Looking to buy 2.1 system for my living room.

[jonnythan]

Oh, wait, you got the 1312?

That's too bad. That has no sort of calibration at all.

How much did you pay for it and where did you get it?

 

[afterlife2]

Oh, wait, you got the 1312?

That's too bad. That has no sort of calibration at all.

How much did you pay for it and where did you get it?

Stop it man! Let the guy enjoy his stuff. Calibration sucks anyway. Well for me anyways so no flaming please.

 

[Mkilbride]

Oh, wait, you got the 1312?

That's too bad. That has no sort of calibration at all.

How much did you pay for it and where did you get it?

150$ from Pauls TV. Free shipping.

But then right after it arrived I checked Accessories4Less and they had it for 120$

Ah, but no one linked me to that and I thought 150$ was already a great deal.

I guess I'll just have to calibrate it manually or so, you know. I adjusted the distance already and set to "Large", no center, no Surround back, and no Subwoofer.

Sounds alot like my TV's speakers right now. Maybe due to no Subwoofer or the cheap Speaker Cable I uswed...got to wait til the good stuff comes in monday.


Sometimes they sound pretty nice though. Maybe just got to burn them in or let my ears adjust to them.

It was like this when I got a sound card for my PC, didn't notice a difference, but two years later when it broke, the onboard sound for my PC sounded horrible, when I used to have no issues with it, it sounded washed out, distorted and hard to make out details. Sound card got fixed, put it back in, and life was good again.

Still, going directly from the TV Speakers to these, a few friends I asked told me they couldn't hear the difference and thought they weren't installed yet.

Maybe Dynamic compression would help, I use that feature on my PC, I like it as it allows me to hear the tiny sounds.

For example, in Broken Blade, Episode 1, it has 5.1 DTS. On my PC, I can hear quite a few sounds that I don't on these speakers on my TV.


Weirdly enough, the box and websites state it has 75 watts per channel, and the manual does as WELL, but in the manual a later page also says it has like 125 watts per channel. is that the amplifier built in or something?

Anyways, if I did go for 5.1, these are part of the Classic II series and are cheap enough @ 50$ each.

http://www.accessories4less.com/make-a-store/item/BOSCS23GB/BOSTON-ACOUSTICS-CS-23-2-Way-3-1/2-in-Bookshelf-Speaker-Each-Black/1.html

2x those, 100$, + 100$ Center = 200$ and I have a 5.1 set. Thoughts?

Though this review:

http://bookshelf-speakers-review.toptenreviews.com/boston-acoustics-bookshelf-speakers-review.html

Has me worried and thinking I should go with the CS26.
http://bookshelf-speakers-review.toptenreviews.com/boston-acoustics-speakers-review.html

But they are alot more expensive and I can't find them nearly as cheap, 129$ is as cheap as I can find them...almost 3x as much!

This site appears to have them for 90$

So it'd be about 280$ for everything.

But I dunno if I can trust this site, anyone use it? Also it's on back order...ugh.
http://www.capitolsupply.com/catalog/cs26b-bookshelf-speaker-dual-6-cs8730476.html?cid=cse_ggl4

 

[jonnythan]

$150 is a really good deal. I wouldn't build an HT around it due to lack of calibration, though. Audyssey does all sorts of awesome things that I consider essential.

 

[afterlife2]

Make sure the speakers are 5 feet from each other at least. Yeah give the speakers time to break in too. The sub will definitely be a plus when they get there. Make sure your speakers are set to 80htz. Read those article they helped me alot for placement and get the best sound. PICTURES!!! We wants Pics! What is your Treble/Bass setting? Mine is Bass 4+db and Treble +10db(I wanna hear everythAng). Call Paul TV and see If they will price match. You never know 30 bucks is 30 bucks. I checked and they were more than 150$ on acess. So they got jealous and lowered the price.

 

[Mkilbride]

Make sure the speakers are 5 feet from each other at least. Yeah give the speakers time to break in too. The sub will definitely be a plus when they get there. Make sure your speakers are set to 80htz. Read those article they helped me alot for placement and get the best sound. PICTURES!!! We wants Pics! What is your Treble/Bass setting? Mine is Bass 4+db and Treble +10db(I wanna hear everythAng).

I have no pictures yet, my Digital Camera will arrive Monday hopefully, then I can show you pictures of how it looks.

I set the speakers to 80hz also as well. I didn't know I was supposed to, for some reason I was looking at the settings and it and it was @ 120hz and 80z popped into my head. Must have read it it somewhere and was in my unconcious memory. Nothing for Trebble / Bass yet cause well, yeah, no Sub yet!

They sound smooth, that's for sure. But there just missing something, I dunno, my TV Speakers seemingly played the sound more faithfully. Might be the Speaker wire or my crappy self-calibration.

Sometimes some stuff sounds muffled.

And 5 feet? Hmm...ok, I might push them out another inch or two on each side, just to make sure. My TV stand is pretty inadequate and it's location would not be considered ideal, guess, but nothing can be done about that.

I don't think PaulsTV is going to give me 30$ for a product I already received that then went on sale at another online store. Some retail stores may do that, but eh...

 

[afterlife2]

I have no pictures yet, my Digital Camera will arrive Monday hopefully, then I can show you pictures of how it looks.

I set the speakers to 80hz also as well. I didn't know I was supposed to, for some reason I was looking at the settings and it and it was @ 120hz and 80z popped into my head. Must have read it it somewhere and was in my unconcious memory. Nothing for Trebble / Bass yet cause well, yeah, no Sub yet!

Good so far. You don't have to wait for the Sub to set the Treble/Bass. Do it!

These would be a bit better: BOSTON ACOUSTICS A23 2-Way 3.5in Bookshelf/Satellite Speaker EA White | Accessories4less

But I'd say get these If you can do it: BOSTON ACOUSTICS A25 2-Way 5.25in Bookshelf Speaker Each Gloss White | Accessories4less
C26 is another good choice too.
Yes capitol is legit: http://www.bbb.org/south-east-florida/business-reviews/office-furniture-and-equipment-retail/capitol-supply-in-sunrise-fl-33000875

 

[zieglj01]

They sound smooth, that's for sure. But there just missing something, I dunno, my TV Speakers seemingly played the sound more faithfully. Might be the Speaker wire or my crappy self-calibration.

Sometimes some stuff sounds muffled.

Well for one thing, they are not perfect - I own more expensive speakers,
and they are not perfect. However, for one on a tight budget - they are
one of the better options. Sometimes, we need to get use to hearing a
smooth sound. Sometimes when a speaker tends to sound more detailed
> it will be artificial, due to roller coaster measurements, or the boosted
treble game.

All I can say is, that you must have some outstanding TV speakers.

If a recording is poor quality (and there are lots of them) - the speakers
will not fix that. Compress recordings are the worse.

Also, need to make sure on cable hook-up, that the positive and negative
on both ends, match up correctly. Even I in the past, have mixed that up.

 

[jonnythan]

TV speakers will often sound better for most TV programming than poorly-calibrated low-end tower speakers, especially when you are used to the sound of the TV speakers.

 

[afterlife2]

If a recording is poor quality (and there are lots of them)- the speakers
will not fix that. Compress recordings are the worse.

Good point Z. I meant to tell you that before. Whether is be a MP3/Flac, CD or DVD. Sound quality can vary. If you like Roy Orbison I'd highly recommend this BD it's Superior sound quality: http://www.amazon.com/Roy-Orbison-Black-White-Blu-ray/dp/B0017XFP4U/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1336162721&sr=1-2
If you have Netflix it's on there in 2.1/5.1 too.

 

[Mkilbride]

Well for one thing, they are not perfect - I own more expensive speakers,
and they are not perfect. However, for one on a tight budget - they are
one of the better options. Sometimes, we need to get use to hearing a
smooth sound. Sometimes when a speaker tends to sound more detailed
> it will be artificial, due to roller coaster measurements, or the boosted
treble game.

All I can say is, that you must have some outstanding TV speakers.

If a recording is poor quality (and there are lots of them) - the speakers
will not fix that. Compress recordings are the worse.

Also, need to make sure on cable hook-up, that the positive and negative
on both ends, match up correctly. Even I in the past, have mixed it up.

Mm, I heard that didn't matter much, but this is some cheap speaker wire I literally found hanging around lol, no negative or positive side or stripes or anything..so it's abit tough to tell.

As long as it works.

 

[jonnythan]

Mm, I heard that didn't matter much, but this is some cheap speaker wire I literally found hanging around lol, no negative or positive side or stripes or anything..so it's abit tough to tell.

As long as it works.

If you reversed the polarity of one of the terminals, the speakers will sound very hollow and crappy. It's easy to reverse one if the speaker wires aren't marked.

 

[zieglj01]

Mm, I heard that didn't matter much,
As long as it works.

Yes, it does matter - or else there would be no markings on the
receiver and speakers.

 

[Mkilbride]

Yes, it does matter - or else there would be no markings on the
receiver and speakers.

Thought that, but I googled and searched this site and everyone said it made a nearly inperceivable difference, but yes, when the proper wire comes in Monday, I'll make sure I do it correctly.







--------------


Hey, I just checked and they're already in the proper spots. I followed the cords and it's all positive negative, ect, like you said, I guess I was lucky lol. Still, going to change out and use the newer wire I ordered when it arrives.

 

[zieglj01]

Thought that, but I googled and searched this site and everyone said it made a nearly inperceivable difference, but yes, when the proper wire comes in Monday, I'll make sure I do it correctly.

All I know, is that I can tell - and if you just cross one of the speakers,
it can be uneven - and will also effect the bass.

 

[Grador]

Thought that, but I googled and searched this site and everyone said it made a nearly inperceivable difference.

For fun you can always just give it a try for yourself. You most certainly will not hurt anything by reversing them. Go ahead and take one of the speakers and reverse the wires and see how it sounds. I've accidentally hooked up one of my mains reverse and it sounded horribly awkward, very distinctive.

 

[zieglj01]

^^^^
What you can do - get some tape and mark one wire on each
side at both ends - call it negative, and the other will be the
positive wire. Have fun.

 

[jonnythan]

Polarity matters big big time. What doesn't matter is which conductor you call positive. It really matters that it's hooked up right.

 

[Mkilbride]

One thing I'm really not like so far is how the music plays.

Like the dialog plays and then the music and it feels forced...I dunno what the proper audio term is, but the audio doesn't match the dialogue. It feels like they're playing from different speakers and not calibrated to match, like when you have a center Speaker and turn the volume up beyond the front Left & right Speakers.

I'm guessing what I am saying is, the Boston speakers I got do very well when it's either Dialog or Music, but when you combine the two, they sound mis-matched.

The levels don't seem to match. I don't know if the Subwoofer will help with this, but yeah, hmm.

I may end up getting a Center specifically for Dialogue.

 

[mrcigarette]

speakers

paradigm titans in black
bookshelf or rear speakers
$200.00

very good condition