- Nov 25, 2005
- 8,390
- 1
- 81
FINAL UPDATE
Final update before I make my decision.
I went in store to local Paradigm reseller (Fairview Hifi)
They carry the Atom for $300 pair.
I can get JBL Venue Stage for $280 shipped also.
I think I will audition each and see which one sounds better and go for that.
Subwoofer I have two choices:
JBL SUB12 for $250 shipped (If I buy with the Stage's then I'll save a little more on shipping)
Dayton 12" for $210 shipped
Final update before I make my decision.
I went in store to local Paradigm reseller (Fairview Hifi)
They carry the Atom for $300 pair.
I can get JBL Venue Stage for $280 shipped also.
I think I will audition each and see which one sounds better and go for that.
Subwoofer I have two choices:
JBL SUB12 for $250 shipped (If I buy with the Stage's then I'll save a little more on shipping)
Dayton 12" for $210 shipped
Punt the subwoofer!!! (at least for now)
Randomly adding a cheap sub and using the cheap crossover in the sub or your receiver can really mess things up fast.
Once you have lived with the Paradigm Atoms for a couple months, you will at least be able to tell the salesman more accurately what you like about your current system, and what you feel is missing. Some stores might even allow you to bring your own speakers and amp in during some quiet, prescheduled time.
If you like the Paradigm sound, you can always add the matching center, surrounds, and sub later. If not, those Atoms will probably retain a lot of their value on the used market or dealer trade-in (so save all of the original padding and boxes).
Other thing to remember is that it is fairly easy to make a cheap, but pretty good sounding 5.1 home theater system (many people may like the slight boom and sizzle), but same system can sound like utter garbage for 2 channel audio.
I think these Paradigms would probably do quite well for 2 channel music, and be at least competent for home theater. Making a system that does both well gets very expensive and it might be smarter to buy two separate systems optimized for each use.
Good Luck!
Randomly adding a cheap sub and using the cheap crossover in the sub or your receiver can really mess things up fast.
Once you have lived with the Paradigm Atoms for a couple months, you will at least be able to tell the salesman more accurately what you like about your current system, and what you feel is missing. Some stores might even allow you to bring your own speakers and amp in during some quiet, prescheduled time.
If you like the Paradigm sound, you can always add the matching center, surrounds, and sub later. If not, those Atoms will probably retain a lot of their value on the used market or dealer trade-in (so save all of the original padding and boxes).
Other thing to remember is that it is fairly easy to make a cheap, but pretty good sounding 5.1 home theater system (many people may like the slight boom and sizzle), but same system can sound like utter garbage for 2 channel audio.
I think these Paradigms would probably do quite well for 2 channel music, and be at least competent for home theater. Making a system that does both well gets very expensive and it might be smarter to buy two separate systems optimized for each use.
Good Luck!
Speakers designers spend lots and lots of money trying to make crossovers between speaker parts (e.g. tweeter and woofer) seamless and invisible.
If you think you must have a "sub", then I'd get a system that is designed out of the box as such.
You could start with the Audio Engine A5, then add the sub they offer later if A5 alone doesn't play loud enough or have enough bass impact for your needs.
I guess you could also try Klipsch Promedia 2.1, but this is really outside my real of expertise, as I am more of an "audiophile" and absolute loudness and bass extension / bass impact per se are not personally that important to me.
EDIT: $300 is a very tough price point to get quality sound in a mini-monitor. Have you considered headphones? Go over to http://www.head-fi.org and see what you think.
If you think you must have a "sub", then I'd get a system that is designed out of the box as such.
You could start with the Audio Engine A5, then add the sub they offer later if A5 alone doesn't play loud enough or have enough bass impact for your needs.
I guess you could also try Klipsch Promedia 2.1, but this is really outside my real of expertise, as I am more of an "audiophile" and absolute loudness and bass extension / bass impact per se are not personally that important to me.
EDIT: $300 is a very tough price point to get quality sound in a mini-monitor. Have you considered headphones? Go over to http://www.head-fi.org and see what you think.
- Nov 25, 2005
- 8,390
- 1
- 81
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
- Aug 6, 2001
- 31,204
- 45
- 91
Section 3.1 and 3.2 of my sticky thread has info about calibrating and setting up your system for better results.
- Nov 25, 2005
- 8,390
- 1
- 81
Good read. Just glazed over it at the moment. Will definitely be working towards that guide over the next month.
I just remounted my GPU cooler to install an Audigy2, it works so much better. 24bit output through winamp sounding much better on all ends of the spectrum
Just keep in mind the 24 bit is probably of no effect on you. 24 bit media is fairly uncommon.
As for the settings you ask about.
Set the crossover on the receiver to 80
Set the crossover on the sub to 150(unless you can disable it
You should get a SPL meter to set the levels of the speakers and sub.
Leave LFE att off
D range comp should typically be off unless listening to a dolby digital track at night and you want to listen at low volume.
Also, when playing music, walk around your room and find where the sub sounds the best. Place the sub in this location. This is typically a good starting point.
- Nov 25, 2005
- 8,390
- 1
- 81
Indeed the 24bit isnt the reason it sounded better. But I did test with Audacity and it actually will do 20kHz now (wouldn't before, guessing limitation of the onboard sound)
Lets see if I understand
Crossover at 80 on reciever will mean P162 will do 80-20kHz
It then sends all signal to subwoofer, where it's crossover will tell it to do 25-150Hz
OR does the sub do 25-80Hz?
Should I set the Fronts to "Large" or "Small"
Would there be any point to using coaxial digital output from the sound card? It would be using the same stereo mini -> RCA cable that I am using right now to output analog
Lets see if I understand
Crossover at 80 on reciever will mean P162 will do 80-20kHz
It then sends all signal to subwoofer, where it's crossover will tell it to do 25-150Hz
OR does the sub do 25-80Hz?
Should I set the Fronts to "Large" or "Small"
Would there be any point to using coaxial digital output from the sound card? It would be using the same stereo mini -> RCA cable that I am using right now to output analog
If you aren't connecting all 3 channels to your receiver(sub and R/L) I would definitely use digital coax. You don't have to worry about surround sound from games because you don't have a surround sound setup.
Speakers should be set to small.
The sub will do 25-80 Hz...roughly. It will likely receiver 20 - 80 Hz. I am guessing the 25 Hz is a high pass filter in the sub amp. That will only let it play 25-80 Hz out of the signal sent to it.
herm0016
Diamond Member
- Feb 26, 2005
- 8,510
- 1,123
- 126
i have p150's and a ps10. i send full signal to the speakers and let the internal, 4th order crossovers work. i then use the pre-outs for the left/right to send to the sub. the sub crossover is around 95 hz. this seems to work very well for my room.
That seems a rather odd way to do it... why don't you just connect the sub up to the sub preout.
- Nov 25, 2005
- 8,390
- 1
- 81
Would it be bad to place my speakers on top of the desk hutch (to regain my desktop space)?
I was also thinking of placeing the Reciever on the hutch, move L speaker to where reciever is, setup a shelf to the right of the desk to place the R speaker (matching the height of L)
Sub I moved over about 1ft closer to my door, sounds best at the door but then I can't get out. Sub also sounded really good in a corner (can't see it in the picture), but my RCA cable did not reach
I was also thinking of placeing the Reciever on the hutch, move L speaker to where reciever is, setup a shelf to the right of the desk to place the R speaker (matching the height of L)
Sub I moved over about 1ft closer to my door, sounds best at the door but then I can't get out. Sub also sounded really good in a corner (can't see it in the picture), but my RCA cable did not reach
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
- Aug 6, 2001
- 31,204
- 45
- 91
On top of the hutch probably wouldn't be a good idea. You'd be way off-axis then which wouldn't be desirable.
The shelf idea could work though. It may or may not sound better with the speakers farther apart. You probably didn't get much chance to play around with the distance between your speakers due to the setup of the desk, eh?
The shelf idea could work though. It may or may not sound better with the speakers farther apart. You probably didn't get much chance to play around with the distance between your speakers due to the setup of the desk, eh?
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
- Aug 6, 2001
- 31,204
- 45
- 91
Originally posted by: BassBomb
Yeah it is really limiting me (but it is a great desk). The owner's manual reccomends 6ft apart too
If I did the shelf idea it would be able to maintain ~6ft seperation with a equilateral triangle to my seating position.
I didn't think you were going to be seated that far back. If that's the case, then I certainly think that moving them farther apart would be beneficial.
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
- Aug 6, 2001
- 31,204
- 45
- 91
I'm not sure what to tell you then. Could you test it out and decide which works better for you? (by putting a table or something on the right side temporarily for a speaker stand).
If your speakers are too far apart, you'll lose your imaging and ability to pinpoint where sounds are coming from for games.
If your speakers are too far apart, you'll lose your imaging and ability to pinpoint where sounds are coming from for games.
- Nov 25, 2005
- 8,390
- 1
- 81
I am buying a 25ft RCA cable off monoprice to use for the sub and try it out in the corner of my room.
My dad brought up the idea of using the old media cabinet (from which I took his JVC RX8000) to use as my "shelf" on the right side once the sub is moved.
I can also store the reciever there and get tons of desk room. The media cabinet is about 1inch off from being as high as the upper partition of my desk
My dad brought up the idea of using the old media cabinet (from which I took his JVC RX8000) to use as my "shelf" on the right side once the sub is moved.
I can also store the reciever there and get tons of desk room. The media cabinet is about 1inch off from being as high as the upper partition of my desk
TRENDING THREADS
-
Discussion Zen 5 Speculation (EPYC Turin and Strix Point/Granite Ridge - Ryzen 9000)- Started by DisEnchantment
- Replies: 25K
-
Discussion Intel Meteor, Arrow, Lunar & Panther Lakes Discussion Threads
- Started by Tigerick
- Replies: 21K
-
Discussion Intel current and future Lakes & Rapids thread- Started by TheF34RChannel
- Replies: 23K
-
-
Facebook
Twitter