Me not really being a hardcore audio guy, I brought the amp home and it sat on my kitchen table for 2 days before I eventually got around to hooking it up to my computer. I'm not an audiophile and I've generally been happy with my $30 2.1 speaker setup that I've had for about 4 years now. It was a little hard for me to believe that this over sized chunk of metal was going to make a noticeable difference. So using a $5 USB sound card (since my busted on-board sound card only produces a single channel of output these days) I played some tunes to get a feel for how this amp could make my music sound better. There was a slight difference. I could hear more, things seemed a little clearer. I began to suspect that a bigger better set of speakers would make even more of a difference so I stole my wife's stereo speakers which tend to sound pretty good in my opinion. I replayed the music I was previously listened to and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!! I was hearing backup vocals and instrument tracks I had never heard before!!!! Everything was so much clearer, less "tinny" and much easier on my ears. After about 2 hours of re-listening to a plethora of my favorite songs for the "first time" my mind was made up. Time to get a whole new audio setup! Since I had the amp, the "new setup" would only consist of new speakers and a new sound card and cable to connect everything.
I decided on a cheap, but not too cheap Sound Blaster Audigy SE sound card. Yea I *could* have spent way more $ and gotten a card with a "hardware accelerated" DSP but it would be a waste as most of the time I'm listening to music and I have a fast CPU. The DSP would be most helpful for a high performance gaming rig where it can take the load off your CPU.
The hardest decision was choosing a set of speakers! I visited countless websites and every local store I could find that carried half way decent bookshelf stereo speakers. Its hard to find good old fashioned stereo speakers these days! Everyone seems to want 5.1 "surround sound" for their "home theater". Screw that! Why settle for 5 ultra tiny and ultra sucky speakers when you can get two big beefy speakers that do not suck for the same amount of money? After comparing specs, prices and listening to a few different speaker sets I settled on the cheapest pair I had been considering, the Yamaha NS-6490's for $80 at my local Radio Shack. I was a little reluctant to purchase these as my in-store testing was kind of mixed. I generally LIKED the way the sounded but I noticed two things that were disconcerting... 1) Lack of punchy BASS 2) the mid-range seemed particularly "muddy" at times. My fears were slightly diminished after reading a couple of on-line reviews on Radio shack's website stating that the in store amp sucks and it under powers this particular speaker set. The reviewer suggests "take these speaker home, hook them up to a good amplifier and you will love them!". So knowing full well that I could return them within 30 days if I was not satisfied I swiped my card and walked out of the store with a very large box of speakers :).
I got home. I cleared my desk. I placed the (magnetically shielded) speakers on aforementioned desk. After hooking everything up with brand new speaker wire and audio cables I gave them a quick test run. My music sounded good, but not great, as I was expecting. Just like at the store the sound was a little unclear at times and I was pretty sure the bass response was supposed to be better. After a few days of messing with mixer settings, verifying correct wiring, playing with the amp's settings and trying different things I was all but ready to return the speakers for a better set. It wasn't until I was demo'ing the setup for a friend that I, for the first time, took a few steps back from them! It was then that I realized, holy cow batman, these things are pretty much unresponsive within a 3 foot radius! Get out beyond 4-5 feet and the sound quality goes up by an exponential factor!! The bass is there! The mid range is crisp and clear! Soooo... gotta get 4-5 feet away from these babys huh? Weeellll... my L-shaped desk only extends about 3 feet from the center in either direction. This was started to look like a big problem.
I seriously considered how the hell I was going to fit a huge amp on my desk AND two over-sized bookshelf speakers and still have room for anything else! Now to top it all off... I GOTTA GET THESE THINGS 5 FEET AWAY FROM ME??? After about 3 hours of thinking, moving stuff around, and (much to the displeasure of my wife) rearranging half of our living room, I found a way to place each speaker about 5 feet away from my primary sitting position at roughly the same height.
As the above diagram shows I turned the speakers inward and pointed them at about a 30-45 degree angle so as to aim the sound at the side of the listeners head. I figured this was the best setup I could get if the speakers had to be 5 feet away from me. I chalked it up to an unfortunate side effect of having a L-shaped desk and being sandwiched in the corner of the room.
After getting everything set up (special thanks to my buddy Tom for all the help) I was very happy with the results! A tinkerer at heart, I could not leave things well enough alone however. I quickly got the idea (however stupid it seemed) to rotate the speakers to a 0 degree angle, thus pointing them both directly at the wall in front of me. Why not?? Hell, the things were only at a 30 degree angle to begin with.... If it sucked I'd just turn them back. No harm done.
hoping for the best but expecting nothing I started playing "What's Going On" by Four Non Blondes. It was that precise moment when it hit me! It was auditory gold pouring over my ears! The absolute BEST sounding audio I've ever heard in my entire life! Turning the speakers to face the wall seems to cause the sound to bounce off the wall creating a truly wonderful effect. The music seriously sounds like it coming entirely from in front of you. You can just imagine the band sitting directly in front of you playing high quality music!
Needless to say, I'm very happy with my new audio setup. It was worth every penny :).
