2.0 & 2.1 speaker discussion thread III [consolidated]

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86technie

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Hi guys,

Recently my Swans m50w spoiled after 4 years of usage, and repair costs around $100 plus. Looking for an alternative to swans, what speakers do you guys recommend? I am looking at around $300 to $400 budget. Saw today creative katana costs $299. Is it worth it? Thanks for help!

Logitech z623
Klispch Promedia BT 2.1
Aego 3 $450
 

Amon86

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Hi guys,

Recently my Swans m50w spoiled after 4 years of usage, and repair costs around $100 plus. Looking for an alternative to swans, what speakers do you guys recommend? I am looking at around $300 to $400 budget. Saw today creative katana costs $299. Is it worth it? Thanks for help!

you could go for Q Acoustics 3020 around $359 add a small amp like nad you will get better sounding than a active speaker...
 
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shadow84

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If i were to do a custom made XLR to RCA 1 side for both left and right separately, anything else i need to inform the shop? Will be heading to SLT, lvl 3 shop to do. I think last time he got ask me stereo or mono?

Will be connecting LSR 305 to audiogd NFB15.32 dac. The DAC only got RCA output.
 

wilflare

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If i were to do a custom made XLR to RCA 1 side for both left and right separately, anything else i need to inform the shop? Will be heading to SLT, lvl 3 shop to do. I think last time he got ask me stereo or mono?

Will be connecting LSR 305 to audiogd NFB15.32 dac. The DAC only got RCA output.
if you don't mind waiting, you can consider getting from Ghentaudio.com good quality cables and good build quality too.

Sent from Huawei NEXUS 6P using GAGT
 

86technie

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Lucky didn't buy Z623 recently, now the Z625 is finally here in SG.
This model unlike Z623, it have optical input so can use with PS4,
Xbox.

However such speaker compare with Soundbar, this is more
for Stereo gaming as it lack Dolby decoding for surround gaming.
 

icecapt

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If i were to do a custom made XLR to RCA 1 side for both left and right separately, anything else i need to inform the shop? Will be heading to SLT, lvl 3 shop to do. I think last time he got ask me stereo or mono?

Will be connecting LSR 305 to audiogd NFB15.32 dac. The DAC only got RCA output.

Assume that you know already, but do tell them that the XLR has to be male connector to connect to the speakers...
 

BarbieDog

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hi guys, just got my m10. it's amazing!!! but i have a problem now.

i don't have any place to plug in my earphones.
the front of my cpu doesn't sound good compared to the aux port at the back of the cpu.
and my earphone cable isn't long enough to reach the back.

any thing i can get to plug in my earphone?
 

86technie

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hi guys, just got my m10. it's amazing!!! but i have a problem now.

i don't have any place to plug in my earphones.
the front of my cpu doesn't sound good compared to the aux port at the back of the cpu.
and my earphone cable isn't long enough to reach the back.

any thing i can get to plug in my earphone?

Audio extension cable.
https://www.hachi.tech/products/detail/4953103498938
Maybe later time you might want to consider Creative soundcard
with external controller.

hero-sound-blaster-zx.jpg


The external port you can connect earpiece to it as well it have mic on it for online gaming.
 

BarbieDog

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Audio extension cable.
https://www.hachi.tech/products/detail/4953103498938
Maybe later time you might want to consider Creative soundcard
with external controller.

hero-sound-blaster-zx.jpg


The external port you can connect earpiece to it as well it have mic on it for online gaming.

but i only have one sound port at the back, it's for my speaker so i can't use it for my ear phone.

the creative sound card probably gonna cost a lot :s13:

edit: saw some cheaper ones like sound blaster audigy which can plug extra input also
 
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86technie

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but i only have one sound port at the back, it's for my speaker so i can't use it for my ear phone.

the creative sound card probably gonna cost a lot :s13:

edit: saw some cheaper ones like sound blaster audigy which can plug extra input also

hero-omni-surround5-1.png

Cheaper alternative would be Soundblaster Omni Surround 5.1 USB soundcard.
 

RazorLotus

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Haha I should've been more specific. For the first case, it will take a few hours, around 2-3 hours.

For the second case, will be around 30 seconds.

For the third case, it will take around 40 mins. Usually between 30 - 60 mins depending on how long I turn it off for.

Reapply thermal paste

Don't worry about the caps in this case, they will be discharged very quickly and are low voltage to begin with.

So I finally had time to do the fix. I found a small piece of plastic, like a screen protector material between the heatsink and the chip. I reapplied the thermal paste and re assembled it back together but I left out the plastic piece. Should I have put it back in? It goes in between the chip and the heat sink and it had thermal paste applied to both sides of it when I took it out.

EDIT: Currently using it at the moment but have to wait and see if the issue persists
 

wwenze

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So I finally had time to do the fix. I found a small piece of plastic, like a screen protector material between the heatsink and the chip. I reapplied the thermal paste and re assembled it back together but I left out the plastic piece. Should I have put it back in? It goes in between the chip and the heat sink and it had thermal paste applied to both sides of it when I took it out.

EDIT: Currently using it at the moment but have to wait and see if the issue persists

Ermmmm please put back the plastic

It's a mica insulator sheet that electrically insulates the chip from the heatsink. This material is used because it can be made very thin to minimize thermal resistance while providing high isolation (high dielectric strength).

That being said, not all chips or transistors need it, depending on whether that particular chip itself's package is isolated or not. And even if it isn't isolated, it would just short the heatsink to a certain voltage which may or may not be an issue depending on whether the heatsink is electrically connected to something else. Still, better safe than sorry.

Actually while you have it disassembled might as well replace the power capacitors in advance too, those things are notorious for dying early.
 
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RazorLotus

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Ermmmm please put back the plastic

It's a mica insulator sheet that electrically insulates the chip from the heatsink. This material is used because it can be made very thin to minimize thermal resistance while providing high isolation (high dielectric strength).

That being said, not all chips or transistors need it, depending on whether that particular chip itself's package is isolated or not. And even if it isn't isolated, it would just short the heatsink to a certain voltage which may or may not be an issue depending on whether the heatsink is electrically connected to something else. Still, better safe than sorry.

Thanks for the reply! The problem is still there though :( The volume will become softer after maybe 30 mins of use. However, when I turn off the switch at the back, the volume will immediately increase back to normal levels before cutting off. If I turn it back on immediately, it will drop again almost immediately. If I leave it off for even a few seconds, it will stay at normal volume for much longer maybe 1-2 mins.

I'll put the plastic back and have a look when I next open it asap probably sometime this week
 

wwenze

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hi guys, just got my m10. it's amazing!!! but i have a problem now.

i don't have any place to plug in my earphones.
the front of my cpu doesn't sound good compared to the aux port at the back of the cpu.
and my earphone cable isn't long enough to reach the back.

any thing i can get to plug in my earphone?

Earphones like outputs that can "drive" them. Front panel audio usually can't.

Many onboard / soundcard have line-out-cum-headphone-out, which have just a bit of drive capability just enough to handle the easier ear/headphones. E.g. probably all Creative soundcards since PCI 64. But don't assume all soundcards have that (*cough*XonarDX*cough*100ohmoutputimpedance*cough*)

Extension cables and splitters are always good to own, but a headphone amp or a DAC with a headphone amp would be more ideal.
 

wwenze

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Thanks for the reply! The problem is still there though :( The volume will become softer after maybe 30 mins of use. However, when I turn off the switch at the back, the volume will immediately increase back to normal levels before cutting off. If I turn it back on immediately, it will drop again almost immediately. If I leave it off for even a few seconds, it will stay at normal volume for much longer maybe 1-2 mins.

I'll put the plastic back and have a look when I next open it asap probably sometime this week

Biasing issues, something is leaking or otherwise causing the biasing to drift with time.

How good are you with multimeter and oscilloscopes / using soundcard for measurements? :s13:

If you can't be bothered to troubleshoot, you can consider ditching the internal amp and converting the speakers to passive. That's one advantage the M200MKII has over the MKIII and current Edifier bookshelves.
 

RazorLotus

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Biasing issues, something is leaking or otherwise causing the biasing to drift with time.

How good are you with multimeter and oscilloscopes / using soundcard for measurements? :s13:

If you can't be bothered to troubleshoot, you can consider ditching the internal amp and converting the speakers to passive. That's one advantage the M200MKII has over the MKIII and current Edifier bookshelves.

Wah I don't have such tools at home and I haven't used them in a long time.

Maybe there's another heatsink in there that needs its thermal paste reapplied?

I'm also not sure how to convert them to passives. Got a feeling that I might have to replace them le.

Do you think it's worth bringing to a repair shop like one of these? Will it be expensive?

http://www.tnp.sg/news/singapore-news/speakers-corner-fixing-vintage-hi-fis-50s
https://altronics.sg
http://www.xtremeplace.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=121858.0
 
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wwenze

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Idea is simple: The speaker without the power supply you don't have to do anything, the speaker with the power supply and amp, you disconnect the crossover from the amp. Then the binding posts for connecting the amp to the other speaker - you disconnect the binding posts from the amp too, and use them as inputs by connecting the crossover to them instead.
 

produde1999

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