Advice on sound quality

Tommy B · 21 Mar 2006 at 16:15

Currently I'm running 2XEltax Symphony 2.0 speakers through an AMP using my motherboard's (Abit AN8) built-in sound card. Whilst the sound is fairly crisp, the speakers lack a sub-woofer and thus the bass isn't brilliant.

Would I notice an increase in sound quality if I scrapped the amp option and went for a £200 Logitech/Creative job?

I'm also considering upgrading to an Xi-Fi sound card.

Secondly, I am considering buying an HD plasma TV in the summer, and I need an option where I can use the DVD player's optical output to get DTS surround sound playback via my soundcard in my PC and through the surround speakers. I take it the Xi-Fi can do this without any hassle?

Cheers,

fish99 · 21 Mar 2006 at 17:08

Tommy B said:
Currently I'm running 2XEltax Symphony 2.0 speakers through an AMP using my motherboard's (Abit AN8) built-in sound card. Whilst the sound is fairly crisp, the speakers lack a sub-woofer and thus the bass isn't brilliant.

Would I notice an increase in sound quality if I scrapped the amp option and went for a £200 Logitech/Creative job?

Well I dunno which amp you have and I dunno if Eltax Symphony 2.0's are any good (can't even find them on the eltax website), but Creative/Logitech speakers certainly aren't hi-fi quality. Bookshelf speakers, if that's what those Symphony 2.0s are, need to be on solid mass filled stands to bring out the bass.

I've got the Eltax Monitor 3's on Atacama SE24 stands, and they have plenty of bass.

Tommy B · 21 Mar 2006 at 17:25

fish99 said:
Well I dunno which amp you have and I dunno if Eltax Symphony 2.0's are any good (can't even find them on the eltax website), but Creative/Logitech speakers certainly aren't hi-fi quality. Bookshelf speakers, if that's what those Symphony 2.0s are, need to be on solid mass filled stands to bring out the bass.

I've got the Eltax Monitor 3's on Atacama SE24 stands, and they have plenty of bass.

The amp is about 10-15 years old.

The speakers are about 3 years old. Although they are Symphony 6 not 2 like I thought.

Corasik · 21 Mar 2006 at 17:39

If it was a good amp 10-15 years ago, chances are its still a good amp.

I much prefer the sound of my 10 year old Audiolab 8000S + Mission 750SE's over 'PC' speakers. Infact, they sound better than they did when brandnew, as they are now well run in

Stands do make small speakers sound better, but if you cant manage that, and just have them sitting on the desk, try putting blutack between the speakers and the desk.

fish99 · 21 Mar 2006 at 20:45

Tommy B said:
The speakers are about 3 years old. Although they are Symphony 6 not 2 like I thought.

So they're the big floorstanders? They should have plenty of bass. It depends where you have them though. Floorstanders can sound fantastic in a front room, but take them upstairs and use them on floorboards and the bass can dissapear. I've read that bookshelf /w stands (mass filled) are much better for typical bedrooms than floorstanders which are better for ground floor rooms with solid floors (try them downstairs maybe?)

In which case you'll probably get more bass from the Logitech/Creative sets, especially since they have subs, but you won't necessarily get more accurate sound reproduction. Those sets are very bass heavy, beyond what was intended on the source. Also the only PC speakers that have tweeters are the Gigaworks (not MegaWorks) and Klipsch (largely unavailable over here), and a few other obscure ones. None of the Logitech sets are 2 way.

Tommy B · 21 Mar 2006 at 21:50

The speakers have loads of bass, but not the earth-shattering type I'm after in some songs

Some songs are perfect, but in others there is a serious lack of bass. Would an investment in an Xi-Fi be worth it? Hip-Hop is usually fine, but Rock is much worse.

You can't buy just subs either which is annoying.

fish99 · 21 Mar 2006 at 23:11

Have you checked whether you can turn the bass up with your on-board sound? Try double-clicking the sound icon bottom right and see if there's any 'advanced' buttons under Play Control or Master Volume. Certainly you can turn the bass up with a dedicated soundcard.

You would definitely get more bass with something like Z5500 from what I've heard about those speakers. Everyone says they have enough bass to shake your house. You might be sacrificing a little in ultimate sound quality though to get the bass heavy sound you're after.

You can buy just subs btw, but I dunno where you would wire it.

Vegetarian · 21 Mar 2006 at 23:20

What amp is it?

Tommy B · 21 Mar 2006 at 23:51

Kenwood KA-550

tom_nieto · 22 Mar 2006 at 09:50

You can buy just a sub, but I wouldn't recommend it. There are probably other underlying issues that you could sort out first without spending any money like speaker placement (move them closer to the wall) or standing the speakers on something solid like paving slabs (especially if you're upstairs). If these options don't satisfy your needs, then think about spending money. I'd look at a new amp first. Even budget speakers like the Eltax ones should be able to push enough air to give good bass when coupled to a good amp.

Don't whatever you do buy a PC speaker set. You could use the money far more effectively on upgrading your hi-fi.

Vegetarian · 22 Mar 2006 at 10:53

Try getting a better amp - something like a NAD and some better floor standers.

Tommy B · 22 Mar 2006 at 11:11

Are you sure I shouldn't start with a new sound card?

If I play something like "Black Eyed Peas - My Humps" (I do loathe the song entirely but it's a good example) my entire house shakes and you can feel the vibrations from any room.

So you're both 100% that my HiFi setup would be superior to the top of the range Logitech/Creative sets?

In order to get decent bass I have to use the iTunes equalizer.

fish99 · 22 Mar 2006 at 13:58

Why would you expect PC speakers to outperform hi-fi gear? I mean Z-5500 may be £200 but you're paying for 5 satellites, 1 sub, 1 amp (built into sub), 1 decoder (built into sub), control centre, remote control and a ton of wires. So they're probably only spending £20 of that on each satellite. Whereas your hi-fi speakers were probably £200 (or more) when new, so £100 per speaker which is five times more expensive per speaker than the Logitech sats.

And sound quality does, generally speaking, just come down to the quality of components used, and better quality components cost more. So, again generally speaking, a £20 speaker won't sound as good as a £100 speaker. And again, as I said, most PC speakers don't have tweeters, they just have a single driver which doesn't cover the frequency range as well as a seperate tweeter/woofer.

New sound card will probably help. X-Fi should sound better way than on-board sound. Probably under £10 of what your motherboard cost goes on the on-board sound.