Input on a 2.1 channel audio setup for PC

[ThA tRiXtA]

Hey guys,

As the title states, am looking to setup a decent (but not bank breaking) 2.1 channel audio system for my PC. I currently have the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 system but I honestly only need a 2.1 setup so I am going to sell it.

I only need the setup for music (MP3 and CD listening) not movies. However, I am a fan of decent sounding PC setups. I am planning to re-encode all of my MP3's into a higher bit rate or more higher fidelity format. (Any advice on this is appreciated, am still undecided on what to do here.)

So far I am considering using an Onkyo TX-SR308 connected by a digital optical cable fed in to SVS SBS-02 left and right and a SVS PB10-NSD for the bottom end.

I have also heard good things about Ascend bookshelves and considered them, although SVS has a Canadian retailer close to my home city so it would be a more economical option for me.

One thing I do require is the ability to wall mount the bookshelves, which I am going to do so with mounting brackets on either side of the wall mounted LCD monitor. The monitor is a 26" widescreen.

I have read that using home theater bookshelves for PC speakers may not be a good thing as they can sound harsh or not have enough stereo seperation while sitting that close to them. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance guys.

 

[sholling]

Hey guys,

As the title states, am looking to setup a decent (but not bank breaking) 2.1 channel audio system for my PC. I currently have the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 system but I honestly only need a 2.1 setup so I am going to sell it.

I had one of those.

I only need the setup for music (MP3 and CD listening) not movies. However, I am a fan of decent sounding PC setups. I am planning to re-encode all of my MP3's into a higher bit rate or more higher fidelity format. (Any advice on this is appreciated, am still undecided on what to do here.)

It will do you no good to re-encode poor MP3s to higher bit rates. The damage is already done and you'll have to re-rip the CDs. I rip my CDs to a lossless format (flac) and then create a copy in VBR MP3 for my portable. That way I have a perfect copy for home playback and something portable.

So far I am considering using an Onkyo TX-SR308 connected by a digital optical cable fed in to SVS SBS-02 left and right and a SVS PB10-NSD for the bottom end.

We've been discussing my latest upgrade in the speaker forum. I'm using EMP 41-SE/B on my desk. Awesome speakers but they do need the help of a sub. They are the speakers from this amp and speaker review. They're a bit pricey but for a small room well worth the money.

One thing I do require is the ability to wall mount the bookshelves, which I am going to do so with mounting brackets on either side of the wall mounted LCD monitor. The monitor is a 26" widescreen.

If you buy the rear ported EMPs you'll want to leave 2-3" behind them. I put mine on shelves.

I have read that using home theater bookshelves for PC speakers may not be a good thing as they can sound harsh or not have enough stereo seperation while sitting that close to them. Thoughts?

You read correctly that not every speaker sounds good up close. Follow the link to the other discussion. As far as separation goes the ideal is the distance between the speakers roughly the same as the distance from you to the speakers.

 

[its phillip]

Like sholling said, transcoding your mp3s is COMPLETELY USELESS and will actually make them sound even worse. The only solution is to rerip from the original cds and encode to whatever quality settings you are comfortable with, but I also recommend using flac. You'll have a perfect copy of the original, and you can transcode that to mp3/ogg/aac/whatever you feel like.

Anyway, I'd recommend looking around at other speakers in addition to those SVS ones, but I'm sure they'd work out just fine.

About your last comment - I also use bookshelf speakers and a sub (not as nice as the PB10) with my computer, and they sound great to me.

 

[krzywica]

For the mp3's as the other guys said will do you no good to encode them again. Once the files have been encoded once you cannot get any higher resoution out of them. You will have to re-rip them.

As for the speakers I would certainly suggest the EMP 41-SE/B as they have rave reviews. Also check out the Aperion 4B's. I have been running them on my workstation for about a year and they are spectacular for a close listening. You will obviously need a sub if you want to get the full musical experience but I have found these to be quite good even just for 2 channel listening down to about 70Hz.

 

[markw]

If wall mounting is a necessity, go for either sealed speakers or those with a front port, which are as rare as hen's teeth. Rear ported speakers do like a few inches from the back wall otherwise they sound "boomy". I would up stuffing socks into a rear port for a pair of mine near a wall.

Like the others said, re-rip the music. You can't reconstitute a steak once you've made it into hamburger.

 

[ThA tRiXtA]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the replies.

I guess I mislead you all on the re-encoding thing. It appears as though I used the wrong language. I definitely will not be re-encoding my existing audio files, I will be freshly ripping them again from the source CD's.

Sorry for any confusion.

That being said, I have 400 some discs to rip, and as it was suggested, I'd like to rip two versions, one for home use and in car / portable MP3 player use. So obviously ripping two versions of 400 discs each will be a fairly laborious process.

Can anyone recommend a format that would satisfy both uses, or is FLAC for home and high bit rate MP3 for portable use about the best it gets?

On a side note, what ripping programs and audio players do you guys use on your home PC's? I am in the midst of building a new PC with Windows 7 Home Premium.

I used to just use any old standard MP3 ripper freeware, and Foobar for playback but am wondering if I could do better?

 

[krzywica]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the replies.

I guess I mislead you all on the re-encoding thing. It appears as though I used the wrong language. I definitely will not be re-encoding my existing audio files, I will be freshly ripping them again from the source CD's.

Sorry for any confusion.

That being said, I have 400 some discs to rip, and as it was suggested, I'd like to rip two versions, one for home use and in car / portable MP3 player use. So obviously ripping two versions of 400 discs each will be a fairly laborious process.

Can anyone recommend a format that would satisfy both uses, or is FLAC for home and high bit rate MP3 for portable use about the best it gets?

On a side note, what ripping programs and audio players do you guys use on your home PC's? I am in the midst of building a new PC with Windows 7 Home Premium.

I used to just use any old standard MP3 ripper freeware, and Foobar for playback but am wondering if I could do better?

Foobar is the best PC based application for audio playback of FLAC and mp3. I've been using it for a long long time.......check out the Dark One mod. Its really really nice and is MUCH more than just a skin.

http://tedgo.deviantart.com/art/DarkOne-v2-1-156697932

I would rip everything to FLAC, then once you have it in digital format you can encode it to mp3 V0 with dBpoweramp. For ripping I would use extact.

 

[sholling]

On a side note, what ripping programs and audio players do you guys use on your home PC's? I am in the midst of building a new PC with Windows 7 Home Premium.

I used to just use any old standard MP3 ripper freeware, and Foobar for playback but am wondering if I could do better?

I used to use Exact Audio Copy (free) for ripping but I finally bought dBpoweramp Reference ($38) and it is well worth the money. There are several reasons. First it's easy to use. Once you have it setup it will automatically rip, name, tag, and file music just about as fast as you can feed it discs. You tell it your filing system (I use name\Album\... ) and naming convention, and it looks up the album info and it does the rest. I rip to FLAC and once you finish ripping all of your CDs you just run the included dBpoweramp Batch Converter and it will read the folder with your flacs and create copies in any format you like (MP3 etc) automatically converting, filing, naming, and tagging your newly minted MP3s by the thousands. I use VBR MP3s in my portable.

Playback tools are personal taste but I've used MonkeyAudio and WinAmp and both playback Flacs.

 

[its phillip]

Use exact audio copy to make your rips - follow this guide to set it up properly:
http://blowfish.be/eac/

And I use foobar as my player and my converter. Foobar is a lightweight, very customizable player, but it's also much better at handling large libraries than the other players I've used. Winamp and mediamonkey are pretty good too, but foobar is my favorite.

FLAC at home, and v0 (or v2) on the go is usually how I roll.

 

[ThA tRiXtA]

Thanks guys, you're all the best.

What plugins or settings do you guys use on your Foobar?

Edit - no one has approached the topic of a sub - one person stated that their sub wasn't as costly as a PB10-NSD... I only need a sub that can reproduce down to 40 hertz and if I could save money I'm definitely not opposed to opting for a lesser low end beast.

The only reason I was going with the SVS because it was matched with the bookshelves.

 

[krzywica]

Thanks guys, you're all the best.

What plugins or settings do you guys use on your Foobar?

No plugins.....doesn't need em. I just added the Dark One mod and thats it....make sure you have the sound properties in windows set properly as well as the sound output in Foobar set to the highest bitrate possible. I believe by default Windows sets the output for 2 channel audio to 16bit 42khz. Make sure you change this to the max available.

 

[sholling]

Thanks guys, you're all the best.

What plugins or settings do you guys use on your Foobar?

Edit - no one has approached the topic of a sub - one person stated that their sub wasn't as costly as a PB10-NSD... I only need a sub that can reproduce down to 40 hertz and if I could save money I'm definitely not opposed to opting for a lesser low end beast.

The only reason I was going with the SVS because it was matched with the bookshelves.

I like a really tight sub for music. You should be able to find something that will handle a small room for around $350. eD and Emotiva have 10" sealed subs and Hsu and eD have 10" ported subs for that. I haven't heard them so I can't recommend one over the other but I would call them and have them size a sub to your room. I just wouldn't go under 10" - but that's just me, I like overkill. Also keep in mind that eD builds to order and waits can be sometimes be long. You my also want to budget for an isolation pad.

Sealed:
http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_138&products_id=892
http://emotiva.com/ultra_sub10.shtm

Ported:
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html
http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_41&products_id=406

 

[krzywica]

I like a really tight sub for music. You should be able to find something that will handle a small room for around $350. eD and Emotiva have 10" sealed subs and Hsu and eD have 10" ported subs for that. I haven't heard them so I can't recommend one over the other but I would call them and have them size a sub to your room. I just wouldn't go under 10". Also keep in mind that eD builds to order and waits can be sometimes be long. You my also want to budget for an isolation pad.

Sealed:
http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_138&products_id=892
http://emotiva.com/ultra_sub10.shtm

Ported:
http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html
http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_info.php?cPath=2_41&products_id=406

The STF 1 and 2 are great little subs. I'm not sure what your listening habits are, or what you listen to. It would go a long way to fill us in a little, while these are all great subs I think you could get a more articulate musical sub for the money should you listen to more "refined" music.

 

[sholling]

The STF 1 and 2 are great little subs. I'm not sure what your listening habits are, or what you listen to. It would go a long way to fill us in a little, while these are all great subs I think you could get a more articulate musical sub for the money should you listen to more "refined" music.

Now you have me curious. What would you suggest?

 

[ThA tRiXtA]

Well... I wouldn't necessarily say my musical tastes are "refined" but I'm not a fan of death metal or people like lil wayne or kanye west for that matter.

Not saying you shouldn't like their music, for those who do, I'm just saying it's not my preference.

I'm an average 30 year old guy, mainly listen to any form of alternative I guess... but I've dabbled into just about anything but country.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the recommendations.

So you figure I should go with a sealed sub? I definitely want to stay away from a rear ported sub as I probably will not be able to have it as far into the room as it should necessarily be for a rear facing port.

My PC room right now is fairly small, I would guess no bigger than 8' x 10' or 10' by 10'. but I do want to still be able to use this sub and setup down the road, in which my computer room in my next house will probably be more of a rec room with a lot of open space kind of deal.

 

[leousm]

Hey guys,

As the title states, am looking to setup a decent (but not bank breaking) 2.1 channel audio system for my PC. I currently have the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 system but I honestly only need a 2.1 setup so I am going to sell it.

I had a Klipsch Promedia 5.1 as well. While it sounded fantastic it was a bit bulky for a PC setup (I wasn't watching any movies or anything, just music and games). I had problems with Klipsch when the amp started giving me problems so I switched to a small Logitech Z4 2.1 setup. It sounds good for the price but obviously not nearly as good as the Klipsch setup.

On a side note, Elemental Design makes some killer speakers.

 

[krzywica]

Well... I wouldn't necessarily say my musical tastes are "refined" but I'm not a fan of death metal or people like lil wayne or kanye west for that matter.

Not saying you shouldn't like their music, for those who do, I'm just saying it's not my preference.

Ok I'll say it for you then, you should not like their music.

I'm an average 30 year old guy, mainly listen to any form of alternative I guess... but I've dabbled into just about anything but country.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the recommendations.

So you figure I should go with a sealed sub? I definitely want to stay away from a rear ported sub as I probably will not be able to have it as far into the room as it should necessarily be for a rear facing port.

My PC room right now is fairly small, I would guess no bigger than 8' x 10' or 10' by 10'. but I do want to still be able to use this sub and setup down the road, in which my computer room in my next house will probably be more of a rec room with a lot of open space kind of deal.

Ok excellent...then you could go with any one of the options already listed...or you could buy from a fellow Audioholic....

 

[its phillip]

I'd say it certainly wouldn't hurt to get the pb10-nsd, but there are definitely tons of options in that price range. I'm the one who said I didn't have as nice a sub - I have a small 8" sub. It's pretty good for the size, but I'd like something more. But that won't happen until much later.

 

[farout]

farout here

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the replies.

I guess I mislead you all on the re-encoding thing. It appears as though I used the wrong language. I definitely will not be re-encoding my existing audio files, I will be freshly ripping them again from the source CD's.

Sorry for any confusion.

That being said, I have 400 some discs to rip, and as it was suggested, I'd like to rip two versions, one for home use and in car / portable MP3 player use. So obviously ripping two versions of 400 discs each will be a fairly laborious process.

Can anyone recommend a format that would satisfy both uses, or is FLAC for home and high bit rate MP3 for portable use about the best it gets?

On a side note, what ripping programs and audio players do you guys use on your home PC's? I am in the midst of building a new PC with Windows 7 Home Premium.

I used to just use any old standard MP3 ripper freeware, and Foobar for playback but am wondering if I could do better?

SUB HUM could be bad cable. had that happen to me. or sub is too close to something thats interfering.

 

[farout]

sorry wrong place for reply

farout here sub hum could be bad cable. or wrong cable . had that happen to me. or settings can produce hum.