Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Stunaep on October 09, 2002, 02:08:20 pm

Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: Stunaep on October 09, 2002, 02:08:20 pm: I was talking to my dad about the crappyness of my PC-speakers. My dad being a professional music critic, and violoncello (sp?) professor.

So he lectured me for a half hour of the benefits of headphones instead of speakers, and then went out and bought a pair of Siemens RP-HT450 stereo headphones.

MY GOD!! :eek2: I! WILL! NEVER! USE! SPEAKERS! AGAIN!

I actually can get maximum base out of these babys! And the ITF soundtrack sounds like heavenly choirs!!!
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: CP5670 on October 09, 2002, 03:51:38 pm: Great! We have one more headphone convert. ;7 That's the same way I felt when I started using headphones instead of conventional speakers...

Only problem is that they are too flimsy. :p
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: Gortef on October 09, 2002, 05:11:47 pm: I'd like to use the headphones too... I don't have ones that would be.. how would one say... high in the list of quality though, but theyre good enough. The thing is that 4 point surround coming from 4 speakers sounds quite nice when playing and watching movies :D and I can't hear what my friend says when using the headphones :p
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: diamondgeezer on October 09, 2002, 05:24:51 pm: Headphones play merry hell with my barnet fair
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: Sandwich on October 09, 2002, 05:45:03 pm: I must agree, however, if you need maximum speakerage (new word!), get the Logitech Z-560. Read up on it if you must (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=logitech+z-560+review&btnG=Google+Search), but I can assure you, you will never consider upgrading as long as your room remains smaller than Carnegie Hall.

(http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/reviews/earlyimpressions/images/z560mid.jpg)

That picture is misleading in scale - those aren't tiny Cambridge Soundworks cube-sized speakers - each one is about the size (front) of a standard paperback novel. The subwoofer is 11x11x13 inches - doesn't sound like all that much, but go measure it out - the thing is a big as a 15" monitor!

Each satellite has 53 watts of power, (RMS, not PMPO! :D), and the subwoofer has 188 watts (!!!). To compare, your average Aiwa boom box (http://www.us.aiwa.com/default.asp?page=products&action=viewProduct&prod=358) has 200 watts total. The Z-560 has 400.

The speaker set is THX-certified for the multimedia speakers category (obviously they're not up to movie-theater THX certification levels...), which means that the stated specs have been independantly lab-tested by THX and are true, not just claims.

My brother has a set. They simply reek of quality. I'll leave whatever is left to say up to the reviews.

Well, one last thing. :) $200, less if you shop around. Go get 'em. Now. :D
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: Nico on October 09, 2002, 06:07:23 pm: guess what? 200$ is way too much for me. way, way too much.
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: IceFire on October 09, 2002, 08:07:48 pm: My reasoning is that headphones decrease your directional hearing ability. I'm not sure if there is proof of this or not...but I continue to refuse to use headphones if I can use speakers.
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: Stunaep on October 10, 2002, 11:19:28 am: Quote
Originally posted by Gortef
I'd like to use the headphones too... I don't have ones that would be.. how would one say... high in the list of quality though, but theyre good enough. The thing is that 4 point surround coming from 4 speakers sounds quite nice when playing and watching movies :D and I can't hear what my friend says when using the headphones :p

so, that's a good thing right?

and, yes it is proven that prolonged use of headphones is bad for hearing.

A acquaintance of mine, who used to be the best sound director of estonia had to quit his job after 25 years, because hearing problems
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: beatspete on October 10, 2002, 05:03:47 pm: ...i like my headphones. They are a reasonably good pair of Sony's, giving much better sound than the crappy little speakers on this PC.

...however, my other pc presents a problem. It has a good subwoofer and pair of satalite speakers. But the main problem is, it doesnt have a headphone port - I prefer to use the headphones becuase they dont disturb other people. So i plug them into the headphone port on the soundcard, but it doesnt have a volume controll, so it can only go as loud as the computer origionally puts out - which isnt loud enough.
Urggh :sigh:
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: Stryke 9 on October 10, 2002, 05:08:24 pm: [uses a broken Panasonic of the variety that generally comes free with a walkman, and which is only held together by one of those plastic bag ties that pull tight]

[uses an old woofer half the size of a motorcycle as a place to put mugs]

I think that just about says it all about my interest in sound, and my house. One of these days, I think I'll hook up one of the concert speakers, just to see which of the neighbors I can wake up.
Title: This is why having a musician in the house rawks.
Post by: CP5670 on October 10, 2002, 05:36:42 pm: Quote
A acquaintance of mine, who used to be the best sound director of estonia had to quit his job after 25 years, because hearing problems

I have heard of this issue as well, but I gave little thought to it since a mathematician would not really need 3D positional hearing much anyway. :D