My Very Low Budget Nearfield Desktop Rig (Lepai amp and Dayton Audio speakers) - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by peepr 

Speakers are a little close together no?

Not much choice, I guess. Mine are a bit further apart, but it's still not ideal. Supposedly you should put at least 8-10 feet between speakers, but that's right out where I do my listening, and I guess S.M. has the same problem.

I'm sure it still sounds eleventy billion times better than pretty much any computer speaker system you can buy.

This thread seems highly relevant to my interests so, if you don't mind be butting in, maybe you guys could offer your opinion on the setup I'm hoping to put together. I'm bit of a beginner so apologies if I say something obvious or make a mistake

• A pair of Wharfedale diamond 9.0 speakers (would have loved the 9.1s but I find it unlikely I'll be able to get them in my price range)
• Amptastic mini t amp (like this one, though having had a second look at the description maybe not the one in this auction)
• And obviously some cables and banana plugs - 3.5mm jack to RCA, speaker cable.

Trying to do it on a budget so any advice would be welcome, especially so on the cables and banana plugs but certainly wouldn't go amiss on the amp or speakers either.

Many thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by StratocasterMan 

 

When I'm sitting at my desk, my head is less than 3' from the speakers. I get a good stereo image. I've experimented with angling the speakers in, pointing them straight ahead, putting them on their sides so the tweeters are further out or in, etc. Currently I have them vertical, but I flipped them over so the tweeters are on the bottom (different from the picture.) That works best for me given the height of my desk, the height of my chair, etc. It's fun to experiment...

Position does make a big difference, especially if the tweeters are separate from the other drivers (as in most designs). My speakers have tweets that are positioned inside where the woofers' dust caps would normally be (coaxial, like Tannoy favors), so imaging is a little more consistent between different configurations. I too get a good image--the boxes don't appear to be producing any sound, which is always an eerie effect. The sweet spot is reasonably wide, too, so I don't have to worry about where my head is.

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybob_jcv 


Are you running from the headphone out on your netbook into the Lepai? I would probably try using an inexpensive USB DAC to provide a lineout to the Lepai. If you did that, wouldn't you be able to run 100% levels on the netbook and control the volume entirely from the Lepai?

My aim was to calibrate the system so I could indeed control the volume entirely from the amp and use as much of the amp's volume knob range as I could (ideally all of it). With Wave and Master at 50% I can get halfway through the knob's travel before it distorts. I can of course turn the input down further in order to use more of the knob, but it seems like I have to make an already weak output (from the netbook) ridiculously low in order to do this.

What I'm curious about is what sort of source the inputs on the back were designed for, since they seem way too sensitive for common usage scenarios. Or am I doing something wrong? I'm assuming the proper way of doing things is to set it up so at max volume on the amp a 0dBFS signal from the source doesn't distort, by progressively lowering the output level of the source until the clipping goes away. I figured a sine wave would be ideal because any clipping would be obvious. But it clips way earlier than expected. What sort of source would have a weak enough output that this won't happen?  Or is it not designed for you to use the entire knob's range at any time, or only as a reserve in case you have a very low level signal?

After reading your response, I tried out my inexpensive DAC. Unfortunately it may actually have been worse. Windows' volume controls still affected the DAC's output, and playing around with them resulted either in identical results to the netbook headphone output or, with output sufficiently low, a very weak signal that seemed to hiss breathily when a signal was played (but was silent when nothing was playing ).

Thanks for the replies, guys. I want to make sure I'm not making a mountain out of a molehill here. With my current setup I get adequate volume, within a reasonable definition of "adequate" (e.g. it's not going to fill a huge room, but for nearfield listening it's fine). It's just that I didn't expect clipping to happen so soon. Of course that's on a continuous 0dBFS signal, and since no music will have that high an average level (even the worst offenders of the loudness wars), I have a bit more headroom. Overall I get enough volume for what I need. There's just a part of me that hates the idea that there's an undefined point on the volume knob (different for each song) beyond which the signal will clip.

I'll definitely try the 3.5 mm input to see if it's different somehow, though that will have to wait since I'm about fifty miles away from my system right now. I'll also try some different sources. I picked the netbook since its output is surprisingly decent (not stellar, by any means) and is weak enough that it shouldn't overload the average input.

Hello StratocasterMan,

After looking at this thread and the previous one you had before, this inspired me to get the same set up as you.  Although as for myself, I'm a newb about these set ups. I don't want to make a fatal mistake, I've spent about $170 on Amazon for the Dayton + Polk sub and the Lepai amp and for a college student that is a lot of ramen noodles I could've bought with that amount spent.  So for my question and I apologize if this is an extremely terrible question, it's obvious with the amp and the passive speakers but:

-How do I connect the sub to the set up without doing anything entirely dumb?

-Someone suggested to buy a "Y-splitter" and feed the cords into it but is there any other suggestions that you or anyone else has that can bring out the best sound for this set up? 

Thanks in advance and sorry again but I'm still learning the ropes.

Lepai Amp -> speaker wires to high level input on back of PSW10

high level out on back of PSW10 -> Dayton B652. 

Basically you're sending the signal to the subwoofer to let it take what it wants, and then sending the signal up to the speakers. 

I found a pair of Sonys speakers from a Minicomponet i had around, it sounds much better than the Daytons B52, so i am gonna sell them soon to a friend.

Also bought this:

Lepai 2.1    Not bad at all!!