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New member Username: Yobigc99Post Number: 1 Registered: Feb-10 | Hi All, Hope someone here can give me some advice. I've just received as a gift from my father-in-law a pair of Mission 753 speakers that he's had for 10 years. I hooked them up (bi-wired) to my Marantz receiver and have an RCA connection to my computer upstairs where I have my iTunes library. I have a Soundblaster Xi-Fi Xtreme Gamer card which has a 24 bit DAC converter. (http://www.soundblaster.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=872&pro duct=15853&nav=1) After testing it out with my music library (encoded in FLAC or 256khz MP3) the sound is ok, but I was hoping that it would be better, esp. since I read that the Mission's are a pretty decent speaker. Mid and upper range wise it's ok, but where I was really hoping for more oommph would be in the low end where it's a bit lacking. What do I need to do? I checked the speakers, it all seems to be working ok. I'm wondering what to do in order to get the most bang for my buck: A) Consider getting a new receiver? Is my Marantz powerful enough to power the Mission's? B) Get a better cable wiring and maybe do a bi-amp? C) Get a new PC downstairs next to my Stereo setup and feed in a digital optical out link to my Marantz D) Get either a DAC or buy a new Receiver that has a better DAC than the Soundblaster card? Thanks - any help would be greatly appreciated. |
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Gold Member Username: JrbayLivonia [Detroit area], Michigan USA Post Number: 1102 Registered: Feb-08 | Greetings, The easiest solution is to buy a subwoofer. Your other ideas would all be helpful (the Marantz should be plenty powerful enough) and could all make subtle changes to improver the sound but if you are expecting to get blown across the room a sub is the way to go! |
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Platinum Member Username: Jan_b_vigneDallas, TX Post Number: 14561 Registered: May-04 | . Have you had the Marantz operating with other sources? If so, is the anemic bass response to be found only with the new computer feed? If so, then the soultion would be to find a more suitable output device for the computer. A fancy@assed DAC with upscaling doesn't guarantee high quality sound, it only guarantees fancy@ssed specs. http://stereophile.com/computeraudio/asus_xonar_essence_ststx_soundcards/ Gamer cards are meant for gamers and not for serious audio IMO. If this is the first time you've had the system in operation, then the problem might easily be solved by better placement of the system and most especially the speakers. Put "loudspeaker set up" in a search engine and do some reading and some experimenting with location of both the speakers and your listening environment paying close attention to where in the room your ears are situated. Rather that just throwing money at a laundry list of possible thing you could spend more money on that won't in any way actually solve the existing problem I tend towards getting the highest possible sound quality out of your present set up. If you have questions regarding system and speaker set up, you can certainly ask questions on this forum or you can head to a respectable high end audio purveyor (read not Best Buy nor its big box dumb as a box of rocks brethren) who should, we would hope, still have the where with all to hire knowledgeable sales staff who should, we would hope, be willing to provide some basic assistance to a, we would very much hope, prospective future client. If you truly find after all the experimentation is complete - and I doubt you can't improve the sound quality substantially with proper placement and set up, then a subwoofer would be a good choice if your tastes run to make my ears bleed and ring for the next week sound quality. Otherwise, 90% of the sound quality available in your room with your present system is in the placement of the system and its proper set up. You didn't even mention what stands you were using with the speakers or whether these are floorstanding speakers - I really don't know and don't have time to go looking - but if you've just set standmount speakers on a shelf or a boxy stand or floorstanding speakers on a carpeted floor, you'll find better sound when the speakers are properly set up. Buying something just to be buying something because that's how you've been told audio works is about 1% of the real game. Placement is free and set up is inexpensive when correctly done. Just throwing money at a problem without thought - priceless! . |
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New member Username: Yobigc99Post Number: 2 Registered: Feb-10 | Thanks for your advice. Failed to mention that as I got the new speakers I also moved house, my new living room has really high ceilings 12ft plus. I'm going to ask some experts or search online to see how to deal with this new environment. I also plugged in an Ipod dock source into my Marantz and it gave a better sound (more wholesome, crispy mids, a bit more definition on the low end) than my cable connecting to my PC upstairs. I think the cable guy must've done a bad job on it or used bad cabling. Are there any budget alternatives to getting a music server or streamers downstairs next to my equipment? I wouldn't mind putting some of my digitized movies on it as well - would it be good enough to do home theatre as well? |
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Silver Member Username: MagfanUSA Post Number: 896 Registered: Oct-07 | To go from computer to stereo, a simple way is to use an Airport Express. This is for audio only. It has digital output as well as being able to plug into the AUX or CD inputs. If you really want an eye-opener, get some FLAC or ALAC files, and junk out the MP3s, even the hi bit-rate ones. A few here have experimented with full-on HT / Music servers but you probably won't like what they have to say $$$. |
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Gold Member Username: ChitownPost Number: 1484 Registered: Apr-05 | Take a look at Squeezebox. It isn't that cheap (about $300), but then again neither is the sound. It can connect and play your FLAC songs off of your PC via your wireless router (if you have one) and the sound is really good. You will also be able to reach all the internet stations and play them as well. |