Re: [MLUG - DISCUSSION] Headphone/Speaker switcher

[Mark Rages <EMAIL:PROTECTED>]

On Wed, Aug 14, 2002 at 08:17:47AM -0500, Spurling, Shannon wrote:

> I'm not so sure about that. Your milage could vary... a lot!
>
> I tried splitters, switches, the "boost-a-roo" (small amplifier), and
> got totaly crappy sound out of them all. The problem stems from the 
> line out not being designed to source enough power to drive any thing
> more than an external amplifier. The reason your milage might vary is
> you might have enough power to drive an amplifier or a set of 
> speakers, but not both. In that case, you would need a switch. You might 
> not have a decent preamp, which would mean that it could drive your
> amplified speakers but not your unamplified headphones. In that case you
> would need a switch and a small amplifier.
>
> Believe me, I went through this and ended up buying a better sound
> card because of it. I think the best solution is to buy new speakers.
> There are some pretty good desktop speakers with headphone jacks on the
> right side of the audio amplifier to give you decent sound. They aren't
> typicly those cool bose'ish three or 5 piece speaker sets, but they put
> out decent sound and only cost around $20 to $40.

> 
> Shannon Spurling
> WAN Engineer -Specialist

Here's a tale of warning. I bought some Labtech speakers from officedepot
$20 for two egg shaped sattelite speakers and a 4" sub in a wooden box.

The amplifier is in the sub box. but the headphones plug in before the signal 
gets to the sub box. Therefore, the headphone signal is NOT AMPLIFIED and 
sounds terrible, depending on the output current available from the sound 
card amplifier. I bought the speakers because I'm trying to write a sound
card driver and didn't want to annoy my roommates. And this sound card
only has line outs... oh well.

Also, these speakers sound really bad. I wasn't expecting hifi, but...
yow. the satellite drivers are maybe 2". Because of this, it sounds like
the crossover is in the 300 Hz region. Which happens to be where ears are 
very sensitive to phase. The sub has a port, tuned for one-note "boom-boom"
bass. Might be OK for feeling explosions in your favorite shoot-em-up,
but just awful for music.  Fortunately the cap to an ordinary film canister
fits the port perfectly, reducing the Q and bringing up low bass respone at
the same time. I also stuffed some foam up there for good measure.

I guess I should just take 'em back and exchange for the no-name speakers,
but they look real pretty. 

I think the moral is, listen before buying, and try the headphones too.

Regards,
Mark
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