First Setup

[Visionz]

Ok, so ive been reading all the applicable posts from this forum and some others and i just wanted your oppinion on this gear. I'm still a little confused so i just want to make sure i get it correct

I've mainly been looking at the gear you guys mentioned thats available from Richersounds as there is one near me in Notts.

Now this setup will be mainly for music, tv and gaming. I just need a nice capable sound system, nothing spectacular. I play a lot of WoW n some CS:S but i tend to use headphones for them anyway, so the system will be prodominantly for music.

So sound card i can order from where and ive heard a lot of good things about 'M-Audio 2496' i think it is. No idea if its suitable, but that is why i posted

For the amp, everyone seems to talk a lot about the A5 (http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=CAMB-A5-SIL) , so ive chosen that as well : though from what i gather it lacks a headphone jack or something so i need a converter right?

For Speakers i just want a couple of bookshelf speakers to wall mount behind my desk as i lack the room for floorstanding ones. So im thinking these Mordaunt Short 302 AVANT (http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.php?cda=showproduct&pid=MORD-302-AVANT-MAP) should be fine for that, though they do seem a little small. Is that an issue, or is there something else i should be looking at?

Cabling etc i was just gonna ask someone at Richersounds, so im not to worried about that, so any advice or anything you can give me on my choices would be great.

Oh and by the way, in reguards to budget, i havent really got one, not looking to spend more than about £250-£300 though as im looking to pickup a sub to add to the system at a later date.

Thanks for the help in advice, please get posting

 

[Codmate]

The 2496 is a very simple no-frills stereo card and great for playback and recording with pre-amps or a mixer. Be aware that if you plan to game with this card it doesn't support EAX, so you wouldn't get all the fancy extra reverbs and things in games. It also has no built in mic pre-amp, which means if you use a headset or desktop mic, you will need a pre-amp, or a USB mic.

Outside of games, the simple signal path and venerable VIA Envy chipset will give you ace stereo performance. I know at least two people who master commercial material using this card for playback.

It's only a two channel card too - so no good if you want surround for your movies. If you'd like to go with M-Audio and want surround, the Revolution 5.1 is good. It also supports EAX. IMO the sound quality of the Revolution 5.1 is noticeably better than that of the Revolution 7.1.

It sounds to me as if you just want a stereo set-up, in which case the 2496 is probably the cheapest and best sounding solution (unless your gear has balanced inputs - in which case the Audiophile 192 would be good). Bear in mind the microphone issue though - a USB headset (probably the best solution for gaming in this context) would cost you around £20 for a cheap one.

Amps and speakers are terribly subjective - you'll only *really* know what you like when you've owned a few
The ones you're looking at will be as good as any at this stage.

If you only need to plug one thing into the amp, and don't need 'party level' volume, I'd recommend the Sonic Super T-Amp, available from a popular auction site. It has no headphone output however. It's a very small amp and only pushes out around 9W, but the quality is astounding for the money (somewhere between £100 and £120 - sounds like £300 - £400 amp IMO).

 

[Visionz]

Ok : so i bought the Mordaunt Short 902i's and the A5 amp, set it up with a nice X-Fi, n it all works good Just burning it in atm


Anyway, wanted to post to thank you for your help but also just to say : I went to Richer Sounds to get all the stuff (cept the card obv) and that place is fantastic. If ever hear anyone compare that place to something like Dixons or PC World, im gonna drive to their house and slap them. Instead of Saturday staff who could pick one cable from another, there was only knowlegable, helpful staff, that place is magical! Definately going again for anymore electrical goods they sell if/when i need!