2.1 set advice

PapaLazaru · 4 Dec 2014 at 13:23

Been blasting the house down with my SP2500's today. They still make me smile and I have owned them for a couple of years at least now.

As above, you should be getting zero distortion. I set the sub just into the white, volume whatever I feel like and for music just set the EQ to Pop. FPS for gaming (of course).

Evian · 4 Dec 2014 at 13:52

Wondering if I should get the Corsair SP2500's now that there 3 years old worth it? Or is there anything else now?

snakefood · 4 Dec 2014 at 14:42

Hi Evian,

I will post back tonight with an update to my problem and my opinion on sound; I'm hoping this has been resolved now, as I spent a good while looking over reviews on several sites on these speakers, and could not find any negative reviews anywhere.

Evian · 4 Dec 2014 at 15:01

snakefood said:
Hi Evian,

I will post back tonight with an update to my problem and my opinion on sound; I'm hoping this has been resolved now, as I spent a good while looking over reviews on several sites on these speakers, and could not find any negative reviews anywhere.

Alrighty thanks.

Marine-RX179 · 4 Dec 2014 at 15:34

snakefood said:
Ta - I have my pc volume @ max - this may be causing the clipping of the satellites. I know I was hearing distortion when my volume was at the last bar below the blue, I certainly could never go into the red without maybe damaging the speakers, or I wouldn't want to try.

I'll re-try setting my pc volume at 50%, and see how they sound, many thanks if this is the cause

Well, for mine I only have my volume on my PC at around 20-25% and my Corsair's volume at around 50% (max on the blue), and the bass level on around 50-70%, and using either Reference or Pop depending on what I'm doing at the time.

snakefood · 4 Dec 2014 at 16:22

Marine-RX179 said:
Well, for mine I only have my volume on my PC at around 20-25% and my Corsair's volume at around 50% (max on the blue), and the bass level on around 50-70%, and using either Reference or Pop depending on what I'm doing at the time.

Hi Marine-RX179,

Thanks for the info, I'm quite hopeful now that the distortion was just clipping due to my source volume being too high

snakefood · 4 Dec 2014 at 18:22

Update: OK, so I lowered my volume on my pc to 50%, and it has indeed made a massive difference, I can now pretty much turn the volume on the 2500's up full, with the bass turned well into the light blue. I chucked a couple of wav files into virtual dj and did a quick mix, the sub was moving so much air I could literally feel a breeze from under the table

Not had a chance to experiment with the different settings yet for gaming / movies, but sound in general is very impressive playing music (drum & bass in this case).

so far, so good :cool:

Edit: Would there be any noticeable difference in sound quality if I was still to upgrade my soundcard? If so, how much would I need to spend to see a difference / suggestions?

WuMyster · 4 Dec 2014 at 18:59

Evian said:
Wondering if I should get the Corsair SP2500's now that there 3 years old worth it? Or is there anything else now?

Speakers don't really advance like other bits of technology now adays. Yes, a 3 year old GPU is worse than a current gen one, but speakers are speakers, unless a newer version has some sort of new technology in them.
For the price, you can't go wrong with the SP2500's.

snakefood said:
Update: OK, so I lowered my volume on my pc to 50%, and it has indeed made a massive difference, I can now pretty much turn the volume on the 2500's up full, with the bass turned well into the light blue. I chucked a couple of wav files into virtual dj and did a quick mix, the sub was moving so much air I could literally feel a breeze from under the table Not had a chance to experiment with the different settings yet for gaming / movies, but sound in general is very impressive playing music (drum & bass in this case).

so far, so good

Glad it's sorted now. Didn't want someone returning them and having a bad impression on them. I can easily turn up my set to 100% at the cost of my ears bleeding from zero distortion and maximum volume.

Evian · 4 Dec 2014 at 23:30

Ordered them

WuMyster · 4 Dec 2014 at 23:51

snakefood said:
Edit: Would there be any noticeable difference in sound quality if I was still to upgrade my soundcard? If so, how much would I need to spend to see a difference / suggestions?

Well I never actually had a soundcard, I was always using onboard audio. I then opted for the ASUS Essence STX (good for my headset as well) and they sounded extremely clear. Especially in the highs. I could also turn up the speaker volume to 100% and the card, with no distortion.
Whether you need to spend that much on a card, is up to you, but it definitely does make a difference.

Marine-RX179 · 5 Dec 2014 at 05:17

WuMyster said:
Well I never actually had a soundcard, I was always using onboard audio. I then opted for the ASUS Essence STX (good for my headset as well) and they sounded extremely clear. Especially in the highs. I could also turn up the speaker volume to 100% and the card, with no distortion.
Whether you need to spend that much on a card, is up to you, but it definitely does make a difference.

Yes, upgrading to card like STX level would definitely make a difference. I upgraded from my previous Asus Xonar DX (which itself is fairly good already) to my current STXII, and clearly noticed improvement. Also it's definitely worth the upgrade since I have some headphones as well.

snakefood · 5 Dec 2014 at 08:15

That card would be a bit of a stretch for me; I was thinking maybe £70-80 if I was to invest. However, if it's really worth it, I could just save for a little longer

snakefood · 5 Dec 2014 at 08:17

Marine-RX179 said:
Yes, upgrading to card like STX level would definitely make a difference. I upgraded from my previous Asus Xonar DX (which itself is fairly good already) to my current STXII, and clearly noticed improvement. Also it's definitely worth the upgrade since I have some headphones as well.

cheers for the opinion. 2 yes votes on the same card is a pretty good sign. Doubt I can upgrade this side of new year, maybe one for the January pay day.

snakefood · 5 Dec 2014 at 08:18

Evian said:
Ordered them

Good man, I don't think you'll be disappointed

Remember the advice from here, keep pc volume down to about 50%

Evian · 5 Dec 2014 at 21:41

snakefood said:
Good man, I don't think you'll be disappointed

Remember the advice from here, keep pc volume down to about 50%

Will do, Thanks.

Marine-RX179 · 5 Dec 2014 at 22:03

snakefood said:
cheers for the opinion. 2 yes votes on the same card is a pretty good sign. Doubt I can upgrade this side of new year, maybe one for the January pay day.

You can try to keep an eye out for 2nd hand STX. They tends to go for just around £70 or less.

snakefood · 6 Dec 2014 at 01:29

Marine-RX179 said:
You can try to keep an eye out for 2nd hand STX. They tends to go for just around £70 or less.

Good call - ta... Don't have a high enough post count yet for mm, so will keep an eye on the bay.

Marine-RX179 · 6 Dec 2014 at 06:17

snakefood said:
Good call - ta... Don't have a high enough post count yet for mm, so will keep an eye on the bay.

Yea I only went for a new STXII 7.1 due to the requirement of the 7.1 features for my speakers.

But I did pick up a 2nd hand STX later (no original box) very very luckily for just £40. It is now in my mom's PC, where she's using with a dirt cheap £12 2.1 speakers...such a crime!

But to be honest, even that cheap set of speakers sound a lot better in terms of clarity!

rids57 · 6 Dec 2014 at 11:35

^+1 for the STX

A very impressive sound card, specially with headphones - I got there eventually after taking the onboard > DGX > Soundblaster Z route.

snakefood · 6 Dec 2014 at 14:57

Is the STXII noticeably better than the original; worth holding out for?