[Stunaep]

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!! I! WILL! NEVER! USE! SPEAKERS! AGAIN!

I actually can get maximum base out of these babys! And the ITF soundtrack sounds like heavenly choirs!!!

[CP5670]

Great! We have one more headphone convert. That's the same way I felt when I started using headphones instead of conventional speakers...

Only problem is that they are too flimsy.

[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 and I can't hear what my friend says when using the headphones

[diamondgeezer]

Headphones play merry hell with my barnet fair

[Sandwich]

I must agree, however, if you need maximum speakerage (new word!), get the Logitech Z-560. Read up on it if you must, but I can assure you, you will never consider upgrading as long as your room remains smaller than Carnegie Hall.



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! ), and the subwoofer has 188 watts (!!!). To compare, your average Aiwa boom box 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.

[Nico]

guess what? 200$ is way too much for me. way, way too much.

[IceFire]

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.

[Stunaep]

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 and I can't hear what my friend says when using the headphones

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

[beatspete]

...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

[Stryke 9]

[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.

[CP5670]

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.