What is the best brand of speakers.....

[stealth]

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Guys,
I need your advise. I'm planing to use my old PC which is only PIII-753Mhz with 512MB memory as my TV, DVD player and some not so fancy games.

What I have in mind is to buy either an external or internal Sound Blster Live 24-Bit in PC Express and either Creative Inspire T5200, T5900 or T 7900.

I'm not sure which one to pair to maximize it. Hopw what will I choose would be good quality and best value for money. I'm open to any other brands and models as long as the price range would be somewhat similar to the speakers and sound card above.

Any advise would be great.


Thanks.

[10-X]

@ joel, yup, have to agree with you that its hard to believe that amps of such output can be made to fit inside a small enclosure. But there are different and newer amp designs too.

"The lower the bass frequencies, the larger the subwoofer air volume to be displaced, mao na at least 8 in cone smallest. Mag 8" cone ka sub, kataw an ka sa mga car audio enthusiast."

maybe. 8" cone design can be made to output a considerable amount of low bass freq. I remember reading about a sub I can't remember exactly if it was made by Sunfire(Carver) ,M&K or some other maker but it was a sealed enclosure type with a 1000w amp. Depende ra gyud sa design. How about those REL Quakes with just an 8" driver? or Velodyne's CHT8R? I'd like to hear those car audio enthusiasts laugh at those sub makers. It would be interesting to compare the sound quality of a car sub and one designed specifically for HT. Unsaon man nang kusog pero di kaayo nindot SQ.

Sakura? i would like to see the specs of these amps. I think I will if I have some free time. Akong gi tan-aw specs sa "Magnum" amps(kuno), the kind you see in stores downtown. The frequency response range is from(accdg. to its "manual') 50hz to 12khz only. murag maayo ra pang karaoke. I hope the Sakura will be better.

[joel oporto]

pang karaoke ra gyud but if u get a proper home theatre sub bisan yamaha, wharfdale or kenwood or bisan kanang blaupankt or dynaquest sa CFG tag 6t powered, along with satellite speakers completo na imong freq range, ang maayo ana 50 watts imong rear ug center, nya tag 80 to 100 watts ang main front, bisag 150 watts ra imong sub payter na kaayo.but kinghanglan ka ug amp na front and rear. Ang kanang mga sakura na gigamit sa karaoke vending machine dagko kaayo na ug true power output.
Wa man gyud ko mo gamit ug pc speakers since nag sugod ko ug audio in 1991, kay studio man gud akong pc. Yamaha NS10m prof studio near-field monitor speakers akong gamit para wa jud coloration, ang akong mix is generally good for all types of system kay flat man cya. I've always used kanang individual component system, pioneer, sansui, luxman na amp ra, puros true 200 watts output. Although advisable jud na pro amp kay most of these component amps, colored, ganahan man gud ko sa remote na volume control. Nya nag suway ko ug aiwa alll in one component nga 300 watts kuno, akong gi taod akong yamaha NS20 studio speakers nga tag 160 watts, pag saka nako sa faders sa akong mixer, na unsa ni trip man ang iyang cut-off. Pro mixers will output +10db as opposed to consumer nga +4db, nya dili diay ka daog sa true 160watts. I doubt maka drive na ang mga pc speakers ug true 160 watts nga speakers para sa front. But anyway nangita sab ko ug sub nga mo augment sa akong system. ang akong gi tanaw first mga pc subwoofer, naa man koy ATP3 nga altec lansing murag 4"cone but kutob ra diay siya 50 hz, mas maayo pa NS 20 nako kay abot 40hz. ako bitaw gi suway ug gamit as speakers ang ATP3 sa korg triton, unsaon wa pa katunga ang volume slider, mo basag na. posible man gyud na bisan gamay ang speakers maka output gihapon ug low frequencies kay kana bitaw mga clavinova piano abot man na ug 32 hz ang lowest keys, octave sa C0, nya 5" speakers ra man na max. nitanaw sab ko anang mga china nga amp sa karaoke pero murag sayang man ang kwarta kung mangita ra ko ug lain later, colored man gud sila. Ang akong gi initan kay yamaha sub, tag 9T sa harmanson, powered, digital input plus satellite speaker output nya very important, ma adjust nimo ang bass frequency sa crossover, ma templa gyud nimo sa imong system na dili mo color in any frequency. kay abot naman ug 40hz ang NS20, pwede nimo ma adjust to cutoff mga 80hz ang sub, so more or less flat gihapon.
The factors sa design sa sub nga mo ingon ka small but kusog are a combination of, cone size and ohm rating( which is based on magnet size and power and pliability of material) , crossover circuitry, power output sa amp and size of box.

[10-X]

@ stealth, get the internal audio card and if you like Creative products, just get the more powerful speaker set (among those you listed) that you can afford. If you buy a good set(good audio quality) with sufficient power, it will last you for many years and several upgrades. Kaysa palit ka barat only to sell it off and upgrade again or aguanta bati for many years.

@joel, i'm not sure what you mean by the differnt wattages in your post. is it power handling of speakers or power output of amps? I think the current trend is for , ideally, all speakers(fronts, rears,and center) to be the same size and preferably the same make except the sub. The reason is for perfect timbre matching. The sound effect of a passing car or chopper won't change as it pans from one speaker to another. Kun amps, these days they output the same wattage for each channel except the sub. The different wattages you wrote are for the old dolby pro logic setups.

Kun gusto gyud ka sakto sa power output, i'm sure you know that Harman Kardon amps and AVRs are known for their high current output. Sakto gyud sa iyang rating which is considered as conservative as compared to jap or other mass market amps. How about Lexicon, Arcam or Rotel na lang?

About subs, kun sa local, why don't you have a look at Ganz Klar subs or US Audio(i think made by Dai-1chi)? mga 7-9k ang Ganz. Kusog pud but its a bandpass design ala bose. Not very accurate or tuneful but it belts out a lot of bass. Same with US Audio. Kusog kaayo. How low? i have no idea. igo pud mo vibrate maayo mga cabinets and anything loose around the house. It also has outs for satellites. DynaQuest 12" front firing ported sub i think goes lower than 40hz and quite powerful too.

what is the cone size of the yamaha NS20? 40hz is not very low. If it says its capable of 40hz basig naka roll off na so hinay ang output at 40. many subs can do that. how bout looking for a sub capable of 30Hz? How about a Hsu Research or SVS?

[joel oporto]

10-x sorry kaayo naglibog ka sa akong post, kay I'm actually talking about 2 systems, my system is actually a standard near-field monitoring for a rec studio system where as flat an output as you can get is what you want. The reason for this is that when you mix music or sound effects you can get the optimum frequency balance of your mix so that when it is played in different systems, the music you mixed will effectively be good for most types of stereo systems. In the studio, unless your mixing 5.1 audio or soundtrack for movies, you do not need more than 3 speakers. Why 3? stereo and a sub. Your choices for your studio monitoring speaker sizes are generally dictated by the size of your mixing booth. why? because you dont want to hear the bounce of the sound from the walls to color your judgement, yet you want ample detail sa sound to reach you. Ideally you want a full range(20hz to 20khz) monitor speaker but those are usually larger and more expensive(the flatter the response , the more expensive because more tedious in detail of design and construction.) and are generally overpowering to the rooms of home or project studios. And full range speakers will take their toll on your ears as they will certainly be louder to be able to get the right details in sound, e.g. is the snare, guitar and the vocals sharing too much frequencies resulting in having a muddled vocals even if it clearly is louder, is it eq on the vocals or is the snare is not crisp enough? etc. Can you imagine listening to the same stuff for 2 or 3 hours at relatively high levels?

the yamaha NS10 is a sealed type 50 watt near-field studio monitor speaker with an effective range of about 3 meters, meaning within that range you get minimal room coloration and get good detail of the sound. It has a 6 in woofer and sealed type 3" metal tweeter and has a flat response from 50hz to about 16khz. sound tapers off at 40 hz with slight attenuation at 3k. This has been a rec studio standard for the past 30+ years. Its the one na all black with white cones that you'll see in pictures of most recording studios and up to now when manufacturers boast about the flatness of their speakers, you'll see a picture of their speaker along with an NS10 so you know what they compare their speaker with. the NS20 however is a 3 way 160 watt monitor speaker that can be a main speaker for a project studio or a near-field monitor speaker for a large studio. Large studio speakers are about 200 to 300 watts or more. If you've been to any recording studio here in cebu, dili ka mobilib sa ilang speakers, maka ingon ka na mas maayo pa man ug mas kusog pa ang mga home theatre systems! But its the uncolored nature that warrants the 28T peso price (local) of a pair of yamaha NS10 speakers or 700$ for a pair of genelec 8030A.

The other system I was talking about is the 5.1 and you're right all the satellite speakers should be of the same wattage ang character ergo same make and model, except for the center channel wherein kung 2 way speakers imong satellite, tweeters should be on the outer side on front and rear, but center speakers with dual cones should have equal size. The sub off course is separate and usually in a corner. 6.1 and 7.1 are based on the theory sa 5.1, with additional satellites to augment sides and back for total surround sound. You can build a kick ass super quality 5.1 using four NS10 a center speaker and a quality subwoofer powerful enough to drive them. A pair of ns10 speakers need an amp with at least 150 watts power output to effectively drive them, meaning makapagawas sa true sound sa speakers, but how much will that cost? Ang trend sa home theatres is to use smaller size speakers with the same wattage (usually 50 watts or less) nya apason ang low-mid(aside from the low-sub frequencies) utilizing the subwoofer to project the 80 to about 240hz range capitalizing on the fact na dili kaayo nimo ma focus ang source of those frequencies at that distance thats why sub woofers are placed in corners and not in the middle of the system also kay mas mo kusog ang bass if nearer a solid wall. But ideally the whole frequency range should come from the source except for bounce, like kung ang helicopter naa sa rear left nimo, you should be hearing the whole spectrum from that area. In effect, a four full range speaker setup will achieve the same as a 5.1 but in a movie house setup nga layo kaayo distance from front speakers and rear speakers, i-augment nimo ang sides, hence 7.1.
I do not doubt the sound quality anang semi high-end PC speaker systems kay a lot of them have been very well designed, harman cardon and Altec Lansing have been manufacturing speakers for years, and logitech and creative have competent speaker companies producing their speakers for them.
but kung gusto ka malingaw ug buhat pa lahi, ad2 ug surplusan sa electronics nya pag pili ug surplus speakers from japan 4 of the same nya i power ug surround na amp, di ba payter na kaayo na, dili lang sexy like anang mga logitech, altec lansing ug harman cardon.
btw all manufacturers of pro and consumer speaker systems like JBL, yamaha, bose, pioneer, altec lansing, kenwood have their lemons and oranges, naa gyud na silay mga bati nga model(dili kaayo maayo but mahal ug price) but most companies nga pro models ra ilang gibuhat, are more likely not to have lemons

[10-X]

wow. na hurot na akong bilib sa imong post bai you really know your stuff. :mrgreen:
yes, i've heard good things about those yamaha speaker models you mentioned. Although I've read that George Lucas' studios use B&W speakers. They're big time studio and should be able to get what they want. Wonder what is the real reason why they chose that brand. Some studios use M&K too.
by "uncolored" do you mean neutral? Gahi diay na e drive ang NS10. are those 4 ohm speakers? Mura diay na Dynaudio. powerful quality amps na maka drive ana properly might be in the p200T range.

[muzikfreakah]

Hey Joel Opuerto, Can you send me your contact numbers? I think I need you for something very important and so does the rest of Cebu

[joel oporto]

jso6200@yahoo.com
09175469705

the 8 ohm NS10 isn't exactly the best speakers in its range, 1960s design pa beya na. it can be properly driven by any pro amp nga 150 watts like crown or even fine&fine na china. Ang problem wid it is that dali ma guba ang cone or maguba ang tweeters, but for uncolored near-field speakers, it has been a standard because as near flat response, easy on the ears, and preferred by more sound engineers worldwide. Ang akong "dream" monitors is actually Genelec from I think finland but sa same specs its 700$ sa gawas pa na. B&W are okay but known more as an excellent home theatre speaker, probably why lucasfilms chose them kay good comparison for their market(DVD). Thats what akong gi taud sa studio sa Bigfoot not because its the best but it was readily available sa Cebu circuit city, nya I didn't want to wait any longer at the time. None of the new generation speakers sa yamaha has achieved the reputation sa NS10.
What is meant by colored is that for a sound like say pink noise, if imo na i graph ang db output against frequency, you'll get a relatively flat line meaning ang loudness or db level sa frequencies sa 32hz will be quite similar to those at 16khz. therefore flat. Most consumer electronics, ilang i boost ang 240hz and lower, usually the frequenciies sa bass ug kick drums para there is more body and feel of more power sa senses nimo, mo ingon dayon ka nga nindot kaayo da! But imagine nag mix ka wid that system, so para nimo ok na ang kick ug drums, it actuality, because boosted man ang bass frequencies sa imong system, when you play it in most regular systems including radio, hinay kaayo or nipis ang bass so dili effective imong mix, and you're client will come back to have it remixed and thats more they have to spend, imagine kung TV commercial na, people will hear no bass from the TV. Main bass frequency na-a sa 80 to 120hz with the more or less occupied by body(lower) and overtones/timbre (higher). So why do I need a sub nga 32hz? 20 to 40 hz is the frequency anang sa car audio nga maka uyog sa dughan notably not just because of frequency but due the enormouse power sa amp ug speakers. Increasingly more of those frequencies are being used by hip hop and RnB music so to check my mix from the NS10, I can just turn on the sub to hear it, but sa actual mixing, off na ang sub usually.
Bai don't think that I'm an expert, in sound kay I can't compute those tech stuff, but I'm basically sound recording savvy since I've been doing it since the 80s.

[darkwing]

i hate "colored" speakers that's why i like B&W, value for the money labi na kato before ni mahal tungod sa atong dollar exchange dinhi maygani kapalit mi daan ug 602s anyways himo palang ug computer speakers ang B&W maski gamay lang palit dayon ko

[joel oporto]

nindot kaayo na ang 602s, ang akong gi taod sa Bigfoot kay ang 3 series man cguro to