC, I'll look into beefing those up a bit, too.

EDIT: I'm guessing it's much less likely to be the problem point, but optical would eliminate EM interference for the cable from the PC to the amp (not from the amp to the speakers, though).

Ham Equity fucked around with this message at 23:42 on Oct 2, 2023

# ¿ Oct 2, 2023 23:22

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# ¿ May 18, 2024 02:11

Ham Equity: Apr 16, 2013; The first thing we do, let's kill all the cars.; Grimey Drawer

Ok Comboomer posted:

Yep, and you can use whichever connection you want. Is your optical out stereo or 5.1? Do you know how to change the settings if it can do both? USB should be fairly plug-and-play as far as outputting a stereo signal

you can get unbalanced composite to XLR or composite to 1/4� cables from like Amazon or better yet from Monoprice, Sweetwater, etc. They don�t have to cost more than like $10-20 max, but probably don�t go for the cheapest unbranded ones from a no-name seller either

If you want to spend a bit more you can also look at the bigger sibling, the Modius, which costs $100 more and has balanced XLR jacks so you can just do XLR-XLR. Better on paper, better at reducing any possibility of noise.

Best practice with the Modi/etc seems to be to leave windows audio level static and control volume with your downstream preamp/etc. So you might want to budget for a Magni/etc to go with it, but best let other goons chime in

Thank you for the help, wound up getting the Modius, totally solved the issue and as a bonus the speakers sound much better now aside from the lack of static.

# ¿ Nov 2, 2023 07:19

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