No rear bass on Speedlink Medusas - solution?

Uriel

Uriel

Uriel

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I note that a few people have mentioned problems getting bass out of the rear drivers on Medusa headsets. I can't link to the original user review because it's technically on a competitor site. It appears to confirm my suspicions that this was a soundcard issue not a problem with the Medusas themselves.

Personally - I never had a problem with lack of bass with the Medusas on either my Audigy 2 or X-Fi. I do know that soundcard drivers (especially Creative) can produce all sorts of random weird and 'wonderful' results though.

So for what it's worth - here you go.

Anyway, the replacement sorted out the front-centre speaker problem so now it was down to some proper testing. Very quickly, though, I experienced the problems that Speed-Link had already warned be about regarding the Creative Audigy 2 ZS I was using. The one that was most obvious and annoying was the fact that only the front-side speakers were actually doing anything. Not even the subwoofer was doing what it was supposed to. By turning the volume for the front-side speakers, it was pretty obvious that the front-centre, rear and subwoofer speakers weren't even on. After going through everything suggested in the Speed-Link FAQs, I wondered if the amp was the problem. One of the cables included in the box connects an output device (in this case, my sound card) directly to the headset. This didn't solve the problem, so I was at least relieved that I didn't have to make more e-mails to Speed-Link to get a replacement sorted out.

Finally, after trying nearly everything I could think of software wise, I wondered if it could be the Creative drivers. After going from the latest Creative drivers for my sound card to the oldest one I could find, nothing worked and nothing changed. Then I decided to ignore Creative completely and try the third-party kX Project drivers. While I knew that the drivers didn't support EAX in games, I was willing to give that up if I could have true 5.1 surround rather than the CMSS thing that Creative drivers could only seem to give me.

After installing the kX drivers, configuring the settings to my liking and messing around with the equalizer, I decided to test it by watching the new "Halo Wars" trailer - the hi-def widescreen with 5.1 surround sound version - that had very recently been released. I have just one word to say at this point: Wow!

With the subwoofers thundering and - at last - rear and centre speakers blazing away, I finally got a taste of what I had stressed over for so long for. In another word: amazing! - credit to Balrithor at original site
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I tried a Creative card and Realtek on-board with crossover frequencys set correctly and still no bass, even if they can get bass in the rears it doesn't make up for the fiddling you have to do for it and even with rear bass they still won't sound very good. :p
MikeHunt79 said:
solution? Throw the Medusas in the bin. :p :D
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More or less what I did, what an upgrade I got from it. :)
 
MikeHunt79 said:
:D Yep, I was expecting to to get flamed for that one so it's nice to know people on here care about sound quality. :cool:
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Ok then.... you are wrong icemat phones are amazing like ice detailed sharp wow surround sound pcgamer magazine sais so so is write !!!!! :D

My plan is to get everyone to buy grados for gaming, then I can paste them all at tf2/css as grados headstage really doesn't help you unless you can expand it with a nice amp or higher up models.

I still use my loss ksc75s with my hybrid millett max amp that I built for my grados, whilst gaming. For £7 these really are unbeatable phones, and now I realise why all the yank head-fiers go on abut them soo much !
 
Tombo said:
Did you read the topic or just jump straight to slagging them off?
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Speedlink medusas need to be thrown in bin, therefore we post that.

If you love yours, then fair enough, but buy some stereo headphones even for £30-50 (Goldring off OCUK) + desktop/clip-on mic, and then put the headset on ebay as you won't ever have to use it again.
 
I'm surprised that I managed to write a thread about the Medusas and it 'lasted' (albeit with no replies) 2 days before getting invaded :rolleyes:

I posted this thread because I know that some people have had a genuine problem with the Medusas and I believed there is a solution (other than buying different headphones) becuase I do not have the same problem on my set. I'm trying to help people who already have the things.

There are plenty of threads comparing various priced stereo headsets with the Medusas and 5.1 headphones vs Dolby Headphone or CMSS-3D. We don't need every Medusa thread to descend into a bashing contest but it's becoming unavoidable. For the record - I've used both HD600s and Philips SHE2850 (which cost less than a tenner) in the past week. The Medusas are (unsurprisingly) a lot closer to the latter in terms of sound quality. Happy?
 
I had it happen twice with two different pairs... Solution throw em in the bin and get some stereo headphones
 
Vigoro said:
I had it happen twice with two different pairs... Solution throw em in the bin and get some stereo headphones
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orpheuslrg.jpg
 
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