2.1 speaker system

MikeEnRegalia wrote: ^ It's nice to meet an audiophile person who not only has engineering skills, but also uses modern computer audio equipment.   I agree with much that you're saying - remember that I'm not saying that a computer sound card like the Audigy sounds as good as a high end D/A converter. But I AM saying that it sounds decent and one can listen to it without being constantly reminded about the fact that it's a computer he's listening to.   But I do notice a considerable improvement with the X-Fi (I previously also had an Audigy 2 ZS). That and a really good (considering value for money) speaker system like the Logitech X-210,230 or 250 can make you a very happy listener - compared to even some hi-fi systems which are three times as expensive. That's why I'm promoting it - I never said that this 180€ package could rival a 5,000€ system.

MikeEnRegalia wrote: Sacred 22 wrote: Oh, and getting back to distortion. Generic audio equipment never lists IM distortion in it's specs. Good high end gear does. I wonder why????? [IMG]height=17 alt=Ermm src="http://www.progarchives.com/forum/smileys/smiley24.gif" width=17 align=absMiddle> They list harmonic distortion, which can be pretty much eliminated with negative feedback which oddly enough increases Intermodulation distortion. Intermodulation distortion is "hard sounding" and rapidly brings on listener fatigue. Nasty stuff indeed! Read this: http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2518 About the X-Fi soundcard and - among other things - intermodulation distortion.

Sacred 22 wrote: Oh, and getting back to distortion. Generic audio equipment never lists IM distortion in it's specs. Good high end gear does. I wonder why????? [IMG]height=17 alt=Ermm src="http://www.progarchives.com/forum/smileys/smiley24.gif" width=17 align=absMiddle> They list harmonic distortion, which can be pretty much eliminated with negative feedback which oddly enough increases Intermodulation distortion. Intermodulation distortion is "hard sounding" and rapidly brings on listener fatigue. Nasty stuff indeed!

Read this:

http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2518

About the X-Fi soundcard and - among other things - intermodulation distortion.
    

Mind you that a 38cm reproduce extreme low freq which are responsible of the so-called "surround" effect.
A crappy 20 or 30cm makes false low, just" Boom boom ".

I was just saying that good hifi is only needed to listen to (good) music and not to play "games" or to watch american movies.

No, definetly, good hifi is not for you!

A 38 cm give the 3D effect -and the matter and dynamic- that your 5.1 will never do!

But if it's to play stupid video games or bad movies, yes, turn on a 5.1 set up, that will be fine.

Only music lovers deserve good hifi!

Edited by oliverstoned - April 27 2006 at 08:16

Instead of having two decents speakers and a good sub, you get a false sub and many bad speakers.

Moreover, 5.1 is crap!

5.1 set is the worst thing to buy!

A pair of bookshelf on good feet with a sub is the good deal.

"Yes, I guess so. At least more so than 70€ vs. 7,000€. Why? Simply because the quality of a system cannot be improved indefinitely. There is a natural limit, and the more money you spend, the closer you can get to that limit."

You can go very far.


"The only question is: where is the threshold, the point where you really have a good mix of price and quality? I'd say that for speakers it should be around 500€ (just a guess). From that price on upwards you get much less quality increase for your money."



Not easy to answer, it also depends about the number of sources, i'd say from 15 000 to 30 000€ for the whole.
    

Edited by oliverstoned - April 27 2006 at 07:26

MikeEnRegalia wrote: oliverstoned wrote: Indeed, you can't be frustrated by the lack of something you doesn't know. And as says Mike, you can enjoy music even on the worst equipment...as long as you haven't heard better. That what's dangerous with Hifi and there's the risk to become a junky abble of everything to get his 1000€ power cable, cause it transfigurates its system. You know what ... I don't mind any of these comments. While writing these lines I'm listening to some cool music on my system, and life is great! You go ahead spend thousands of Euros on cables, while I use that money to buy hundreds of albums.

Considering the albums, that would be better spent on cables

"As soon as you've heard better, you want the same! "

Not necessarily. A few weeks ago I bought a new TV set with HDTV capabilities, and I watched two HD (720p) movies. The visual quality was awesome, much more detailed than the normal DVD.

Does that mean that I'm now "spoilt" and can't enjoy watching DVDs anymore? Certainly not.

It's the same with music. Surely there are better speakers than my 70 EUR Logitech speakers. But they are better than many speaker sets which are 5 times as expensive. And with all due respect: I seriously doubt that speakers which cost 100 times more (7,000 EUR) are really 100 times better ... or to put it differently: I doubt that they would make me enjoy the music 100 times more.