speakers

[dsj]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Flat response is having equal volumes at all frequencies.

In order to find your response curve and try to equalize it out, you'd need to get an SPL meter and graph it yourself using test tones or you could get an professional mic and a program to do it.

I wouldn't bother with inexpensive speakers like these. I didn't even mess with anything like that. I just used my SPL meter to calibrate my speakers to the same volume at the listening position and set the gain on my sub so it integrates well with the speakers.

As for the equalizer, not all cards will have that. My Santa Cruz had one and my HDA X-Mystique has one, but my Chaintech AV-710 didn't.

I think most music players on your computer would have one that you can mess around with.

If you're really serious about getting everything calibrated right, a software equalizer could help you out a bit. You'll still need a mic and program or SPL meter to check the volume at different tones. It's very hard to tell by ear the relative volume of tones at different frequencies and our ears are not as sensitive through the whole range.

So does the nvidia nforce 2 sound card have a equalizer? And is a mic a microphone? What do I do with a microphone and a program? and does flat response really mean accruate? What if the composer or musician intended for the bass to be loud and the violin to be soft?

 

[Tiamat]

Flat eq gives you want the studio engineer wanted you to hear.

 

[rstrohkirch]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Flat eq gives you want the studio engineer wanted you to hear.

That assumes the engineer actually cares about the quality of music he/she is producing, which isn't the case for 90% of the music produced today.

Oh ya, don't waste money on PC sound systems unless you desperately want the surround sound or extreme output. A set of headphones costing the same price are far far far better

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: dsj

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Flat response is having equal volumes at all frequencies.

In order to find your response curve and try to equalize it out, you'd need to get an SPL meter and graph it yourself using test tones or you could get an professional mic and a program to do it.

I wouldn't bother with inexpensive speakers like these. I didn't even mess with anything like that. I just used my SPL meter to calibrate my speakers to the same volume at the listening position and set the gain on my sub so it integrates well with the speakers.

As for the equalizer, not all cards will have that. My Santa Cruz had one and my HDA X-Mystique has one, but my Chaintech AV-710 didn't.

I think most music players on your computer would have one that you can mess around with.

If you're really serious about getting everything calibrated right, a software equalizer could help you out a bit. You'll still need a mic and program or SPL meter to check the volume at different tones. It's very hard to tell by ear the relative volume of tones at different frequencies and our ears are not as sensitive through the whole range.

So does the nvidia nforce 2 sound card have a equalizer? And is a mic a microphone? What do I do with a microphone and a program? and does flat response really mean accruate? What if the composer or musician intended for the bass to be loud and the violin to be soft?

I never used the integrated audio on my old nforce2, so I don't know what features it has. You should easily be able to find the equalizer if it has one. Look around in the sound utility program.

mic = microphone.

A mic and program would allow you to measure the actual output from the speakers when fed a bunch of different frequencies. I really wouldn't bother with this unless you were into mid level HT stuff (like the level I'm at... and I'm not going to bother with it).

If you're really interested in calibrating stuff, go to AVSforum and search for some info on it. I'm a newb for testing equipment.

Flat = what it was intended to sound like.

If you set up a flat frequency response, you'll still get things that were intended to be louder as such. It just means that if two notes were supposed to be the same volume, they will be. If a high note was intended to be twice as loud as a low note, it will work like that if you have flat response.