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Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
#263804 - 09/03/11 06:02 AM
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I want to know if, for less than USD 200, I can find some decent ones. the ones I have now make my favorite singer sound like she's wearing a corset tied way too tight.
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| redk9258 |
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: amused]
#263809 - 09/03/11 06:35 AM
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Look on Craigslist, etc. for some good older speakers. You can find some that used to cost a lot of money and people get rid of them to get surround sound, doesn't match their decor, etc. Even if you have to re-foam them, they will sound better than the crap that is produced nowadays.
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: amused]
#263846 - 09/03/11 05:00 PM
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If you mean for your computer, I use Roland monitor speakers. They are made for mixing music to hear it as it actually is with no enhancements from the speaker and I'm 100% happy with them. Something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-MA15DCW-P...=item564518d99a
But if you're talking about an mp3 then it probably can't be helped.
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: Smitdogg]
#263859 - 09/03/11 10:16 PM
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> If you mean for your computer, I use Roland monitor speakers. They are made for
> mixing music to hear it as it actually is with no enhancements from the speaker and
> I'm 100% happy with them. Something like this:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-MA15DCW-P...=item564518d99a
I mean for a dedicated stereo system. I don't even have a computer in my apartment (the horror!).
>
> But if you're talking about an mp3 then it probably can't be helped.
By "mp3" do you mean a dedicated mp3 player, or anything playing mp3 files (such as a computer)? I mean, is your comment about the mp3 file format, or about the devices that play them?
I do not know how much sound quality, if any, is lost by using the mp3 file format versus the format used for audio CDs.
For what it's worth, I don't give a damn about trends; I just don't want Cascada sounding as though she decided to take up tightlacing.
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: amused]
#263860 - 09/03/11 10:30 PM
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I can't help with speakers for a stereo. I still have huge Klipsch box speakers from the early 80's that sound better to me for listening to CDs than 7.1 miniature bullshit.
mp3s are lossy compressed. It screws up the audio quality to varying degrees depending on the bitrate and encoder that was used and of course speaker quality. mp3s can screw up certain sounds more than others and make them come out tinny and ear-irritant, like vocals or certain classical instruments.
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| Sune |
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Connected
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: amused]
#263861 - 09/03/11 11:17 PM
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> I do not know how much sound quality, if any, is lost by using the mp3 file format
> versus the format used for audio CDs.
Grab your Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Everybody knows this is nowhere" CD (what do you mean "I don't have it") and try encoding the song "Cinnamon Girl" to MP3.
Any bitrate, VBR or constant, joint-stereo or whatever options the encoder has, I guarantee it will sound like shit no matter what.
I've tried and tried but there is just no way I can listen to that song anywhere in MP3 format. 1969 recording technology: best copy protection there is.
S
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| redk9258 |
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Regular
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: Sune]
#263864 - 09/04/11 12:16 AM
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> > I do not know how much sound quality, if any, is lost by using the mp3 file format
> > versus the format used for audio CDs.
>
> Grab your Neil Young and Crazy Horse's "Everybody knows this is nowhere" CD (what do
> you mean "I don't have it") and try encoding the song "Cinnamon Girl" to MP3.
> Any bitrate, VBR or constant, joint-stereo or whatever options the encoder has, I
> guarantee it will sound like shit no matter what.
>
> I've tried and tried but there is just no way I can listen to that song anywhere in
> MP3 format. 1969 recording technology: best copy protection there is.
>
> S
That's because that song sounds like shit played on ANYTHING! LOL. It's funny how Neil Young says that CDs don't sound as good as vinyl, yet it always sounds to me like he is singing off key. To MY EARS a properly mastered CD sounds better than any vinyl. By properly mastered, I mean something released before the loudness wars. Because of the loudness wars, I have basically stopped buying any reissues or new music.
EDIT: BTW, have you ever tried LAME to encode that song? Try the options "--vbr-new -V2" or "--vbr-new -V1".
Edited by redk9258 (09/04/11 12:52 AM)
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: amused]
#263888 - 09/04/11 06:39 AM
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> I mean for a dedicated stereo system. I don't even have a computer in my apartment
> (the horror!).
The reason for the pricing situation is that there are essentially four types of customer for speakers:
* Doesn't really recognise or appreciate quality audio, and will buy cheap crap that looks cool or has a long feature list.
* Appreciates audio quality, and is resigned to paying high prices in order to get it.
* Audiophile who wants to pay more in order to increase penis length.
* Professional who will buy what's best for the job, and price is a secondary consideration.
(I have JBL 4408A studio monitors in my living room - about $1800 for a pair here, but worth it IMO. Don't take that as a recommendation for everything JBL branded, though. Their non-pro stuff is shit.)
> By "mp3" do you mean a dedicated mp3 player, or anything playing mp3 files (such as a
> computer)? I mean, is your comment about the mp3 file format, or about the devices
> that play them?
>
> I do not know how much sound quality, if any, is lost by using the mp3 file format
> versus the format used for audio CDs.
MP3 is a crappy format that favours bass over other frequencies and causes horrible intermodulation and pre-echo effects. There are plenty of superior formats available now - AAC is supported by plenty of devices, and sounds OK for a lossy codec, and then there are lossless schemes like FLAC and MLAC.
But if you want something to sound really awful, convert to MP3, then convert to ATRAC (MiniDisc format). Something about the combination of artefacts from the two codecs makes things unbearable.
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| DMala |
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Sleep is overrated
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: Smitdogg]
#263892 - 09/04/11 07:41 AM
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> If you mean for your computer, I use Roland monitor speakers. They are made for
> mixing music to hear it as it actually is with no enhancements from the speaker and
> I'm 100% happy with them. Something like this:
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/Roland-MA15DCW-P...=item564518d99a
Ha! A Cakewalk user... good man, even if it's only the hardware.
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: redk9258]
#263905 - 09/04/11 02:37 PM
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No there was plenty of shit not mastered for CD well before the compression war.
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: DMala]
#263906 - 09/04/11 02:42 PM
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Those aren't my exact speakers, just the closest thing I could find in 10 seconds on eBay. Are those related to the program then? They made a product line I guess. I don't think Roland always owned it, I guess they bought it how Sony bought out the Sonic Foundry stuff. I used to use Cakewalk years ago. It was the shit for a while.
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| DMala |
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Sleep is overrated
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: Smitdogg]
#263919 - 09/04/11 08:31 PM
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> Those aren't my exact speakers, just the closest thing I could find in 10 seconds on
> eBay. Are those related to the program then? They made a product line I guess. I
> don't think Roland always owned it, I guess they bought it how Sony bought out the
> Sonic Foundry stuff. I used to use Cakewalk years ago. It was the shit for a while.
Roland owns a majority stake, but not the whole company. They started branding a lot of their DAW-related hardware as "Cakewalk by Roland" after the buyout. Most of it is the same hardware just with the new badge, although we've done a couple of from-scratch joint products.
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| Jdurgi |
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Re: Why are speakers so bloody expensive?
[Re: amused]
#264398 - 09/10/11 09:00 AM
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> I want to know if, for less than USD 200, I can find some decent ones. the ones I
> have now make my favorite singer sound like she's wearing a corset tied way too
> tight.
I was very fortunate a few years ago when the colleague of mine whom I let in as a roommate turned out to be a speaker/sound fanatic. He told me everything that a lay-person could hope to know about speaker construction and the best speakers possible. Due to his influence, I wound up spending about $1,500 total on a set of tweeters, woofers, a subwoofer, crossovers, receiver, and cables. Went to www.partsexpress.com and picked up some kits and some individual parts to build myself a 5.1 system. My living room is fairly small (about 10'x8') so that helped me out. Got an Onkyo receiver for an incredibly good price thanks to Amazon's special sales they had at the time, and put together the kits, center speaker, and subwoofer myself. (The kits included the tweeters, woofers, crossovers, cabinets, grills, etc. You just had to solder everything together and put it into the kit. They came in pairs of twos so for the center, I had to run over to Home Depot and get the MDF and other items needed, and just replicate the build of the kits I have. For the subwoofer, my roommate was in the process of building one before he was forced to relocate so I was able to just give him a month's off of rent for what he had completed at the time).
When everything was assembled and hooked up, I used some calibration tools on my computer and I am AMAZED at the sound quality in my speakers. They sound better than the $10,000 systems I've listened to at tech expos in the area. Having a small living room helps as it makes it easier to hear subtleties without needing massively powerful speakers, and the directional audio I hear in Blu-Ray movies and while playing games is nuts.
If you're willing to put in the time to do the research and able to handle various setbacks during construction due to inexperience, I would highly suggest building your own speaker system. The results are so incredibly worth it. (With everything optimized, listening to "The Dark Knight" on Blu-Ray is, to put it mildly, ABSOLUTELY FUCKING INSANE!
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