WayTooCrazy
Headphoneus Supremus
Well, I wanted better speakers than my Dell "throw away" ones that we had at work. I then used my Denon receiver and my Quad 11L2 speakers. It sounded fantastic, but due to the dual ported enclosure and being so close to the wall (small desk), I could hear port noise and buffetting on loud
passages. So, I figured, time to replace them (and they were too big for my desk anyway) and get a dedicated 2.1 system. I looked around for something with ports in front of the speaker. I wound up choosing the Audioengine A2+. They are a nice speaker and excellently built, but they have their shortcomings. My first one, was the stupid rear facing volume knob. The next one, was the fact that these speakers are a 2-way that attempts to get down to 65Hz off of a 2.75" woofer. Now. I listen to all genres of music and these play them fair enough, but if you toss in my liking for Metal and throw in some double bass or fast guitar riffs, and they just break up.
My next attempt to help combat that, was to grab a subwoofer that was given to me. It was a Monoprice 8" sub that could be had for $60. I kind of laughed at the attempt at the pairing, but after a little bit of tuning and placement under my desk. I wasn't laughing anymore. It was quite enjoyable. I set the sub to 140Hz or so and blending in the volume to make the A2+ sound larger. It worked. They sound much better! More authority! The problem though, the A2+ were still playing down to 65Hz and it was hurting their sound. I dealt with it because I didn't know what to try next.
Then, with some discussion with other people, I was directed to look at an Active Crossover. I chose the Rolls SX45. I listened to Crossfade - Starless as it was in my queue. The bass and guitar blended together in the beginning of the track here as well. Then, I disconnected everything and wired up the SX45. Turned the volume up on the sub and the A2+ and lowered it on the SX45. I started to play the track again. OMG! I can hear the bass, I can actually hear the guitar properly playing together, and not just mashed together. It sounded so much better that I instantly broke into a smile. Now, I'm still testing, but I'm excited that this is finally sounding pretty darn good. Now, I do have 1 confession to make, I'm feeding the A2+ from a Schiit Modi 2 Uber. So, when you add everything up, I've spent more than I should have and could probably have done better with another system. Though, I liked the A2+ enough, already had the sub and picked up the Modi2 for headphone listening. So, the only thing that was really added that was not already being purchased for some duty was the SX45, and right now. I'm happy I did pick it up.
passages. So, I figured, time to replace them (and they were too big for my desk anyway) and get a dedicated 2.1 system. I looked around for something with ports in front of the speaker. I wound up choosing the Audioengine A2+. They are a nice speaker and excellently built, but they have their shortcomings. My first one, was the stupid rear facing volume knob. The next one, was the fact that these speakers are a 2-way that attempts to get down to 65Hz off of a 2.75" woofer. Now. I listen to all genres of music and these play them fair enough, but if you toss in my liking for Metal and throw in some double bass or fast guitar riffs, and they just break up.
My next attempt to help combat that, was to grab a subwoofer that was given to me. It was a Monoprice 8" sub that could be had for $60. I kind of laughed at the attempt at the pairing, but after a little bit of tuning and placement under my desk. I wasn't laughing anymore. It was quite enjoyable. I set the sub to 140Hz or so and blending in the volume to make the A2+ sound larger. It worked. They sound much better! More authority! The problem though, the A2+ were still playing down to 65Hz and it was hurting their sound. I dealt with it because I didn't know what to try next.
Then, with some discussion with other people, I was directed to look at an Active Crossover. I chose the Rolls SX45. I listened to Crossfade - Starless as it was in my queue. The bass and guitar blended together in the beginning of the track here as well. Then, I disconnected everything and wired up the SX45. Turned the volume up on the sub and the A2+ and lowered it on the SX45. I started to play the track again. OMG! I can hear the bass, I can actually hear the guitar properly playing together, and not just mashed together. It sounded so much better that I instantly broke into a smile. Now, I'm still testing, but I'm excited that this is finally sounding pretty darn good. Now, I do have 1 confession to make, I'm feeding the A2+ from a Schiit Modi 2 Uber. So, when you add everything up, I've spent more than I should have and could probably have done better with another system. Though, I liked the A2+ enough, already had the sub and picked up the Modi2 for headphone listening. So, the only thing that was really added that was not already being purchased for some duty was the SX45, and right now. I'm happy I did pick it up.