Stagea

34 minutes ago, Psittac said:

How long ago did you get into the audio world? (no limitations on definition)

Been into electronics and audio gear since I was a kid in the 80s and 90s. I used to fiddle with whatever we had at home. My dad had HiFi systems and I got hand me down components when I was in high school (aside from the portable stuff that all kids kind of had then). Audio (both home and mobile) has always been one of the things I spent on when I started earning for myself in the early 00s. While I understood electronics (like how amps work, electronic repair and mobile audio installs) before this, it's only around 2007 (27 y.o. then) when I started to really put effort in learning acoustics and human hearing. This is also around the time when I started having measurement equipment and being serious about getting my systems to sound "correct." My spending on audio started to rise at that point and peaked at around 2011; it's taken a slow decline since then. 

On 2/11/2022 at 2:48 AM, lansing said:

Will something like this do?

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/224824697557?hash=item345898a2d5:g:68IAAOSwaQZh43JI

For something this old, I suggest looking for one with Thunderbolt. Intel's thunderbolt chip is what enables HDMI 2.0 on these older machines. Without it, the HDMI out is version 1.4. With intel blocking chroma subsampled output, HDMI 1.4 means 4K30 max (unless you get the right DP to HDMI converter that enables 4K60 w/o HDR). 

@s_kWhile the older Focals can be quite bright, I believe the new ones are closer to neutral. I measure and tune sound systems as I used to distribute audio equipment. Focal's signature sound had been tweaked quite a bit over the years and anything from the past 5 years are much more mellow. If you look at measurements of their newer lines, you will see that they are now very well behaved speakers (while retaining their ability to resolve amazing amounts of detail).

Sure they often don't measure as perfectly as Revel or Magico speakers in the ideal environment, but they are close enough that that it's normally a non-issue in the domestic listening environment. The room acoustics may even favor the slightly-sculpted Focal response (of course depending on the listener).

Here's an example of a recent Focal:

Focal Sopra No.3 loudspeaker Measurements | Stereophile.com

14 hours ago, dizmo said:

 

 

Any suggestions on what gear to use? I like the thought of Atmos, but again it's a small space so I'm not even sure if that'd be worthwhile.

Speakers I've been considering:

• Klipsch The Fives
• Klipsch RP600M
• Focal Chora 806
• Jamo S803

 

That's a good selection from very different price points. I'd probably go with bigger units if you'd be running without a sub (Monitor Audio Bronze 100 perhaps?).

10 hours ago, Răzvan Botea said:

Weirdly enough, I can only find the Cinema 400 and the 800 models here in Romania  

Well the Cinema 800 is a superior model; if the price fits your budget then it may be a great option.

5 hours ago, Răzvan Botea said:

Hello guys,

 

So I'll be buying my dad an lg oled tv this xmas and he said he'll buy a soundbar but I'm really not into soundbars at all and would like some suggestions for purchasing one.

 

The tv I'll be buying is the LG 65C12LA, and for a soundbar I'd want one with a separate subwoofer unit. $500 tops.

 

I'm looking at this one at the moment: LG SN7Y. 

Might be worth a look if you can get them at US CyberMonday prices:

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-VgXrGvnl2xC/p_714CIN600/Klipsch-Cinema-600.html

The Polk MagniFi and JBL Bar series are other alternatives.

17 hours ago, quetch said:

Looking for a new audio system cause im tired on how shitty and priced up pc speakers sound. Would a denon hifi system or something else iv missed be a better option.

If you're willing to equalize in software (PEACE is a pretty good option), passive bookshelf speakers and a compact 2 channel amplifier may work well (or powered monitors). A basic measurement mic with a phone/tablet acting as an RTA can work wonders as a tuning aid.

Are you using drivers supplied by the motherboard manufacturer or by Realtek? 

1 hour ago, Imbadatnames said:

Canon AF especially lower end models doesn’t have the AF of newer and similar prices Fuji and Sony systems. Canon also just haven’t supported EFM very well. Sony and Fuji both have a better lens selection. The Fuji kit lens is also very usable. 

I agree with the lack of EF-M lens support from Canon. They have a few good primes, while the rest are kit-quality zooms. Sigma makes excellent EF-M primes too. This mount lacks bright zoom lenses however (Canon probably didn't want the M bodies to couple with heavy lenses and don't want them to compete with their EF and RF bodies). To get bright zooms, a mount adapter would have to be used.

As for poor AF on Canon bodies, I would say that only applies to their fixed-lens models and entry level DSLRs. Anything from the M200 up have good AF for both single AF and servo modes. Entry level models won't focus as quickly as higher models, but they have among the most reliable AF systems (the M200, M50, M50II and M6 Mk II share the same image processor with the EOS R). 

https://youtu.be/26Xkd57fxr4

2 hours ago, Imbadatnames said:

Autofocus, crop in video and lens selection 

If not shooting 4K, it should have decent AF. All Canon DPAF models have plenty good AF for most use cases. 

On 11/22/2021 at 11:04 PM, rrats said:

Can't find any.

 

Also what's the problem with M50 mark II?

That model's really good for stills and 1080p video. Its 4K functionality is very limited (large crop and no DPAF) but may be useful if you're shooting with a prime and want to switch FOV. There are awesome primes for the EF-M body, but the zoom options are less stellar. You can however adapt EF-S lenses to the EF-M mount, if you're okay with the bulk and noisier motors (most good EF-S lenses have older/noisier drive mechanisms).

The Sony A6100 and the Olympus EM-10 IV are good alternatives. The A6100 with a pair of good lenses (say the Tamron 11-20mm and the 17-70mm) will cover most general shooting scenarios. The EM-10 IV is more of a wild card; AF and resolution won't be as good as the Canon or the Sony but the IBIS will make longer exposures possible without a tripod and will make handheld videos much more watchable.

23 hours ago, Yo Whats Up said:

 

Thanks! all thanks to you guys

 

I found some dyi how to make such a bracket but it needs soldering so meeeh, apparently u can also take an old ethernet chip to make a shielded connection?

 

I found some article https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32961776637.html about how coaxial has a better sound but optical has less interference, maybe i can buy a coaxial male to optical female transformer to test em out. I found these brackets on aliexpress there's the same 2 brackets but sold by like 100 sellers, which one is better?

 

1. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001798726144.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32961776637.html

 

I personally like black one cuz i can easily skip the 5V pin and not burn my motherboard... what u think?

 

I also read some comments about how s/pdif is outdated and to use hdmi, would that be possible considering the speakers have no hdmi port? The option in my mb from the last posts has an option to switch the output, would that work? The post i found in particular says "s/pdif, whether optical or not, is being replaced by hdmi, since it only supports stereo or an encoded 5.1, and pcs without that software that provides DTS Connect or Dolby Digital Live, there's no way to convert Windows 5.1 into the DTS / Dolby Digital bitstream required by the s/pdif connector. And that software licenses from DTS or Dolby, so you'll find that even though the motherboard Realtek chip can do it, it's not enabled. The least motherboard i had it enabled on was a haswell board, all newer boards don't support it" luckily for me my mb is haswell, but i am planning to upgrade when alder lake comes out so will this a problem? Do these speakers use those things? It says DVD or Bluray have a "pre-recorded stream" so it's not a problem for them, as it will go across the s/pdif just fine. Another post i found also says "many higher-end motherboards have an optical s/pdif port as one of the six audio port, some cheaper one have this s/pdif header instead. It was important in the home audio world, but is being replaced by HDMI" from 3 years ago. And another post says "S/PDIF can be on copper connections, usually RCA, or it can be on fiber optic connections", what's that? How do i use rca fiber optic, are my speakers fiber optic? There was also an old post about using the gpu audio out for the speakers and smth about connection with the mb and whatnot but i won't bother with that

 

My dad gave me a 3.5mm cable with 3.5mm on both ends what has "filters" aka big black cylinders on the cable which are supposed to defend from interferention and stuff, so could i use a 3.5mm female to optical female adapter, would that work with no negatives? I plug one end of the 3.5mm male cable to my pc while the other male 3.5mm end would  be plugged in the 3.5mm female adapter, the other side of which will be an optical rca female which the optical rca male cable from the speakers will plug in. Would the two big black cylinders on the cable protect it and make it equivalent/better than the rca-to-rca cable? Also does bluetooth necessarily compress the audio? And if no then how do i make sure it's not compressed?

 

I do not have an extra sub or idk what that is so that won't be a problem. Also I read that these speakers R1700BT are not tri-band but only dual band? Is that bad? I read that each band is for high, mid, low

Optical vs. Coaxial Digital - In most cases the difference is a non-issue, with Optical offering galvanic isolation (no electrical connection). The added complexity of an optical setup (LED emitter and a photodiode receiver) can add some rise and fall time complexities that can result in some jitter, but this is small enough to not cause an issue in the far majority of setups. If you want the cleanest connection, then AES/EBU outperforms all the mentioned setups (though most consumer computers and audio systems do not use this).

SPDIF Backplate - Yeah, the black back plate should work just fine as long as you have the correct pinout for your motherboard.

SPDIF vs. HDMI - HDMI offers an advantage when it comes to multi-channel audio and of course the transmission of video, CEC, etc. As far as 2-channel audio is concerned (which is what we have here), SPDIF can handle 192/24 lossless, which is more resolution than any speaker can resolve. HDMI may even be a disadvantage for a 2-channel setup as the MUX-DEMUX setup to send audio with video introduces more jitter than any SPDIF connection. The Edifier that you got will do 96/24 reliably over Optical, which should be more than enough for your intended setup.

Audio Decoding - Your PC can handle that via software and stream PCM over SPDIF. This should be a non-issue for you unless you really intended to go multi-channel. If you wanted the audio system to do the decoding, you should be spending way more with an AV receiver or pre-processor (these products have the decoders for an HDMI connection).

3.5mm cable - Those cylinders are just ferrite cores to help choke high frequencies. They can reduce high frequency noise (often in the inaudible range), but they will not remove hum and other lower frequency issues. They really don't do much for audio in most cases because of their tuning (if they tune these to affect lower frequency noise, they will also affect signal integrity). You can use an audio isolation transformer that can fix ground loop hums, but you'd need to get a really good one to minimize the impact on sound quality.

2-way vs. 3-way - These are small speakers with small woofers. They will not benefit too much from a 3-way setup. Besides, you were budget constrained. A good 2-way is almost always better than a bad 3-way (at this price point, a cheap 3-way will tend to use inferior drivers, amps and crossovers that will likely provide inferior results). Once you're looking at bigger speakers (8 inch woofer or larger) and a much larger budget, then the dedicated midrange driver of a 3-way design can start to offer an advantage depending on the design.  

1 hour ago, Yo Whats Up said:

, can't i always add a sub-out with a transformator or smth? Like u know if you're lacking a DVI port for display u can use hdmi to dvi or dp to dvi etc. isn't there same for sub-out here?

 

Anyway here are my ports on the mb:

 

 

If you'd be using the 3.5mm cable to the speakers, you can also wire your sub to the 8-channel analogue output. That will let your computer handle bass management.

If you'd be using Optical or Bluetooth, then the subwoofer would not get the signal that's being received by your powered speakers by default. That makes adding a subwoofer more difficult.

33 minutes ago, Yo Whats Up said:

It also says there is "3.5mm to RCA" cable i imagine the 3.5mm is the green hole on the back of my mb that is normally used and rca is the hole on the speaker, so why do i need to connect it to s/pdif inside the mb?

 

 

This is taken from the amazon.com page but since it's the same model it should be the same for the one i ordered (mine is black tho but that's just color it seems)

Congrats on the new pair of speakers. The 3.5mm cable would indeed work for your setup; the Bluetooth connection would work too. Here are the advantages/disadvantages:

1. 3.5mm to RCA cable - Pro: Will work with most devices; Con: Analogue connection is prone to noise from the computer (buzzing, humming, etc.)

2. Bluetooth - Pro: Wireless and not likely to transmit noise; Con: Compressed audio will not provide the highest fidelity

3. Optical/Toslink - Pro: Galvanically isolated (no electrical connection) therefore no noise transmission; Con: Not all computers have an optical output

Your motherboard needs a back plate with a toslink/optical output that connects to that SPDIF header to use an optical connection. That part looks like this:

Given Polish pricing, maybe the Samsung QE55Q60A. Good black levels, screen uniformity and color gamut with excellent motion handling.

1 hour ago, Yo Whats Up said:

But will I benefit from having the Audigy RX over the inbuilt ALC 887?

Skip the sound card and get the R1700BT / R1700BTs instead. You can hook it up via your motherboard's toslink/optical out (if it has one). This model performs so much better than the R1280T.

The BTs model includes a sub-out and an internal bass management crossover, in case you're adding a powered subwoofer.

Might be better sources for speaker drivers:

Parts Express: Speakers, Amplifiers, Audio Parts and Solutions (parts-express.com)

Madisound Speaker Components (madisoundspeakerstore.com)

Some modeling can help if you know your speaker enclosure volume and tuning. Custom passive networks may also be necessary to suit your driver choices.

12 hours ago, rrats said:

Playback

Consider belt-drive options too. They're more delicate than direct-drive models in general, but you do tend to get better quality audio for the same outlay. The belt drive isolates the platter from the motor's vibration, plus belt drive motors tend to be cheaper (more of the money gets spent on the cartridge, tonearm, plinth, preamp, etc.). Here's an example of a belt-drive model from Audio Technica:

AT-LPW50PB - Fully Manual Belt-Drive Turntable | Audio-Technica

Rega and Pro-ject offer a lot of belt drive options too (with significantly more brand panache), though they do tend to cost more than AT for the same feature set.

Direct drive turntables tend to be very durable and tend to have very strong motors. That makes them the top option for professional use and DJing. Here's AT's current Direct Drive offering.

AT-LP120XBT-USB Direct Drive Turntable (audio-technica.com)

4 hours ago, rrats said:

Hifi. Lowest possible, even if that means 550+ €

 

I used to own an old turntable but it broke down

Would you be using it for playback or for DJing?

A new Technics SL-1210 will run you almost twice that amount. Consider Audio Technica's much cheaper "equivalent" models, if you're looking for a budget direct drive turntable. The AT-LP120XUSB is the latest release for that series, afaik. You can always upgrade the cartridge and preamp later on. 

If you're not DJing, there are a lot of good belt drive machines within your price range.

On 11/13/2021 at 11:11 AM, TomPot said:

It is extremely cheap, the Neewer NW-7000 usb. And would this problem be solved by a noise gate plugin?(previously recommended)

If you don't plan on recording the fainter sounds, then the plug-in will mask the problem.

It should be a relatively faint buzz (the software will block audio below a certain level that you'd set in the gate). If it's a loud buzzing, then you might have gotten a defective mic.

1 hour ago, TomPot said:

Okay, I’ll look into that plug-in. But yeah, the buzzing is a very noticeable problem. Thanks for replying!

What mic is it? Almost all condenser mics have some level of self noise (Johnson noise - some form of continuous hissing/humming and Poisson noise - pulsing/popping/ticking noise). Good ones will have much less of it (cheaper ones would need more noise reduction done either in real-time or in production).

It can also be noise introduced by USB power or RFI. If moving the mic to another computer / location fixes it, then this can be the culprit.

1 hour ago, tikker said:

Now I'm curious why one would need two theatres Are they at separate places?

 

Yes, the main home theater is at my house. The secondary one is in my condo.  

3 hours ago, CptnReflex said:

Focal Shape 65 I got for $380 after replacing the left woofer from letgo

 

The Subwoofer is a Mirage Omni S12 I got from a thrift store for $45 and did mild repairs on

Those Focals are amazing monitors. Congrats!

As for the Omni S12, try testing it with one port plugged (you can do a temporary plug with a balled sock or something similar). They play better that way in some cases (it can give you better extension and less boominess). 

@King_PIN

Amazing build! There truly is no replacement for displacement. Those pro drivers can be used to fill a commercial theater. 

Main Home Theater

Sony KD-85X9000H LCD TV

Dell Optiplex 7090 Micro HTPC

Cambridge Audio 752BD Bluray/SACD/DVD-A Player

Cambridge Audio Azur 751R AV Receiver

Wharfedale Diamond 9.6 Floor Standing Speakers (main)

Wharfedale Diamond 9.cm Horizontal Speaker (center)

Wharfedale Diamond 9.3 Bookshelf Speakers (surround and surround back)

2 x Klipsch R-115SW Subwoofers

Likes: Warm non-fatiguing sound; 6-channel SACDs and DVD-As play well

Hate: TV internally processes streams at 1080p then scales to 4K

Main Audio

Old desktop PC (High Res download and playback machine)

Audiophilleo 1 SPDIF Interface w/ Purepower PSU

Cambridge Audio Azur 851C DAC / CD Player

Cambridge Audio Azur 851E Preamp

Audiocontrol 6XS Crossover (using a 12V linear PSU for bass management)

Cambridge Audio Azur 851W Power Amp (powering mids and tweets)

Adcom GFA-575se Power Amp (powering woofers)

2 x Mirage Omni S12 Subwoofers (stereo sub setup; 1 port plugged each)

Bowers & Wilkins CM9 Floor Standing Speakers

Like: Fast and dynamic sound; quite revealing

Hate: Not the flattest-sounding set for the price (B&W voicing)

Office Audio

Pro-Ject Debut Carbon USB Turntable

ROG GL702ZC Laptop as Digital Source

Musiland Monitor 01 USD SPDIF Interface

Yamaha WXC-50 Streamer / Preamp / DAC

Tannoy Gold 8 Active Monitors

Like: Neutral-sounding, especially when playing digital (EQed flat with the help of my RTA)

Hate: Turntable output is just okay (nowhere near as revealing as high-end models)

Secondary Home Theater

Sharp LC-70LE660 LCD TV

ITX desktop HTPC w/ BD Drive (digital source)

Yamaha RX-V567 AV Receiver

Polk Audio T50, T30 & T15 Speakers (5.1 setup)

Klipsch SW-450 Subwoofer

Likes: Great bang/buck (surprisingly pleasant-sounding after manual EQ); very low power consumption

Hate: TV Colors had to be calibrated from the HTPC

1 hour ago, Kirky2k15 said:

Thanks for checking, yeah that's the really strange thing, I can't set it to duplicate, it only works when I set it to extend, are you setting your settings via windows or via the nvidia control panel

 

Note I'm connected straight from laptop's hdmi port to port 3 on my tv - note all 4 hdmi ports on the b9 are rated hdmi 2.1 so should support 4k 120hz with hdr

 

One thing I do need to try is to unplug every other HDMI device that's plugged into my TV to see if that does anything.

 

I've got Virgin TV and an Android TV box connected so will unplug those and try again.

What laptop are you running? If it has AMD or Intel graphics together with your dedicated GPU, then there is a big chance that it's using the integrated GPU for the output. That's how the majority of laptops work, as this allows the system to switch between integrated and dedicated graphics.

On 11/2/2021 at 12:13 AM, Fanous said:

Absolute noob here. Be patient, please. 

 

I've got my eyes set on a new TV, from LG, model C1 OLED. I know we can stream plenty of content, but we like to do movie nights. Watching DVDs. Currently, we use Xbox 360 (yes the old console with kinect) to play DVDs. Moving to 4K, I assume that's not gonna cut it anymore. 

 

So the question is simple, what else to buy next to the TV to make the most of it? 

 

I suspect a soundbar, and a 4k dvd player. I'd appreciate your wisdom recommending me specific models, and why those are the good choice, please. 

 

Your help is appreciated... 

Cheers 

The LG C1 has decent decoding support for standard formats. AV1 streaming is a good bonus, as this seems to be the preferred format of Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc.

Re: Soundbars - There are good surround soundbars like the Polk ManiFi Max SR that run wireless surrounds, in case you prefer a svelte profile. They work much better than those that bounce the sound around.

Re: LG UBK90 - It's a good BluRay player. If you don't plan to lean on physical media too much, there are great renewed deals in Amazon (the LG UBKM9 is currently going for $95 - just return it if you get a dud).