Are your 'puters connected connected to your av kit?

[roaduck]

I MUST have good quality tunes on my computer because I used to flog serious kit London twenty years ago - oh my God!! - tempus fugit.
 
My two pcs are so mediocre, they are not worthy of mention.I`ll build a decent one next year after I've redorated my gaff.
 
Even on my ****test homebrew windoze pc, I've got it connected to two sound systems.The first one is an Acoustic Energy Aego M 3.1 system with a separate Tannoy SFX centre - cast alloy satellites with 90w subwoofer - no boom and no tizz and no forward midrange.
 
Then I have a wireless USB audio sender which is an Onkyo dongle (with optical 5.1) which can go to my other two hi-fi's.At the moment it is an Onkyo CR-505DAB (25 wpc) shoebox micro cd receiver which runs a pair of Mordaunt Short Avant MS-902's and a 10' Mordaunt Short MS-309 200w subwoofer.
 
If I fancy I can just plug the pc into my British £20K Sugden class A system with 3-way dipoles.
 
My tvs are old crt widescreens and I'm not bothered about multi-channel 11.2 class a/b receivers because I hate the phase shifts of cheap integrated DSP's and DAC's.If I was going multi channel, I'd want genuine class a monoblocks for each channel, separate digital preamplifier and separate outboard DAC's which would cost an awfull lot.
 
If I want to watch a film I just plug my usb stick into my Pioneer DV-600AV dvd player.
 
I've got a piccy of part of my system but can't show you the new stuff because I have no proper camera.

[Hak Foo]

Yes, it's connected, but the kit sucks:  a Pioneer VSX-305 reciever bought from another student in college for $16, and a pair of Sanyo SX-630 speakers made in 1980.
I just don't want two sets of speakers-- one for the PC, one for stereo kit -- in a 10x15 space.

[roaduck]

Even your old receiver and speakers sounds ten times better than the lightweight plastic desktop speakers with a little plastic boomy sub I'm sure Hak Foo.

I'm afraid £200 Logitech or Creative 3.1 pc speakers sound awfull to me - too peaky and squarky in the midrange, they give me a headache.

It is possible to have good sound in a small room with old second-hand kit, a lot of the old stuff was better built than todays lightweight stuff.

[Hak Foo]

Well, they do have enough bass to choke a horse, but I tried some cheapo Creative speakers I had handy, and they seemed to have better defined high end.  As I gather it, the big problem with small speakers is no bass, or in the case of a lot of LCD TVs' built-in speakers they resonate the entire set and buzz at certain frequencies.

[roaduck]

From Hak Foo

"Well, they do have enough bass to choke a horse, but I tried some cheapo Creative speakers I had handy, and they seemed to have better defined high end. As I gather it, the big problem with small speakers is no bass, or in the case of a lot of LCD TVs' built-in speakers they resonate the entire set and buzz at certain frequencies."
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I'm not that bothered about quantity of bass ie: low frequency extension but I am concerned about the quality of bass.I like lightening fast "dry" bass with no boom or overhang of the notes at all - the "British" sound as opposed to boomy bass and emphasised treble of SOME American'Japanese kit.

I don't like tone controls ,graphic equalisers or DSP's because they all add distortion.

There's two little speakers on the back of my monitor which sound atrocious - I plugged them in just to see if they worked.Physics dictates that to even get half decent midrange you need an enclosure inside a tv cabinet bigger than a pack of cards.

My old crt, a Toshiba 28" widescreen has two stereo speakers, one centre and one subwoofer built into the cabinet with built-in 65w rms amp - it sounds amazing; can shake the whole house!You can even plug in a pair of extension speakers and a pair of rear surrounds directly into the tv.Modern slims ones sound like a portable in comparison.

I haven't got a new fangled thin LCD/LED/Plasma telly yet because I only watch tv about two hours a week; sometimes not for a month!

[williamjoseph]

i have mine hooked into 2 boston acoustics table top duo radios, one with an ipod doc, one without.  i can make the neighbors piss their beds with these two shoe boxes.

[roaduck]

Haha brilliant williamjoseph.Boston acoustics make some lovely radios.

My mate has just got an acer aspire one dinky 10 inch sub-note-book and you can barely hear it, never mind see it.

So the other day I plugged in a Pure Oasis DAB radio into it which acted as an amp; they're quite good for a totally portable rechargeable unit - 5 watts 4" speaker output.

Years ago, when I was more into shortwave, I had a lowe 150 which sounded great for a unit the size of a car radio.

[itlnstln]

I have my work laptop set up with Windows 7 as an HTPC connected to a Yamaha receiver via SPDIF.  I mainly use it for streaming video from my main rig.  I don't do much else with it, maybe some music, but I have a dedicated media streamer for that purpose.

[roaduck]

I have my work laptop set up with Windows 7 as an HTPC connected to a Yamaha receiver via SPDIF.  I mainly use it for streaming video from my main rig.  I don't do much else with it, maybe some music, but I have a dedicated media streamer for that purpose.

That sounds like a terrific system itlnstln.I didn`t want a network - I`ve got  4 old hard drives in a case - is it called a "JBOD" or something? - with different-sized hdds in it.

I want to build a decent quiet HTPC next year when I'm a bit more flush.

The best thing about my wireless USB sender is it's totally uncompressed, any format and there's no network to configure so you can use it upstairs or downstairs; I've even had it piped to the garden for a barbecue party - brilliant.

[itlnstln]

Nice work, ripster.  What did you finish the enclosures with?  One day, I am going to get around to building some speakers, and I really like that finsh as it's pretty neutral, and it blends into a home theater pretty easily.

[roaduck]

Lovely system Ripster and you're right nearfield studio monitors are the best 'cos they designed to be ultra-critical without being overbearing - Mackies are excellent and very loud.

I have some Acoustic Energy Acoustic AE1 Mk III SE ltd ed 12" high monitors which I got from a trade contact but they need a lot of clean power with lots of amperes so they're connected to a Sugden Masterclass Class A Monoblocks with Preamplifier.

I rarely put 'em on though because they are explosively dynamic and fast and with aural fireworks late at night and they're clean at 112db so it is easy to turn them up and annoy the neighbours - (I've had warning letters from my city council so I have had  to cool it) so I mainly use my Sugden A21a with SD Acoustics OBS 3-way dipoles because they're not so seat of the pants.

I would move but I can't sell this house - ha! ha!

[pfink]

I've got a couple Edirol MA-20D monitors connected to my main desktop computer. They're OK for listening to music while I'm working, they sound better than most of the PC speakers I've tried. Been thinking about replacing them with a pair of Audioengine 5's.

Also have a server sitting in the basement running SqueezeCenter that feeds several Slim Devices (now Logitech) SqueezeBox 3's and Booms scattered around the house.

[wheel83]

I use EVENT TR8 monitors.  they sound lovely.

[InSanCen]

Yep, of course.

My media is encoded in FLAC, or 320KB/s MP3. M-Audio Soundcard (2496, I rarely game). Cable is Custom made using decent screened stuff, and decent connectors (Still less than £20 for 5M, I make my own cables.). The amp, as said in other threads, is a Unison Unico. Speakers are about to change, if I play my cards right I may be able to audition a pair of the legendary B&W Nautilius! Will be a double edged sword though, as there's no way I can (Or would want to) afford them if I like them.

[itlnstln]

Love dem Squeezeboxes. I have three of them around the house and use iPeng on a iPod Touch to control them.

I would love to get ahold of one.  Right now, I have an older Creatve Digital Music Something-or-other.  I like it because the remote has an iPod-like interface, so it's easy to navigate large collections.

[microsoft windows]

For a long time, I had my hunk-of-junk computer hooked up to a big old reveiver that I also use to play 78 RPM records and 8-track cassettes.