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Best way to improve audio quality from current (basic) setup?

C

CestusGW

n00b
Joined
Sep 20, 2004
Messages
57
While listening to music on my PC recently, I've (unfortunately) begun to notice that my sound setup isn't too much better than the tinny, awful, distorted sound you get from laptop speakers at max volume. Well maybe I'm exaggerating, but I'm convinced I could get better sound out of my PC. So my current setup is:

M2N32SLI-Deluxe motherboard onboard audio (I'm using the HDA_Intel ALSA driver)
Altec-Lansing AVS-300 speakers (2 satellites, one subwoofer)

Very very simple, very very cheap. And the speakers have seen their fair share of abuse over the years, one of them rattles if you shake it (I'm sure that can't be a good sign)

So what I need in a sound setup is:
Only 2.1. I simply don't have anywhere to stick speakers for a 5.1 or 7.1 setup.
Speakers that aren't terribly large (at most they could take up a bit more room than my current setup)
Speakers that can happily coexist nestled in with a couple CRTs and a pair of PCs (yeah my desk is a touch ... cramped)
I don't need excessive volume. With all the settings in alsa_mixer set to 100%, my speakers never get placed above 25% on the manual volume knob ('fraid I can't specify any better than that).
A sound card with proper, open source drivers (I use a pure 64bit Linux OS, so I can't use proprietary drivers for 32 bit systems)


Does anyone have suggestions for the most cost effective way to improve the quality of my audio? I was kind of surprised not to see an FAQ on these forums to address this kind of question, I'm sure it must get asked a lot. In any case, thanks in advance to anyone who can offer me help or advice.

EDITED: Because I can't spell.
 
If you have a stereo, why dont you do what i do, buy a cable that will attach to the inputs at the back of your stereo and will also plugin to the output on your soundcard.

basically i have my pc running threw the video setting on my stereo, and its magic, really loud and it has a 600 watt subwoofer and tweeters.

alot better than normal pc speakers, and it only costs the price of a minijack and a cable that has RCA red and white audio jacks for the back of your stereo.

the cable will look like this, PC ------------------------------|============== STEREO

the wire wlll come from the back of the pc as a single wire, and it will then split into 2, one red and one white, and they go into the back of your stereo.

EDIT:

sorry, i am looking at my cabling now, and I had to purchase 2 wires, one was the RCA audio cable which is basically a length of wire that has red and white audio connections at both ends, and also I had to purchase another wire which had red and white connections at one end, and a single minijack for soudcards at the other end, so i will do another leet diagram for ya :)

I also had to buy 1 connection thing so that I could connect both wires together, altogether it cost me £5, and for that I have got the best sound ever out of a pc.

PC -------------<============= connection to other cable ================STEREO
 
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I don't have a seperate stereo system, otherwise capitalizing off those speakers would be the most cost-effective way to move up in the audio world immediately :)
 
A couple of suggestions...

Upgrade to a better 2.1 system. Klipsch Promedia 2.1 is a great compact speaker package. I used it for years until changing to an integrated amp + bookshelf speakers setup.

Install a soundcard like the Creative Soundblaster X-Fi series; don't know if it's Linux-compatible, though.

Hope this helps!
 
Thanks for the tips on that front. I just checked, and the Creative X-Fi cards will have "closed-source drivers available in the second half of 2007". *waves world's tiniest appreciation flag for Creative's "support" "attempt"*

So what would make the most noticeable difference - switching out from my current speaker set to some newer and less broken speakers, or moving off my onboard audio to a non-Creative soundcard? (I know that non-Creative means no EAX but ... I won't be heartbroken ;) )
I'm also kind of curious in that browsing through this forum, a lot of people have been saying that by hunting around a pre-amp + amp + "normal" speaker combination will do better than computer-oriented speaker sets, even for the same price. If I were to look into that kind of gear, as more of a general audio setup (some day in the future I will own more than a PC as an output device), would it make sense to be doing it while I'm budget/space concious?
 
I second the Klipsch promedia reccommendation, they make very, very good speakers.

The seperate audio system is a good idea too. I personally run dual 5.1, one set of shitty logitech 5.1 as "local" surround for just me, and then a second system (out the optical) for the whole room. The second set is a Sony home theatre system, I kinda "borrowed" it from my parents so I don't know how much it cost. But I can tell you the difference is noticible, the Sony system sounds much better and can deliver much more volume, while allowing me the option of upgrading the speakers in the future. The aftermarket sub gives it a nice boom effect too, I love feeling it when I shoot (or get shot :D )
 
go look in pawnshops, local papers and garage sales etc for some old vintage stereo equipment. you may be able to find an old amp and a decent set of speakers which will outperform any computer speaker on the market
 
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