Sonic Impact T-Amp Gen 2

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sed8em

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Apr 2, 2007
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Just purchased a Sonic Impact T-Amp 2 off buy.com for $41.99 + free ship, and thought I would share some pics of what you get. This seems like a popular amp for people with limited space/budget (much like myself in a tiny college desk).
My Polk bookshelf speakers are at my parents house, which I will have this Friday, so I can't comment on the amp's quality, as I haven't plugged it in to some nice speakers yet, but I don't really need to cover the quality, as it is extensively covered on review sites on Google.

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Everything that comes in the box:
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If you're purchasing this to use with a standard PC audio card, you will need to purchase a 3.5mm cable, kinda like this one:
http://www.zipelectronics.com/cable-zone-9/av-cables-10/steren-3-5mm-stereo-audio-cable-1533.html

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Turned off:
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The ability to push the button in and turn off the unit, and hence the blue glow, is nice if your PC is in your bedroom or dorm room and is near your bed.

Turned on:
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And finally stacked on top of my PC so you can see a decent comparison of its size
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Thanks for the pics! I really do want one of these...but haven't found a way to get one really cheap in Canada yet.
 
Don't forget it has a headphone amp :D It might not be the best in the world, but it makes this an even better buy.
 
CountChoculaBot said:
Don't forget it has a headphone amp :D It might not be the best in the world, but it makes this an even better buy.
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Yep, you can see the headphone in port on my second picture, kinda fuzzy d/t the wrap still being on it, but its there ;)
 
How's the sound? I was going to go this route, but I bought a receiver instead. I'm curious about how the T-amp affects the sound performance?
 
Aaron909 said:
How does this amp compare to something like a Dayton 10' sub? Thanks
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Not the slightest clue in the world as I only have the amp, no sub to compare.
I will test the sound at the end of the week when I get to my speakers at my parents house.
 
Aaron909 said:
How does this amp compare to something like a Dayton 10' sub? Thanks
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Apples and oranges

The T-amp is for bookshelf speakers, whereas the Dayton is a self-powered subwoofer. If you want true bass then a T-amp and speakers really aren't going to provide much, you'd still need a subwoofer.
 
I also ordered the T-amp from buy.com before they sold out. Took them forever to ship but I'll finally receive it on Tuesday. Thanks for the pics, it looks great. Hopefully, it'll sound even better.
 
aznpxdd, looks awesome! Are those the Insignia's I see? How is the sound with the T-Amp + Insignia's? I'm not worried about bass because I have a separate subwoofer.
 
how do you set up a sub with the T Amp? do you split the input?

I'm curious how these with a nice set of ~$200 bookshelfs would compare with a "real" amplifier.
 
T Amp -> Sub -> Speakers

And Phimp, they sound great for the price, I'm very satisfied with both purchases.
 
Could you get the dimensions of one of the Insignia speakers for me? (Width, Height, Depth)
I hear they are a lot larger than they look...
The main reason I've held off on purchasing them though, is that they were $81 yesterday, $88 today... but they've gone on sale for $50 and below... hard to justify spending almost $100 on something that could end up on sale tomorrow for $35... :rolleyes:
 
Phimp said:
The main reason I've held off on purchasing them though, is that they were $81 yesterday, $88 today... but they've gone on sale for $50 and below... hard to justify spending almost $100 on something that could end up on sale tomorrow for $35... :rolleyes:
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When they were regularly priced at $50 they had gone on sale for as low as $35-$40 but those days are gone now. I forget but i think they now drop as low as $59, maybe $50 but that's probably rare. You can always use this 10% coupon to knock a few dollars off the price, that coupon's valid till april 30th btw.

At moderate volumes the older T-amp and insignia's sounded pretty clear, you can almost make out 3D positioning with them. Bass also seems clear, not thumpy/distortion fake bass, but otherwise i'll let these graphs and your own ears be the judge.
 
SJetski71, thanks for the coupon!
sprtnbsblplya, thanks for the tip!

I have a $25 gift card for Best Buy that I've been wanting to use for a while, so with the use of that, I can get the Insignias at best buy today for $60... or wait for Buy.com to get them in stock :rolleyes:

I'm still worried about their size, I won't have much desk space after tomorrow when I get a 2nd LCD...
Doesn't help that I have a triangle corner desk, so I'd be pretty close to the speakers placed left and right on the desk.
 
Could you buy some cheap speaker stands and just place them on those and put 'em right by the edges of your desk?
 
sprtnbsblplya said:
Could you buy some cheap speaker stands and just place them on those and put 'em right by the edges of your desk?
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They have to be bookshelf speaker stands, not satellite speaker stands. I have the Insignias as well, running through the Klipsch Sub and control pod until the T-amp arrives. They dwarf the Promedia satellites.

Here's some pics.
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Well, I was thinking about some speaker stands, but I dunno, with the way the desk is structured, I would be sitting directly between the two speakers, and only about 2 feet away from each... not sure if that's optimum lol
crappy pic taken with cell
I'm looking into getting a new desk though, so meh!

batmanwcm, those pics help put things into perspective, thanks.
I'll have a similar setup until I get either the T-Amp or the Insignia NS-R2000. They'll be connected to an Acoustic Authority 180watt 2.1 setup with a separate powered subwoofer being used instead of the one built into the box.
How do they sound using your Klipsch sub box?
 
They sound great running through the Klipsch Sub. Much better than the original satellites. I was blown away by the difference between PC satellites and budget bookshelf speakers. It actually pairs up pretty well with the Klipsch sub. I have a old cheap crappy Sherwood sub that I'm going to use once the T-amp gets here.
 
Phimp said:
I have a $25 gift card for Best Buy that I've been wanting to use for a while, so with the use of that, I can get the Insignias at best buy today for $60... or wait for Buy.com to get them in stock :rolleyes:.
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Not sure if you had misconstrued what the OP said but in post#18 he was referring to the T-amp at buy.com, the insignia's can only be found at Bestbuy.
 
SJetski71 said:
Not sure if you had misconstrued what the OP said but in post#18 he was referring to the T-amp at buy.com, the insignia's can only be found at Bestbuy.
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Ahh I see, well I knew that the Insignia's are in stock at Buy.com occasionally (link to product page), so I figured that's what you were talking about. My bad :rolleyes:
 
batmanwcm said:
I was blown away by the difference between PC satellites and budget bookshelf speakers.
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Off topic a little but this is why Bose sucks, those tiny little speakers they have do not sound good compared to a real speaker. Speakers move air to create sound, little speakers the size of my cell phone do not = big sound no matter how much wattage you push through them.
 
thebeephaha said:
Off topic a little but this is why Bose sucks, those tiny little speakers they have do not sound good compared to a real speaker. Speakers move air to create sound, little speakers the size of my cell phone do not = big sound no matter how much wattage you push through them.
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that is why I tell everyone to get real stereo speakers instead of claiming that their Klipsch/Logitech surround setups are not UBER!!

The Insignias are great for their price range. I would rather buy something nice and old off of Audiogon though. I get crazy good equipment there for around $100 per part.
 
Just received the T-amp today, a day earlier than expected. Just to correct OP's post, you don't need to buy a 3.5mm cable to use with your sound card or on-board audio. Just connect the included 3.5mm->RCA cable to the RCA->3.5mm connector and you're good to go.

As to the sound quality, I'm simply amazed at how great it sounds. For $42, I simply can't find any fault with it.
 
batmanwcm said:
Just received the T-amp today, a day earlier than expected. Just to correct OP's post, you don't need to buy a 3.5mm cable to use with your sound card or on-board audio. Just connect the included 3.5mm->RCA cable to the RCA->3.5mm connector and you're good to go.

As to the sound quality, I'm simply amazed at how great it sounds. For $42, I simply can't find any fault with it.
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Ahh, I guess it prolly woulda helped for me to actually open that baggie. I ordered a 3.5mm cable as it was like $0.99, oh well, cheap mistake.
 
batmanwcm said:
They have to be bookshelf speaker stands, not satellite speaker stands. I have the Insignias as well, running through the Klipsch Sub and control pod until the T-amp arrives. They dwarf the Promedia satellites.
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Very nice, clean, and compact looking setup. The T-Amp + Insignia combination looks extremely compelling.

One question, I went to Best Buy's site and read the reviews for those speakers, and one of them said that the magnets were unshielded. Looking at your pics, the speakers are right next to your monitor and I'm not seeing any distortion. Are the speakers actually shielded after all, or are LCDs unaffected by that? (I'm using a CRT right now and am concerned as to whether this will be a problem)
 
King of Heroes said:
One question, I went to Best Buy's site and read the reviews for those speakers, and one of them said that the magnets were unshielded. Looking at your pics, the speakers are right next to your monitor and I'm not seeing any distortion. Are the speakers actually shielded after all, or are LCDs unaffected by that? (I'm using a CRT right now and am concerned as to whether this will be a problem)
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King of Heroes, the drivers are unshielded. Back in the day when i still owned the insignia's i had to keep them at least 9 inches away from my CRT. But depending on which way i tilted the speaker there were times i had to move them at least a foot away. The distortion is very noticeable so you won't be second guessing.
 
oh snaps! These things are beasts! I went to my local Best Buy and picked up the Insignia's for $60. They are a helluva lot larger than I thought!

I'll figure out placement later, but for now, I have them powered by a 180watt 2.1 setup, and damn... they sound freaking amazing.

It'll probably be a while till I upgrade to the T-Amp now that I've heard it with my current setup :p

But either way, these speakers have truly impressed me.
Here's a couple quick shots of em :) Pic 1 - Pic 2 - Pic 3 - Pic 4
 
Yes, the size of the Insignia's really surprised to me. No way these are going to fit on any bookshelves. They are just too large. Enjoy you're new setup.
 
Okay, so just came back from best buy, and got the Insignia's. I'm a little confused as to what to do, I'm trying to put together a decent 2.1 system to listen to music on my pc, and some gaming. Do you guys recommend I get a T-Amp...or a budget receiver? If I get the T-Amp, how do I connect the subwoofer to it? Also, am I going to need any special kind of cables to hook up this system? Thanks alot
 
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