A Different take on PC Speakers: Self-Powered Monitors + Custom Sub

[Operandi]

I'd like to put together a nice 2.1 sound system for my PC. Something to kick the crap out of the Klipsch and Logitechs in terms of music reproduction. Games and movies will be secondary consideration, and I can always add a 2nd set of monitors to easily achieve 4.1.

This is all in the preliminary stages of planning but the current thought was to use a set of M-AUDIO DX4s and run the the speaker level outs from the primary monitor (with the amps) into a sub plate amp that has speaker level inputs. I figure thats the only practical way to get gain controls on the sub (aside from the controls on the plate amp) or are there other ways I haven't thought of?

I'm also open to suggestions for different monitors besides the M-Audio's but self-amplification and volume control is a requirement since I don't want to have to buy a separate amp and preamp.

I think I'll end it there for now but I'll keep this thread updated as I go.

 

[Operandi]

Up.

 

[Operandi]

No love from the fellow audiophiles?

 

[Zap]

Get whatever powered subwoofer you want and hook it up to your subwoofer line out on your sound card. Then, hook up a T-amp to your L-R outputs of your sound card. After this, you can hook up any speaker pair you want (choose shielded if using a CRT monitor). My wife has a pair of BIC Venturi bookshelf speakers along with an Advent powered 12" sub hooked up to her system, and she loves it.

 

[Howard]

Speakers with SNR as part of the spec are decidedly not audiophile. And 4" mids... Good luck integrating those speakers with any sub.

 

[Billb2]

Originally posted by: Operandi
I don't want to have to buy a separate amp and preamp.

Then you're going to have a "computer" speaker system, not an audiophile system. Have a look at the Bowers & Wilkins LM1s

 

[ed21x]

self-amplification and volume control is a requirement

but not having an amp means that you can't mix and match speakers =\

 

[Howard]

http://www.krksys.com/v3/rokit_rp6.asp

 

[seanjohnnj]

KRK is a good suggestion. Also might look at Dynaudio or Mackie. I think active monitors are a great way to go if music is your primary use, and sound detail/quality is importatnt to you. but I'd spring for a high quality active monitor with at a good low end response and forget about the subwoofer. ie, the M-Audio BX8 extends to 40hz, which is fine for most your music.

I use an older kenwood avr into decent bookshelf speakers and it is much better than any pc spkrs i have tried (have not tried the BWs), and would be easy to add LFE sub if I wanted. i use it only for music, and mostly mp3s which are too low rez for a more pricey setup (saved that for the living room).

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Howard
Speakers with SNR as part of the spec are decidedly not audiophile. And 4" mids... Good luck integrating those speakers with any sub.

Dr. Amar Gopal Bose seems to have done it with success.

:laugh: :evil:

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: Howard
Speakers with SNR as part of the spec are decidedly not audiophile. And 4" mids... Good luck integrating those speakers with any sub.

Dr. Amar Gopal Bose seems to have done it with success.

:laugh: :evil:

Financially, you mean?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: Howard
Speakers with SNR as part of the spec are decidedly not audiophile. And 4" mids... Good luck integrating those speakers with any sub.

Dr. Amar Gopal Bose seems to have done it with success.

:laugh: :evil:

:shocked: name change

I think his secret is that he integrates it with a bass module rather than a sub

 

[Rubycon]

Sarcasm response is supposed to be 16~23,000 cps ± 30 bel.

This thread? About as good as your typical Spark-O-Matic coaxial that's been in the door of your aunt's Gremlin since '82 that her Jack Russel has pissed on about 187 times. :laugh:

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Howard
http://www.krksys.com/v3/rokit_rp6.asp

Long overdue reply, sorry.

I was originally pretty set on the M-Audio sats for their price and size but after looking at those KRKs and other monitors I think I'm going to go with something a bit higher-end. Mostly due to the fact that the sub I plan on building is going to be a bit more serious then I had initially planed. So I'll be looking at bigger monitors (5"-5 1/2" drivers) for better low freq extension and just better quality overall.

I'm looking to spend a max of $300 on a pair, currently I'm looking at the following.

Wharfedale Pro Diamond 8.1 Pro Active: Currently what I'm leaning towards. $250.00
Event ALP 5: Event is owned by Mackie and I've heard these are good but a bit out of my budget. $330
Alesis M1Active 520: Seems to be of good quality, has all the features I need, best price. $200

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Zap
Get whatever powered subwoofer you want and hook it up to your subwoofer line out on your sound card. Then, hook up a T-amp to your L-R outputs of your sound card. After this, you can hook up any speaker pair you want (choose shielded if using a CRT monitor). My wife has a pair of BIC Venturi bookshelf speakers along with an Advent powered 12" sub hooked up to her system, and she loves it.

It's not set in stone but I think I'm set on active monitors. I will keep it in mid however, as I've heard some good things the Sonic Impact T amps the output just seems a little low.

 

[herm0016]

if you think you will get into the hobby at all you should look at getting a good receiver and a pair of bookshelf speakers you can upgrade later. i know you may not like it, but it will be the best stuff for your money. i have a Yamaha receiver with about 75 watts per channel 6 channels plus an a/b option to make 7 total or i can bridge the a/b to get more power. has pre-outs for all the channels, all the different Ht things like dts, pro-logic, etc. much better dac than what sound cards have, and video switching and conversion for when i finally buy a tv all for 150 used, plus a pair of bookshelf's i spent about 90 on. no sub yet, but would like to get a 10 or 12 in kit and build it. the t amp is also a good choice, you can upgrade it later and can try out different speakers. for active monitors the m-audio set is good, mackie is ok but there are others that are better for the same money.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

If you do think about going bookshelf speakers, this would be a nice $200 option
http://cgi.videogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?spkrmain&1182466285&class&3&4&

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: herm0016
if you think you will get into the hobby at all you should look at getting a good receiver and a pair of bookshelf speakers you can upgrade later. i know you may not like it, but it will be the best stuff for your money. i have a Yamaha receiver with about 75 watts per channel 6 channels plus an a/b option to make 7 total or i can bridge the a/b to get more power. has pre-outs for all the channels, all the different Ht things like dts, pro-logic, etc. much better dac than what sound cards have, and video switching and conversion for when i finally buy a tv all for 150 used, plus a pair of bookshelf's i spent about 90 on. no sub yet, but would like to get a 10 or 12 in kit and build it. the t amp is also a good choice, you can upgrade it later and can try out different speakers. for active monitors the m-audio set is good, mackie is ok but there are others that are better for the same money.

The problem with that route is paying for things I don't need (or want for that matter). With active monitors I'm paying for the speakers and amps only, no tuners, pre-amp section, processors, ect. With most options I'm also able to pick up individual speakers which would allow me to go to 5.1 in the future.

Still I'm not excluding it. I may also look into a dedicated 2 channel amp and just run some book shelfs off of that. Though that would probably be more expensive and I'd be limited to 2.1.

Either way I plan on at least getting the design for the sub down first if not built before I make a decision on which monitors/book shelfs I go with.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
If you do think about going bookshelf speakers, this would be a nice $200 option
http://cgi.videogon.com/cgi-bin/cl.pl?spkrmain&1182466285&class&3&4&

Those look nice, and a good deal, I'll keep them in mind. Though I'm a bit worried that they would be too big given my space and the near field application.

 

[Ken90630]

OP: I think you should find a way to hook your sound card up to your clock radio and be done with it. You know -- the one with the bass response down to 20Hz (or whatever you said)? So what if it's -100dB -- just turn the volume control way up to hear those lower frequencies! :laugh:

Joking aside, out of curiosity, what are you planning to use as a crossover frequency for the subwoofer? I kinda like the unique looks of those B&W speakers linked to above, and since their low end extends down to about a usable 65Hz (-6dB), a decent sub could pair with them nicely. I also like that B&W provides honest, meaningful frequency response specs for those speakers -- kudos to them for that.

Out of curiosity, what do you not like about Klipsch ProMedia 2.1s? Performance, style, price, or ???

EDIT: Corrected my earlier comment about the B&W speakers' low-end frequency response. I'm pretty tired and apparently not thinking clearly (that's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it ). Thanks to DAjello for helping me realize my mistake.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: Ken90630
OP: I think you should find a way to hook your sound card up to your clock radio and be done with it. You know -- the one with the bass response down to 20Hz (or whatever you said)? So what if it's -100dB -- just turn the volume control way up to hear those lower frequencies! :laugh:

Joking aside, out of curiosity, what are you planning to use as a crossover frequency for the subwoofer? I kinda like the unique looks of those B&W speakers linked to above, but their low end only extends down to about a usable 65Hz (-6dB), and that would be pretty high for the sub to reach for. But hey, at least B&W provides honest, meaningful frequency response specs -- kudos to them for that.

Out of curiosity, what do you not like about Klipsch ProMedia 2.1s? Performance, style, price, or ???

How low are you expecting to get from budget bookshelf sized speakers?

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Originally posted by: Ken90630
OP: I think you should find a way to hook your sound card up to your clock radio and be done with it. You know -- the one with the bass response down to 20Hz (or whatever you said)? So what if it's -100dB -- just turn the volume control way up to hear those lower frequencies! :laugh:

Joking aside, out of curiosity, what are you planning to use as a crossover frequency for the subwoofer? I kinda like the unique looks of those B&W speakers linked to above, but their low end only extends down to about a usable 65Hz (-6dB), and that would be pretty high for the sub to reach for. But hey, at least B&W provides honest, meaningful frequency response specs -- kudos to them for that.

Out of curiosity, what do you not like about Klipsch ProMedia 2.1s? Performance, style, price, or ???

How low are you expecting to get from budget bookshelf sized speakers?

Oh, I dunno ... I didn't really have a number in mind. That's why I asked the OP what he had in mind for a crossover frequency. BTW, I don't recall him saying he was looking for "budget" speakers. In fact, didn't he say further down in the thread that he was going to go for a higher end system than he originally planned? I dunno ... it's late and I'm tired so I don't have vivid recall right now of everything that's been said in this thread.

Now that I think about it more, 65Hz really isn't high for a sub to crossover at. Heck, even 80Hz is okay. Not sure what I was thinking earlier -- you guys can disregard that comment. I'll go back and edit that earlier post. This is a sign that I'm too tired and need to get some sleep.

:moon:

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Ok goodnight

The Klipsch 2.1 system is probably crossed over in the 100-120hz range so I was confused why 65hz seemed too high

By "budget" I meant $250/pair and less pretty much.

 

[Ken90630]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
The Klipsch 2.1 system is probably crossed over in the 100-120hz range so I was confused why 65hz seemed too high

By "budget" I meant $250/pair and less pretty much.

Yeah, you're totally right. The ProMedias cross over at 120Hz, which is not unusual or inappropriate. I think I was thinking 165Hz even though my eyes were seeing 65Hz. I was talking to a friend last week about the JBL Creature speakers and telling him how I liked the way they look, but that they cross over at like 160 or 180Hz and that I thought that was too high. So I had that on the brain. In any case, I really need to stop doing posts late at night when I'm really tired.

Have you ever typed something in a post and then said to yourself, "Did I do that?" Sheesh ....

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Ken90630
Joking aside, out of curiosity, what are you planning to use as a crossover frequency for the subwoofer?

Well the Wharfedale DP8.1 have a response down to 50Hz according to their specs so I'm guessing I'll aim for 50-70Hz after some experimenting.

Originally posted by: Ken90630
Out of curiosity, what do you not like about Klipsch ProMedia 2.1s? Performance, style, price, or ???

Strictly performance, the Pro Media's are good for their price but what I'm looking to achieve is going to be in a completely different league then anything Klipsch (or anyone else for that matter) has made for the PC market.