2.1 Speaker Questions

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That is cool! A seperate 2 channel home sound system is perfect imo for a PC. Makes onboard sound sound good, plenty of power and good speakers perform well for gaming and music listening, and can often be had for same price or less than PC speaker systems.
 
You have no idea how much I am dieing to jump up to the reciever and quality speakers setup. Right now I am looking at Axiom bookshelf speakers and maybe a cheap Harmon/Kardon, or Yamaha reciever. Maybe materials for a subwoofer from www.partsexpress.com ! 8) It will be a nice step up from what I have now 😛
 
I used to get drivers from them, but it looks like their low-priced selection has dried up.

Then again, they used to get small lots of high-quality speakers and liquidate them...being on the internet probably changed the quantities they deal with.
 
As long as you know what you are looking at with Axiom. They are known to be bright speakers. I've actually owned them in the past (Axiom M22tis) and found them detailed at low to mid volumes, but if you turn it up it female vocals gets fatiguing. The problem is midrange cone resonance (from aluminum, a troublesome material). B&W, Thiel also suffer from these cone resonances. If you don't mind a bright sound, Axiom is a very quality brand.

But there are several manufacturers that make equally detailed speakers with lower decay times (after-image sound). Ascend, Energy are some examples. Paradigm IS neutral although they employ the "midbass-hump" that gives the warm sound a lot of British and Euro speakers are known for.

Some speaker measurements. Unfortunately no spectral decay plots are available to ascertain which speakers are truly "Bright."

http://www.soundstageav.com/speakermeasurements.html
 
Let me put it to you another way: Their GOOD, CHEAP speaker selection has vanished.

They used to buy leftover drivers from remnants/end runs. You could take a chance on something cheap that came from a high-end finished speaker design, using your own enclosure. If you didn't like the results, you didn't loose much money, and you could sell the stuff you didn't like to someone else.

I'd get the sales flyer in the mail and within a few days the few dozen special drivers they'd gotten would be gone.
 
Hmm... I just may go with Klipsch for the bookskelf speakers then (nice efficiency). As for Partsexpress, I was looking at the Titanic Mark3 kit. If its good I will bite the bullet and grab that 15" 8)
 
ROFL... I am going to find a retailer to demo them before I drop the cash.

As for the Titanic mk3 series, I have heard some very good reviews on them.
 
Well to tell you the truth, Klipsch speakers may be efficient (95db range) but there are plenty of high efficiency speakers that are cheaper and and in the high efficiency range (91-93db). Examples: Axiom, Ascend, Energy that are neutral and very good for music.

HT is certainly less demanding for accuracy and Klipsch would make sense in the efficiency standpoint.
 
If you don't mind the style: somewhat bass anaemic, and bright tweeters.
Click to expand...

I dont think this would compare to the refrence speakers, but my Promeida Ultra sats, the tweeter is a bit lacking. I find myself EQ'ing it up a little. As for anaemic, maybe its just flat responce? I dont know, if I would want bringht mids and lackluster tweeter though... I need to do some demoing lol...
 
When you go for efficiency, you give up accuracy (in the highs), and low end extension. This is where Klipsch gets its "nasal" reputation from, anaemic and bright would be the opposite of flat response. Flat response would be NHT Xd.
 
Ok.. So could somthing that is "bright", or somthig that is "anemic" be adjusted with a little EQ?

To be honest, I have never listend to any drivers that where composed of metals. I have listend to paper, carbonfiber, and other soft stuff. So I dont know If I will like the sound of metal. Apposed to tweeters, I have only listend to metal ones and I dont mind the sound. Maybe somthing that is softdome, or silk would be up my alley. I realy need to get out there and listen lol.
 
Metal tends to have more detail than poly based material at the cost of cone ringing. Aluminum for example, is one of the most detailed materials (behind berrylium of course) but resonates at 3-8KHz. This makes the speaker sound "bright" because there is an after image that builds up as the music continues playing (long decay time) in the upper midrange. To get rid of this ringing, you have to crossover the midrange at very low frequencies (like 1.8KHz) and also use notch filters to get rid of the resonance. The problem with using filters is, you lose detail in the upper segments (you are muffling the 3-8KHz range after all). So to get rid of this resonance, you lose the detail as well since you are recessing the upper midrange. Some manufacturers prefer softer poly materials which won't have this resonance (and as such they can save money by not building elaborate crossover networks) or a 3-way design to hide the resonance, but there is less detail (in other words, higher distortion at the same volume level compared to the metal driver). The same concept goes with dome tweeters, you don't have the resonance of metal tweeters (which resonate at around 22-23KHz) at the expense of some detail (higher distortion at the same volume levels).

A little EQ is fine for HT use, since you have no choice given the room interactions, but if you are using it for near-field use its a better idea to get more neutral speakers (or whatever type you prefer) rather than something that NEEDS EQing because at near-field all the nuances are far more apparent and it would be a shame to have to EQ speakers you paid for after expecting a lot out of them (EQing produces quite a bit of distortion as it forces drivers to play beyond their normal characteristics).
 
I have knoticed that a lot of realy "high-end" (expencive) speakers use softdome fluid cooled stuff... Hmmmm....
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A lot of high end speakers use a variety of materials. Berrylium is a metal, is the most expensive, and has the most preferred characteristics (detail of metal tweeters, driver ringing completely out of the audible spectrum), but drivers made out of berrylium cost more than most loudspeakers.

Softdomes (I'm actually switching from a metal tweeter to a softdome) do give up a little HF detail compared to metal, but doesn't have the ringing associated with it (ringing 23KHz, although "inaudible", will still feel like a prickling of your ears that provides discomfort to some). It provides a "smooth" sound that some prefer, while others (usually older folks who've lost some hearing) need metal drivers as this resonance actually provides an "apparent SPL boost" for the hearing impaired.
 
Interesting... I had downloaded a sound generator (forgot the name) to produce a 18khz tone (at max volume of my Ultras). My friends teeth, sitting next to me, almost shattered while I could not hear it at all. Anything over that is out of my hearing range. Maybe I am spared some of the headaches from tones that high lol... Thats probably why I enjoy the metal tweeters I have heard.

I listend to a friends aluminum mids today in his car and they sounded a bit funkey. I think I need somthing nuetral just like you said 😀
 
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