 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: stephmin
Date: 2009-12-29 00:07
As a nomadic person, starting this fall I will have lived in six different flats in six years - moving in and out every time; not counting summer residences.
I have realised that when moving, the most annoying things beyond furniture that I have to take care of are 1. my CD collection; and 2. my book colection; and 3. my speakers.
Recently, I have pledged to go completely digital with my media. I don't buy physical music anymore. The ease, quality, and grace of iTunes and Amazon's Mp3 store have me convinced that I will never buy another CD again if I can help it. I also own an Amazon Kindle and get about 80-90 percent of all my reading done on this nifty little device.
But I've failed to improve on my Mac's sound system. A maze of wires and a ginormous subwoofer makes it unbearable and unacceptable to keep as I enter the 2nd decade of this millennium.
Can anyone reccomend a set of good sound speakers to hook up to my computer? Ideally, I'd like them to have as few wiring as possible, even better if they're wireLESS. Preferably, it doesn't need it's own adapter to plug in and could just power itself from the computer. Finally, bonus points if it does not contain a chunky subwoofer and still produce decent sound - best case scenario is that it has NO subwoofer.
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Author: stephmin
Date: 2009-12-29 00:15
REPHRASED:
I am looking for an ideally one or two piece high quality speaker system, with either USB or audio jack input, that contains no subwoofer and no AC (powered through laptop). Any recommendations?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2009-12-29 01:25
If it's to have any real presence then it can't be powered by the USB connection ...
However, have you thought of wireless headphones to your computer? I have a pair of Rocketfish bluetooth headphones I wear for casual listening (MP3s don't allow for much more than casual listening - to me, anyway, since I notice the artifacts if I listen on my good set of headphones. The average MP3 to me sounds like the early Dolby compression systems) and I'm very happy with them - other wireless headphones I've had always lose signal as I walk around. The Rocketfish give me a range of about 50 foot or so (2 walls) before they decide that enough is enough. The fidelity is better than the MP3s.
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Author: stephmin
Date: 2009-12-29 02:03
I don't like headphones/earphones because I run into trouble if I, for instance, want to listen while lying in bed on my side, or anytime I only want background music.
I have my eye on something sort of like:
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-980-000101-AudioHub-Notebook-Speakers/dp/B000UY1MB2/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I17685FNK6HA25&colid=1PIUCOO92SLB6
or
http://www.amazon.com/TRITTON-Portable-Digital-Speaker-System/dp/B00112BKT6/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1B7865JIVRUHW&colid=1PIUCOO92SLB6
or even
http://www.amazon.com/Laptop-Speakers-Portable-Compact-Speaker/dp/B000LJ8TBM/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I17O3PBYB6A1H6&colid=1PIUCOO92SLB6
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Author: BobD
Date: 2009-12-29 14:36
Technology changes so fast these days that it's hard to keep abreast. I have 2 Klipsch desk top speakers plus a Klipsch one foot cube sub hooked up to my Mac and it sounds great to me. Of course I'm older than Mark. For anyone who absolutely will not tolerate a subwoofer then earphones is probably the next best best.
Bob Draznik
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2009-12-30 02:44
Have you thought about getting an iPod and putting all your music on it, then set it up with a Bose dock?
We did it, and it revolutionized our listening. Got rid of all the CDs (after copying them), all the tuners, all the wires, all the woofers, all the amps, all the garbage associated with them.
Priceless!
Susan
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Author: Kevin
Date: 2009-12-30 13:51
Dear Mark, re: wireless headphones,
I think I would like to look into this option. Can you reccommend any that has audio jack support on its receiver/transmitter or whatever you call it? For example - a pair that I can hook up to my iPod - and then toss my iPod in my bag whenever I go out and be able to listen to it on my headphones without any wires.
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2009-12-30 14:30
Kevin wrote:
> Dear Mark, re: wireless headphones,
No I don't, sorry. The newer iPods and their ilk and most cellphones nowadays have bluetooth built-in, and the Rocketfish headphones come with a tiny USB transceiver if your computer doesn't have bluetooth.
My laptop has bluetooth built-in so it works out well for me.
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Author: BobD
Date: 2009-12-30 15:33
"Have you thought about getting an iPod and putting all your music on it, then set it up with a Bose dock?"
All Bose equipment is so pricey. Does an iPod with a Bose sound any better than when coupled with any one of the lower priced iPod "mothers"...?
Bob Draznik
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Author: BflatNH
Date: 2009-12-30 19:07
While I respect the limitations and needs of a nomadic life and its impact on good playback systems, I think about the another focus, that of reproducing the higher faithfulness of the recording. As a longtime audiophile and a more recently a returning prodigal clarinetist, I have yet to run into a musician with more than a mediocre main audio system. Perhaps the really good players 'playback' what they do (did) from memory or what they read from the chart and the actual recording is irrelevant. But for me, the recorded nuances of a good recording well reproduced gives me a clearer sense or direction of what is attainable.
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2009-12-30 20:53
"Does an iPod with a Bose sound any better than when coupled with any one of the lower priced iPod "mothers"...?"
Since I haven't tried any others, I really can't make the comparison. I can tell you that the Bose dock is really good -- at least to my ears. My d.h. now has the iPod hooked into our main house system, too. The best thing about it is we don't have to have all the stereo junk and cd players, etc., cluttering up the landscape, and the sound is superior.
I also have to add that my hubby is one of those people who is very particular about sound systems -- he hears things that I don't hear, I'm sure of it, although he has taught me to be a bit more discriminating. I think I tend to listen more for what's going on with the music, and less for the quality of the reproduction.
At any rate, we first heard the iPod + Bose at the home of a friend, and he was so impressed, he had to get one. I didn't know it was that $$ -- maybe I need to nag him about it?
Susan
Post Edited (2009-12-30 21:04)
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Author: DougR
Date: 2010-01-01 15:48
ohsuzan: what file format did you use to copy your CDs to iPod?
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Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2010-01-01 19:35
"what file format did you use to copy your CDs to iPod?"
Basic answer: mp3
Extended answer: iTunes (free). Just put the CD into your internet-connected computer, with iTunes running, and it all happens ~voila~ including the liner notes and CD cover and the whole thing. Then you just transfer it to your iPod.
With CDs, this is a very quick process. We also digitized our vinyl, via a special turntable designed for that process. That takes a while, but it works quite well, too. I'm sure you can do the same thing with tapes, but we haven't done that yet.
Next project: photos and slides.
Susan
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Author: BobD
Date: 2010-01-01 21:26
"he hears things that I don't hear,"
and Santa Claus knows when you are sleeping.......
Bob Draznik
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Author: doublej
Date: 2010-01-01 22:36
If we are in the process of talking about the bose range let me add another to consider and that is tivoli. For my money I would much rather have tivoli than bose. In our house I have inexpensive stereo that I play in my garage, a tivoli two where I do a lot of wood carving, a bose wave radio on the main floor, and a very nice component stereo system also. As far as sound goes for my taste it is component, tivoli then a very distant third goes to the bose. The eq is very distinct on most of bose's products with, to my ears, a higher output on the very highs and very lows and lacking in the middle. The tivoli for the money has very good reproduction for the price and is very convenient to move around they are quite small. The only thing that you get with the bose, I am talking about the bigger unit around $1000, is volume. Also, with the tivoli two there is two speakers with a length between them so you can get some imaging from that set up. The tivoli I think starts at around $200 and the one I have I think is $400. If you decide to go with headphones look into Grado their entry level is around $100 and they are excellent.
hope this helps
JJ
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