Yes Hello, Help Please (1 Viewer)

[Khoa Tran]

Hi, I have a question for those of you who use your computer as a jukebox. Although this might fit better in the HTPC area i think this i'd just do it here. I have my pc hooked up to my receiver via minijack -> rca...I seem to find that mp3s are of very low quality even the ones 192 bit rate and above...i guess i would have to say the sound field is lost....I'm wondering if playing low quality music at high volumes might have caused one of my woofer to blow. Now i have new speakers and i'm afraid something might happen to them. thanks for your help, it is greatly appreciated as i try my best to answer any of your questions. =)

 

[Jesse Blacklow]

Without knowing exactly what your listening habits are, I can't be certain, but I'd have to say that it's more the fault of the MP3 format. MP3, even at "CD Quality," i.e. 192Kbps @ 44Khz, is a highly compressed format.

In listening to an original CD, and then the MP3s I made from it, there was a big difference. Virtually all of the highs and lows were gone, which might explain why you're not getting a lot of bass. Of course, I'm not the best in MP3 encoding, so it could have just been the way I ripped the files. The music still sounded clear, but it was like everything was only in middling frequencies.

BTW, the CD I used was Chicane's "Behind the Sun," which is kind of dance/trance.

 

[Terry St]

Without knowing exactly what your listening habits are, I can't be certain, but I'd have to say that it's more the fault of the MP3 format. MP3, even at "CD Quality," i.e. 192Kbps @ 44Khz, is a highly compressed format.

You can encode MP3's at arbitrarily high bitrates or even variable bitrates. They can sound pretty good if done right. However, if you want to be sure, rip to uncompressed wave files or a lossless format like Monkey Audio. (.ape) This takes up a rather large ammount of space though. Monkey Audio can cut the size of a raw wave about in half, depending on the track, which helps a fair bit. The other nice thing about lossless formats is that if you ever switch to another format, you just convert them back to the origional waves and into the new format. No need to re-rip!

 

[Khoa Tran]

I am using a Soundblaster Live, whenever i remove the wires without turning the speakers off they crackle but that's just my stupidity. The sound comes through clean and clear. Just the quality of the actual mp3 that really had my optimistic.

I don't think i have clipped my amp....One other thing, i've been using this amp and speakers practically 8-10 hours each day for a couple years now. I listen to everything....i have about 5000 mp3s in my collection and i don't really wanna list all the genres.

Do you think better amplification to the new speakers will prevent them from blowing out? say that i rarely turn it up louder then needed....I think i might as well just use the old speakers while listening to mp3s and the new speakers for cd & vinyl listening....

 

[Terry St]

I think i might as well just use the old speakers while listening to mp3s and the new speakers for cd & vinyl listening...

I'm still not sure why you think mp3's are blowing up your speakers if played at the same volume as CD's. Go with whatever makes you feel safe though I guess.

 

[Khoa Tran]

I have PSB Minis with a old yamaha pro logic receiver, and the old speakers are Jamo floorstandings. I don't know if it's the mp3s or something else that much have blow the driver because i don't think i turn it up that loud and i usually never go past 1/3 of the way on the knob...the highest would probably be -24....

 

[Jeff AW]

I would HIGHLY doubt that it was the MP3's, Poorly encoded or not. Thats another debate for another time. I converted ALL my CD's to MP3's and play them through my Audiotron. When I get a new CD it gets ripped to my server and tossed in the closet. The quality in which I encode is excellent.

I would place my bet that if you use a plain jane mini connector to rca, you are not going through a true line out. Meaning you are sending an amplified signal to your receiver. I would place my bet there, with distortion. Spend some money and get the digital out for the soundblaster. No crackle, no aplified signal.. Just 1's and 0's til it gets to your receiver.

 

[Ryan Schnacke]

"i don't think i turn it up that loud and i usually never go past 1/3 of the way on the knob"

This is a pet peeve of mine. Just because the knob isn't turned up to full it doesn't mean that you're below the limits of the amp. I owned receivers that would clip once you pushed them past 1/2. And it also depends on the source. Your CD player line out may have a higher RMS signal than that of your computer or TV. So while you might watch a movie at 2/3 volume with no problem, CD's could clip it at 1/2. To make things more complicated, newer receivers have any number of relative volume level adjustments. Mine's got individual speaker levels and "intellivolume". So depending on my settings, a volume of "50" on my receiver could use 10x as much power as "50" on some other Onkyo 595.

You may understand this already, but I just hate it when somebody makes a reference to how much amp headroom they have based on the fact that they "only had the volume knob up 1/3 of the way". That means the knob has 2/3 more travel ... says nothing about the actual amplifier.

In your case you've got an audio card's microphone output driving your receiver. So its possible that you're clipping the mic output even though you may be nowhere near the receiver's limits. This could be just as bad as clipping the receiver. If you've got the computer's volume control set near 100% try turning it down and see if sound quality improves. You can turn the receiver volume up to compensate the final volume level.

 

[Khoa Tran]

yeah thats right.....it's just that i dont have a way to measure the volume unless i buy a meter. I just leave all my volumes on my computer at 70% and the cd player has a switch which allows me to use the volume knob on it or use the reference line level. My jamo speakers are just crap....with the psbs now i can play the same music, same source, and same volume on the computer....i can turn the music much loud without any clipping or distortion while the jamos distorts alot earlier...even though the ratings on the jamos are lower then the ratings on the psbs. i would think that the jamos being floorstanding should handle a little more power then the bookshelves but i guess not. This just shows how much paul barton has put into his speakers.....