[vikrant]

Hi Friends,
 
I have a pair of Altec Lansing VS4121 speakers. 2 years back i had them hooked up to desktop with the cheapest pci audigy card called audigy value. I could tweak the EQs in both winamp and the sound driver to make the speakers sound somewhat sweet (those are terrible speakers if run on a bad source). I changed my job and moved to a different city and left my speakers back at home. After two years i brought them to my place and hooked them to an hp laptop with a realtek ALC270 sound card. I listen mainly to trance music and the speakers are sounding awful. The sound is not exactly muddy but it feels like the internal amp takes a dip each time a kick drum or bass note is played and eats up into midrange and treble sounds. While on some tracks (maybe the ones encoded nicely) everything seems ok.
 
I am not sure if its just a bad soundcard or has anything gone wrong with the speakers since they were not in use for quite a long time. I am now looking for an affordable USB solution, something like an Asus xonar u3. I am not sure if it is a good idea to hook up a pair of speakers to this soundcard, most reviews on the internet talk about using headphones with this soundcard.
 
I request you to please give me some inputs........

 

[trog]

IMO if u looking for the biggest single upgrade in SQ, it's time to move up to better speakers 1st

 

[vikrant]

Thanks for the reply Trog. I understand your answer is wise but, i don't have any way of getting rid of these speakers. Nobody here would buy them and now i don't have any friends around me to give them this set for free. Lastly i don't want to throw them in the trash.
 
The last 3 sets that i had, i gave them to my friends each time i bought a new one. The last time i did that i got bitterly scolded by my dad.
So, i have decided to keep these until they die on their own. I think its going to be a long wait coz i know Altecs don't give up easily.
 
I would have loved to own a decent pair of Edifiers or anything that you guys could suggest me provided it was available here in india. I am no audiophile but with time my understanding of SQ has evolved. I can feel how awful these speakers are but, tweaking the EQs on an acceptable sound card is the only option i have at the moment.