[DADDYDC650]

Are you going to use adapters for speaker volume control with the Zxr acm? I'm pretty sure it only works with headphones otherwise.

Good question. I never tried connecting the headphones straight into the ZXR and using the ACM to control the volume. If not I can still use windows 8.1 volume control right?
 
Might seem as if I should purchase the Corsair SP2500 2.1 or purchase an external DAC that has volume controls on it. This sucks...

 

[alv4426]

Yea but that gets annoying and having an actual physical control is way better. A lot of companies make volume controls for this reason. Emotiva's looks nice. Also I would recommend getting a power brick with remote control function so you can shut off speakers with a a remote and not reaching behind each speaker everything time (they go down to like $20 on amazon sometimes). That's my advice from when I had powered speakers made life with them a lot better

 

[DADDYDC650]

Yea but that gets annoying and having an actual physical control is way better. A lot of companies make volume controls for this reason. Emotiva's looks nice. Also I would recommend getting a power brick with remote control function so you can shut off speakers with a a remote and not reaching behind each speaker everything time (they go down to like $20 on amazon sometimes). That's my advice from when I had powered speakers made life with them a lot better

What's wrong with leaving the JBL LSR305's idle? I can raise the volume on the back of the speakers to 100 and use windows control. Ugh! I want a simple setup with a simple connection. I don't want to have to purchase a volume controller as well as a power brick with remote control function to save power. I might go ahead and go with the Corsair SP2500 and save myself the money and headache.
 
Perhaps a passive system would be best with a small desktop amp?

 

[cel4145]

What's wrong with leaving the JBL LSR305's idle? I can raise the volume on the back of the speakers to 100 and use windows control.

That's what I would do. Well, I might be better to have it set on 95%. I'd have to try and see

 

[Tablix]

I do similar with all my monitors, set them to approx 90% then connect to the interface, then use a db meter to fine tune the balance,  Having 2 sets makes this a pain in the ass  Also the joy of being able to flick between speaker sets knowing they are volume matched and all controlled by one master volume.
 
I was asked in a previous post about how I would spend my money if I had $400 right now, I would personally not use the JBL due to the rear port and having very little room behind my speakers, this is the primary reason I have always used front ported speakers.  I am very happy with my KRK's and while they were an impulse buy I would say it was a good one.

 

[Folex]

  I do similar with all my monitors, set them to approx 90% then connect to the interface, then use a db meter to fine tune the balance,  Having 2 sets makes this a pain in the ass  Also the joy of being able to flick between speaker sets knowing they are volume matched and all controlled by one master volume.
 
I was asked in a previous post about how I would spend my money if I had $400 right now, I would personally not use the JBL due to the rear port and having very little room behind my speakers, this is the primary reason I have always used front ported speakers.  I am very happy with my KRK's and while they were an impulse buy I would say it was a good one.

 
I absolutely LOVEEE!!!!! my KRK rokit 8's. I bought them when they were $160 a pop. This is when the version 3's were just coming out and they wanted to get rid of the old stock. The only problem I had was while playing games. Something about the graphic card reving up didn't play well with rca or 3.5mm cables. I was forced to look a dual XLR Dac. The cheapest I could find was the emotiva xda 2 for $250.The static went away but another issue was created. If the xda2 is turned off when the computer boots you will get a default audio of 48khz that you can't change until you restart. To make matters worse the computer won't automatically turn on the dac. 

 

[anetode]

The JBLs are quite good. If you can save up another 200$ then the KEF X300A would be an even better choice.

 

[DADDYDC650]

   
I absolutely LOVEEE!!!!! my KRK rokit 8's. I bought them when they were $160 a pop. This is when the version 3's were just coming out and they wanted to get rid of the old stock. The only problem I had was while playing games. Something about the graphic card reving up didn't play well with rca or 3.5mm cables. I was forced to look a dual XLR Dac. The cheapest I could find was the emotiva xda 2 for $250.The static went away but another issue was created. If the xda2 is turned off when the computer boots you will get a default audio of 48khz that you can't change until you restart. To make matters worse the computer won't automatically turn on the dac. 

I'm afraid I will get the same static using the same cable you were using and the JBL LSR305's. I have a GTX 780 GPU and I game a lot.

 

[cel4145]

I'm afraid I will get the same static using the same cable you were using and the JBL LSR305's. I have a GTX 780 GPU and I game a lot.

In that case, get a small speaker passive setup.

 

[alv4426]

I vote passive too... I'm happy I upgraded from my KRKs

 

[cel4145]

I vote passive too... I'm happy I upgraded from my KRKs

What's your desktop speaker setup now? (mine is in my sig)

 

[alv4426]

Was Creative ZXR > Emotiva mini-x > Energy RC10 . Now its ZXR>Mini X (which I might change since I really like this with my T1) > to newly built DIY speakers Hitmakers which so far have been very impressive. You got a nice system, that sub looks really nice (Ive read about it being very good for the money).

 

[cel4145]

Was Creative ZXR > Emotiva mini-x > Energy RC10 . Now its ZXR>Mini X (which I might change since I really like this with my T1) > to newly built DIY speakers Hitmakers which so far have been very impressive. You got a nice system, that sub looks really nice (Ive read about it being very good for the money).

DIY Sound Group speakers. Cool stuff.

I also had RC-10s, then the Veritas V5.1s before going with the Ascends

Yep. The SB-1000 is great for a desktop setup. Easy integration, too, with the built in high pass filter on the RCA outputs.

Had I known about the mini-x when I got the HK 3390, I might have gone with it instead. Good thing about the 3390 is that it has pre-out/main in, so I complete bypass the pre-amp in it and use it just as a power amp.

 

[Transmaniacon]

If I were buying a pair of studio monitors with $500, I would get the Emotiva Airmotiv 5s, the ribbon tweeter is exceptional and I would consider these in a tier above the JBL/KRK monitors.  You can use your volume control that came with the sound card, and it should work fine.  I would wager your speakers will get louder than you care to listen so just set the volume somewhere around the middle and adjust your volume with the Creative control.

 

[Folex]

Here is an idea for volume control if you plan to use these monitors on your desktop or laptop. I downloaded a program (sharpkeys) and remapped the + and enter on the numpad to volume up and down.  And if you don't want to do this its always nice to remap caps lock to shift so that you can't accidently turn it on while typing in a password.