Speakers. How Much?

[allenlondon]

Thinking of updating my speakers, and horrified by the prices.

Are £300 speakers really that much better than £50 ones?

A

[TonyV]

Allen yes they will be, but depends on what system you are using.

[gingejbee]

Yes, cheap speakers on an expensive music system.....daft.
Expensive speakers on a cheap system...also daft.
And, it also depends on how "good" your ears now are.
Good selection from an excellent place.

https://www.richersounds.com/search/?q=speakers%20per%20pair

[allenlondon]

Well, my ears aren’t what they were.

Classical guitar played on my Mac and out through a small Sony SRS speaker (about £140 per) sounds a little distorted, but I suspect this has more to do with the Mac’s capabilities.

[Fitzer]

Unlikely as Macs DACs tend to be quite good. Is the speaker cabled or Bluetooth, what quality is the original sound file? Always best to ascertain where the fault might lie before spending hard earned :-)

[allenlondon]

Mac Mini, late.

Sound file from CD, copied to Mac.

Cable from Mac’s headphone socket to one of these:

Amazon.co.uk User Recommendation

Bluetooth isn’t qualitatively different when I try that instead of audio cable.

All pretty basic!

A

[Fitzer]

Ok, looking reasonable but ideally we need to know the quality of the rip, using iTunes (I assume) if you right click the track and ‘get info’ somewhere there should be a Kbps number to tell us the bit rate, the higher the better. The problem being that stand alone acoustic guitar will show any slight imperfection in the digital source which is why purists shy away from digital

[allenlondon]

Fitzer: Kbps is 192. Is that good or bad?

A

[allenlondon]

Fitzer: sorry to ask more questions, but so far you've been so helpful!

People here, and on more orthodox AV forums, keep telling me that my amp set up is crap, that I need a Denon, or a Marantz, or whatever, and that if I don't spend around £500 on the amp, and another few hundred on speakers, I might as well not waste my money...

And you tell me that the built-in amp in my Mac Mini is up to the job!

Is it a bit like cars? Enthusiasts always rave about expensive, fast motors, whereas herberts like me aren't bothered, as long as it starts and stops?

I'd value your opinion.

A

[Fitzer]

Ok, 192 Kbps should be enough, it’s not audiophile quality but good enough for almost every purpose. Your Mac doesn’t contain an amp, all it is doing is converting the digital signal to an audio one and passing it out via the headphone socket. Therefore whatever you’re plugging it into has an amp and looking at the spec of that Sony it does have. Unless you’re really jacking the volume up it should be acceptable but everyone’s version of acceptable is different. One thing you could try if you still have the source CD is ripping it again, whilst it’s ripping ensure the computer is doing nothing else, it is just possible that you got a bad rip the first time.But you could look at this https://www.richersounds.com/sony-str-dh190.html and these https://www.richersounds.com/hi-fi/standmount-speakers/mordaunt-short-m10-blk.html, check with Richer (they’re very helpful) that these would do what you want and if so you’ve got a pretty solid little set up

[allenlondon]

Fitzer. Top man, thanks, that explains a lot!

The headphone lead from the Mac curently goes into that fairly expensive (to me) Sony speaker. Maybe I'm overhandy with iTunes' equalizer knobs.

Talking of Richer, just noticed an 'online special' they're doing of a Denon CEOL RCD-N10 for £314. Looks the job for my other question, which was about replacing my amp (actually an elderly mini hifi unit).

If I had my TV optical-out to the Denon's optical-in, and THEN plugged headphones into the Denon, would it cut out the sound to the speakers? I know that normally plugging headphones in automatically cuts out speaker output, but does that apply when you're using optical-in?

As you see, I know a LITTLE about these things, but I'm essentially pretty ignorant...

A

[youngmafbog]

£300 ? My Sound bar was over a grand.

I have always found that speakers are a personal choice that is why I generally pop down to Richer Sounds or similar to actually hear them. As I am getting older I cant hear the smaller sounds either so pointless paying for something you cant use.

I'd have thought £50 was a bit low though.

[ElanaWeeks]

Only if you want to watch movies, else £50 ones are as good as £300 ones.

[allenlondon]

TV almost exclusively, Elana, so I think you’ve hit the nail.

A

[fender62]

always rip at 320kbps, why not just get a good pair of wireless headphone, also speakers are only as good as the amp pushing them
i always buy denon amps, as for speakers tannoys are good for the money, there are many brands read reviews, before purchase.