What speakers do you use for your Commodore computers?

[hansel75]

Considering the C64 and Amiga are renowned for there superb audio qualities, I would be interested to know what other users use for speakers with them.

Personally, I don't use anything high end, but still use decent sounding speakers, as I don't believe that using something like built in 1084s speakers do them justice.

For my main PC setup which i use for PC gaming, movies, and emulation, I have an old Creative T5400 5.1 speaker setup.
As for my real C64 and Amiga setups, I have them connected to an old Logitech Z506 5.1 setup, with them upmixing the sound to all speakers, nothing mind blowing but I think they still sound really good.

So what do you guys use?

Edit- Would like to have a massive subwoofer setup someday, the commodores deserve it!

[Hewitson]

A Yamaha RX-V475 receiver connected to a pair of Yamaha NS-555 speakers and a Yamaha YST-SW225 subwoofer.

I agree with you about the speakers in the monitors. I think it's a shame that most Amiga (and C64) users used the crap speakers built in to their TV/monitor, never getting to experience the sound capabilities at their full potential.

[meynaf]

Monitors don't all sound the same. 1085S : horrible. 1084S : not good. But 1083S is good enough, especially the Daewoo one. I don't know why.

With too much hifi you may start hearing the little, errh, shortcomings of the sound. Because Amiga sound isn't exactly perfect.
So monitors aren't as bad as most pretend.

[Hewitson]

All monitors sound terrible.

I don't agree about hearing the shortcomings of the sound. On a good hi-fi system games like Apidya & Turrican 3 sound absolutely amazing.

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

All monitors sound terrible.

You have tested them all ?

Originally Posted by Hewitson

I don't agree about hearing the shortcomings of the sound. On a good hi-fi system games like Apidya & Turrican 3 sound absolutely amazing.

Some stuff will sound amazing. Some other will sound crap.

[hansel75]

Also have to say the that both commodore computers deserve at least a little subwoofer to do them justice, monitor speakers just can't reproduce the bass the way it was intended.
The C64 can put out some amazing chip basslines, the Amiga can to when using the right samples.

Agree with hewitson on using decent speakers, and holy crap, your yamaha speaker setup must sound amazing.
I know off some huge bass in certain amiga mods and C64 sids if your interested in testing them out?

[indigolemon]

In the sitting room all sound is via a NAD 314 driving some Mission 733i floorstanders.

In the man cave (where most of the computers live) a NAD 7125 drives a pair of Tannoy Fusion bookshelf speakers.

In both cases, things sound pretty good

[Hewitson]

meynaf: Although I've owned quite a few CBM monitors over the years, I haven't tested them all, nor do I need to. They all have shitty little speakers which have poor bass and treble reproduction.

Nothing sounds "crap" on a good hi-fi system. I find it strange that you seem to believe playing music on a better quality system can make it sound worse. That's simply not the case.


hansel75: Yes, the setup does sound good (not as good as indigolemon's though!) I've actually been considering swapping the Yamaha receiver with a NAD (or similar) stereo hi-fi amp as I do not have a surround sound setup in this room.

I've had the neighbours across the road complain about the sub vibrating their house too much. That's one complaint I was quite proud to receive

[hansel75]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

I've had the neighbours across the road complain about the sub vibrating their house too much. That's one complaint I was quite proud to receive

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by Hewitson

meynaf: Although I've owned quite a few CBM monitors over the years, I haven't tested them all, nor do I need to. They all have shitty little speakers which have poor bass and treble reproduction.

They have little speakers but the monitors themselves are as big as a good subwoofer and maybe even bigger. So yes the sound isn't perfect but it ain't crap either. Most sounds were designed to be played on them, btw.
They are at least better than embedded speakers in laptops, aren't they ?

Originally Posted by Hewitson

Nothing sounds "crap" on a good hi-fi system. I find it strange that you seem to believe playing music on a better quality system can make it sound worse. That's simply not the case.

Of course yes it's the case. With a good enough hi-fi system you hear little sounds that were otherwise eaten. Like tiny clicks in low quality samples. And the hifi system can't know if these are good to hear or not.
In short, if some sound was designed to be played on "poor quality" system, "high quality" will play it differently, i.e. not the way it was intended to.

Originally Posted by Hewitson

I've had the neighbours across the road complain about the sub vibrating their house too much. That's one complaint I was quite proud to receive

Listening to loud music isn't good for the ears. But of course monitor speakers can't go real high in volume so it's normal you don't like them
(And it also seems normal you can't hear the little details anymore...)

[Predseda]

Encore P-401. I have several pairs and also some clones, one even with a subwoofer. I love them, for me it is super design and they sound quite acceptable.

[hansel75]

Originally Posted by meynaf

They have little speakers but the monitors themselves are as big as a good subwoofer and maybe even bigger. So yes the sound isn't perfect but it ain't crap either.

Can't agree with you that monitor speakers sound as good as a subwoofer, that's an impossible statement.

As for monitor speakers, like the 1084s that i own, sure it can sound nice and crisp and pick up on the little sounds, but it simply can't reproduce any kind of bass whatsoever, which for me, is missing half the the sounds.

Just listen to a suburban bass amiga mod on a monitor speaker, then listen to it with any kind of decent speakers with a sub, and you will see what i mean!

Originally Posted by meynaf

Most sounds were designed to be played on them, btw.

I would imagine that any semi pro amiga musician back in the day would not be using monitor speakers, rather some half decent speakers with an amp to produce music with, which would mean there sounds were best heard on anything but a monitor speaker.

[Hewitson]

It takes more than just a big enclosure to make a good sound. Even if it didn't, a 1084 monitor case cant exactly be called a brilliant speaker/subwoofer enclosure. Everyone would laugh if a company brought out a pair of speakers in a case like that.

I still disagree with your comments about low quality music sounding worse on a good system than a cheap one. You can't honestly believe a monitor can sound better than these:



Lastly, listening to loud music is not harmful in short bursts. I do not do it 24 hours a day. I was born half deaf, but I do believe I have a good ear for sound quality.

[meynaf]

Originally Posted by hansel75

Can't agree with you that monitor speakers sound as good as a subwoofer, that's an impossible statement.

If the music is designed to play on monitor speakers, then monitor speakers will sound better than a subwoofer (or anything else). Because it will sound exactly like intended.

Originally Posted by hansel75

As for monitor speakers, like the 1084s that i own, sure it can sound nice and crisp and pick up on the little sounds, but it simply can't reproduce any kind of bass whatsoever, which for me, is missing half the the sounds.

1084s don't sound good. It's 1083 that does.
Sure it won't do bass that'll destroy the neighbor's house with vibrations.
But really it depends on what you're listening to. For ordinary game music it is quite acceptable.

Originally Posted by hansel75

Just listen to a suburban bass amiga mod on a monitor speaker, then listen to it with any kind of decent speakers with a sub, and you will see what i mean!

That's very possible but not all music depend on the bass.

Originally Posted by hansel75

I would imagine that any semi pro amiga musician back in the day would not be using monitor speakers, rather some half decent speakers with an amp to produce music with, which would mean there sounds were best heard on anything but a monitor speaker.

Producing sounds that sound inadequate on the target audience's hardware wouldn't be a smart move...

Originally Posted by Hewitson

It takes more than just a big enclosure to make a good sound. Even if it didn't, a 1084 monitor case cant exactly be called a brilliant speaker/subwoofer enclosure. Everyone would laugh if a company brought out a pair of speakers in a case like that.

Again it's about sounds that were designed to be played like that.
Exactly the same story as the Amiga's D/A which don't have a good frequency response but still do their job quite nicely.

Originally Posted by Hewitson

I still disagree with your comments about low quality music sounding worse on a good system than a cheap one. You can't honestly believe a monitor can sound better than these:

These amplify the bass quite a lot. Sometimes too much.

Originally Posted by Hewitson

Lastly, listening to loud music is not harmful in short bursts. I do not do it 24 hours a day. I was born half deaf, but I do believe I have a good ear for sound quality.

It is harmful, even in short bursts. Ear cells, especially the ones responsible for the treble, are easily destroyed.

[Locutus]

I have my Amiga hooked up to my amplifier which runs Quad ESL63 speakers.

Just so you can hear that high frequency aliasing absolutely perfectly :-D

[Galahad/FLT]

My A1200 is linked to a JVC amplifier with a set of JAMO speakers, been my setup since the early 1990's.

[kgc210]

All of my Amiga setup and Retro Consoles go through an SMSL SA-50 AMP and some old SONY Hi-Fi speakers I got from my Grandad, as the Hi-Fi died.

[jarre]

In the days i had my amiga 1000, it was connected to a Philips amplifier , and a magnat magnastar speaker set, sounded so great, while playing alot at night i used a headphone from senheisser the hd540, awesome bass on this one, i still have the headphone and no other one ever beat this one

[Foebane]

I would have to recommend my current speakers, which I think are the best I've ever bought: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-In...e+speakers+t10

They have great frequency response and a deep bass, with tone control, and the best part about them is that they have two inputs at the same time that are mixed for output, which is useful beyond belief. I've had my current pair for at least ten years, and they're still going strong!

[Jope]

My A4000 is connected to a pair of Cerwin Vega XD3 active speakers. Totally adequate for this application. :-)