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The Official PC building thread - 4th Edition
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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2. July 2013 @ 16:24 |
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Likewise Dell's 1920 x 1200 panels haven't seemed to get much better than what I have now either. Similar amount and functionality of inputs as the 3007.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388 |
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2. July 2013 @ 16:36 |
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From a audiophile prospective there are no TV speakers worth a shat but you're right Fred having front firing speakers is much better then back or down firing. That Sony I'm sure is a great TV.
Isn't it funny that ten years ago or so Viewsonic was on the top of the monitor list. It just goes to show you that everything changes.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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2. July 2013 @ 18:15 |
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The best TV speakers I've heard are on our 2005 Sharp LC26GA5E - one of the original HDTVs that only has VGA and component, no HDMI. They're 10W RMS each and are located in a very sizeable speaker bar at the bottom - the bass on them is very good and the fidelity is very clear right up to a very high volume level - I'd say 90dB or so. Of course a proper system would be better, but I'd honestly say you'd get no real improvement out of a basic 2.1 speaker set, you'd have to go higher up the scale to do better.
In-built TV speakers have got better since the CRT days, but speakers as good as those still aren't exactly common.
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2. July 2013 @ 23:15 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:
From a audiophile prospective there are no TV speakers worth a shat but you're right Fred having front firing speakers is much better then back or down firing. That Sony I'm sure is a great TV.
Isn't it funny that ten years ago or so Viewsonic was on the top of the monitor list. It just goes to show you that everything changes.
Your right Steve, viewsonic was top dog back than.
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3. July 2013 @ 00:21 |
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Originally posted by sammorris:
The best TV speakers I've heard are on our 2005 Sharp LC26GA5E - one of the original HDTVs that only has VGA and component, no HDMI. They're 10W RMS each and are located in a very sizeable speaker bar at the bottom - the bass on them is very good and the fidelity is very clear right up to a very high volume level - I'd say 90dB or so. Of course a proper system would be better, but I'd honestly say you'd get no real improvement out of a basic 2.1 speaker set, you'd have to go higher up the scale to do better.
In-built TV speakers have got better since the CRT days, but speakers as good as those still aren't exactly common.
Most TV speakers are only 1 - 2 inche drivers which severely limits their frequency response, more so in the lower frequencies. Even a 6 inch speaker has difficulty responding at frequencies below 100-150 Hz and their imaging capability is also hindered. I can get a 2 inch speaker to easily reach 90 DB at 1 KHz and it would sound OK. But now put them up against 10 in to 18 in 3-way speaker systems that have at least decent drivers and there is absolutely no comparison. Of course I'm a true audiophile and I have a decent sound system but not great from a true audiophiles point. I don't have hundreds of thousand of dollars to spend on the gear I'd really like to have so I go mid range which provides bang for the buck. My system is only in the $20K to $30K range.
I do like a good TV speaker though and the one Fred posted might just be my next TV as I don't always like to crank up my sound system every time I watch TV. And I would say Fred was right on with the Sony as it looks like the sound system in that TV would be excellent for what it is, prospectively of course.
Yes Fred, I used to love Viewsonic, past tense of course...
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 3. July 2013 @ 00:23
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. July 2013 @ 04:21 |
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Originally posted by Mr-Movies:
Isn't it funny that ten years ago or so Viewsonic was on the top of the monitor list. It just goes to show you that everything changes.
Difficult to say, I had a Viewsonic CRT in 2004 I was quite impressed with, but that bit the dust a year later and the RMA replacement wasn't the same model, and was nowhere near as good (the pincushion was out of alignment on only one side so you could never get a straight picture, and the '60Hz flicker' effect was more pronounced on it than its predecessor). These monitors that were failing left right and centre were from around 2007-2008, so it's not exactly a recent thing.
As for sound system, I'm quite sensitive to noise, hence making considerable efforts to quieten most of my PCs (which has gone out the window somewhat when I rebuilt my server), but audiophile? Compared to a lot of other people I've spoken to it seems I'm pretty tolerant. A £150 second hand set of Logitech Z-5500s has served me perfectly adequately for the last 7 years - the speakers tend not to come on too often these days as having moved back into my parents' semi-detached house, high noise levels are not appreciated :P
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3. July 2013 @ 13:41 |
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That is the same thing I had happen to me with my last Viewsonic and it to was around 2004 but with a 19 in VA1912wb. The replacement still looks OK monitor wise but the speakers crapped out on it. I still use it even though but the picture quality was never great and then with the problems I've not bought another.
Your Logitech's are pretty good but I have some Altec Lansings that are cheaper and possibly better for PC use, but still again that is NOTHING compared to real audiophile gear. However for today's standards I'm sure you think that is high end.
I can appreciate the sound decibel level issue as I don't get many chances to crank up my system either. As to servers and PC's making too much noise I do have problems with that on this new PC with the H2O cooling, it started out somewhat quite but has gotten worse with time, I'm not impressed with it especially since it doesn't cool the NB and if I push the PC the limiting factor is the NB over heating which was predicted. As to servers, I'd never have my server(s) in a room that I use, I put them in my Utility Closet with all of my Satellite gear & distribution system, phone distribution system, and network gear & distribution system.
Below is less switches, routers, antennas, cabling, and so on...
My Distribution Panel in the Utility Closet laid out in Visio:
My DSL/POTS Phone Distribution Panel in the Garage laid out in Visio:
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. July 2013 @ 15:35 |
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Yeah I realise the Logitechs aren't a patch on professional audio, but given I tend only to produce sound below 80dB without much bass, and work almost exclusively with headphones, the need for anything bigger has never arisen.
Loving the visio diagram, have recently been drawing up network diagrams for work, can certainly appreciate the work that went into that. There's an equally (if not more) complex setup behind my desk with my receiver, all the A/V inputs attached to it, and then the network infrastructure for it all, but it's all a big heap of cables, nothing as tidy as illustrated by that diagram. I could try drawing up something like that, but it's too changeable really, and you lose the enthusiasm for that sort of stuff when you're doing it for your work :)
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3. July 2013 @ 16:17 |
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Ya, I don't have your Logitech's but a friend does and they do sound fantastic for a PC speaker system and you're right a good headset can be used if better quality is needed. My issue though with compressed music and PC's is the sound quality, plus with PC's there is a higher noise threshold to over come then high-end audio gear, but I still use my PC on occasion. I do get 60 Hz noise when I use my PC as a server through my home audio system but I will eliminate that for the most part by elevating the ground and rigging a cheap RC filter to ground to isolate most of the noise.
You're right doing detail drawings can eat up time and things do change but what I do is build modules, Groups or Stencils in Visio / library template drawings in AutoCAD, to try and keep the work down. I haven't drawn out my new SWM-16 with two 8-ways for my satellite configuration for the reasons you state, but I'm working on it right now among other stuff. I'm doing this for two major reasons, 1) I print the layout for my panels so that anyone can work with it easily, 2) The complexity is such that it helps me setup everything efficiently the first time as I've spent my time ironing out all of the issues prior and can install my setups neatly the first time, hopefully. :P Also it helps when I have to go back and change something down the road, of course I then have to re-tweak my drawings but that is easy the second time around.
I've used these templates to help friends and family with there house hold systems and it is much quicker and even more efficient multiple times there after.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 3. July 2013 @ 16:18
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AfterDawn Addict
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3. July 2013 @ 18:37 |
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The good thing about the Z-5500s is the satellites use proper speaker wire so you can hook them up to another amplifier, in this case my receiver - only the sub is self-contained, I've attached that to the receiver's SW OUT using a phono-3.5mm connector into the Centre/Sub channel on the Z-5500's control unit. Means turning the Z-5500 unit on/off is an easy way to enable/disable the subwoofer.
Whereas previously I used a plethora of RCA/3.5mm adapters and splitters and the HDMI 3.5mm passthrough on my 3008WFP, I now hook everything into the Pioneer VSX-922 and switch channels as necessary - simply changing the 3008WFP from DVI to HDMI mode to pick up the output signal. It's not a 4K upscaler, but I didn't anticipate that for the price. If I want 4K content, I'll get it native, thanks very much :)
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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3. July 2013 @ 19:28 |
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I would consider myself somewhat of an audiophile. I highly value good sound in anything I'm doing. The Logitech X-530s are fantastic and great quality for PC gaming, but lack the power to really fill a room. I use two 100W sound reflectors, two 20W Panasonic thrusters, 2 Fisher 80W mids for the rear speakers, all powered quite adequately by a Yamaha R-10 130W stereo receiver. Would be willing to look for a more powerful setup but these fulfill my needs quite well :)
I have some rather large speaker boxes that need new drivers. I could stuff quite a bit into them :)
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 3. July 2013 @ 19:30
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4. July 2013 @ 01:36 |
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Well at least you have a decent amp in that R10 I can't really get behind you on the Thrusters or the Fishers, not that they are horrible but they aren't great from my point of view. I will say though that for today's audiophiles your system is OK and better then probably most of your friends if not all of them I would guess.
If you look at filling the old cabinets with some better drivers check out Parts Express. For Home audio drivers (SPL 84db range) look at Dayton Reference/Designer series, Tang Band, Peerless, HiVi, Dynavox, and Vifa. Morel can be OK but is expensive and tends to be a bit mushy for the money, they are also power eaters. Stay away from Goldwood, Aurum Cantus.
If you want better efficiency drivers (SPL 100+db) then look into the pro lines of drivers, for woofers/subs I tend to like Eminence, Dayton,B&C, BEYMA, JBL, Electra Voice (not made any more), and CIARE 12NDH-4. For compression drivers I like Selenium, B&C, JBL, EAW, and some Celestion. Ribbon transducers are also good for home audio drivers.
I'm building a 3-way system right now, 12in woofer, with a horn mid and horn tweeter in a bass reflex tower enclosure. The woofers are not as efficient as I need so I will be replacing them with a pro driver, you lose low end when you do that so I may add subs to the cabinets with a amplifier in the cabinet for the sub. However I can tune the pro woofers and may be able to get them down to a acceptable frequency.
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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4. July 2013 @ 08:47 |
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The great trick to everything is that nearly every single piece is from a dumpster dive or previously damaged from friends. Like I've mentioned in previous posts, I hate seeing potentially useful equipment thrown away.
At the risk of seeming like the other braindead youth of this generation, I'd like to post a certain song as an example of my philosophy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes
I relate to the singer very well, as I highly enjoy turning others' trash into my new toys :)
The Panasonic Thrusters admittedly aren't great or even good speakers but I am able to use them to add mid-range, power, and especially voice reproduction which they do quite well. They came from a last minute rummage through a deceased relatives home.
The Fishers are from a friend who was moving out of a badly abused apartment, and wanted to throw away as much of their junk as possible. He cleared out and told me I could go scavenge whatever I wanted from the leftovers. They were buried in a brand new box in the back closet.They had barely been used as the wires had been wrenched from the back of them. Had to break the back of the cabinets open and re-solder the connections, but otherwise they work like new and sound quite decent.
The 100W Teac sound reflectors are a real gem. They came from a dumpster directly. The support stands were broken off entirely and they had a popped capacitor so they needed some major structural and minor electrical repair. It was worth it though as they sound damn fine. The current lack of a subwoofer is made up for by the power and clarity these provide. Really nice units.
The Yamaha R-10 was also a dumpster dive. It had a large capacitor blown in the power supply. Otherwise all it needed was some clean-up and functions like a spinning top. Very proud of this find. One of my first truly profitable electronics salvages at the young age of 16 ;) It had belonged to a friend who passed away ad the family was just going to chuck it. I thought it was an excellent way to keep his memory alive. Many good memories listening to anything and everything through this unit. Video games, movies, music. It's all the sound I need.
Most subwoofers have the option of hooking up with this method:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-57579...-stereo-system/
I will be doing this in the not too distant future which will allow me to tune my receiver much differently and hopefully get MUCH better sound than I currently have. Most of my tuning goes into bringing out the low end.
The large cabinets are going to be a distant project. I'm going to clean them up, sand and refinish them, then do some research into getting the best sound possible out of them. I would like to use them to entirely replace the fronts and use the 100W reflectors as rear speakers, which is what they're intended for.
Also remember that proper speaker placement and tuning count for a lot more than equipment quality. I make this cheap setup embarrass much more expensive systems.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 4. July 2013 @ 09:11
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AfterDawn Addict
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4. July 2013 @ 09:28 |
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Originally posted by Estuansis:
Also remember that proper speaker placement and tuning count for a lot more than equipment quality. I make this cheap setup embarrass much more expensive systems.
Indeed, moving back into a much smaller room where there isn't room to space the speakers properly has had a considerable detrimental impact on sound. I'm ashamed to say I'm much the polar opposite. When things break I usually don't have the time/patience to repair them, so they end up getting thrown away. Still, it's usually stuff like motherboards that I wouldn't have the skill to repair anyway. Not with my hands at least.
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ddp
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4. July 2013 @ 12:20 |
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Estuansis, i have no problem with dumpster diving as the 19" samsung monitor i'm using on this xp computer has parts from another samsung retrieved from a electronic recycling bin. this tower case which had an amd 1400+ in it was pulled out of another electronic recycling bin & repopulated with an intel dual core, bigger hard drives & psu. my antec case for my win7 computer up on the 3rd floor came from the same electronic recycling bin as the samsung monitor parts.
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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4. July 2013 @ 12:28 |
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Originally posted by ddp:
Estuansis, i have no problem with dumpster diving as the 19" samsung monitor i'm using on this xp computer has parts from another samsung retrieved from a electronic recycling bin. this tower case which had an amd 1400+ in it was pulled out of another electronic recycling bin & repopulated with an intel dual core, bigger hard drives & psu. my antec case for my win7 computer up on the 3rd floor came from the same electronic recycling bin as the samsung monitor parts.
Sounds like christmas morning to me :)
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ddp
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4. July 2013 @ 12:44 |
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is to me too. a customer was going to drop off 2 computers at my corner store electronic recycling bin so told him to drop them off my house. goog thing he did as got 2 sticks of ddr2 1gigs, 2 motherboards which include a hp board that has a dual core 925 in it that is now in my print server, a dvd burner & psu.
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4. July 2013 @ 14:49 |
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Jeff,
Good job on retrieving audio gear of course the TEAC is going to be your gem of what you have. I use to do that too myself when I was younger and I still hold on to stuff for use like what you are doing. I am trying though to move away from being a pack rat as I just don't have the time, effort, or space to keep everything under the moon, but hey if you can it can pay off.
CAUTION: It's not a good idea to parallel your drivers unless you know what you are doing, you can damage your amp. Although the Yamaha R10 can handle 2 ohm loads that is an old receiver and it will put too much stress on the amp. Paralleling a sub will drop you down in that range as they typically are 4 ohms and I've known some to be 2 ohms. Plus you don't need to do that as your R10 has a PRE out for a sub or you can use Zone 3's terminals to drive a set (of 2 qty) subs.
I had your R10 receiver and actually gave it to a friend in 2004 if I remember correctly when I jumped up to my RX-V2400, the R10 still works great for my friend although I need to clean the volume POTs on it. I may be jumping up to the 3010 shortly here so I'll give him my 2400 which will be a big upgrade for him.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 4. July 2013 @ 14:50
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AfterDawn Addict
15 product reviews
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9. July 2013 @ 01:10 |
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Quote:
GeForce 8/9 series is still good enough for any game out there. My 8800GTS 320MB happily played Lost Planet, HL2: Ep2, UT3, GoW, Mass Effect, CoD4, and others maxed out.
Not only is that spam... I think it's a quote from one of my own posts a couple years back. Not even kidding.
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 4GHz(20 x 200) 1.5v 3000NB 2000HT, Corsair Hydro H110 w/ 4 x 140mm 1500RPM fans Push/Pull, Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5, 8GB(2 x 4GB) G.Skill RipJaws DDR3-1600 @ 1600MHz CL9 1.55v, Gigabyte GTX760 OC 4GB(1170/1700), Corsair 750HX
Detailed PC Specs: http://my.afterdawn.com/estuansis/blog_entry.cfm/11388
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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9. July 2013 @ 01:15 |
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Originally posted by Estuansis:
Quote:
GeForce 8/9 series is still good enough for any game out there. My 8800GTS 320MB happily played Lost Planet, HL2: Ep2, UT3, GoW, Mass Effect, CoD4, and others maxed out.
Not only is that spam... I think it's a quote from one of my own posts a couple years back. Not even kidding.
Ha ha, I've had spammers quote me word for word.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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9. July 2013 @ 04:29 |
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Originally posted by omegaman7:
Originally posted by Estuansis:
Quote:
GeForce 8/9 series is still good enough for any game out there. My 8800GTS 320MB happily played Lost Planet, HL2: Ep2, UT3, GoW, Mass Effect, CoD4, and others maxed out.
Not only is that spam... I think it's a quote from one of my own posts a couple years back. Not even kidding.
Ha ha, I've had spammers quote me word for word.
Pretty sure I have as well. Not sure what was quoted though...
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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9. July 2013 @ 04:31 |
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No doubt he'll update his signature, to reflect his quota!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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9. July 2013 @ 04:32 |
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The one in the other thread is stranger. Still plainly spam, but...
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AfterDawn Addict
7 product reviews
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9. July 2013 @ 04:37 |
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The AMD thread? His english is lacking, but I'm not sure where you'd get that idea.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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9. July 2013 @ 04:47 |
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Well, it's the same guy, and think about it - he wants upgrade "advice" on that build - which is basically a list of the current typical 'top end build' using AMD hardware.
You wouldn't go anywhere from there really - and more to the point, the system is likely to have only very recently been built (if it does in fact exist in the first place). Were it a different username, I'd call them out on why they want it upgrading so soon. Given it's the same username as our spammer here? I think it's best just to ignore it, that's my personal opinion anyway.
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