[[email protected]]

Hi everyone,

Looking for some help from some internet audio geeks, as my knowledge
of audio is, well, not amazing. I have a 5.1 surround, It's not
amazing but now I am thinking I want to get my sound spot on. My gfx,
cpu etc is all coming along nicely, and I know a lot about hardware
but hardly anything about audio.

What I want to do is get a nice expensive sound card and some good
speakers, was looking at the x-fire range, good and about £100 odd
something like Auzen X-Fi Prelude. I just have no idea what all these
odd things are like SPID or on my old sound card I had this square
block which seamed to have a red LED in it, I am guessing for some
kind of speakers but I'd never seen it before. Basically I am just
wondering is normal jack connectors like I have always used the way to
go, or to get good sound quality is there something else? I am not
looking to go nuts, just something to make my games and films feel
more "in the room" as it where.

Also I am a DJ and like to record my mixes through my computer, at the
minute I just have a cable with 2 phono's on output of the mixer to
single jack to line in, is this ok, or do I lose quality and such like
with this?

Also, what kind of speaker systems should I look out for? I am looking
for 5.1 of course, and something with mega long cables due to the way
my cables need to route round my room, and, of course, something that
is good, but again not nuts, I'm not an audiophile lol

Thanks everyone and have a good day

Chris

[Don Pearce]

On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:44:29 -0700, wrote:

Hi everyone,

Looking for some help from some internet audio geeks, as my knowledge
of audio is, well, not amazing. I have a 5.1 surround, It's not
amazing but now I am thinking I want to get my sound spot on. My gfx,
cpu etc is all coming along nicely, and I know a lot about hardware
but hardly anything about audio.

What I want to do is get a nice expensive sound card and some good
speakers, was looking at the x-fire range, good and about £100 odd
something like Auzen X-Fi Prelude. I just have no idea what all these
odd things are like SPID or on my old sound card I had this square
block which seamed to have a red LED in it, I am guessing for some
kind of speakers but I'd never seen it before. Basically I am just
wondering is normal jack connectors like I have always used the way to
go, or to get good sound quality is there something else? I am not
looking to go nuts, just something to make my games and films feel
more "in the room" as it where.

Also I am a DJ and like to record my mixes through my computer, at the
minute I just have a cable with 2 phono's on output of the mixer to
single jack to line in, is this ok, or do I lose quality and such like
with this?

Also, what kind of speaker systems should I look out for? I am looking
for 5.1 of course, and something with mega long cables due to the way
my cables need to route round my room, and, of course, something that
is good, but again not nuts, I'm not an audiophile lol

Thanks everyone and have a good day

Chris

Internet audio geeks? That's the way to do it; before asking for help,
insult the people you are asking. Always works for me.

And what exactly is an audiophile lol? Never heard of one of those,
and it would help greatly to know what you aren't before answering.

Finally, you might want instead to take this to a home theatre
newsgroup.

d

--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

[[email protected]]

I was saying it in a jokey manor, I'm a internet geek!! I wasn't
saying it in an insulting way, prime example of how jokes and sarcasm
just don' transverse the internet!

[rakmanenuff]

On Oct 29, 9:55 am, wrote:
I was saying it in a jokey manor, I'm a internet geek!! I wasn't
saying it in an insulting way, prime example of how jokes and sarcasm
just don' transverse the internet!

Amazing how some people on usenet manage to read threads without
spotting the humour or even meaning of what they're reading.

Since I don't know anything about surround I'll limit my answer to
this:
To most people ANY jack cable is fine, if the jack plug from your
decks is in stereo that should be ok. The problem, if anything, is
whether your mixer has a nice sounding EQ, and whether the stereo
input it's going into has 16 bit conversion or 24 bit conversion.

Any soundcard with 24 bit conversion should be of a decent quality,
and yeah someone would have to be a proper audiophile GEEK to hear the
difference. Sound engineers might prefer something like apogee to do
their a/d conversion, or maybe use protools. But other 24 bit
soundcards will do a decent job too.

Speaker-wise? Like I said I don't know about surround, but personally
I just love KRK speakers. They have a lot of bass for such small
speakers and cover the frequency spectrum in a really pleasing but
fairly accurate way.
You can hear sub bass even at really low levels. Maybe not FEEL it,
but at least you can hear it clearly.
Very cool for dance music. But there are lots of other brands that are
good too, you'd have to test them out yourself really. Dynaudio
speakers are not bad for instance.

[Laurence Payne]

On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 02:44:29 -0700, wrote:

Looking for some help from some internet audio geeks, as my knowledge
of audio is, well, not amazing. I have a 5.1 surround, It's not
amazing but now I am thinking I want to get my sound spot on. My gfx,
cpu etc is all coming along nicely, and I know a lot about hardware
but hardly anything about audio.

What I want to do is get a nice expensive sound card and some good
speakers, was looking at the x-fire range, good and about £100 odd
something like Auzen X-Fi Prelude.

You fancy a bit of retail therapy? :-) £100 is a CHEAP sound card,
aimed at gamers and home-theatre folk.


I just have no idea what all these
odd things are like SPID or on my old sound card I had this square
block which seamed to have a red LED in it, I am guessing for some
kind of speakers but I'd never seen it before. Basically I am just
wondering is normal jack connectors like I have always used the way to
go, or to get good sound quality is there something else? I am not
looking to go nuts, just something to make my games and films feel
more "in the room" as it where.

That red LED may be sending perfectly good 5.1 information, just
waiting for an amplifier with a digital input to pick it up. Come to
that, your present analogue 5.1 outputs may be fine - delivering the
same quality as the £100 card. Buy your new amplifier and speakers
before you mess with the sound card.


Also I am a DJ and like to record my mixes through my computer, at the
minute I just have a cable with 2 phono's on output of the mixer to
single jack to line in, is this ok, or do I lose quality and such like
with this?


Also, what kind of speaker systems should I look out for? I am looking
for 5.1 of course, and something with mega long cables due to the way
my cables need to route round my room, and, of course, something that
is good, but again not nuts, I'm not an audiophile lol

Go to a shop and listen to some "home theatre" systems. They come at
all price points, from cheap crap "computer systems" in plastic boxes
to vastly over-hyped and over-priced Bose products. But there's some
reasonably priced stuff in-between that doesn't sound too bad.

But watch out. Your DJ mixes will be in stereo, not 5.1. And they'll
need real bass, not the sort of one-note boom you get from a tiny
"sub-woofer" and even tinier satellite speakers.

[Mike Rivers]

On Oct 29, 5:44 am, wrote:

Looking for some help from some internet audio geeks, as my knowledge

I understand. Only an Internet audio geek would attempt to form a
legitimate answer when someone essentially says: "I only have a little
money to spend and I don't know anything about the hardware I'm buying
but can someone please tell me all that I need to know."

All surround speaker sets that cost £100 or less are essentially crap.
They're different flavors of crap so it's up to you to decide what
kind of crap you're willing to listen to. Go to the kind of store that
sells crap computer equipment and tell them that you want to listen to
some speaker systems that cost around £100. That's where you start.

I just have no idea what all these
odd things are like SPID or on my old sound card I had this square
block which seamed to have a red LED in it,

The only SPID I know about that has anything to do with computers is
the Service Provider IDentification which has something to do with a
DSL Internet connection, but nothing to do with audio other than that
you may need to be connected to the Internet to download audio files.
The square block with a red LED in it is probably a TOSLink (fiber
optic) digital output.

Basically I am just
wondering is normal jack connectors like I have always used the way to
go, or to get good sound quality is there something else?

That's what you should stick with. You don't know enough to start
messing with fiber optic connections and the various surround encoding
and decoding schemes that you're likely to encounter in hooking them
up. And for £100 you surely won't find speakers that use anything but
"standard" analog mini plugs and jacks.

I am not
looking to go nuts, just something to make my games and films feel
more "in the room" as it where.

You need a sound card like the M-Audio Revolution. It has all the
connectivity that you need for your game playing and even though this
card is targeted to consumer applications like games and home theater
use, it's backed by a company that makes decent semi-pro level audio
gear.

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_u...on51-main.html

Also I am a DJ and like to record my mixes through my computer, at the
minute I just have a cable with 2 phono's on output of the mixer to
single jack to line in, is this ok

It's just fine. Just make sure that you aren't recording at too high
or too low a level. Learn how to view and read meters and how to make
record level adjustments. That's a software thing for most systems
like yours.

Also, what kind of speaker systems should I look out for?

Look out for ones sold out of the back of a white van stopped at a
traffic light. Don't buy those.

[[email protected]]

All surround speaker sets that cost £100 or less are essentially crap.
They're different flavors of crap so it's up to you to decide what
kind of crap you're willing to listen to. Go to the kind of store that
sells crap computer equipment and tell them that you want to listen to
some speaker systems that cost around £100. That's where you start.

the £100 was for the x-fi sound card "was looking at the x-fire range,
good and about £100 odd
something like Auzen X-Fi Prelude" thats the sound card, NOT the
speakers, at this point I am not putting any money on speakers as I
havn't gone in depth with that, just wondering what sound card and
connectors I need before delving into speakers


That's what you should stick with. You don't know enough to start
messing with fiber optic connections and the various surround encoding
and decoding schemes that you're likely to encounter in hooking them
up. And for £100 you surely won't find speakers that use anything but
"standard" analog mini plugs and jacks.

No no, I don't want to go mad and get in to fiber, something that will
be good, but still not going to rape my bank account. My main point
was more on for what I want, games and films, that aren't rediculous
price's but something still nice.

Look out for ones sold out of the back of a white van stopped at a
traffic light. Don't buy those.

Yes thank you for making me out to be an idiot

Also I enver said I have little money, nor do I know nothing about the
subject, just wanted some help in the right direction.

[Richard Crowley]

wrote ...
the £100 was for the x-fi sound card "was looking at the
x-fire range, good and about £100 odd something like
Auzen X-Fi Prelude" thats the sound card, NOT the speakers,
at this point I am not putting any money on speakers as I
havn't gone in depth with that, just wondering what sound
card and connectors I need before delving into speakers

Did you actually say what you thought was deficient
with your present sound card? You could almost bet
your life that it is your speakers that are the weakerst
link in your current setup. The cheapest sound card
sounds marvelous with good speakers.

Not clear what is your obsession with "connectors"?
For the kind of sound cards you seem to be looking
for you have essentially no choice but 3.5mm mini-
phone.

[John Williamson]

wrote:
All surround speaker sets that cost £100 or less are essentially crap.
They're different flavors of crap so it's up to you to decide what
kind of crap you're willing to listen to. Go to the kind of store that
sells crap computer equipment and tell them that you want to listen to
some speaker systems that cost around £100. That's where you start.

the £100 was for the x-fi sound card "was looking at the x-fire range,
good and about £100 odd
something like Auzen X-Fi Prelude" thats the sound card, NOT the
speakers, at this point I am not putting any money on speakers as I
havn't gone in depth with that, just wondering what sound card and
connectors I need before delving into speakers

OK, this is the end of the market I get involved in:-)
Any sound card that's *considerably* better than the normal home cinema/
gamer stuff or what's on your motherboard will cost well over £100. I
use a couple of units. One cost me nearly £400 a few years ago, & works
in a PCMCIA slot on a laptop (It's a WAMIBox, if you're interested & can
find one on e-bay, I recently saw one being sold for £70ish). This has
four analogue outputs, an unbalanced microphone input with no phantom
power & a pair of phono line level inputs. The outs & ins are paralelled
with optical TOSlink (The square block with the red LED in it)& co-axial
(SP-DIF) digital inputs & outputs. It's fairly quiet on playback, & is
useable for recording if you're not too fussy. 16 bit conversion on this
one.

I also use a Lexicon Omega, (USB interface) which has a pair of single
channel line outputs, 4 line inputs & a pair of microphone inputs with
phantom power. All these are balanced. It also has MIDI & SP-DIF
co-axial inputs & outputs. No surround sound outputs, but it's good for
4 simultaneous channels of recording. It cost me £379 a year or two ago.
It's a lot quieter & less distorting than the WAMIBox & uses 24 bit
converters.

I've used both of these units to produce (Bottom end of the market)
commercial music recordings (Commercial, as in they sold a few hundred
copies to fans of the band involved:-) ).

At the hundred pound level, you're looking at middle to top end game/
home cinema cards with features aimed at those markets. My experience is
that they're all much of a muchness, with a lot of the smaller brands
using the same chipset on their own circuit board layout. They normally
only have a couple of inputs, maybe a mic level mono input, & a line
level stereo input, both running through mini jacks. Most of them will
have outputs for surround sound, though, either as a number of stereo
mini jacks or as a digital output to feed into an external decoder.
Unless someone here has experience of the precise setup you want to use
though, that's about all the help you're likely to get about sound
quality here. The external decoder will almost always give better sound
quality than the one on the card.
You *could* try rec.audio.high-end or alt.music.home-studio.

Look out for ones sold out of the back of a white van stopped at a
traffic light. Don't buy those.

Yes thank you for making me out to be an idiot

You'd be amazed how many otherwise sensible people do buy them;-)

One thing you need to know about speakers is that to pick the best for
your application, you need to listen to each set you're considering in
the environment you will be using them in. Even top end speaker sets are
sensitive to listening conditions. There are a large number of threads
about this both here & in rec.audio.opinion. Even middle of the range
speakers can often be helped a lot by room treatment. Google is your friend.

For recording your own mixes onto your computer, you will definitely
lose quality using the standard soundcard. (Cheap converters, badly
designed auidio grounding schemes inside the computer, lots of
electrical interference on power supply & ground rails... The list goes
on & on)
I'll likely get flamed for this, but the connectors don't make a great
difference to the sound at this level, as long as they make good
contact. *However*, those cheap mini jack connectors tend to be fitted
to equipment using cheap components on poorly designed circuit boards.
Cheap phono to minijack leads also tend to use badly shielded cables and
are unreliable in field conditions. Draw your own conclusions he-)

Also I enver said I have little money, nor do I know nothing about the
subject, just wanted some help in the right direction.

I hope this helps. I've deliberately not mentioned makers' names except
for those that I use on a regular basis.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

[[email protected]]

On Oct 29, 12:34 pm, "Richard Crowley" wrote:
wrote ...

the £100 was for the x-fi sound card "was looking at the
x-fire range, good and about £100 odd something like
Auzen X-Fi Prelude" thats the sound card, NOT the speakers,
at this point I am not putting any money on speakers as I
havn't gone in depth with that, just wondering what sound
card and connectors I need before delving into speakers

Did you actually say what you thought was deficient
with your present sound card? You could almost bet
your life that it is your speakers that are the weakerst
link in your current setup. The cheapest sound card
sounds marvelous with good speakers.

Not clear what is your obsession with "connectors"?
For the kind of sound cards you seem to be looking
for you have essentially no choice but 3.5mm mini-
phone.

LOL no obsession mate, just wanted to make sure that I am running
through the correct things. Yeah my speakers are not amazing, I got
them for free so I can't complain, but hanking for better sound,
playing First Person Shooters I like sound going off all around me! Is
shelling out £100 odd on a sound card bit pointless then unless I am
an audio expert/engineer?

Thanks

[Scott Dorsey]

wrote:
LOL no obsession mate, just wanted to make sure that I am running
through the correct things. Yeah my speakers are not amazing, I got
them for free so I can't complain, but hanking for better sound,
playing First Person Shooters I like sound going off all around me! Is
shelling out =A3100 odd on a sound card bit pointless then unless I am
an audio expert/engineer?

Get better speakers. Fix your room. Everything else is gravy.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Laurence Payne]

On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:07:30 -0700, wrote:

That's what you should stick with. You don't know enough to start
messing with fiber optic connections and the various surround encoding
and decoding schemes that you're likely to encounter in hooking them
up. And for £100 you surely won't find speakers that use anything but
"standard" analog mini plugs and jacks.

No no, I don't want to go mad and get in to fiber, something that will
be good, but still not going to rape my bank account. My main point
was more on for what I want, games and films, that aren't rediculous
price's but something still nice.

TOSlink is a cheap-and-cheerful consumer system. If your soundcard
has such an output (it seems yours has) and your amplifier has such an
input, use it. It's the simplest connection.

[Mike Rivers]

On Oct 29, 8:07 am, wrote:

the £100 was for the x-fi sound card "was looking at the x-fire range,
good and about £100 odd
something like Auzen X-Fi Prelude" thats the sound card,

Those are off my radar. I know nothing about them. They just sounded
like speaker names to me.

at this point I am not putting any money on speakers as I
havn't gone in depth with that, just wondering what sound card and
connectors I need before delving into speakers

Well, it's not likely that you'll be buying speakers that use an
optical input, so you don't need that. Like I said, just plain old
line level outputs will work with any powered speakers. I hate mini-
jacks but that's what you get with a multimedia style sound card, and
they're OK as long as you plug in the cables and leave them alone.

[Mike Rivers]

On Oct 29, 10:10 am, Laurence Payne NOSPAMlpayne1ATdsl.pipex.com
wrote:

TOSlink is a cheap-and-cheerful consumer system. If your soundcard
has such an output (it seems yours has) and your amplifier has such an
input, use it. It's the simplest connection.

I thought, too, that it was pretty common in consumer equipment these
days but maybe not as common as I thought. I needed a TOSLink cable
PDQ not too long ago and I figured that Radio Shack would have them
but they don't. Circuit City had a fancy one for about $60 but that
was all they had. Micro Center (computer store) didn't have any either
though their inventory showed that they should. I had to stoop to
buying one at Guitar Center.

[Arny Krueger]

"Mike Rivers" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Oct 29, 10:10 am, Laurence Payne NOSPAMlpayne1ATdsl.pipex.com
wrote:

TOSlink is a cheap-and-cheerful consumer system. If your soundcard
has such an output (it seems yours has) and your amplifier has such an
input, use it. It's the simplest connection.

I thought, too, that it was pretty common in consumer equipment these
days but maybe not as common as I thought. I needed a TOSLink cable
PDQ not too long ago and I figured that Radio Shack would have them
but they don't. Circuit City had a fancy one for about $60 but that
was all they had.

Best Buy had some the last time I looked.

Most of the Toslink I have on hand is some gorgeous stuff that RS was
clearing out for really low prices a couple of years back for about $5 each.
Oh, and that included a piece of gold-plated video-rated RCA interconnect
that zipped right off.

Micro Center (computer store) didn't have any either
though their inventory showed that they should. I had to stoop to
buying one at Guitar Center.

More in the line of mainstream computer store product, I went to the
regional Micro Center looking for a USB A-to-micro A cable for dumping some
video out of a DV camera. I'd mislaid the one from my Microtrack, so I
wanted 2. I narrowed things down to 2 choices - either a $11.99 4-port USB
2 concentrator that a little poking around showed that it included the
desired cable, or some fancy gold-plated thing from Belkin for about $25.00
..

Anybody wanna a 4 port USB concentrator for the price of shipping from
Michigan? ;-)

The point to all of this is that cables are reasserting themselves as the
most expensive parts of any system, even if you avoid the golden ear
mystique.

[Richard Crowley]

wrote ...
LOL no obsession mate, just wanted to make sure that I am running
through the correct things. Yeah my speakers are not amazing, I got
them for free so I can't complain, but hanking for better sound,
playing First Person Shooters I like sound going off all around me! Is
shelling out £100 odd on a sound card bit pointless then unless I am
an audio expert/engineer?

You could likely spend 1000GBP and hear NO significant
improvement if you are listening through typical lousy 5.1
computer speakers.

I woldn't spend a ha'penny on a sound card. I'd save up my
quid for good speakers.

Spending 100GBP on a sound card is pointless (for your
application) regardless of whether you are an audio expert
or engineer.

If you goal is good reproduction of game sounds, there are
newsgroups devoted to gaming that may be more suitable
than here. The people here tend to take audio a bit more
seriously than low-end computer sound cards and those
little plastic "computer speakers".

[Richard Crowley]

"Arny Krueger" wrote ...
Most of the Toslink I have on hand is some gorgeous stuff that RS was
clearing out for really low prices a couple of years back for about $5
each.

Sad when you have to wait for a clearance sale to pay what the
stuff is actually worth. It can't cost them more than $1 to make
those things. If I needed them in any quantity, I'd be tempted to
buy a roll of the extruded plastic "lightpipe" and a bag of the
little square "connectors" and make them myself.

[Scott Dorsey]

Richard Crowley wrote:
"Arny Krueger" wrote ...
Most of the Toslink I have on hand is some gorgeous stuff that RS was
clearing out for really low prices a couple of years back for about $5
each.

Sad when you have to wait for a clearance sale to pay what the
stuff is actually worth. It can't cost them more than $1 to make
those things. If I needed them in any quantity, I'd be tempted to
buy a roll of the extruded plastic "lightpipe" and a bag of the
little square "connectors" and make them myself.

Digi-Key stocks them, and I always keep some around in spite of my
great dislike for the whole toslink thing.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

[Geoff]

wrote:
Also I enver said I have little money, nor do I know nothing about the
subject, just wanted some help in the right direction.

The 'right direction' is to forget about things with names like X-Fire and
Auzen X-Fi. You are looking in the wrong sort or store.

If you want reasonable quality sound go to a real hi-fi store and listen to
some mid-priced stuff. Be prepared to get a hard sell on expensive gear, but
ignore this unless you have unlimited funds.

geoff

[Laurence Payne]

C'mon folks. This guy did nothing terrible, didn't insult anyone. He
just kicked off a witch-hunt by asking a naive question about cheap
consumer-level gear in our exalted newsgroup. Can't we help him
without being QUITE so condescending?

[daz.diamond[_2_]]

Laurence Payne wrote:
C'mon folks. This guy did nothing terrible, didn't insult anyone. He
just kicked off a witch-hunt by asking a naive question about cheap
consumer-level gear in our exalted newsgroup. Can't we help him
without being QUITE so condescending?

Someone'll have to start rec.audio.geeks in his honour

[GreatArtist]

On Oct 29, 2:53 am, (Don Pearce) wrote:
Internet audio geeks? That's the way to do it; before asking for help,
insult the people you are asking. Always works for me.

I agree it's insulting. I hate how people use the word geek, sometimes
even to describe themelves, as if that word is OK. It's not OK. I
think there are many stupid people in society who like to call smart
people "geeks" to try to compensate for their own stupidity and
inferiority.

[Laurence Payne]

On Tue, 30 Oct 2007 06:42:18 -0700, GreatArtist
wrote:

Internet audio geeks? That's the way to do it; before asking for help,
insult the people you are asking. Always works for me.

I agree it's insulting. I hate how people use the word geek, sometimes
even to describe themelves, as if that word is OK. It's not OK. I
think there are many stupid people in society who like to call smart
people "geeks" to try to compensate for their own stupidity and
inferiority.

What a sensitive flower you are! :-)

[Mike Mueller]

wrote:
Hi everyone,

Looking for some help from some internet audio geeks, as my knowledge
of audio is, well, not amazing. I have a 5.1 surround, It's not
amazing but now I am thinking I want to get my sound spot on. My gfx,
cpu etc is all coming along nicely, and I know a lot about hardware
but hardly anything about audio.

What I want to do is get a nice expensive sound card and some good
speakers, was looking at the x-fire range, good and about £100 odd
something like Auzen X-Fi Prelude. I just have no idea what all these
odd things are like SPID or on my old sound card I had this square
block which seamed to have a red LED in it, I am guessing for some
kind of speakers but I'd never seen it before. Basically I am just
wondering is normal jack connectors like I have always used the way to
go, or to get good sound quality is there something else? I am not
looking to go nuts, just something to make my games and films feel
more "in the room" as it where.

Also I am a DJ and like to record my mixes through my computer, at the
minute I just have a cable with 2 phono's on output of the mixer to
single jack to line in, is this ok, or do I lose quality and such like
with this?

Also, what kind of speaker systems should I look out for? I am looking
for 5.1 of course, and something with mega long cables due to the way
my cables need to route round my room, and, of course, something that
is good, but again not nuts, I'm not an audiophile lol

Thanks everyone and have a good day

Chris

Personally I found using an external interface afforded me a much
improved sound quality. I used an M-Audio Audiophile unit from my HP
laptop to my Audio Research pre-amp
Love the sound quality
Mike Muller

[GreatArtist]

And another thing I want to add about the whole "geek" thing is this:
One of the important things that contribute to your success in life is
a positive self image. Insults tend to work against your success,
especially if your self esteem isn't strong enough to reject them. If
you have to be around insulting people a lot, it can lead to
depression, failure, etc. This is a real and serious problem that
affects many people. Donald Trump instantly fired someone for jokingly
calling himself "white trash" and he was very right to do so!! Some
people are insensitive, i.e. thick-skinned, and that's great for you
if nothing bothers you, but not everyone is like that. I have spent
the last 5 years studying self help materials to heal myself and get
past all the abuse and constant denigration that I grew up with, which
led to severe depression and a trip to the mental hospital.

[Chris Hornbeck]

On Mon, 29 Oct 2007 05:07:30 -0700, wrote:

Yes thank you for making me out to be an idiot

Also I enver said I have little money, nor do I know nothing about the
subject, just wanted some help in the right direction.

Mike gave you the most generous and compassionate response
possible. You're not really ready for Scott's or Richard's
even more pointed responses. Save 'em all for when you are.

I **** thee not, Mon. All the best fortune,

Chris Hornbeck

[[email protected]]

Ok well thanks everyone, spending 100 odd £ on a sound card is
pointless, I will get an external card, but not touch these expensive
jobbies and get my self some better speakers. I know my are crappy,
but as long as an ok price sound card and standard jacks are fine for
me, then that's great, spend more money on better speakers. Thank you
everyone for your advice.

As for the so called insult, I have never come across this much
hostility on the internet for the way I phrase things, and honestly, I
am sorry if you feel offended, but frankly, I don't agree. It's just
banter, and I thought this place would be friendly, and we could have
friendly banter, maybe this place isn't, or maybe my culture, where I
live etc, is different to yours, I don't know, but I do know people
have never said I have insulted them before (unless I meant it of
course) so unfortunately, you didn't get my humor on that one. I mean
people said to me, yeah your a geek trying to be insulting and all I
can say is yeah, I have 6 computers, im a net eng and at the minute I
am reading a book on maths, well done for pointing out the obvious, if
people want to say that, ahh who cares, their the one with the
problem, not me! I personally would say I am a geek and some of my
friends are too, but I guess we are all different, and that's a good
way to leave it.

Right, now to find me some speakers

[Mike Rivers]

On Nov 10, 9:30 am, wrote:

I have never come across this much
hostility on the internet for the way I phrase things, and honestly, I
am sorry if you feel offended, but frankly, I don't agree. It's just
banter, and I thought this place would be friendly, and we could have
friendly banter

Friendly banter is fine, but there are some standard terms that mean
specific things and you can't just toss those around to knowledgeable
people imprecisely. Either you need to know what the terminology means
and use it properly or you need to indicate clearly that you don't
know the right term but it "sounds like this" and then learn.

I didn't review the thread, but if you started out by defining your
problem incorrectly while trying to sound like you know what you're
talking about, people will lose patience with you. This happens a lot
here.

While there really isn't a very good FAQ for this newsgroup, there is
one. We encourage people to at least be familiar with the basics and
know the nature of the differences between professional audio
equipment and equipment used for consumer multimedia applications.

http://www.recaudiopro.net/faq/index.htm

[Laurence Payne]

On Sat, 10 Nov 2007 06:30:33 -0800, wrote:

Ok well thanks everyone, spending 100 odd £ on a sound card is
pointless, I will get an external card, but not touch these expensive
jobbies and get my self some better speakers. I know my are crappy,
but as long as an ok price sound card and standard jacks are fine for
me, then that's great, spend more money on better speakers. Thank you
everyone for your advice.


100 UKP (or even a little less) is a very useful price point if you're
buying an entry-level quality card. M-Audio's Audiophile 2496 just
about has this part of the market sewn up, though there are
equivilents from other makers. You get 2-In, 2-Out and a MIDI port.
No frills, no "features", but for music-making it may be all you need.

It's a very bad price point if you're looking at feature-packed Home
Theatre or gaming cards (unless that's what you're into :-)