Date: Fri, 01 Feb 2002 20:56:50 -0700 From: "Charles Burns" <burnscharlesn@hotmail.com> To: smak_420@hotmail.com, questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Santa Cruz and 5.1.. Message-ID: <F38Q7E0rDDDGPQDbHJg0000b1d1@hotmail.com>
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>Does anyone have any feedback on gaming and xmms type usage with the Santa >Cruz and say a Klipsch 5.1 system on the recent 4.5 Release? > >does the center channel work? i'm mostly concerned about playback here, >although feedback on recording would be a bonus as well. I don't game on FreeBSD, but I have some comments about the hardware that you mentioned. The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is an excellent soundcard with great output and it doesn't screw up with SMP systems (unlike my SB Audigy) The Klipsch 5.1 system, or any Klipsch PC speaker system, is very specialized. Specialized meaning that if you are after volume and bass, it is a great system. If you are after accurate sound reproduction, it sucks. Unfortunately, most 5.1 systems made for the PC are crap as far as sound reproduction. Some exceptions: - Monsoon has a 5.1 system that sounds very good, but it is a bit underpowered. - The Videologic Digitheatre 5.1 system is /extremely/ good for the price and is not underpowered. I am not sure what its procing in the U.S. is, but the Sirocco Crossfire system (their 4.1) is about $450.00 and I saw a Digitheatre 5.1 on Ebay for $400 as a passing glance. (British spelling as they are a British company) If you are interested in gaming, the center channel will spend most of its time twiddling its thumbs. If you are interested in DVD movies, it will be useful. The virtual center channel on most quality 4.1 systems is quite good, but for DVD movies you can still tell that it is being faked if you listen for it. Note that I am not "anti-Klipsch". I actually have a Klipsch regular home theater system hooked up to my PC now and it sounds very good. Their PC speaker systems really do suck though. Listen to them--they have a mediocre midrange, a very sharp and harsh high end, and somewhat flubbery, boomy bass. All mid to upper frequencies have this weird megaphone-like quality to them as well. Also note that the power ratings that hey use are NOT true RMS, so the 500W claim is worthless. This is rather odd as they use true RMS to rate every one of their speakers except the ProMedias. <shrug>. For example, the Videologic Sirocco Crossfire speakers are rated at 80W true RMS and can actually get a few dB higher than the Klipsch. They are fairly powerful for their price, though, and are fine if you never listen to music or movies. If you'd like me to look up some references for you, let me know, but this is mostly from my own listening experience. (speaking of which--go out and listen to some of these speakers and judge for yourself!) Charles Burns _________________________________________________________________ Chat with friends online, try MSN Messenger: http://messenger.msn.com To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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