My PC Sound Setup

[Brandenburg]

Well.. I have been meaning to post this , but had to wait to borrow a descent camera..

GOD!!! I really hate PC speakers and this is the reason I put this setup together awhile back.....Bought the receiver specifically for the purpose of hooking it up to my PC....Great for watching movies,listening to music or hooking my guitar up to the I/O bay,loading Guitar Rig 4 amp modeler, and jam for a few hours..LOTS of effects to use and experiment with

My Sound set up..
SB Music Extreme with I/O bay..

RCA 100 watt Home Theater Receiver. this is connected to my soundcard via a good quality 2 RCA to mini plug Y..Speaker on top is the "Front "

Two early 90's Pioneer towers rated at 150 watts/8 Ohms. Frequency response is 32 ~20KHz.. Came from my first real stereo and they still sound killer.. Definitely thumpin and clean sounding

2 small speakers that are my "Left and Right Center"... Eventually these will be replaced by 2 towers as well..

Powered Sub.. Really adds another dimension to the sound

If I want to Get EVEN louder .. Ill hook up this up.. I have to make some more special connectors or else it will be only left or right.. In any case... this setup will still be mono..:shadedshu BUT maby as much as 4X+ times louder than my receiver..The power is quite scary.. Ya have no idea unless you have messed with 150+ RMS pro music equipment..Speakers sound meh.. No money atm to replace them with some G12M75 Celestions
http://professional.celestion.com/guitar/products/classic/detail.asp?ID=5

 

[BumbleBee]

your peavey quad reminds me of Back to the Future.

 

[Brandenburg]

just not quite as big.. lol.. looks like 60" or so..Do they even make a speakers that big...

 

[m4gicfour]

Nice. I totally feel ya about hating computer speakers.

I used to use Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 speakers, and they were good enough for my needs but they got the thirst for something better flowing through my veins. I also used to have an XFi in my rig but it was really flaky, and I always had popping when trying to input optical 5.1 from my PS3 which kind of defeated the purpose of a quality sound card. (PCI bus issues and driver hell.)

Since then, I bought an Onkyo and switched to ATi digital HDMI sound, and just let the receiver handle everything. Very happy with the result. PS3 blu-rays in 7.1 sound FANTASTIC. PC positional audio and lossless FLAC sound great too, with the high-quality DACs in the receiver doing the work instead of the PC. I do miss X-fi's features though. My I/O bay would drop-out every so often, so I never really got full use out of it. I'm glad your setup is having none of these problems.

You never did say... What do you have set up as? 2.1? You show a center, two sides, two fronts, and a sub, but don't say if you have them set as discrete channels or just putting stereo out. Just curious. Nice set up either way.

PS. My dad's hobby is professional audio systems so... yeah. I got the audio bug early

 

[Brandenburg]

thx......
Im using the receivers 5.1 dolby surround sound and am pretty happy with it..The Pioneers have to be heard to be believed.. Infuckincredible sounding... If that's what your asking.. I guess Im not really using the sound card to its fullest but this works for me.. + the I/0 bay is pretty sweet and is the main reason I bought the card to begin with.. Had to take a dremal to my case to make it fit

I never had any issues with the XFI and I mainly use the I/O bay for my guitar and headphones.. Never used the other connections. I do have some minor problems when using my guitar through it such as the pots on my guitar scratch alot more and the tone control is almost useless it seems.. So happen I use the volume knob pulled out and the above problems are a non-issue..

Thought I would go off a tangent here explain my music gear a bit not that anyone is interested.

The guitar is a Made in India Jackson Dinky DK-2 produced in 2000. Dont let the place of mfg throw you off.. It kicks ass and plays better than 1500 dollar guitars..I bought it at a pawn shop for $270 and put $30 in her not including the back pickup and electronics.. I also bought a hardshell case for her

My guitar's electronics have been totally reworked and I did all the work myself..The back humbucker is a 1979 Gibson T-Top that originally came out of a 79' black beauty Gibson Les Paul about 20 years ago.. I also cut a plexi backplate to show off the electronics and I used foil shielding tape around the whole cavity.. Also.. It is star grounded.
Here is the control cavity

The Volume and tone pots are both Push/Pull pots that have DPDT switches built into them..
Volume Push= Operates as a regular volume knob
Volume Pull= This is a volume bypass which as the name implies.. bypasses the volume control and gives me 100% volume.. There is also no tone running through this part of the circuit so its a bit bright too..I did this because when I play, my hand always seems to hit the volume knob and lower the volume.. very annoying... I tend to play with it pulled 90% of the time

The tone has a different cap on the push and pull. This gives me a different high band pass cut off if I push pull the knob.. Even if I dont use it alot.. It's still pretty kool and gives me alot of tonal variety when playing with the volume knob rolled down a bit.. Great for blues

The switch is simply what they call a kill switch.. You throw the switch and the signal goes straight to ground. Most people use it to get a missing out effect that is usually only possible in a 2 humbucker guitar with a 3 way pick up selector.. My usage of the switch is more practical..When I put the guitar down.. I just flip the switch.. No SOUND and no fiddling with the volume knob

The AMP is a 1989 Randal RG100es 2 channel 150 watt RMS solid state amp..I payed right at $950 for this amp when it was new.This amp is a legend as far as SS amps when it comes to shear volume ,tonal quality, and distortion..To say it gets loud is an understatement.. LOL I have never had it above 5 and I played live with it.. As I said.. Its scary and have turned two speakers to dust because it is so BRUTAL.. Diamondback Darrel of panterra used this type of amp ALOT.

The cabinet is a Peavey 412ms Stereo Cabinet.. 16 ohms@ Mono.. 8 ohms @stereo.. The cabinet is loaded with 4 12" Sheffield 1290 which are modeled after the Celestion G12M70.. A popular speaker in the early 80's. Not sure on the power rating but it is probably 280 Watts or so