Gaming Speakers vs Studio Monitors, thoughts?

Buckster · 26 Nov 2016 at 10:44

I get horrible interference on my LSR305s no matter what

I had interference even just through the power cable ....

ie optical to DAC - DAC to LSR305, LSR305s just plugged into wall, load up Furmark on my PC and could hear the whine ....

until I bought a Berringer Hum Destroyer for less than 20 quid and got rid of all of it

neil_g · 26 Nov 2016 at 11:24

You must have some awful electrical interference

Buckster · 26 Nov 2016 at 11:26

maybe its just my 290 ....

the noise was coming out of speakers even though complete separate mains plugs other side of room !

neil_g · 26 Nov 2016 at 11:42

That's a bit bizarre.. Audio cables running near any power?

james.miller · 26 Nov 2016 at 11:46

Optical to dac?

noise is being picked up by your (presumably) on board audio. I can't believe a hum destroyer would fix that :confused:

very strange.

Marsman · 26 Nov 2016 at 11:58

Something odd was going on there, as EMI can't pass along fibre optic. Must have been some other way it was transferring.

elzafir · 20 Oct 2017 at 04:16

Cenedd said:
.
I went with a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Why? It's an external DAC, has balanced outputs (rejects interference), it puts volume control just under my monitor and as a bonus it's got two inputs if I want to get back into recording or just want to plug my guitar in (and pretend I can play it!). It's also got a headphone amp in it but I don't have a set of headphones good enough to tell whether it's any good - there seem to be mixed reports on that front.

Because of the lack of bass - I'm not after wall-shaking blow-your-face-off bass, just lower, richer and with a little bit of oomph. Enough to make a bass guitar sound like it's there - I added a KRK Rokit 8s sub. Massive difference. Again, it took a little while to warm up - I'm talking minutes here, not days - so don't judge it instantly. Takes balanced inputs, balanced outputs, does the crossover and fills in the bottom end nicely. My only quibble is that it's a little too high to rest my feet on....but it does have a metal grill to stop me destroying it with my feet!

Sorry for the necro. I'm also looking for a setup powered by the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. The 2i2 only have L/R line outs. How do you connect the subwoofer?

neil_g · 20 Oct 2017 at 08:33

elzafir said:
Sorry for the necro. I'm also looking for a setup powered by the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. The 2i2 only have L/R line outs. How do you connect the subwoofer?

Looking at the sub connectors you connect the speakers to that and the sub to the source.

Cenedd · 20 Oct 2017 at 10:29

I went with the KRK Rokit 5's and the Rokit 8s sub purely because of the cabling. The Focusrite connects to the sub and the sub then connects to the monitors having done the crossover (high-pass filtering) - which is adjustable. If you don't have a sub that does this for you, I would think you'd be able to get a crossover box that did but it adds another box, set of cables and probably another power supply if it's an active crossover.

CyberScy · 20 Oct 2017 at 14:33

This looks great!

Cenedd · 20 Oct 2017 at 16:29

It at least sounds great! The monitors really benefit from being at ear height. I was expecting it to be snake-oil but it really makes quite a large difference. The sound quality is mainly about accuracy rather than making the room vibrate. They're plenty loud enough if necessary but when you sit nice and centrally between them with them pointing at you (which is quite easy to set up at a corner desk) and listen to something ambient and floaty like some of Pink Floyd's stuff or something pared back and guitary then it sounds really good.

Marine-RX179 · 21 Oct 2017 at 16:30

I replaced my Edifier S730's (2.1) small speakers with a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9.0...it's a match made in heaven

JasonM · 23 Oct 2017 at 13:51

Marine-RX179 said:
I replaced my Edifier S730's (2.1) small speakers with a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 9.0...it's a match made in heaven

I did the same but on a S720, the satellites that come with S720 and S730 have weak mid range. Instead of your Wharfedale's I used 2 non passive side speakers from 2 sets of Edifier 1600's, it all sounds a little OTT but the result was very good

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hughythomas · 25 Oct 2017 at 11:40

If your budget can stretch I run the following monitors:

Neumann KH120A
KRK Rokit RP6 G3
Yamaha NS10M
Genelec 8040A
Funktion One F11201

By far the best monitors I have ever used or owned are the Neumann KH120As. All my RME gear is modified by Black Lion Audio - these guys are serious check them out!

Neumanns are best sounding monitor for the money I have ever heard...and I've been around the block a few times!

Cenedd · 25 Oct 2017 at 11:55

Just check out the sizes of them first! Sound-wise the RP6's would probably have been better than my RP5's....but I was pushing it for space even with the 5's. Not that I've ever bought something based on spec and then thought where the $^*! am I going to put THAT?!