lala
So I'm planning on buying some new speakers.
I currently have some BOSE Companion 2 Series II, my problem?
The sound is horrible. The Bass etc.
I was like 12-13 when I bought them and I had no clue on what to look for.
I'm looking for some speakers, studio speakers, theater system. Anything.
Something with a good amount of bass and will play crisp sound yah know?
I dont have a limit right now so anything goes.
~~ I play games, and make some music here and there, and listen to a lot of music.
** The speakers will mostly be used with the computer or an iPod.
~ Shelf systems are cool to.
Either give me links to some speakers or lecture me on how to choose the right ones.
Thanks~ :D
Answer
One thing is certain, when it comes to home theatre, "Creative" is not best! You already have toy speakers with your Bose, you don't want an even crappier toy.
It would take volumes of books to explain everything there is to know about this. I would suggest you start by finding and visiting a high-end home theatre or audio shop. I'm not talking about a Best Buy with a Magnolia, you need to find a real audio shop. Listen to some nice B&W's or similar in the $5000 to $25,000 range. I know that's out of budget but you need to first get an idea what a real audio system is. Step up your understanding of sound reproduction and of listening.
Unfortunately no speaker company supplies you with useful specifications so it's almost completely pointless to even look at these. Maybe with a high-end speaker you can at least get relatively accurate on axis frequency response data but that is only about 0.05% of the information you need. They will not supply you with detailed non-linear distortion data probably because they don't have it, maybe don't even know how to measure it. In fact they won't supply you with any distortion data, non-linear or linear. They might supply you with some off axis frequency response data but probably only to about +/- 30 deg. You really need 360 deg data but the results much beyond +/- 30 will typically be so bad they will not want you to see it. This is an inherent problem with conventional speakers, it's not a quality issue, it's just an inherent design flaw that doesn't change from the cheapest to the most expensive mono pole speaker designs. To avoid it completely you have to go to some sort of true omni directional speaker like the Duevel http://www.duevel.com/Produkte/EBLdia.shtml but this isn't necessarily optimum either since it maximizes room excitation. Dynamic dipoles like the Linkwitzlab Orion http://www.linkwitzlab.com/ do not have the power response uniformity of a true omni but they are far more uniform than a conventional monopole with less room excitation than conventional monopoles.
As for conventional designs, one of the big factors that degrades sound quality is the cabinet or box. You want to listen to the speaker cones, not to the cabinet walls. If you feel the vibration in the cabinet walls while the speaker is playing then you also hear the cabinet walls. Some cheap speakers actually radiate more acoustic energy from the cabinet walls at select frequencies than from the cones. This contaminates the sound making it sound very garbled. That's why better speakers are made from 3/4" to 1" MDF with internal bracing in an effort to reduce cabinet resonance. This is an advantage of speakers like the Orion because it has no box.
Poorly designed crossovers also make a major difference. Most inexpensive speakers use inadequate crossovers frequently with nothing more than a capacitor or a capacitor and inductor on the tweeter and nothing on the woofer. Cone resonance in the woofer must be eliminated to reduce the harshness of the speaker. A simple 2nd order crossover on the woofer can reduce this problem significantly but to do it properly requires notch filters. Especially modern drivers using various metal materials for cones need to have special attention paid to this. Unfortunately a lot of manufacturers brag about these metal cones and use them improperly without the proper equalization. Some metal cones break up so violently they produce high Q +20 dB or greater peaks that can only be completely eliminated with active equalization.
Subwoofers are a really good idea. If you really want decent bass you need to forget about going for bigger main speakers, just go for small to medium size main speakers and put the bass load onto a subwoofer. You can find a lot of good measurement data on subwoofers here... http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/subwoofer-tests-archived/6015-index-subwoofer-tests-manufacturer-model.html If you study these measurements and understand them, it will help you to understand what to look for in a sub. Notice that non linear distortion is very high on pretty much all of them at very low frequency. It's really difficult to make a low distortion subwoofer and I do not know of any commercial offerings that are even close to good enough. You can look for those that have less distortion than others and you can look for those where odd harmonics are lower than even harmonic components. Odd harmonics are more destructive to sound quality than even. Sometimes a little even harmonic content can be a good thing if it helps to mask the odd harmonics.
Study the data on the subwoofer site and study the information on the linkwitzlab site. Also, go listen to some high end stuff so you know what's possible. Stay away from toys like Bose and Creative.
mk
One thing is certain, when it comes to home theatre, "Creative" is not best! You already have toy speakers with your Bose, you don't want an even crappier toy.
It would take volumes of books to explain everything there is to know about this. I would suggest you start by finding and visiting a high-end home theatre or audio shop. I'm not talking about a Best Buy with a Magnolia, you need to find a real audio shop. Listen to some nice B&W's or similar in the $5000 to $25,000 range. I know that's out of budget but you need to first get an idea what a real audio system is. Step up your understanding of sound reproduction and of listening.
Unfortunately no speaker company supplies you with useful specifications so it's almost completely pointless to even look at these. Maybe with a high-end speaker you can at least get relatively accurate on axis frequency response data but that is only about 0.05% of the information you need. They will not supply you with detailed non-linear distortion data probably because they don't have it, maybe don't even know how to measure it. In fact they won't supply you with any distortion data, non-linear or linear. They might supply you with some off axis frequency response data but probably only to about +/- 30 deg. You really need 360 deg data but the results much beyond +/- 30 will typically be so bad they will not want you to see it. This is an inherent problem with conventional speakers, it's not a quality issue, it's just an inherent design flaw that doesn't change from the cheapest to the most expensive mono pole speaker designs. To avoid it completely you have to go to some sort of true omni directional speaker like the Duevel http://www.duevel.com/Produkte/EBLdia.shtml but this isn't necessarily optimum either since it maximizes room excitation. Dynamic dipoles like the Linkwitzlab Orion http://www.linkwitzlab.com/ do not have the power response uniformity of a true omni but they are far more uniform than a conventional monopole with less room excitation than conventional monopoles.
As for conventional designs, one of the big factors that degrades sound quality is the cabinet or box. You want to listen to the speaker cones, not to the cabinet walls. If you feel the vibration in the cabinet walls while the speaker is playing then you also hear the cabinet walls. Some cheap speakers actually radiate more acoustic energy from the cabinet walls at select frequencies than from the cones. This contaminates the sound making it sound very garbled. That's why better speakers are made from 3/4" to 1" MDF with internal bracing in an effort to reduce cabinet resonance. This is an advantage of speakers like the Orion because it has no box.
Poorly designed crossovers also make a major difference. Most inexpensive speakers use inadequate crossovers frequently with nothing more than a capacitor or a capacitor and inductor on the tweeter and nothing on the woofer. Cone resonance in the woofer must be eliminated to reduce the harshness of the speaker. A simple 2nd order crossover on the woofer can reduce this problem significantly but to do it properly requires notch filters. Especially modern drivers using various metal materials for cones need to have special attention paid to this. Unfortunately a lot of manufacturers brag about these metal cones and use them improperly without the proper equalization. Some metal cones break up so violently they produce high Q +20 dB or greater peaks that can only be completely eliminated with active equalization.
Subwoofers are a really good idea. If you really want decent bass you need to forget about going for bigger main speakers, just go for small to medium size main speakers and put the bass load onto a subwoofer. You can find a lot of good measurement data on subwoofers here... http://www.hometheatershack.com/forums/subwoofer-tests-archived/6015-index-subwoofer-tests-manufacturer-model.html If you study these measurements and understand them, it will help you to understand what to look for in a sub. Notice that non linear distortion is very high on pretty much all of them at very low frequency. It's really difficult to make a low distortion subwoofer and I do not know of any commercial offerings that are even close to good enough. You can look for those that have less distortion than others and you can look for those where odd harmonics are lower than even harmonic components. Odd harmonics are more destructive to sound quality than even. Sometimes a little even harmonic content can be a good thing if it helps to mask the odd harmonics.
Study the data on the subwoofer site and study the information on the linkwitzlab site. Also, go listen to some high end stuff so you know what's possible. Stay away from toys like Bose and Creative.
mk
What all do I need to buy to set up surround sound speaker system?
Ash
I'm looking at getting my brother surround sound speakers for his birthday/Christmas, but I'm really not sure what all that entails. I've been looking at some speaker sets, but am not sure what else I would really need. For example, I looked at the Yamaha 5.1-Channel Home Theater Speaker System (Model # NS-SP7800PN) at Best Buy. Would I need to buy my own cables, a receiver, etc.? If it makes a difference, he has a DLP HDTV, and already has a digital cable box, XBOX 360, PS3 hooked up to it. Thank you so much!!
Answer
Since you don't know the technical details relating to audio, I wouldn't buy separate Amplifier (receiver) and Speakers. Buy a Home Theater System in-a-box. It comes with all the speaker wires, the Speakers are MATCHED to the Amp. It may also include other cables. You may have to buy one or two Optical cables for the 5.1 sound from the cable box and the xbox. He probably already has the video cables from the cable box and xbox.
Look at Panasonic or Sony. Price range is from $200 to $600. Separate systems are more expensive. Be sure they have Optical or HDMI inputs.
There is a lot more to be said, but it depends on what each person desires.
Since you don't know the technical details relating to audio, I wouldn't buy separate Amplifier (receiver) and Speakers. Buy a Home Theater System in-a-box. It comes with all the speaker wires, the Speakers are MATCHED to the Amp. It may also include other cables. You may have to buy one or two Optical cables for the 5.1 sound from the cable box and the xbox. He probably already has the video cables from the cable box and xbox.
Look at Panasonic or Sony. Price range is from $200 to $600. Separate systems are more expensive. Be sure they have Optical or HDMI inputs.
There is a lot more to be said, but it depends on what each person desires.
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