PC Peripherals Cheap yet better Alternative to Altec Lansing/Creative 5.1 Systems

superczar

superczar

Skilled
:cool2:
Gues what----Superczar is Back in Chennai again .....and off to Ritchie street as usual wihth a bunch of friends

The agenda was to replace my old 2 channel Aiwa Music system (2200W supposedly) with a cheap yet better alternative...BTW the old AIWA was not being used for playing cassettes or CDs butOnly PC o/p as Aux i/p)

This is what we ended up buying:
8" polypropylene cone Woofer + Subwoofer casing: 1000/- : Subwoofer
2X elliptical Taiwan made mid-range (vocals) speakers + centre speaker wooden casing: 450/-
2x (6" Woofer + 1 tweeter + Wooden Casing) : Rear L and Rear R: 800/-
2X (4' speakers + tweeter+ wooden casing): 450/-: Front L and R

5.1 Amplifer: Local make, The seller tells me it is based on 2X LM 4756 chip + single channel LM4651 (for the sub)..
He had absolutely no clue on the pre-Amp section .Need to open it up and check out the DSP and DAC chips inside. Will edit this write-up then.
The amp set me back by 2000/-

Net setback : 4700/-
+ another 200 odd on 25 metre speaker cable + 6 X 2 socket RCA cable

Performance:
Connecting together 6 speakers, 6 channels of output from the PC + 2 channel outputs from the PS2 and TV was painful (and messy) to say the least...
Ayway , job done, I settled on my bean bag with a beer in hand and switced on Kill Bill Vol 1 (original 5.1 Soundtrack)

And forgive me for the superlatives, but I really can't settle for less coz the experience was so immersive

Bass: Heart Thumping...really....
Vocals: Great clarity
Treble: Seemed slightly shrill, till I iddled around witht he multitude of controls on the Amp and set it to my liking

I also tried lot of normal 2 chnnel tracks played on Winamp with all S/W DSP plugins switched off and set the amp switch to corrspond to a 2 channel input

The channel separation and the audio filtering of different notes to different speakers was more than commendable.....

In fact, I'd say that the sound clarity and the quality of reproduction (I can't put a figure to the THD, but I can definitely say it's really low) was excellent to say the least
Definitely way way better than the hyped Altec Lansing XA3051s (which my friend has, and after listening to this setup after we fixed it up today morning, he was repenting the decision of buying that) or for that matter the 6.5 year old AIWA NSX series midi system that this setup has replaced

The lack of a remote control or display LCDs may disppoint some, but since 90% of the time, my PC will be serving as the source, I guess I will spend some time on setting up a IR or RF remote on my PC.....
Would appreciate if some1 frm TE could advise me on setting up a Remote control unit for My PC that can control Winamp/WinDVD/WMP
 
What sound card? However good the amp and speakers are, they are totally worthless if the audio output is bad unless ur using optical out. Speakers performance is very subjective. What sounds great to one person may sound totally crappy to someone else. Most subs that are made of cheap components tend to produce a lot of bass but the bass is so boomy that u'll have to turn it down. Try running the subwoofer test mp3(was there in one of the old threads) and find out if the individual beats are discernable. Have fun with ur new sys :). And BTW the XA3051 is a POS... its not even a true 5.1 and has a 4" sub :p
 
I used Foobar for a day or two...But having been a Winamp faithful for the past 8 years, the shortcuts and the familiarity can't be given away that easily....
Frankly, if u switch off all the DSPs and use the default wave-out plugin, the sound clairty owuld be the same , whatever payer you use ( AM guessing, I may be wrong though)
 
Most subs that are made of cheap components tend to produce a lot of bass but the bass is so boomy that u'll have to turn it down.
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That wouldn't happen as I chose the best quality woofer available, and also I am using a proper wooden cabinet (hand picked again) insteal of a plastic one that off the shelf cheap 5.1 systems come with...I'll try out the bass test mp3 anyway tonight and post back

And BTW the XA3051 is a POS.
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Didn't get you when you said POS ???

Also, I do suppose that speaker performanc is highly subjective....but I could say that I have a better than average appreciation for speakers and sound systems, havin been and amateur DJ for ~3 years
 
There's more to sub design than just choosing a wooden cabby :). Around 80% of the bass produced by a sub is actually bcoz of air movement in the sub cabinet. The rest <20% is the sound produced by the active driver. The sub works on principles of resonance and the enclosure design is vital to match the harmonics exactly. You need to do some math to figure out how exactly a sub should be built. Whether it must be ported or not. Generally ported subs lead to better bass. Many high end ones even have a passive radiator(which is nothing but a driver thats not connected to a source). Putting an 8" driver into a wooden box is not going to make a decent sub unless you mod the box properly. Hell even a 5 1/4" driver with a properly designed enclosure will sound better. Same holds true for satellites but not to such a degree. Also the sub response and the sat response must be matched so that the entire spectrum is covered. Otherwise there might be a massive hole in response between the sub output and the satellite output. Those frequencies in the audio will then never be produced. Also POS = Piece of $hit
 
Well Since me no audio engineer but just an audiophile, I guess all I can do is trust the Ritchie street buggers (who actually are a savvy lot, if not always)

All I could do was choose a good driver, as for the box, I placed my faith , little judgement (while choosing the box), and advice frm the cab makers as my guide.....

As for the sound clarity, I would sill vouch for the fact that the clarity and the bass is lot btter than my retired Aiwa and the 3051 (POS ;) )

Hmmm, let me play a popular Hip-hop number today evening once i go back home, then go down to Bikes & barrels (One of the better Chennai pubs, I know that that doesn't really count for much though :D )
and do a relative comparo when they play the song there ....(BTW Chennai pubs are gung-ho on Hip-Hop these days)
 
and do a relative comparo when they play the song there ....(BTW Chennai pubs are gung-ho on Hip-Hop these days)
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Though I am no fan of Hip hop its atleast better then the Hindi / North Indian trash played in Mumbai Pubs these days. South Indians it seems to have a much better choice of music. Mumbai's pubs are worsening day to day save for a few like Polyester etc...
 
Hey i wanna go 5.1 & i have following in mind.
Creative Inspire 5900
Altec Lansing VS 3151 R
altec lansing 5100
Dunno which is better .Mainly aiming at alansing as i heard a lot of complaints on creative.
Kindly help me out.Also i wud be usin git with onbaord 4 around 3-4 mths(till i get my wallet fat again :) ).Kindle help me out & also feed with other budget recommendations tho avoid high end like megaworks or klipsch :)
 
hari_rama said:
Hey i wanna go 5.1 & i have following in mind.
Creative Inspire 5900
Altec Lansing VS 3151 R
altec lansing 5100
Dunno which is better .Mainly aiming at alansing as i heard a lot of complaints on creative.
Kindly help me out.Also i wud be usin git with onbaord 4 around 3-4 mths(till i get my wallet fat again :) ).Kindle help me out & also feed with other budget recommendations tho avoid high end like megaworks or klipsch :)
Click to expand...

What exactly is ur objective? Gaming or music? If its music, ur better off with a quality 2.1 set such as altec lansing 621 or al mx5021. If its gaming, any of those are fine. In either case, be sure to get a good soundcard or the speakers won't sound too good. A sb live 24bit is a nice value solution.
 
Chaos said:
What exactly is ur objective? Gaming or music? If its music, ur better off with a quality 2.1 set such as altec lansing 621 or al mx5021. If its gaming, any of those are fine. In either case, be sure to get a good soundcard or the speakers won't sound too good. A sb live 24bit is a nice value solution.
Click to expand...

Sorry to mention that
Me using for DVD movies & Music.Absolutely no gaming audio!!!!
I intend to get audigy 2 zs sometime after.
For DVD which one do u recommend considering the budget constraint??
 
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