I don't need similar bass as I realized I don't watch stuff that requires strong bass. So active speaker should be enough.
Well my question is for either getting a t5 to add on to the r1280dbs or get a s351db.
Icic...so if I buy the t5 to add on to my existing r1280dbs, it's a waste of money and won't hear the woofer? Better off remaining on the r1280dbs without subwoofer?I can tell with most certainty that the Elac Debut 2.0 and above such as the Elac Debut Reference series will give you audio clarity far surpassing the audio that you will hear of the same movie at the cinemas. Cinemas include the Dolby Atmos cinema, IMAX cinema and the worst of the bunch, the normal standard cinema.
Take it from me having watched the same few movies in those 3 theatres and then because of the Covid days, it was brought to home streaming almost immediately. Even with the streamed version using lossy Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) with Atmos, the clarity will be one that will make you rather wait for the home version than having to go to cinemas and hear their crappy audio and lacklustre visuals (since there's no HDR in the cinemas).
The reason for this clarity is simple. The Elac Debuts have a relatively flat frequency response. Meaning, it can produce all the sounds of the human hearing (without sub bass of course which is from 50Hz and down to 20Hz thus why you will need a subwoofer for most speakers) at relatively the same volume. Meaning, no details are lost because all of the sounds can be heard and non is too overpowering and blocking out the volume of the other frequency nor are some of the frequency volumes too low that it will sounds like it is missing or muffled as a result.
Because of this amazing frequency response, you will most definitely appreciate the audio quality increase vs that of the cinemas and will most definitely want to show it off to your friends and family when they come over.
Remember, we are talking about speakers that only cost a few hundred but yet gives you audio quality that punches above its weight for speakers that cost thousands of dollars. Take it from me, I also have the KEF R3s that costs $3000+ and they sound very similar (frequency-wise) as these 2 brand of speakers produce an amazingly flat frequency response (which was further enhanced by my AVR's Dirac Room Correction to help flatten any peaks and valleys in the frequency response and phase and time aligned to give a more cohesive sound and wider but coherent sound stage).
Upgrade slowly. There's no need to burn thousands of dollars and whatnot in one shot.
You can start with the Elac Debut 2.0 or Reference speakers and just reuse any existing speakers as your surrounds. Then, when you come to appreciate the sound of the Elac speakers and you want to get the full spectrum of sound, you can consider getting a subwoofer that can do around 140Hz down to around 20Hz or slightly lower. It is a huge upgrade. It gives a proper rumble and tactile feedback that you've been missing out without a dedicated sub bass producing subwoofer. Not unlike those cheap and fake subwoofers from Creative that can only go down to 30-40Hz. It will not be able to give you the proper subwoofer experience that you get at the cinema that can give you that chest pumping effect.
Most importantly, take your time. It is better to buy a proper speaker that gives you the best performance to price ratio and then slowly spend on the best subwoofer and so on than to immediately buy a cheap set of speakers and subwoofer that produce mediocre quality sound.
If anyone here is willing to take this advice, do provide your feedback on your experience here so that people will know that this is actually the best route to take and they'll truly get the best bang for the buck audio experience. Happy hunting! (for your speakers I mean)
PS. The Edifier T5 subwoofer can only produce down to midbass and slightly touching sub bass of 38Hz. Imagine wasting your money on a lousy subwoofer that can only produce sounds from 80Hz (crossover between your speaker and subwoofer) down to only 38Hz as opposed to 20Hz.
This is the definition of throwing your money away especially since the Edifier r1280dbs speaker can produce sounds down to almost 50Hz. So the T5 isn't doing much in this regards letalone doing a job of a subwoofer producing sub bass.
Refer to wwenze's review. The frequency response of the Edifier R1280DBS is horrendous. So many peaks and valleys that far surpasses the recommended +-3dB of tolerance. You will be completely missing the mids and it will be overpowered by the bass and the highs. And even then, you will again be missing a considerable chunk of the highs as well. I wouldn't even consider these speakers for anyone to look at because they'll be missing a lot of audio information from those very huge dips.
wwenze's review: https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/edifier-r1280dbs-sub-out-t5-review.6503077/
U recommend which? The elac debut 5.2 or the 6.2?I can tell with most certainty that the Elac Debut 2.0 and above such as the Elac Debut Reference series will give you audio clarity far surpassing the audio that you will hear of the same movie at the cinemas. Cinemas include the Dolby Atmos cinema, IMAX cinema and the worst of the bunch, the normal standard cinema.
Take it from me having watched the same few movies in those 3 theatres and then because of the Covid days, it was brought to home streaming almost immediately. Even with the streamed version using lossy Dolby Digital Plus (DD+) with Atmos, the clarity will be one that will make you rather wait for the home version than having to go to cinemas and hear their crappy audio and lacklustre visuals (since there's no HDR in the cinemas).
The reason for this clarity is simple. The Elac Debuts have a relatively flat frequency response. Meaning, it can produce all the sounds of the human hearing (without sub bass of course which is from 50Hz and down to 20Hz thus why you will need a subwoofer for most speakers) at relatively the same volume. Meaning, no details are lost because all of the sounds can be heard and non is too overpowering and blocking out the volume of the other frequency nor are some of the frequency volumes too low that it will sounds like it is missing or muffled as a result.
Because of this amazing frequency response, you will most definitely appreciate the audio quality increase vs that of the cinemas and will most definitely want to show it off to your friends and family when they come over.
Remember, we are talking about speakers that only cost a few hundred but yet gives you audio quality that punches above its weight for speakers that cost thousands of dollars. Take it from me, I also have the KEF R3s that costs $3000+ and they sound very similar (frequency-wise) as these 2 brand of speakers produce an amazingly flat frequency response (which was further enhanced by my AVR's Dirac Room Correction to help flatten any peaks and valleys in the frequency response and phase and time aligned to give a more cohesive sound and wider but coherent sound stage).
Upgrade slowly. There's no need to burn thousands of dollars and whatnot in one shot.
You can start with the Elac Debut 2.0 or Reference speakers and just reuse any existing speakers as your surrounds. Then, when you come to appreciate the sound of the Elac speakers and you want to get the full spectrum of sound, you can consider getting a subwoofer that can do around 140Hz down to around 20Hz or slightly lower. It is a huge upgrade. It gives a proper rumble and tactile feedback that you've been missing out without a dedicated sub bass producing subwoofer. Not unlike those cheap and fake subwoofers from Creative that can only go down to 30-40Hz. It will not be able to give you the proper subwoofer experience that you get at the cinema that can give you that chest pumping effect.
Most importantly, take your time. It is better to buy a proper speaker that gives you the best performance to price ratio and then slowly spend on the best subwoofer and so on than to immediately buy a cheap set of speakers and subwoofer that produce mediocre quality sound.
If anyone here is willing to take this advice, do provide your feedback on your experience here so that people will know that this is actually the best route to take and they'll truly get the best bang for the buck audio experience. Happy hunting! (for your speakers I mean)
PS. The Edifier T5 subwoofer can only produce down to midbass and slightly touching sub bass of 38Hz. Imagine wasting your money on a lousy subwoofer that can only produce sounds from 80Hz (crossover between your speaker and subwoofer) down to only 38Hz as opposed to 20Hz.
This is the definition of throwing your money away especially since the Edifier r1280dbs speaker can produce sounds down to almost 50Hz. So the T5 isn't doing much in this regards letalone doing a job of a subwoofer producing sub bass.
Refer to wwenze's review. The frequency response of the Edifier R1280DBS is horrendous. So many peaks and valleys that far surpasses the recommended +-3dB of tolerance. You will be completely missing the mids and it will be overpowered by the bass and the highs. And even then, you will again be missing a considerable chunk of the highs as well. I wouldn't even consider these speakers for anyone to look at because they'll be missing a lot of audio information from those very huge dips.
wwenze's review: https://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/threads/edifier-r1280dbs-sub-out-t5-review.6503077/
If you have space, i recommend the edifier r2000db, its around mid-200s
Noted.
S351DB seems to be a 2.1 with the T5 sub. You may get slightly better bass extension (because of the sub) than the Debut but overall sound quality Debut will be better, but you gotta buy extra amp and dac if you dont have them already, since the speakers are passive, so you have to factor in the costs as well
Icic..yea I don't have an dac or Amp at the moment. Basically just using a USB creative sb play soundcard that is working from 10 years or more ago haha..
S351DB is not studio monitors
Thanks for the response.
From a cost effectiveness point of view, then yes, getting the T5 is probably better. From endless passion lazada store, T5 is 149, S351db is 300. So you are saving $150.
For starters, should I get that aiyima a07 as recommended above and replace my that thrash sb play usb soundcard? Hahaha..
https://shp.ee/4nepdz8I said the R1280DBs is at an awkward price and performance point didn't I.
It depends on what you're finding inadequate and want to upgrade.
And if price is no issue between $150 and $300, I will buy Elac Debut B5.2 for $299 (Or B6.2 for $399 if I need more oomph - Take note bigger speakers need more space)
And then for the amp get a AIYIMA A07 for $100
Then download equalizerAPO for free OS-wide EQ and boost the heck out of the bass and also fix the room EQ. And also reduce the treble as recommended by the ex-VP of Microsoft digital media division.
And you will already have a system that sounds better than what a lot of "audiophiles" listen to. And the difference between this and "audiophile cables" is that, you can actually hear it. A lot.
Then next is whether you want to save enough money and room space to get a 30Hz subwoofer or 20Hz subwoofer or not.
No just on a study room area in glass partition room of a 5 room hdb living room.The closest data for comparison I can find is this two. Not entirely identical speakers but close enough.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/.../edifier-r1280t-powered-speaker-review.16112/
https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/elac_db52/
So bass volume down to around 70Hz is identical for both. Beyond which the R1280T just gives up while the B5.2 continues extending while rolling off gradually. With a +10dB bass boost you can get the B5.2 bass to work down to around 40+Hz. See how a low-cost subwoofer suddenly doesn't feel that necessary anymore?
There's a caveat - Applying bass boost reduces the maximum volume by the same amount. For example the B5.2 has -30dB distortion at 40Hz @ 86dB, and we take -30dB (or 0.1%) as the acceptable limit of distortion. So applying +10dB at 40Hz means the maximum volume you can send to the speaker is "76dB" since the bass will be working at "86dB".
R1280T's distortion? Around 5% at 70Hz @ 86dB. You're not going to boost anything out of that. Did I mention that this speaker is completely balanced in its design? By working at the absolute limits its price range allows.
Looks like it. This one doesn't have power adapter.
I should stress that if you're getting the Debut 5.2 you *must* have a way to apply EQ since it sounds problematic without. This often gets omitted from discussion since most good setups already has EQ and EqualizerAPO is free anyways, but I understand there are some situations where EQ isn't available. In which case it's back to visiting the shop. Or get the Debut 6.2, that one seems to work well right out of the box. 6-inch speakers can be hard to fit on an IKEA LINNMON.
Which reminded me, I haven't asked about how big is your table or listening distance. Because if you're using it in a living room for example, then go nuts with the size.
