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I just picked up a pair of vintage bose 901 loudspeakers.. i don't have the bose EQ to go along, or a decent amp, but they are smurfing loud (and filling)  But those aren't part of my computer stereo yet.  I just thought I'd bring up that i got them for $50 at a garage sale. (with a mid-range marantz amp)

My current config is just the bose companion 2.0 series II that i picked up for video editing.  The sound is amazing for music and in bose fashion, it fills the room and is very suprising for the size of the speakers.  but the bass is too loose.  so my next purchase will be some actual monitor speakers.

Avari wrote:

I'm surprised no one uses the The Firewave from Griffin. I use this in conjunction with a $60 SB5 580 5.1 Creative set i picked up at best buy and the sound is just superb.

I've got one waiting for me to use. I plan on outfitting my car with new speakers all around and a subwoofer. The 4 channel amp and subwoofer amp will be fed audio from the firewave. The firewave will be connected to my TiBook. The TiBook will be connected to a lcd touchscreen in the dash.

Car computer = great sound + iTunes + GPS + hands free phone bluetooth and more!

Now if I could just scrape together the cash for the speakers and amps...

What I have been unhappy with about the firewave is the sound setup. I don't want surround sound processing - I want to be able to duplicate the stereo output on both the front and surround outputs, but be able to fade / balance them all. In effect just like how a car stereo works. But this isn't an option - the best you get is fully surround sound interpreted - which means crappyness from the surround outputs when listening to stereo music sources (iTunes)

I'll need to get an iMic anyway for doing handsfree calls, maybe between them I can get it sorted out...

Bose focusses more on enclosure shape and acoustics than on the actual speaker.  Look at a Bose speaker (like the one in the Wave radio).  It is a paper cone.  However, the enclosure that the speaker resides in makes up for the lack of...decent materials. 

As far as the seperate amplifier thing, I can't say much there.  One central amp does make more sense.  However, their speakers have some crazy impedence that most amps would fry if they ran at....if I remember correctly.

icebook1 wrote:

Logitech Z-5500s

Yep, same here. Great THX speakers. Although we'll probably be getting some KRK VXT 8 speakers within the next 6 months when we finish our studio.

pkmgarf wrote:

Look at a Bose speaker (like the one in the Wave radio).  It is a paper cone.

Bose is not known for their speaker development per se. Their speakers are actually pretty plain. As you already mentioned they are more into acoustics. Used to sell them and one day I took a 501 apart. They used a small flashlight bulb as a fuse Having said that our 901's make great rear surround speakers.

smilr wrote:

Each speaker has it's own individual amplifier on the back in many of the Bose car systems

That's because they 'match' the speakers to the cars interior.

and doesn't sound as good as a 6.5" speaker

There are several reasons for this. First, when they design the spkr/enclosure for the doors they do it for a set flat response. The 6.5" speakers that you're replacing them with will not have a flat response, and some actually exaggerate portions of the spectrum. Another reason why you probably 'think' the 6.5" sounds better is because Bose speakers are geared for classical and jazz music, not rock/pop, rap or exaggerated bass music. I seriously doubt that many of your customers are interested in listening to classical music

SamGuy wrote:

i don't have the bose EQ to go along, or a decent amp, but they are smurfing loud

That's because you are hearing mostly midrange. They are designed from the ground up to need the eq. Plus even though they are rated at 8 ohms they usually spec out at 6 ohms, and I'm sure your amp isn't too happy with running them without the eq.

I love headphones.  A good set of them will make all the difference in the world.  My current set are some Vmoda earbuds that I got for free from work.  They are really bass heavy, but changing the iPod EQ around fixes that.  I think retail is $100, so free is good.

reece_james wrote:

I see at least one other person using a TA-10.1 amp, anyone else using them

This amp is a bargain and uses the Tri-Path TA2024 Class T chip. 3 other amps use this chip but the TA-10.1 takes full advantage of it. Use it with higher sensitivity speakers (88-90+ dB) in smaller (under 18') rooms for best results. You'll improve its sound if you use it with an isolator like a Vibrapod. I think they're around 8 bucks so very affordable. Works incredibly well with the UD-10 USB audio converter. If you plan to buy one don't hesitate, as the price is due to go up in a few weeks.

I just use plain ole headphones.

Of course my hearing is rather worse for wear.

Eh? what did you say?

I use a pair of Bose Companion® 2 Series II speakers. They are nice.

MyMac8MyPC wrote:

reece_james wrote:

I see at least one other person using a TA-10.1 amp, anyone else using them

This amp is a bargain and uses the Tri-Path TA2024 Class T chip. 3 other amps use this chip but the TA-10.1 takes full advantage of it. Use it with higher sensitivity speakers (88-90+ dB) in smaller (under 18') rooms for best results.

The speakers I'm using are about as sensitive as a 40 year old steel worker. They're my next upgrade, maybe for Christmas.

As my dorm room is quite small, the sounds is fantastic anywhere in the room. I'm planing on buying isolators at some stage, at the moment there isn't much point with the speakers I'm using.

I've also noticed a large difference as the amp has burnt in, initially it was very tinny, over abut 2 weeks of use it has mellowed out a lot. (I never turn it off and set it to pass through)

I'm getting to the point now that I'm not going to notice much of a difference in the audio quality personally. The speaker upgrade and the re-import of my library is probably the extent for value vs quality. I'm a University student after all.

reece_james wrote:

The speakers I'm using are about as sensitive as a 40 year old steel worker.

That is hilarious.  Now I want to know what exactly you are using....

reece_james wrote:

Oxygen Free Copper Shielded Cable

This is a BS marketing ploy.  You don't need cables claiming to be oxygen free; or any other type of other ludicrous statement.

Shielded cables are good.  In fact, what you should be using for audio cables is Canare Quad Star.  Speaker cables are marketed with even more BS.  The only way you are going to control what frequencies run down which slab of copper is by using a bi-amped or tri-amped system.

-mark

Cardas makes awesome cables.

Monsters are about as far as I think anyone needs to go if you can't tell the difference between a ladybug and an F18 at 100 paces. I upgraded my cables once I realised  I was getting buzz. Though $14 later solved that. No need to spend a lot of $$$ on cables. Most people can't tell the difference anyway. I seriously don't think anyone would tell the difference between mine and a monster set anyway.