Need advice on upgrading PC speakers

thedrelb

Obliviot
I currently have a stereo in our LR and a home theater in our FR, but since retiring last summer, I find that I most often listen to music (mostly Classical and Rock) in my home office played on my PC. I currently have a Sound Blaster Live card and a 12 year old pair of Advent Powered Partner 570s. I'll get a better sound card when I buy a new PC in the next year or two. The 570s are not bad but are somewhat lacking in the bass region so I am looking to upgrade my speakers.

I thought a 2.1 speaker system with a subwoofer would improve things and bought a pair of Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers but was disappointed and returned them. They definitely had more bass but did not seem to have a very flat frequency response. Turning down the subwoofer helped but they still gave me a headache.

So looking for suggestions for how to significantly improve my speakers.

1) Should I consider adding a subwoofer to the 570s? Is so, any recommendations for ones to consider?

2) If I wanted to spend say $300 - $500 on new set of speakers, could I get something that would be a significant improvement over the 570s? Folks have raved about the Audioengine 5s, but on paper they don't look much different than the 570s. Any other speakers to consider?
 

madmat

Soup Nazi
Personally for $500 I'd look around on Craigslist and buy a decent HT receiver and a decent set of speakers. I see them daily for about that kind of money. You can get a good sound card that encodes to Dolby Digital or DTS in real time and use the SPDIF from it into the digital in on the HT receiver.

Think outside the box.
 

thedrelb

Obliviot
Good suggestion. My daughter had a receiver and a pair of Bose 301s gathering dust in the attic so I pulled them out and connected them to line out on the Soundblaster Live card. Sound is better and I have an FM radio now too!

In future will get better sound card and a HT receiver I can connect to digital output of sound card.

Thanks again for helping me think "outside the box".
 

madmat

Soup Nazi
I'm glad to have helped. Hooking a HT setup to a PC is really a nice thing if space isn't a concern and you're not an apartment dweller, I ran an older PC of mine that way years ago (five to be exact although it seems like a few weeks back) and I loved it. Listening to ripped music, playing games and watching movies on such a setup just is so much more satisfying.
 

Merlin

The Tech Wizard
bug in the system...madmat

I found this bug in the thread here and returning to you....
These things get into all threads......lol

Merlin
 
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madstork91

The One, The Only...
Ive honestly sat and looked at that thing for 5 min before... I think it needs a version with a SPLAT! ... I shall work on this soon?
 
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