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Intro to the HiFi world

post #1 of 9
11/7/12 at 11:41am
Thread Starter 
Thought id get more replies here.

Hello all. long story short...had an okay 5.1 system. sold it a while ago. need a 2.0/2.1 system. ive been reading all day on these forums and other sites so i thought id ask for some recs.


State your budget!
$200 max (prefer like $100-$150 unless necessary) (the future will allow me to upgrade though)

State your music tastes
most music but leaning towards dubstep, rock, punk, and DMB style

State what perks are highly desirable (low impedance, heavy bass, excellent for gaming etc..)
???(a good system that can be upgraded i guess)

State what products you already have and are planning on using with your recommended item
i dont have a soundcard, amp, speakers or sub and i will not be using any headphones

State how you are going to use the item (e.g. out-and-about, at the gym, at home, PC / console, gaming, music etc). The more detail in this, the better.
they will be for home pc. mostly music (85%) and (15%) movies and other.

State where you live and offer some sites that are known for having good prices / being reputable so we can help recommend you products in your country's currency (like Amazon or ebay).
local stores include best buy, microcenter, walmart. online is wherever i like newegg though. i live in the midwest of usa .

so in short, this is just a jumping off point as it were. if i had more money, id love to get higher end things. i figure it wouldnt be bad to start low end, plus i need speakers anyways. if anyone has any rec's that would be easy to upgrade single parts in the future versus a complete overhaul any upgrade, it would be appreciated.
i thought i saw a good recommended list for around $150 earlier but i forget where i found it.

thank you guys for taking the time to read this and hopefully i can get some useful advice.
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White Lantern
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post #2 of 9
11/7/12 at 11:55am
Even $200 is a bit low for getting Hi-Fi gear. Just an entry level AV receiver is going to cost that much and you would still need another 100 for some decent speakers.

A way around this is to get some active studio monitors. Some thing like M-Audio BX5 D2's. Thees have good sound quality (though a bit lacking in low end as are all speakers of this size) considering the price but the down side is that you can't really expand or upgrade thees things like you could if you had a AV receiver with separate speakers.
Edited by Bit_reaper - 11/7/12 at 12:00pm
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post #3 of 9
11/7/12 at 12:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bit_reaper View Post

Even $200 is a bit low for getting Hi-Fi gear. Just an entry level AV receiver is going to cost that much and you would still need another 100 for some decent speakers.
A way around this is to get some active studio monitors. Some thing like M-Audio BX5 D2's. Thees have good sound quality (though a bit lacking in low end as are all speakers of this size) considering the price but the down side is that you can't really expand or upgrade thees things like you could if you had a AV receiver with separate speakers.

I would go for powered studio monitors as well, but he's probably going to want a sound card seeing as he doesn't have anything. That would mean stepping down on the speakers since they would be stretching his budget as it is ($211 is the cheapest I could find those for).
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post #4 of 9
11/7/12 at 10:14pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by intelman View Post

AMP: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=300-380
+
Bookshelf(pair): http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=300-652
+
SUB: http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?partnumber=300-627

And this is a highly recommended setup, considered a beginner level hi-fi setup that's much better then "computer speakers"

And any of these can be switched out if you have the budget for better parts. This is what I have and I'm very happy with it thumb.gif

edit: and this would leave room for a sound card biggrin.gif

and this is a great thread to check out: http://www.overclock.net/t/1014902/ocns-most-recommended-audio-products

stole this from another thread.

would this be an option?
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post #5 of 9
11/10/12 at 5:36am
Looks pretty good. I might have to order that set myself just to research how is it, I have a thing for sensibly priced products. Overall there's a lot of premium in audio products for negligible gains (although that's most true for DACs).

I would personally first get a good pair of speakers, and later improve on the sound card, the proposed set above looks good (although I personally prefer active because of space constraints)

Good luck!
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post #6 of 9
11/10/12 at 6:34am
While the Dayton B652 are cheap for $15 more the Pioneer SP-BS21 will blow them out of the water. I've had both.

Even if you modded the Daytons they still wouldn't compare. It's just the drivers are really cheap.

The SP-BS21 with one of the amps I suggested, plus a SUB-800, SUB-1000, or SUB-1200, would make a great setup.
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post #7 of 9
11/11/12 at 12:14pm
id go for a set of active speakers with a sub pre -out and if lacking pre-out use one of the pre-outs on the soundcard to route bass to an external active sub


just my two pence. yes pence, im english redface.gif
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post #8 of 9
11/11/12 at 12:29pm
If your budget is $200 then I'd go for this set up:

http://www.klipsch.com/promedia-2-1-computer-speakers

I've run the 4.1 version of this system for a while and have been extremely impressed with the quality of the audio. The high range does need to be tweaked up a bit though as the tweeters are a little weak compared to the mid range and sub drivers. Also make sure you put the sub in a corner since it is a side firing sub.
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post #9 of 9
11/12/12 at 3:57am
I would rather go with the Daytona set. I haven't heard the Klipsch set in person, so take this as anecdotal evidence, but 3" woofers are very limited in frequency response and start bottoming out at anything beyond modest volume. The most pleasing sound I've ever gotten out of a speaker set has always come from woofers at least 5" in diameter, otherwise the crossover point will be audibly too high and the channel separation will suffer, let alone the boomy little subwoofer trying to cover a way too wide frequency band.

These are not issues per se and you do get used to them to some degree, but comparing to a proper 2.0 set there is no idea going with a tiny 2.1. Compare to a bigger 2.1 set... it's not even fair to call that a comparison, satellite speakers are only good for very strict budgets and very strict space constraints, unless you fork in some serious money like the Genelec 6010A which start around $500 a pair AFAIK (and they too, need a subwoofer).
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