Amplifiers and speakers

[wildscenes]

Hi All

pretty basic question so forgive an AV newbie, but what kind of amplifier do I need to get the sound out of the laptop and across the room? Can anyone recomend one, where to buy it and what kind of speakers?

Thanks in advance

John

[Conflow]

John,

The Sound Cards in most Laptops are to say the least, "deplorable"....

Don't go mad just yet in purchasing a good Hi-Fi Amplifier and Speakers ~ You would be well advised to get your hands on a good pair of Desktop PC-Speakers those with an intergrated Stereo Amplifier would suit.

A good brand is "Kinyo PS-552" ~ these have Volume, Treble, Bass Controls and are quite loud and you are going to need those Controls to get any reasonable Stereo-Sound from the Laptop. Having done preliminary tests with this set-up you can decide on the Sound-Quality rendition as to whether the quality is good enough to proceed further into a Hi-Fi System or it may be that the 'Hiss Level' is too high ~ if so stay with the Kinyo Speakers (or alternative) as the Treble Control will remove most of that hiss.

You simply plug the Speakers 'Mini-Jack' into the Laptops 'Earphone-Output' and plug the Power Cable into the Mains ~ thats it !

These are available in most good Computer Shops or from Laskys, Comet, etc.

Brian.Conflow.

[Maureen]

I have always used the Acoustic Energy Aego speakers which many AV workers have seen & heard at my lectures & then bought themselves.

A new range came out in December 2005 which can be seen on their web site at Aego M-system

They can be obtained here

We and many of our friends have been very pleased with these and they certainly fill a large hall and can be used at home.

There are some threads on the PTE Forum relating to these speakers.

Best wishes

Maureen

[wildscenes]

Thanks for this guys. There's a shop very close to me listed as being a stockist for the AEGO speakers so I'll pop over and try them out in the shop. I do loads of lectures each year and have used P2E in a basic form for all my digital lectures, but now I want to stepo it up a gear (and hike the lecture fees at the same time ).

Thanks again

John

www.wildscenes.com

[Ken Cox]

John

try making your link live

http://www.wildscenes.com/

dont know if this will be live

quite a "can" on the end of that lens

ken

[jgayman]

Hi All

pretty basic question so forgive an AV newbie, but what kind of amplifier do I need to get the sound out of the laptop and across the room? Can anyone recomend one, where to buy it and what kind of speakers?

Thanks in advance

John

If you want to really fill the room with sound I recommend a small Home Theater stereo amplifier and suitable speakers. 100 watt AV receivers are very inexpensive as are decent speakers. A system like this will take your audio quality to a whole new level. I do a lot of multimedia presentations at banquets and have been using a small Kenwood 100 watt AV receiver that I bought for $100. The nice thing about AV receivers is they have inputs for everything. So I can feed sound from my laptop, DVD player, etc.

I bought a small tupperware plastic storage container at Target that holds my amplifer, speakers, extension cords, speaker wires, gaffers tape, etc. I can grab the box and head out the door knowing everything I might need is right there.

[Conflow]

Thanks for this guys. There's a shop very close to me listed as being a stockist for the AEGO speakers so I'll pop over and try them out in the shop. I do loads of lectures each year and have used P2E in a basic form for all my digital lectures, but now I want to stepo it up a gear (and hike the lecture fees at the same time ).

Thanks again

John

www.wildscenes.com

John,

I mentioned earlier about 'Desktop Speakers' for a 'Test-Trial Run' on your Laptop to determine quality this prior to any Hi-Fi Speaker Purchase's. However if you are determined to go for the AEGO Speakers here is a word of caution:-

Make absolutely sure that the 'Sound Source' is in fact your personal Laptop and not a demo from a CD playing through a Hi-Fi System into the Aego Speakers ~ two different animals completely. Don't get caught out with a Salesmans' excuse that he doesn't have a connecting lead for the Laptop....bring one with you, (Stereo-Mini Jack to 2.Phono Plugs) and make sure the 'Demo-Amplifier' has the Filters switched off.

Brian.Conflow.

[alrobin]

John,

Brian's advice is right on the money. I had a top-of-the-line laptop a few years ago, with so-called multimedia capabilities, but was using it only for business. Then when I started applying it to AV I realized that there was so much noise from the playback through the soundcard that the only way I could use it satisfactorily was by un-plugging the AC and running off of the battery. Of course this gave me only about an hour of playback time, but it was sufficient for most presentations. I ended up buying an external "MAudio" sound module which gave me much better sound quality.

I am now using a newer HP multimedia laptop which has great sound, but when I try to play through a mixer (to combine live narration with AV background sound), again I find too much noise, so have to scrap the mixer and go with two separate channels into the sound system using a proper mic pre-amp. So, it really does pay to try out your sound system in the shop before you commit yourself, especially when you are using a laptop..

[nickunwin]

John,

Depends on size of venue etc. If for bigger halls, want something self contained, easy to carry and with guts (and you're not too bothered about stereo) then one solution may be to go for a combined speaker amp such as gig musicians use. If for smaller stuff for workshops etc, then something from PC World would probably do just as well .

Catch you l8r m8.

[daveharris]

I switched to digital AV from dual projection about 18 months ago. When I lecture in Camera Clubs I use a Rotel Amp and a pair of B & W speakers. When projecting my show I use an Evesham laptop (near top of the range) and Plus U7 Projector.

The sound was ok with the amp plugged into the earphone socket of the laptop. I've always been fussy about sound quality - this just wasn't up to my standard, However I made a huge leap forward in quality terms when I plugged a Creative soundblaster card into the PCMIA socket - card costs about £50 GBP

The card I use:

<http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=244&subcategory=250&product=10769>

Certainly worth a look!

Dave

[Conflow]

Hi Dave and All,

Dave I was pleased to read your Post about 'Laptop-Sound Quality' which vindicates both of my previous Postings and yes you are quite correct about the Laptop PCMIA Port and your external plug-in 'Sound-Blaster Card'. That's the right way to go about it and what a 'heck' of a difference that makes, one wouldn't believe that a Laptop could actually delivering that level of Sound-Quality...one word,superb !

I only hope that our Readers 'heed' your advice and Al Robinsons and mine.

Brian.(Conflow).