Improve the audio quality

[raj4832]

Hi there,

I recently bought an z 5500 speakers , i must be frank hear i am not happy with the clarity of the satilites .
I am not a big fan of the bass , which makes the speakers a disappontment .
I got carried away with the reviews all over the net and bought it without even having a demo .
I just wanted to give my self a suprise , well i had it big time .

after being disappointed for a week i changed my mind to fight and get the best of these speakers.
My first step is this thread

Aim :
I want music felt not heard {heaven sake its THX }, movies should be descent again on a dvd run by my dvd drive of pc

What i have :
A motherboard intel 945gnt
Logitech z 5500 (connected by 6 channel cables provided by logitech )
I am using it with my pc and no other device

My thoughts :
HT Claro plus + with a coax cable

Please help me ! i am ready to invest $200 .

What hurts me is when we increase the volume to 100% or boost 8 then i get to hear blur from the speakers as though they are some $50 speakers. Is there any way to increase the clarity of these sats.

I have just reduced the bass and did no other tweaking

The mp3 are so ordinary , i was expecting a good clarity .

I listen to slow tracks . I want the guitar to be felt .

Is it too much to ask from a mp3, or is it a lack of sound card

Please help

 

[Slick5150]

Well, the lack of sound card isn't helping, but honestly, if you're looking for musical clarity, you're just not going to get it from that set. They're just way too boomy, which is fine for gaming, but music is going to sound muddled on them and there just isn't a lot you can do about it.

You can invest some money into it to make it sound a little better (maybe), but you may be better off selling the speakers on craigslist or something and getting what you can back (or return them if you still can), and invest that money into a better setup.

 

[krotchy]

The source of your problem is hard to track. I don't know what you want/expect from 150 dollar speakers, but in that price range you can't beat the Z-5500's, however it is stil not a real system. I don't know that if you had spent more on something like an Onkyo HTIB you might have gotten the bang you are looking for, but it would have been a jump over the Logitech's. That being said, motherboard analog audio from a 945 is definitely not to way to go with any decent set of speakers, and I can imagine it won't sound to good with the 5500's, so it could be your problem.

as for sound card choices....

The Claro + and a coax cable defeats the point of a Claro +. The Claro + is expensive because it has high quality op-amps on it, so using the 6 wire analog cable to the speakers would be the best way to go with that sound card.

If you want to just use the Coax SPDIF output to your 5500's get the HT Omega Striker, since it has virtually identical digital output mechanisms as the Claro, but has worse analog performance. I am using a Striker via SPDIF to a 1500 dollar stereo setup from my HTPC and it sounds amazing after a bit of tweaking, and I know my system is capable of revealing flaws from a bad source, which motherboard sound definitely was.

 

[raj4832]

Hey guys thks for your response.

Krotchy :
i am looking for a descent clarity from the speakers .
But the z 5500 are sounding muddy , also not even fine (clarity) at average volume .
Do u think the claro + with analog cable can give a descent clarity for my mp3 .
Or is it the mp3 format which makes the speaker bad .
Also will the flac format sound better

 

[BassBomb]

Originally posted by: raj4832
Hey guys thks for your response.

Krotchy :
i am looking for a descent clarity from the speakers .
But the z 5500 are sounding muddy , also not even fine (clarity) at average volume .
Do u think the claro + with analog cable can give a descent clarity for my mp3 .
Or is it the mp3 format which makes the speaker bad .
Also will the flac format sound better

No its the speakers, you are probably noticing the missing frequencies and exagerated bass

 

[Slick5150]

Originally posted by: raj4832
Hey guys thks for your response.

Krotchy :
i am looking for a descent clarity from the speakers .
But the z 5500 are sounding muddy , also not even fine (clarity) at average volume .
Do u think the claro + with analog cable can give a descent clarity for my mp3 .
Or is it the mp3 format which makes the speaker bad .
Also will the flac format sound better

The claro's analog outputs will sound better, but I still don't think you're going to be happy with the sound.

My suggestion would be to get a decent sound card (Auzentech X-Plosion (or X-Mystique) or Razer AC-1), and then look into either finding a cheap Home Theater in a Box (Onkyo and Yamaha generally make decent enough cheap HTIB setups), or start piecing a system together.

If you want to go the HTIB route, ShopOnkyo has HT-S3100 HTIB for $189 shipped (Its $199, but once you register for the site you get 10 free ClubOnkyo points that convert to $10 off). Its refurbished, but my experience with refurb Onkyo equipment is that it looks and performs as if its brand new. It has a 1 year warranty. This wouldn't be a bad option for you.

Link

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Y...wsDAjello/Welcome2.JPG

It might be a good idea to try a bit more testing before you decide what to buy to improve the system.

You have a lot of variables here including source quality, integrated sound quality, speakers, and setup.

Do you have any other devices that we could interchange to try to find your weakest link?

If you have a decent pair of headphones, that could help us determine if the source and integrated sound are capable of satisfying you and it's just the speakers where your clarity is being lost.

If you have another source device (like a decent mp3 player), that could help us see if there's something screwy with the integrated sound.

If you have a CD player, that could help us test the speakers taking the mp3 format and integrated sound out of the mix.

Maybe I missed it, but how are the mp3s encoded? Without knowing details about your source, it's hard to determine if that might be your issue. I'm not a critical listener for music (I'm mainly a HT guy) but below 192kbps tends to sound pretty crappy from time to time.

None of these is going to allow us to be certain you'll get it how you want it with one change, but it will give some clues about where we might start for targeting your weakest link.

 

[raj4832]

I think the speakers sound better when connected to sony erricson mobile . It was lot better i must admit .
Secondly i have to try it with headphones.
Frankly all the speakers were placed closed to each other , its not a typical 5.1 position . I had the front speakers on either side of a 14inch monitor and the centre above the monitor .
that i believe is pretty close.
the rear speakers are positioned at the centre of the room , placed between a gap of 8-9 feet .
Now the sub is placed close to the rear left .
Will the position affect the quality .

sending this speakers back is not an option .

it sounds good with a sony mobile , can a sound card give that quality

 

[raj4832]

missing frequencies , wht can be done about it .
also do u think a high end sound card like ht claro plus can make a difference .
We tried connecting the speakers using a two pin jack to a mobile .
The sounds were really better .
I would say a descent clarity .

i willl be happy to have a descent quality
Wht do u think are my options

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The positioning of the speakers can indeed affect the quality. Distance from the walls / ceiling / floor / other objects / reflection points can all have an impact on the sound. With the frequencies the subwoofer is forced to play in this kind of setup with small satellites, you might get better results with the subwoofer in the front center if possible. Subwoofer placement could make a big difference especially if it's in a position now that's giving you a bad interaction with the room. In the sticky thread I have some info on subwoofer placement and setup. It's a little different with yours though since the sub is definitely going to be playing frequencies high enough to be localized fairly easily.

For music, are you playing that back as 2.1 or are you playing some kind of surround effect? Those can have adverse effects on quality. Might be something to try.

If it's improving a lot on the cell phone, then you should be able to get as good or better quality from your computer as source.

The system will still have some significant limitations.

There are certainly better products for clarity out there, but to make a significant step up, you're going to be looking at products that are a lot more expensive and tend to take up a lot more space.

 

[raj4832]

i got a 10 *10 feet room not a big one so the volume levels are low to medium . now with this speakers should i get a card . if so will a low end do , or a high end will give better quality

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Something to try would be hooking up the card to the digital audio output on the motherboard. If you hook it up that way and you see a big improvement, then you'll know that you're happy with the conversion from digital to analog that the z-5500 control pod is doing and then you can either stick with the digital output from the motherboard (and not have to spend any more money), or if you're happy with it except for the lack of true surround sound in games, then you can get the cheaper card mentioned above to get digital output to the z-5500s.

If the digital signal to the z-5500s isn't doing it for you, then you'd want to get a soundcard with better analog output rather than digital to bypass the z-5500 control pod's conversion.

 

[raj4832]

I read somewhere that the dac's on a high end card are better than the z 5500's . so shall i go for a good analog card like the ht omega . it has the hd oxygen chip from c-media. OR is the x-fi chip a better option . from what i read the x-fi gives a exaggerated sound which is artificial . i heard the c-media hd oxygen chip particularlly the claor plus has a good analog output as it has a high quaLITY OP AMPS .WHTS ur say /

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I haven't bought a soundcard in years so I don't have any personal experience with the current models. The DACs on a good soundcard would indeed be superior, but there's the potential here for you to not spend any additional cash and get yourself an essentially free upgrade in sound quality if the control pod can give you better sound than the integrated audio analog output.

X-Fi's crystallizer setting can be disabled if that's what you're talking about. I would personally choose to avoid creative if I was getting a new card though.

 

[moonboy403]

Try getting a USB dac.

 

[raj4832]

I know u feel its better not to invest on the sound card.
Because u think , the dacs on the sub can do the job .
For that to happen i have to connect it to optical jacks on my mother board . which i don't have
So what do i do, buy a low end card for optical out .

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Sorry, I figured that your motherboard had digital optical or digital coaxial output since most of them seem to have that now.

 

[raj4832]

so my only option has to be a sound card.
thks a lot for ur help , U have made things clear to me . so now i am going to buy a card . i cant help my self from buying the claro plus with a high quality amp .
I am gonna have this speakers for a while .Atleast i will feel i have done everything to make the best of my speakers . witht the low end card , i will miss the claro if it doesn't give a better quality .
Thank you very much

 

[alcoholbob]

$200 sound card to fix a set of pc speakers...

Reminds me of when I bought an Audigy 2 to make my Logitech Z-680s "sound better." Failed experiment that also included $60 monster optical cable.

 

[raj4832]

hey, can u suggest any sound card for my needs .
I am trying to improve the quality thats it.

 

[raj4832]

i listen to music and watch movies . i am not a frequent player of games .

 

[alcoholbob]

Improving your source will certainly maximize your speakers but you are talking about percentage points here. Give you an idea of what you are trying to achieve.

You bought a AMD Phenom processor and an ATI 4850 video card. You can't return it (or don't want to, I don't know). You know your system is not (remotely) as fast as an Intel Quad Core or a nVidia GTX card. But you want to "maximize what you have." So you spend $500 on uber-low latency RAM, which nets you about a 3% performance boost.

In retrospect you could've simply spent that $500 towards a better Intel/nvidia system and that $500 would've netted you a 50% performance boost.

Wikipedia: diminishing returns

The best advice? Cut your losses and sell your system, start fresh with something better. Your better off this way then spending $500 on a ram module.

Cutting losses (def): to stop doing something that is already failing in order to reduce the amount of time or money that is being wasted on it.

 

[raj4832]

o great , Thanks for the great example .
But if i have to cut losses , i would have to sell this model i will lose atleast $50 to max of $100 . I am not in a position to invest any more. I think i would rather settle for a claro striker 7. 1
Hey no regrets i got to learn in this process . will be useful when i start building my home theater .
Do u think for this price range u get better speakers.
If so please suggest . I will for sure work on it

 

[krotchy]

I think a Striker 7.1 digital out to the Z-5500 will be a good initial step for 70 bucks. This way you arent spending 200 dollars on a super duper sound card to run 150 dollar speakers. Also I do think it will be a significant improvement over AC97 audio from a P945.

If you still don't like the speakers, getting a decent HTIB would be a good step from there (selling the Z-5500's) and the Striker will still mesh perfectly with that system as well