Speakers for gaming and video editing at DVinfo.net

Stephen Sobel · June 8th, 2003, 05:49 PM

Anyone have advice for speakers (for a pc) that can provide decent sound for both gaming and video editing (with some audio work)?

Alex Knappenberger · June 8th, 2003, 05:59 PM

The best for video editing are a pair of professional studio monitors. Of course, the main thing that make them "professional" is that they have a flat frequency response. Which means, if your mixing audio, and you don't have a good pair of speakers with a flat frequency response, and they put out either too much bass, or too much highs, you can end up cutting out the low end or high end, when your mixing. Another good thing is a echoic free (or whatever they are called) room (padded room).

Of course, video editing, isn't mixing audio, so as long as your not mixing audio, any nice pair of speakers will be good.

A pair of professional studio monitoring speakers, wont "bring down the house" so they aren't good for gaming...

Klipsch's 4.1 (400w) and 5.1 (500w) are some pretty hard punching computer speakers. 400/500W RMS too, not no peak crap. For video editing, I sometimes use my good pair of headphones, but they get uncomfortable after a hour or so.

Glen Elliott · June 8th, 2003, 06:30 PM

A set of Klipsch Promedia 5.1s via a Soundblaster Audigy should do the trick! Wow and you should experience playing Unreal Tournemant 2003 with it cranked with UAX enabled....WOW!

Keith Loh · June 8th, 2003, 06:44 PM

I have the Klipsch 4.1s. I like them at full blast but my one peeve is that I have to unplug them when I go to sleep, not just power them down. They buzz.

Andrew Petrie · June 8th, 2003, 06:50 PM

Logitech Z680s rival the Klipsches, they had a buzz problem but Logitech recalled them so you should have no trboule if you get a set. This is a 5.1 solution

Logitech has a great 4.1 offering as well, the Z560

Both sets THX certified if it means anything to you, both pump 400 - 500 Watts RMS

Alex Knappenberger · June 8th, 2003, 07:09 PM

About the buzzing, you might want to try a power conditioner...

Keith Loh · June 8th, 2003, 07:34 PM

I think you're right. I'll look into that.

Glen Elliott · June 9th, 2003, 12:49 PM

The buzz Keith spoke of is different than the buzz problem on the Logitechs. The buzz on the Logitech 5.1s occure while using them and there is an area of silence....there is an audible buzz that eminates from the center channel. My friend bought them thinking he'd be upping my Promedia 5.1s but had to return them in 2 days because the buzz was getting to him. LOL...he ended up getting the Promedias anyway.

Keith, Alex may be correct...are you using any sort of way to obtain clean power from your outlet. Depending on your house and it's wiring you might have very "dirty" power. I had a friend that couldn't go above 65htz on his monitor because of this. I'd try using an APC Universal Power-supply or like I used...a monster power bar. It's a surge protector/power cleaner. It filters or "cleans" the power prior to it entering your electronic devices. It's a sweet peice- 3ft long and like 15 outlets!

Mike Rehmus · June 9th, 2003, 01:14 PM

I guess I have to strongly differ with the opinions expressed so far on this thread.

When you edit audio for video, you are indeed mixing sound. Monitor speakers are very important if you want the sound to be consistent and play reasonably well on most systems.

5.1 sound systems are not the tool do use for mixing video sound unless you are mixing 5.1 sound. If you do, the relatively inexpensive speaker systems designed for listening to music are not good enough to mix 5.1 sound.

A pair of Near-Field Monitor speakers will help you to mix sound far more reliably than any computer speaker.

And my KRK's can blow my eardrums out with only 60 watts of clean power per side (with no increase in distortion over quieter operation). They are sitting only 30" from my head and angled in. Hence the Near-Field label.

Neighbors 2 houses away can hear them even with the doors closed. How much louder do you need than that?

Joe Carney · June 9th, 2003, 02:27 PM

I have to agree with Mike, I have a pair of MACKIE 624 studio monitors combined with an ESI Waveterminal 192. (Plus I have an audigy attached to some cheesy creative 5.1 speakers for testing, all in the same system). What you want most of all is accurate reproduction of sound. Accuracy that goes at least up to 24/96khz .The klipsch, logitech and other 5.1 computer speakers are designed to enhance certain areas of the audio. The problem is if your audio/game is played on lesser 2.1 cheap speakers,or worse, played back on a home theater system.... it's liable to sound awful.
The Mackie 624 are goind for around 450.00 apeice and have received excellent reviews.
If the Mackies or Maudio speakers are to expensive, Samson has come out with a nice sounding value line for less than 300.00 a piece. fostex has a basic 2.1 system for around 300.00.

the MAUDIO 66 audio card is a good low end card for doing stereo or surround mixing. Audio cards from MOTU, Terratec and ESI-PRO are also popular. They all have professional recording and mixing features not found on the Audigy line of cards. (XLR connections for both microphones and speakers....better sounding audio throughout the dynamic range...., support for software based synthgs, and Disk based synths,like Gigasampler...Vsampler.., Cakewalk sonar) and have very low latency drivers.

If this is more hobby than pro, then look into hooking up your audigy to a nice affordable hometheater system with av/recevier and 5.1 speakers. Both mixing, recording and game playing will be better than any computer oriented speakers.

Alex Knappenberger · June 9th, 2003, 02:34 PM

Yeah, Joe and Mike are correct. Thats what I was originally suggesting.

About hooking your computer upto a home stereo, I have the stereo in my room, right here, hooked upto my sound card (Polk subwoofer, 5.1 receiver, 2 sony bookshelf speakers). After people seen how I did it, everyone wanted me to do it for them (my uncle, cousin...). It's pretty easy, just get a 1/8" stereo splitter from radioshack (I have a 3 way)...and then get a 1/8" to RCA splitter....bam.

Stephen Sobel · June 9th, 2003, 05:07 PM

"nice affordable home theater system with 5.1......."

So, any recommendations on this?

Rob Easler · June 9th, 2003, 09:43 PM

For GREAT bang for the buck, get a pair of M-Audio SP-5's at musicians friend at this link

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../base_id/59391

or at guitar center, etc. They are powered bi-amped near-field monitors and I love mine. You can't go wrong with these at $199 a pair. If you are doing extensive mixing you'll want something like Joe's Mackie's or the 824's but that's a lot of mula.

To get rid of the buzz...I would use an Ebtech hum eliminator, or the like.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../base_id/36853

It removes the buzz associated with ground loops which it probably the most common cause of buzz besides cables and power lines all mushed together or the cable from your local cable company being connected indirectly to your computer.

I use the line level shifter/hum eliminator which is better because it also raises the -10dBV output of most computer soundcards to a +4dBu signal a pair of good monitors would like.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../base_id/38212

June 8th, 2003, 05:49 PM	#1
Stephen Sobel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 408	Speakers for gaming and video editing Anyone have advice for speakers (for a pc) that can provide decent sound for both gaming and video editing (with some audio work)?

June 8th, 2003, 06:44 PM	#4
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	I have the Klipsch 4.1s. I like them at full blast but my one peeve is that I have to unplug them when I go to sleep, not just power them down. They buzz. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

June 8th, 2003, 06:50 PM	#5
Andrew Petrie Major Player Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: London, Ontario, Canada Posts: 484	Logitech Z680s rival the Klipsches, they had a buzz problem but Logitech recalled them so you should have no trboule if you get a set. This is a 5.1 solution Logitech has a great 4.1 offering as well, the Z560 Both sets THX certified if it means anything to you, both pump 400 - 500 Watts RMS __________________ Andrew \| Canon XL1s, ME66, Vinten Vision 3, GlideCam V16 (for sale!)

June 8th, 2003, 07:34 PM	#7
Keith Loh Air China Pilot Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Posts: 2,389	I think you're right. I'll look into that. __________________ -- Visit http://www.KeithLoh.com \| stuff about living in Vancouver \| My Flickr photo gallery

June 9th, 2003, 01:14 PM	#9
Mike Rehmus Wrangler Join Date: May 2002 Location: Vallejo, California Posts: 4,049	I guess I have to strongly differ with the opinions expressed so far on this thread. When you edit audio for video, you are indeed mixing sound. Monitor speakers are very important if you want the sound to be consistent and play reasonably well on most systems. 5.1 sound systems are not the tool do use for mixing video sound unless you are mixing 5.1 sound. If you do, the relatively inexpensive speaker systems designed for listening to music are not good enough to mix 5.1 sound. A pair of Near-Field Monitor speakers will help you to mix sound far more reliably than any computer speaker. And my KRK's can blow my eardrums out with only 60 watts of clean power per side (with no increase in distortion over quieter operation). They are sitting only 30" from my head and angled in. Hence the Near-Field label. Neighbors 2 houses away can hear them even with the doors closed. How much louder do you need than that? __________________ Mike Rehmus Hey, I can see the carrot at the end of the tunnel!

June 8th, 2003, 05:59 PM	#2
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	The best for video editing are a pair of professional studio monitors. Of course, the main thing that make them "professional" is that they have a flat frequency response. Which means, if your mixing audio, and you don't have a good pair of speakers with a flat frequency response, and they put out either too much bass, or too much highs, you can end up cutting out the low end or high end, when your mixing. Another good thing is a echoic free (or whatever they are called) room (padded room). Of course, video editing, isn't mixing audio, so as long as your not mixing audio, any nice pair of speakers will be good. A pair of professional studio monitoring speakers, wont "bring down the house" so they aren't good for gaming... Klipsch's 4.1 (400w) and 5.1 (500w) are some pretty hard punching computer speakers. 400/500W RMS too, not no peak crap. For video editing, I sometimes use my good pair of headphones, but they get uncomfortable after a hour or so.

June 8th, 2003, 06:30 PM	#3
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	A set of Klipsch Promedia 5.1s via a Soundblaster Audigy should do the trick! Wow and you should experience playing Unreal Tournemant 2003 with it cranked with UAX enabled....WOW!

June 8th, 2003, 07:09 PM	#6
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	About the buzzing, you might want to try a power conditioner...

June 9th, 2003, 12:49 PM	#8
Glen Elliott Wrangler Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,898	The buzz Keith spoke of is different than the buzz problem on the Logitechs. The buzz on the Logitech 5.1s occure while using them and there is an area of silence....there is an audible buzz that eminates from the center channel. My friend bought them thinking he'd be upping my Promedia 5.1s but had to return them in 2 days because the buzz was getting to him. LOL...he ended up getting the Promedias anyway. Keith, Alex may be correct...are you using any sort of way to obtain clean power from your outlet. Depending on your house and it's wiring you might have very "dirty" power. I had a friend that couldn't go above 65htz on his monitor because of this. I'd try using an APC Universal Power-supply or like I used...a monster power bar. It's a surge protector/power cleaner. It filters or "cleans" the power prior to it entering your electronic devices. It's a sweet peice- 3ft long and like 15 outlets!

June 9th, 2003, 02:27 PM	#10
Joe Carney Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Centreville Va Posts: 1,828	I have to agree with Mike, I have a pair of MACKIE 624 studio monitors combined with an ESI Waveterminal 192. (Plus I have an audigy attached to some cheesy creative 5.1 speakers for testing, all in the same system). What you want most of all is accurate reproduction of sound. Accuracy that goes at least up to 24/96khz .The klipsch, logitech and other 5.1 computer speakers are designed to enhance certain areas of the audio. The problem is if your audio/game is played on lesser 2.1 cheap speakers,or worse, played back on a home theater system.... it's liable to sound awful. The Mackie 624 are goind for around 450.00 apeice and have received excellent reviews. If the Mackies or Maudio speakers are to expensive, Samson has come out with a nice sounding value line for less than 300.00 a piece. fostex has a basic 2.1 system for around 300.00. the MAUDIO 66 audio card is a good low end card for doing stereo or surround mixing. Audio cards from MOTU, Terratec and ESI-PRO are also popular. They all have professional recording and mixing features not found on the Audigy line of cards. (XLR connections for both microphones and speakers....better sounding audio throughout the dynamic range...., support for software based synthgs, and Disk based synths,like Gigasampler...Vsampler.., Cakewalk sonar) and have very low latency drivers. If this is more hobby than pro, then look into hooking up your audigy to a nice affordable hometheater system with av/recevier and 5.1 speakers. Both mixing, recording and game playing will be better than any computer oriented speakers.

June 9th, 2003, 02:34 PM	#11
Alex Knappenberger High School Student Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Canton, Ohio, USA Posts: 609	Yeah, Joe and Mike are correct. Thats what I was originally suggesting. About hooking your computer upto a home stereo, I have the stereo in my room, right here, hooked upto my sound card (Polk subwoofer, 5.1 receiver, 2 sony bookshelf speakers). After people seen how I did it, everyone wanted me to do it for them (my uncle, cousin...). It's pretty easy, just get a 1/8" stereo splitter from radioshack (I have a 3 way)...and then get a 1/8" to RCA splitter....bam.

June 9th, 2003, 05:07 PM	#12
Stephen Sobel Major Player Join Date: Nov 2002 Posts: 408	"nice affordable home theater system with 5.1......." So, any recommendations on this?

June 9th, 2003, 09:43 PM	#13
Rob Easler Major Player Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Naperville, IL Posts: 219	For GREAT bang for the buck, get a pair of M-Audio SP-5's at musicians friend at this link http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../base_id/59391 or at guitar center, etc. They are powered bi-amped near-field monitors and I love mine. You can't go wrong with these at $199 a pair. If you are doing extensive mixing you'll want something like Joe's Mackie's or the 824's but that's a lot of mula. To get rid of the buzz...I would use an Ebtech hum eliminator, or the like. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../base_id/36853 It removes the buzz associated with ground loops which it probably the most common cause of buzz besides cables and power lines all mushed together or the cable from your local cable company being connected indirectly to your computer. I use the line level shifter/hum eliminator which is better because it also raises the -10dBV output of most computer soundcards to a +4dBu signal a pair of good monitors would like. http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/.../base_id/38212