The best pc sound setup

squiffy · 3 Mar 2007 at 19:32

geff_r said:
you can get better secondhand wow why would anyone buy an arcam
from fleabay must be on it's way out to even be on there i'd rather pay £120 for this brand new than trust some fleabayer.

ha hah sounds like you're 13 years old with first audio system. Nothing wrong with buying secondhand, and that Arcam is another league to CA gear.

Alexrose1uk · 3 Mar 2007 at 20:30

Im using a Cambridge Audio A5 (better than the A1 imo) and some Mission 751s, sounds awesome!

I'll probably upgrade it in a few years when I have my own place, but for right now it serves perfectly as a 2 speaker media centre, I have my Wii going into it, as well as my Xfi, and will likely connect it up to some other inputs before I get rid of it.

Im very happy I moved from PC speakers

Cost me less than £200 too, thanks to the wonders of ebay!

Not quite the budget you specified, but I tell ya, bi-wired the sheer clarity and soundstation of these speakers coupled with this amp when sitting near to them is mind boggling for the price

ONLY downside is the bass isnt huge, but its controlled, and very nice, and if you use the amp EQ, it sounds fine, rather than a distorted computer EQ mess, and it brings out any nasty sound artifacts in poorly encoded music, or games.

Edinho · 4 Mar 2007 at 00:54

Had some Gale 2i's for about 8 years still one of the best speakers ive ever bought.

eracer2006 · 4 Mar 2007 at 02:40

geff_r said:
Why not? they have great bass "have you even ever heard these speakers?"and every post so far is a bit silly

I have a 500wrms @ 4ohm 12" ported subwoofer next do my pc desk, do you really think those speakers are going to put out as much quality and volume as that ? I can provide pics if needed.

geff_r · 4 Mar 2007 at 06:43

squiffy said:
ha hah sounds like you're 13 years old with first audio system. Nothing wrong with buying secondhand, and that Arcam is another league to CA gear.

You still have'nt grasped this a post about the best budget system that beats any
£100 plastic pc 2.0 speaker setup post.
it's not even my setup it's not a post about how great my sound setup is it's a post for people looking to spend around £100 on a 2 or 2.1 pc solution
and me saying better to get those than get some pc speakers that will last 2 years.I have 2 amps a cambridge audio a1 a5 and gale mini monitors mark II and a set of mordaunt short.But I use sennheiser headphones plugged into my sound card for my pc.This setup is in
Ocuk recommendations so you cant really knock it.And i for one would rather have this than some plastic sub and 2 speakers logitech setup.
And i'm still awaiting a better sounding setup for the price of those two
brand new.I think you were all a bit quick to jump down my throat
for merely suggesting this setup is better than 2 tiny chepo plastic
speakers and a sub that will die in about 2 years.And unless you've heard these speakers in the flesh you are not in a position to pass judgement.
The gales i have are now 10 years old and still going strong so i cannot recommend them enough.

tom_nieto · 4 Mar 2007 at 11:29

These will be tons better than any PC setup, but it takes a little more planning and knowledge to buy and set them up. For £100 I'd definitely look at something like that rather than a set of PC speakers.

E-bay is excellent for audio and I've bought stuff from there and other second hand avenues to make up most of my hi-fi.

james.miller · 4 Mar 2007 at 11:33

eracer2006 said:
I have a 500wrms @ 4ohm 12" ported subwoofer next do my pc desk, do you really think those speakers are going to put out as much quality and volume as that ? I can provide pics if needed.

depends what your sub is. '500w @ 4ohms' means sod all, it seems strange that you mention that but not the make and the model of the sub. As much as i dont agree with the guy he never said it put out 'loads' of bass. Now as far as quality goes,where the sub is is just as important. I'm guessing next to your desk isnt exactly the best place.

besides. if your sub as really any good it would have cost you 3 times the cost of the amp and speakers in the op. Then there's the materials to build the enclosure, the amp to drive it.....in short, not the best comparison it is? plenty of people can post pictures of subwoofer than would put yours to shame, myself included - 2x 3.5cu.ft enclosures each housing a 12" driver both designed and built by me. Squiffy has an....svs tube i believe? puts yours and mine to shame, but that really has nothing to do with the topic of this therad.

fini · 4 Mar 2007 at 13:24

geff_r said:
And i'm still awaiting a better sounding setup for the price of those two brand new.

I still don't understand what your obsession with kit being new is. Kit off of e-bay is almost invariably 'as new' - as in spotless - and will save you half as much. A Harmon Kadron amp can probably be picked up, with a set of speakers for about £100 and will beat that system.

fini

MikeHunt79 · 4 Mar 2007 at 16:52

eracer2006 said:
I have a 500wrms @ 4ohm 12" ported subwoofer next do my pc desk, do you really think those speakers are going to put out as much quality and volume as that ? I can provide pics if needed.

Obviously the gales aren't going to be doing much around 30hz... What amp are you using if you don't mind me asking? Many normal amp's don't really like 4 ohms, so it would be good to know what's around.

I've got a pair of 4 ohm subs that I need an amp for you see...

squiffy · 4 Mar 2007 at 17:14

MikeHunt79 said:
Obviously the gales aren't going to be doing much around 30hz... What amp are you using if you don't mind me asking? Many normal amp's don't really like 4 ohms, so it would be good to know what's around. I've got a pair of 4 ohm subs that I need an amp for you see...

Crown K1

MikeHunt79 · 4 Mar 2007 at 17:57

squiffy said:
Crown K1

Slightly out of my price range! Nice amp tho... Something like a QSC RMX 1450 is a little more reasonable TBH. Right now I'm using a quad 405 which is nice, but it's older than I am! :eek:

daz · 4 Mar 2007 at 23:27

Musical Fidelity A1 > Cambridge Audio A1

DeeJay-Mo · 6 Mar 2007 at 18:28

If you're gonna spend about £120 and want good quaity, I would reccomend a pair of active studio monitors. Active monitors have the amp built in, so no need for an external amp. The JBL Control 1s can be bought for that budget:

Obviously a sub could be added for better bass response.