Your Speaker setup

[TheDude]

Hey all,

I know some of you are into music. I know some of your are more into music and are into having realistic sounding speaker setups.

Post your speaker setups here. This thread can also be about how to set up speakers correctly.

I have a couple of setups. I'm really busy right now (like right now) and I will get back to this thread in a matter of hours.

My current setup is a pair of DefTech Computer speakers http://www.definitivetech.com/products/incline
and a pretty old polk subwoofer. It's a test model. It's not labelled. It is an old 10" single simple ported model. It bottoms out well above 30 hz. It really adds some definition to these DefTech speakers, though.

I'll post pics soon. Pics are important because speaker placement is mega important.





Post what set up you have. If possible, post the placement. If you have a set up made by sony, yamaha, or bose or something, you don't need to freak out over it. It's fine. Yamaha did produce NS-10's though, and if you have them, I'd love to see how you have them set up.

 

[DamageINC]

Mine is pretty shitty, but i can't afford high end stuff. Plus, i can't really boom here because the walls are thin. I can hear the neighbors baby cry through them. These work ok. The speakers themselves suck i think, but the SUB puts out a TON of bass. I usually keep it around 4 or something. Would probably use more if i could, but metal doesn't really need it anyways.

I also have a shitty JVC 3 disc shelf system. It's a POS and sounds like crap. I only use it for 'surround' sound when watching tv.

 

[TheDude]

Good metal needs a good bass system, whether it is a good set of tower full range or some bookshelves with a sub. Good metal has a good kick drum mixed.

For movies, you're more looking for a good mid-high range sound with a good boomy sub woofer or pair of subs.

It can be hard with thin walls, I know. What you can do, damage, is set up your system in the right way. Your system shouldn't put out too much bass.

The best thing for small speakers from a surround sound package is to put them all against the wall. You need to listen to them each separately, which you should be able to do with your built-in audio system. If they are like 4" drivers, keep them right up against the wall. Try to make their vertical height about at ear level. If they have tweeters, try to make the tweeter at er level. If not, try to make the speaker's vertical height sound the best at whatever height is the most nromal to you. It makes a big difference.

Subwoofer heights usually don't matter. It has to do with where the sub is crossed over. Try not to place it in the corner or right against a wall. Don't place it in the center of the room. The best normal distance is about 6=8 feet from the corner, but against the wall. Not in the middle of the floor.

Dude, if you're listening to metal, and I know it's the best mixed metal you listen to, so the recording quality matters..... just mess around with the system til it sounds as natural as possible.


@DamageINC do you have a receiver?


P.s This is in response to the picture. The hole in the front of that sub is the port. The circular grates are where the real drivers are. You want those to have space. The port can be faced into a corner or the wall, with at least 2 inches of space.

 

[WaLLy]

I have the Bose Companion 5.

Been running it for over 6-7 years now. Only complaint is that if I turn it all the way up, the bass drops and it has too many highs. But if it's around say 80%, it sounds awesome for my rap/hip-hop music. Also, after about an hour of having it at 80%, the bass drops. Probably the amp (if it has one) in the sub gets too hot, or it might be because it's a refurbished. Who knows. Other than that, it's great. I'm no audiophile but these speakers and the surround sound I have in AZ sound real good to me. When I move to AZ I plan on doing my mancave with a really good surround sound.

 

[Rival]

I use these for music etc. , had them for quite a while now.

The SUB actually moves itself due to the bass. I think it weighs about 2kg and the speakers themselves are surprisingly heavy for their size.

 

[SteelHorse]

All I got

 

[TheDude]

@ WaLLy, it would be weird if the amp system was out. You should test it with different tracks that have different bass drops. It is easy to do this with pop music bass music because they don't have much above the bass. Try different tracks with different keys. If you have trouble with this, PM me, and I will give you a couple of subwoofer setup tracks I use. Does you Subwoofer have a corssover stting? Does it have a volume setttins? Also, for speakers like that, it is always best to have them against the wall. It will make a BIG difference.

@Rival Your sub looks like it would move. It probably can't handle the bass and is a 6-8 inch sub, mweaning it has to move a lot more to get the low frequencies. If it is not ported, it probably moves more. If it is moving when playing, it is producing distorted bass. Think of a guitar that moves instead of the string vibrating.

The best thing to do is to stick it on a rug and see what it does. If it still moves, you need to adjust your settings. A sub that small probably can't push out the clean low bass you really want. The little comp speakers you have can probably hit the mids and highs pretty well, but they look like they are single drivers.

To judge though, I would need a lot more. Speakers like yours can do really well when they have their own dedicated amps and circuitry. Do they have their own crossover? Is it a sold as one system?




also @WaLLy , the bose systems bass will always give out at higher volumes. It's just a bose thing. They use really small drivers with weird porting to get the lower bass. It just can't push out the deep stuff at loud volumes. Bose is designed for smaller room, smaller volume stuff. It's designed by expert MIT engineers for people who don't need the room rattling shit.

 

[Rival]

@Rival Your sub looks like it would move. It probably can't handle the bass and is a 6-8 inch sub, mweaning it has to move a lot more to get the low frequencies. If it is not ported, it probably moves more. If it is moving when playing, it is producing distorted bass. Think of a guitar that moves instead of the string vibrating.

Yeah that's probably why.

 

[TheDude]

@Damage, more and more, you don't need super high end shit for great sound. The best thing to start with is good 2.1 setup. You can get a great 2.1 setup for under 1000 bux total now. And the rear speakers will be about 400 total.[DOUBLEPOST=1393831705][/DOUBLEPOST]

Yeah that's probably why.

Is it on a carpet??? Also, the sub will get more low end depending on where you place it. It depends on the way the sound waves bounce off the surface below and behind it.

BTW the fact that your sub has moved around at loud levels without blowing out is a good thing. Most subs would blow out or start hurting themselves before that.

 

[Rival]

It's not on a carpet. It's on the floor under my desk, quite close to the corner of the wall.

 

[TheDude]

Okay, is it hard wood floor? This is less of an issue for a sub and more of an issue for the ear level speakers. The sub really just needs to be placed based on the room mode. Because your sub is small, we want to boost the ultra low-end much more. (as much as we can)

 

[Titoezz]

I got these

Hooked up to this

Very oldschool speakers but on a brand like B&W you can never go wrong..

 

[Dunial]

That's my setup... I bought it 2 years ago for 90 € but i really need a better one. It's not bad but i want better quality

 

[Storky]

Creative Gigaworks t3

the quality is so crisp and the bass is spot on

the subwoofer is SO heavy so i guess this is good so it wont move? i always stub my fucking toe on it

 

[JohnRyAn]

I got these and I'm quite happy with them
Logitech Z623 2.1

 

[Rival]

Okay, is it hard wood floor? This is less of an issue for a sub and more of an issue for the ear level speakers. The sub really just needs to be placed based on the room mode. Because your sub is small, we want to boost the ultra low-end much more. (as much as we can)

Yeah, it's hard wood.

 

[TheDude]

Some of B&Ws more recent stuff has left me feeling taken advantage of
Especially their headphones.

Cool shit guise. Muh room is messy so I no take picture yes [DOUBLEPOST=1393885141][/DOUBLEPOST]actually @DamageINC I've heard that system at a couple different people's houses, and it does put out a shit ton of bass.


Best thing to do to set up a sub without an SPL meter is to stick the sub where you will be sitting to listen and play and watch, and then move around your room til you find the spot where the bass sounds the best, and the most even. Then put the sub there.

 

[DamageINC]

Too much effort. It sits near my feet on my desk. It sounds pretty good. Like i said, i can't blast stuff here.

 

[WaLLy]

@ WaLLy, it would be weird if the amp system was out. You should test it with different tracks that have different bass drops. It is easy to do this with pop music bass music because they don't have much above the bass. Try different tracks with different keys. If you have trouble with this, PM me, and I will give you a couple of subwoofer setup tracks I use. Does you Subwoofer have a corssover stting? Does it have a volume setttins? Also, for speakers like that, it is always best to have them against the wall. It will make a BIG difference.

also @WaLLy , the bose systems bass will always give out at higher volumes. It's just a bose thing. They use really small drivers with weird porting to get the lower bass. It just can't push out the deep stuff at loud volumes. Bose is designed for smaller room, smaller volume stuff. It's designed by expert MIT engineers for people who don't need the room rattling shit.

I think the amp inside just gets too hot and goes into a safe mode. Once I lower the volume or turn it off for a while, the bass returns. An annoying thing but I've learned to just live with it. Although, the headphones have helped. I've tried different tracks, and all of them sound great up until the amp gets too hot and doesn't give out the bass until it cools down again. And the sub only has 1 knob to crank up the bass, which of course it's set to max lol. I may have to set the bass parallel to to the wall to get a little more bass feel cuz it's currently perpendicular because of limited space in the room. I'll see what I can come up with the next time I clean the PC area. I'll try to do it this week so I can snap a picture of my desk setup.

My refurbished Bose 5.1 surround sound doesn't give out. Then again, I rarely played music on it as much as I do with the Bose PC speakers. That surround sound sounds really good to my ears though. I'm not an audiophile and just rely on what the stores have to listen and test out. Know of a store like Bose that has their own store to play/listen/test their stuff? I hear a lot of people bash Bose online, and I'm sure it's mostly due to them being overpriced (like Apple), but apart from Sony (which aren't that many stores here), there aren't other places I can turn to, to really listen to many of their products before buying. Yes, I can go to Best Buy or Fry's but they don't really have setups for all the manufacturers. I like to try before I buy. And if it sounds real good to me right there, then I make the purchase. If you know of actual stores that are like Bose, let me know. The more options for me, the better.

 

[TheDude]

Bose systems sound pretty good without a whole lot of setup involved. It's what they are good at.

Best buy kinda sucks for listening to stuff. They do a really bad job of representing the companies they sell, except for a select few, and even then they are misrepresented as much better quality than they are, usually.

Best buy is loud, you have to use their demo stuff, they almost always run their headphones through amp circuits. Stuff like that. Very Sub-par.


People bash bose because it's cool as an audiophile to bash bose. There are definitely reasons why some bose products are crap or much worse than the competition. But then also in some cases bose does verrrryyyy well. Much better than companies, like for instance the aforementioned bowers and wilkens. But only in some cases. Bose kicks ass in the portables market right now, for instance. Some of them suck, some are the best in their league.


Really depends on the product. I mean Bose recruits straight from MIT. They do have good engineers.