Bookshelfs or better cans?

Pulseammo

Pulseammo

Pulseammo

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Hi all, wondering if anyone can perhaps help me out here.

I currently run a creative 5.1 system on my PC and while it is pretty good sometimes the sound can get quite muddy sounding and the bass can be a bit unrefined. I'm looking to switch over to an amp (which I hope to build myself, something like a 41hz tripath based amp to start with) and a pair of bookshelf speakers.

My room is pretty small around 3m x 3m with an L shape at one end so I've heard that "sealed cabinet" speakers may be better. I'm also looking for something that stays detailed at low volume levels if that is at all possible since I don't generally like to crank up the volume (although I do seem to get better detail out of my current 5.1 by doing this). Budget for speakers would be around £50 - £60 and don't mind going second hand.

I also have a pair of Sennheiser HD515s which again I have the same issue that sometimes they mud out, although the bass is better on these in terms of not becoming a mess. While these headphones aren't exactly high end I'm wondering if they'd perhaps benefit from an amp to perhaps give better separation of instruments and vocals etc? I prefer headphones since they don't bother others in my house but I must say I find these headphones extremely uncomfortable to wear after around an hour (wearing glasses doesn't help much because of the clamping force). Also if using them for voice chat / gaming mic my jaw starts to ache after a while as well which isn't much fun!

So do I either:

A) Build an amp and buy some bookshelfs for around £60 (recommendations please!) or
B) Given my small room and requirements for low volume build a headphone amp (maybe an SSMH) and upgrade my cans to something that hopefully doesn't drive me nuts wearing them

I suppose there is also C) which would be to spend all the cash on new unampped cans but I'm really interested in doing something electronics wise so building an amp is kind of the fun part too.

Thanks for any advice. Sorry its a long post, hopefully someone made it to the end!
 
I've no idea about headphones, so I'll skip right over that.

I've just got myself a pair of Wharfedale 9.1s. They were £100 new, but they've been around a while so you should be able to source some second hand ones for within the budget I expect.

My room is also very small (uni room, about 4mx3m) and I find them excellent. I've not even got a subwoofer running and they provide decent bass for music although films could do with a sub. They keep plenty of detail at low volume levels particularly when bi-wired, which could make your amp-building more interesting?

I'd wholeheartedly recommend them unless you're very concerned about size - they're about the same height as my 22" monitor.
 
Regarding headphones, the best thing is to go on Head-Fi and read specific headphones 'impressions' threads, so you can glean what the overall consensus about a particular model's comfort levels. That said, an external amp and DAC (I don't see a soundcard in your sig?) will offer big improvements on any source you listen to via them. Crap in, crap out sort of thing, so buying fancy headphones may not yield any improvements until your source and amplification are good enough to make use of them properly. On portable players at least, I find the DAC one of the most important factors in how the unit sounds, since IEMS are often rather easy to drive and therefore amplification isn't a big factor.

A decent amp will be able to power both speakers and headphones (in fact some headphones need speaker amps to drive them to their full potential), so if you're going to make an amp it's worth looking for something that can do both. Again, Head-Fi has a forum just for DIY and there's a load of amp and DAC builds/advice there.
 
Thanks for both posts!

I had my eye on the Wharfedale 9.1s but they are very big like you say and they are supposed to fit on my desk. Also have my eye on a second hand pair of Mission M71 since I've heard they are good for the price. However, all of these speakers are ported design and I'm afraid of bass just taking over and mudding out again - at the same time though I hate that thinned out sound that having no bass gives. I may just try and get away with ported speakers in the end. Anyone else got any experience on the small room with ported bookshelfs?

Thanks for the tips on Headphones. I've been reading a bit of Head-Fi and their comfy headphones with glasses thread already - seems that AKG's work out quite well and also Sennheiser 595's although I'm dubious seeing as the 515's already don't completely suit me.

Audio source at the moment is an Audigy 4 which I forgot to list in my sig! The plan was to make a DAC at a later stage if the amp goes to plan and also change the sound card to something that can actually get the digital processing right for any gaming (Audigy 4 is glitchy in UE3 games).

A DIY amp with a headphone jack is a really good idea too - I'll maybe see if I can find some designs for that. The amps on 41hz don't have a headphone jack and there doesn't seem to be much about modifying them either. It would be unsuitable to plug headphones into one though I believe as speakers expect something like 50 - 100w into a 4, 6 or 8 ohm load where as headphones are more like 300mw into a large impedance.

Thanks again for the help guys, really appreciated and it's helping to focus my goals a bit I think :)
 
Ported will be fine as long as you take the necessary precautions and by the nature/size of their design they won't be knocking out the kind of low-end a sub handles. Rear ported will naturally have to be kept further away from a wall, so front ported are usually better suited for desk speakers, and combined with some Mopads/other method of speaker isolation will result in tighter, leaner, but more accurate bass since it won't be travelling through the desk itself.

Stands are also good since they reduce the amount of sound reflected from the desk, and help bring the tweeters to ear level where you'll get the best soundstage/imaging as long as they're pointed at each ear.

Also try the classified ads in AVForums since there's always bargains to be had there.
 
Just to say, those 41hz amps are very good quality, you won't be disappointed...

If I had only £60 to spend I'd get the amp6b kit along with some 2nd hand bookshelf speakers, or if you really want to push the boat out then get the amp9b and bi-amp!
 
if you do get ported speakers and find them too sloppy in the bass dept. bung them. I have m35i which are great speakers, but find them FAR better with a pair of socks stuffed into the port, tightens them right up. Does cost a bit of extension at the low end but id rather the tightness :)
 
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