2.1 stereo+2.1 stereo= 4.2 Surround?

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
3
0

borisvodofsky

Diamond Member
Feb 12, 2010
3,606
0
0
Besides the obvious math, duh!

But, i'm thinking about grabbing 1 of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-072-_-Product

and hook up 2 of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-014-_-Product

To the same audio source.

on my PC and then adding a set of 2.0 stereo speaks hooked up to the front of my MOBO. Neither Hardware not software is an issue, but will it have an effect in quality of sound?

Anyone mind destroying my self confidence of any knowdlege of sound?

Thank you :D

Yes, that will work.. you still have to setup whatever player ur using to matrix the Center/woofer channel to the Front left/right :D
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,982
11
81
That's going to give you 6.2... you'll have 4 speakers from the Logitechs and then you're going to add 2.0 where?

But, in principle 4.2 will work.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
I wouldn't call logitech speakers crappy, they are very good value, specially for the money.

depends on the definition. logitech can't pull off a magic trick, at 27 dollars there is only so much material and contruction you can buy, the tech of speakers is mature, and the materials and construction necessary for good sound is beefy and heavy, and you udon't get that for cheap, let alone 27 dollars. for 27 dollars you get a farty under powered "sub"woofer which is barely one at all. speakers do not combine to increase quality, you buy many low grade speakers you still have low grade sound. good sound you need good big heavy non resonating cabinet designs, nice big drivers and amp, you get nothing for 27 dollars...you can't cost cut that far. The material cost alone for quality speakers will break that kind of budget by itself. speakers aren't like chips which get cheaper every year and better, they are mechanical, build/material quality matters.
 
Last edited:

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
3
0
depends on the definition. logitech can't pull off a magic trick, at 27 dollars there is only so much material and contruction you can buy, the tech of speakers is mature, and the materials and construction necessary for good sound is beefy and heavy, and you udon't get that for cheap, let alone 27 dollars. for 27 dollars you get a farty under powered "sub"woofer which is barely one at all. speakers do not combine to increase quality, you buy many low grade speakers you still have low grade sound. good sound you need good big heavy non resonating cabinet designs, nice big drivers and amp, you get nothing for 27 dollars...you can't cost cut that far. The material cost alone for quality speakers will break that kind of budget by itself.

There is a reason these have over 850+ 5 star reviews though ;)

But trust me, i already own the speakers, and honestly, they sound just as good(if not better) than the $90 set of 2.1s my dad bought a few years back.
 

A5

Diamond Member
Jun 9, 2000
4,902
5
81
Besides the obvious math, duh!

But, i'm thinking about grabbing 1 of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-072-_-Product

and hook up 2 of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-014-_-Product

To the same audio source.

on my PC and then adding a set of 2.0 stereo speaks hooked up to the front of my MOBO. Neither Hardware not software is an issue, but will it have an effect in quality of sound?

Anyone mind destroying my self confidence of any knowdlege of sound?

Thank you :D

I'm not really sure what you're going for here - the setup you describe would just give you more sound, not better sound or "surround" sound. You'd just be duplicating the sound that's already there. If you're going for immersion, you'd be much better off with a $60 pair of headphones than the setup you've laid out here.
 

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
There is also the old trick of getting rear surround off a 2 channel amp. You wire the surround speakers so that they are connected running from + on left to + on right.
Sources that are dolby prologic work well with that setup. The only sound that will come out the rear is the difference in left and right
Code:
       Right  + -----------------------------------------------
                                              |               |
 P                                            +               +
                                         Right front     Right rear
 O  A                                         -               -
                   --- - Centre front + ---   |               |
 W  M  Common - ---|                      |---+--- x Pot x ---|
                   ---- x Dummy load x ----   |               |
 E  P                                         -               -
                                          Left front      Left rear
 R                                            +               +
                                              |               |
       Left   + -----------------------------------------------

 Notes:  1)  This circuit puts strange loads on your power-amp.
             Use at your own risk.
         2)  For only four speakers, replace the centre front 
             speaker and dummy load with a short circuit.
         3)  The dummy load reduces the volume of the centre front 
             speaker.  Theory suggests 19 ohms for 8 ohm speakers.
         4)  The potentiometer (Pot) needs to be wire wound to
             take the power.  I used 50 ohms with 8 ohm speakers.
         5)  To "decode" stereo sources I found a pot setting of about 
             25 ohms was best.  There is no best setting for mono.
         6)  To decode Dolby MP sources set the pot to maximum, 
             omit it, or put it in series with the rear speakers.  

 The circuit works like this.  If you set the pot to zero, the rear 
 speakers are fed the same signal as the input.  If you set the pot
 to a high value (or omit it), the rear speakers are fed the pure
 difference between the two input channels.  For stereo, you will 
 want to set it to an intermediate value to blend a proportion of the 
 input with the pure difference into the rear speakers; I set mine to 
 about 25 ohms with 8 ohm speakers.  The "correct" setting will be 
 slightly different for different stereo recordings, but you will 
 soon get tired of varying it and settle on a single compromise 
 setting.  For mono recordings there is no "correct" setting.  The 
 centre-front speaker is always fed the sum of the two input channels.
 
Last edited:

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
There is a reason these have over 850+ 5 star reviews though ;)

But trust me, i already own the speakers, and honestly, they sound just as good(if not better) than the $90 set of 2.1s my dad bought a few years back.

its the same reason i'm sure many are happy with stock apple earbuds, those people really don't care about audio quality at all. the folks handing out 5 stars either have low standards, no basis of real comparison or experience in the matter, or are rating it based on value, it is "youtube sound" if that is your standard then sure, it does work. If you do however want sound quality...i mean really basic level sound quality..nothing even close to audiophile even, they are a joke.

Good sound comes from thick cabinets, good drivers of good size, decent sized midrange drivers for full sound, tweeters, and a good size heavy subwoofer for smooth musical bass, not farty nonsense. That costs a little more than 30 dollars.

just look. http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-S220-...ata/B000RQSGYO
4/5 stars for that. As long as they don't arrive doa they will get good reviews for most anything. The thing has a freakin 4" subwoofer.... amazon reviews are not meaningful for what you are looking for. At best they tell you that the failure rate isn't that high....for such speakers the folks are probably upgrading from even crappier 5 dollar speakers.

as for your dads 2.1's, what did he buy, you can buy crap for 90 dollars as well. clock radio quality ipod docks easily cost that much.
 
Last edited:

calvie

Member
May 8, 2010
97
0
0
$27 speakers and you are asking if it will affect the quality of the sound? There is no quality in those speakers, only sound. Oh..crappy sound at that. You dont need $1000 or even $500 to get quality sound, but you sure need way more than $27.
 

Ophir

Golden Member
Mar 29, 2001
1,211
4
81
To answer your question: No, that will not give you 4.2. That will give you 2 X 2.1. In audio A.B naming, the A means there are A # of discrete channels playing full range audio, and B # of discrete channels carrying the LFE, or subwoofer, audio. This means that for 4.2 you would need 4 channels each carrying a individual full-range audio information and 2 channels carrying subwoofer information.

In the setup you posted you would have 2 channels carrying the SAME audio information on each side (left and right). You would have 2 left-fronts and 2 right-fronts, but two would be behind you, so the sound is the same in front as in back. This is not surround sound. True surround sound (5.1, 7.1, 4.2) has different "rear" sounds going to the rear speakers (left-front, left-rear, right-front, right-rear), so when something comes from behind, the sound is different from the sound coming in front.

The problem with posting here is that some people are audio snobs and don't care to help. Some of us think spending thousands on audio is worthwhile. If the $27 speakers sound good to you that is great and it's best for your wallet and sanity not to take a walk in our direction. If you want help on how to set up your speakers to get surround sound we'll need to know what sound card you have.
 

Ophir

Golden Member
Mar 29, 2001
1,211
4
81
I'm not really sure what you're going for here - the setup you describe would just give you more sound, not better sound or "surround" sound. You'd just be duplicating the sound that's already there. If you're going for immersion, you'd be much better off with a $60 pair of headphones than the setup you've laid out here.
That's just about the best piece of information posted in this thread.
 

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
3
0
I just noticed that i actually won't need that splitter, so i just ordered a pair of the speakers and the Realtek software along with my motherboard will do their job making it "surround".
 

Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
16,829
3
0
Here is what I would do... forget the Logitech speakers. They will sound really really tinny with those little satellites.

Find a budget but good quality 2.0 speakers and get two sets of those.
 

RavenSEAL

Diamond Member
Jan 4, 2010
8,661
3
0
Here is what I would do... forget the Logitech speakers. They will sound really really tinny with those little satellites.

Find a budget but good quality 2.0 speakers and get two sets of those.

I already have a set, they sound pretty awesome when added with a set of 2.0 :)

So, it's gonna be "8.3 surround sound" when i get em next week.