JBL LSR2325P Help

[Natrix]

I'm in need of some help with my office setup. I just received my JBL LSR2325Ps and I have these hooked up directly from the stock audio card via 3.5mm jack to the rca connections on the speakers. The 3.5mm jack is the only method of output on the stock audio card. The problem I'm having is I cannot have the digital volume controls at maximum volume without it being too loud or too quiet. I can already tell (despite the volume issues) that this is a marked improvement over the Altec Lansing speakers I was using before.

If I turn the volume controls on the speaker to one click above -∞ and have my computer volume at 100 I can barely hear the sound. If I turn the speaker volume to two clicks above -∞ I can only have the computer volume between 20-30 to have the sound at a comfortable level.

I'm in need of some type of analog volume control between the audio card and the speakers. I use this setup to listen to Pandora One, Online Radio, and occasionally music on Youtube while I'm at work. The speakers are about 3 feet from my seating position.

I don't want to get too expense or fancy here, but any help here would be appreciated.

 

[fuzz092888]

What price range are you looking for?

That doesn't seem right to me that at one click above and 100% it's too loud and two clicks above 20-30. Something seems amiss.

However, if 20-30 is comfortable why do you need another form of volume control? you have 20-30 notches of cushion below and a lot more than you need above, so if somewhere between 10-30 is comfortable, why do you need another volume control?

 

[GranteedEV]

If I turn the volume controls on the speaker to one click above -∞ and have my computer volume at 100 I can barely hear the sound. If I turn the speaker volume to two clicks above -∞ I can only have the computer volume between 20-30 to have the sound at a comfortable level.

I don't see any issue then, unless you're saying that there is a lot of noise and a compressed soundstage as a result. That is not a digital output from the sound card, it is an analog output. As long as things sound good with the computer volume between 20 to 30 you should be good.

Is it just that you want an external potentiometer instead of using the one on the computer?

 

[Natrix]

I was always under the impression that the volume needs to be at 100 in the digital domain. The manual for the speakers indicates the computer volume should be at 100. I thought I was missing bits, but maybe I'm confused as to how computer audio works.

The sound coming out doesn't seem compressed. In fact, it is pretty dang fantastic, but if I'm missing bits and it can be better I'm prepared to make some changes.

 

[Natrix]

I don't see any issue then, unless you're saying that there is a lot of noise and a compressed soundstage as a result. That is not a digital output from the sound card, it is an analog output. As long as things sound good with the computer volume between 20 to 30 you should be good.

Is it just that you want an external potentiometer instead of using the one on the computer?

I'm fine with the computer volume control and don't need an external device if I'm not losing anything with the way things are now.

 

[GranteedEV]

I was always under the impression that the volume needs to be at 100 in the digital domain.

I can see your concern and I'm no expert on how operating systems attenuate output. I always assumed they simply attenuate the voltage of the analog outputs of the sound card. This is different from digital attenutation (IE if using HDMI, reducing the volume of the HDMI Digital Output)

If it truly bothers, then what you want can be done, but it won't be cheap unfortunately. You probably need something like this:

TC Electronic Level Pilot Desktop Volume Control | Musician's Friend

And since your sound card doesn't output to XLR, I would probably upgrade to a pro grade sound card too.

But again, none of this garuntees much. the "loss of bits" isn't IMO a big deal. Here's something interesting on that note:
Is 24 Bit Recording Really Better?

Personally, I always use the OS volume to set the volume of my headphones for example on my laptop, and i've never heard a loss of fidelity compared to using the analog dial on my M-Audio MobilePre USB sound card.

 

[fuzz092888]

Here's another one as well

24/192 Music Downloads are Very Silly Indeed

 

[GranteedEV]

I'm fine with the computer volume control and don't need an external device if I'm not losing anything with the way things are now.

Good.

Some advice i'd give

- try to reduce any reflections off the desk from the monitor by pulling them well-forward.

- toe the monitors well-in so that they actually cross in front of you. This should make them less sensitive to shifts in head position. Don't just shoot them straight out.

- Play around with the bass switch depending on your room. The 0 setting might be exaggerated in smaller rooms, so try the -1 bass setting in a smaller room.

- the treble setting can pretty much be left alone, but some of your music collection may sound more natural with the treble setting at the -1 position as well.

 

[Natrix]

Good.

Some advice i'd give

- try to reduce any reflections off the desk from the monitor by pulling them well-forward.

- toe the monitors well-in so that they actually cross in front of you. This should make them less sensitive to shifts in head position. Don't just shoot them straight out.

- Play around with the bass switch depending on your room. The 0 setting might be exaggerated in smaller rooms, so try the -1 bass setting in a smaller room.

- the treble setting can pretty much be left alone, but some of your music collection may sound more natural with the treble setting at the -1 position as well.

The main reason for my original post was due to the experience in my home office with the Emotiva XDA and it's digital volume problems and the JBL manual stating the volume should be at 100. I think there is a difference between audio recording bits and digital volume bits, but maybe I'm wrong. I believe you hit on this with the computer volume voltage statement.

My office is fairly decent sized at 12ft x 14ft. My desk is pretty much stationed in the middle of the room. I have the speakers on Auralex pads, but unfortunately I need all the desk space I can get as I'm a paper pusher. So they're postioned to the sides of my dual monitors at the back of the desk. I already have them toed-in, but I'll play around with this a little bit (no pun intended).

The bass if anything is less than I'm accustomed to, but I didn't and don't expect much for this setup. Moving the LF switch to +2 doesn't make it any better, it just muddies it up. I believe the low frequency hearing curve applies here as the volume will never be high enough. I use dual subs at home for stereo listening as most of my music benefits from it, but I don't want to do that here at work as I'm sure all the other people in the building will appreciate.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I know a thing or two about LSR2335p - I own them, probably one of very few on this board

Yes, for best quality you'd want all digital domain volume control to be at 100%, that said, windows main volume control I still use.

To get best quality and illuminate buzz/noises you'd want to get external DAC.
I got good results with Audioengine D1 dac (toslink from pc) and shielded rca cabled, but balanced dac & cables should work as well, I just couldn't find anything really decent but one: Emotiva XDA ....

I set my monitors volume at about 55-60%, D1 (hard to tune) and windows main volume as needed.
my LFE&TREB are at 0 setting.

Don't get pro sound card, they are not cheap and likely to pickup RF Noises from pc hardware anyways

 

[Natrix]

I know a thing or two about LSR2335p - I own them, probably one of very few on this board

Yes, for best quality you'd want all digital domain volume control to be at 100%, that said, windows main volume control I still use.

To get best quality and illuminate buzz/noises you'd want to get external DAC.
I got good results with Audioengine D1 dac (toslink from pc) and shielded rca cabled, but balanced dac & cables should work as well, I just couldn't find anything really decent but one: Emotiva XDA-2 which I believe was cheaper before...

Thanks for chiming in. I see from your signature that these are the best speakers you own. I won't make any final judgments until I have the volume thing resolved, but they do sound pretty great right now.

To use an external DAC I would have to get a new sound card that outputs digitally as the stock one does not. I have the XDA-1 at home, but it poses the same issues I have now as the volume is controlled in the digital domain. I knew they were going to fix that issue with the XDA-2, I just didn't realize it had been released.

I have some more thinking and investigating to do.....

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Thanks for chiming in. I see from your signature that these are the best speakers you own. I won't make any final judgments until I have the volume thing resolved, but they do sound pretty great right now.

To use an external DAC I would have to get a new sound card that outputs digitally as the stock one does not. I have the XDA-1 at home, but it poses the same issues I have now as the volume is controlled in the digital domain. I knew they were going to fix that issue with the XDA-2, I just didn't realize it had been released.

I have some more thinking and investigating to do.....

yes, XDA-1 have an issue with digital volume control, but imo windows volume control is the lesser evil.

To be honest I did test D1 with USB input and it worked just fine. going toslink was cheap option for me since my mobo already had toslink out.

D1 on usb is limited to 24/96, toslink is does full 192/24. I don't think you can spot the difference ether way...

 

[rext81]

I have a similar setup and use a Nuforce µDac2. It is limited to 24/96, but about 5% (if that) of my FLAC collection is recorded at higher resolution than that.

You can usually find a refurbed or used µDac2 for less than $100.

 

[Natrix]

Well I finally pulled the trigger and got an Audioengine D1 and wish I would've done this when I first got the monitors. I'm still using windows to make the volume changes and I have the monitors at about 25% volume and the DAC at 100%. If I turn the volume up on the monitors any more they start picking up unwanted noises, part of this was coming from the power cables but I rearranged them so they are not under my desk amongst the mess of wires underneath and used a different outlet for power.

I'm streaming music from Amazon's cloud player (which by the way is awesome) and I've definitely been missing something as this is audio bliss. I'm sorry I didn't heed any advice earlier.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I know it's an old thread, but this maybe helpful. This german site did extensive testing of JBL LSR2325p and bunch of other pro monitors - measurements show - 2325p is one of the flatter responses.
http://www.bonedo.de/artikel/einzelansicht/jbl-lsr-2325p/2.html

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

same site tested Focal Alpha 65 and liked it a lot:
http://www.bonedo.de/artikel/einzelansicht/focal-alpha-65-test.html

Focal Alhpa 65 msrp is $399
Focal Alhpa 50 msrp is $299
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Alpha50

not that I trust Cnet reviews in general, but they liked it too
http://www.cnet.com/news/leave-it-to-the-french-to-kick-the-sound-of-desktopcomputer-speakers-up-a-notch/