Ok, guys, don't hate me for being able to afford this (believe me, I know what it's like to be broke...for years at a time). I've had my eye on a set of Corsair SP2500 2.1 speakers for my computer for a while and a week ago, I saw they were on sale at NewEgg so I pulled the trigger. I didn't pick them up from my mail service (fancy name for private mail box but the guys that run the place do far more than just stuff mail) until Friday.
I finally got around to getting the speakers installed today. I needed longer cables than the ones that came with the speakers so I had tried to buy longer ones from Corsair but their idiot website kept insisting that the address on my card didn't match my delivery address (which was a total crock). I finally gave up on them and found some 16/4 in-wall speaker cable at Home Depot that didn't look too horrible (I don't know why I was worried about the appearance; they are hidden behind the curtains and desk) and made up some 12' cables yesterday (10' would have been enough but I figured it would be easier to cut off any excess and crimp on new pins than it would be to add to the length).
This morning, I cleaned out behind my desk and, after digging out the carrots, potatoes, Jimmy Hoffa, etc., I got rid of the old Logitech X-540 speakers, abandoned cables and power cords, and one surge suppressor strip, then swept out the dirt, and relocated the other surge arrestor strip to the right of the desk kneehole to make room for the sub-woofer on steroids (I knew exactly what to expect but I was still a bit stunned when I opened the box and saw the little monster). I also pulled the desk three or four inches farther away from the wall to make a bit more room for that sub (it's about the size of the Nautilus) and added an extension cable to the monitor power cable so I could plug it into the UPS. It took me over a couple of hours to get things ready for the speakers since I was having to frequently crawl under the desk through the kneehole and back out and getting up and down off the floor. Ten years ago, I could have done all that in half an hour but I'm 64 now and legally handicapped so it was a bit of a chore for me (the joke "I've fallen and I can't get up" isn't funny anymore).
After recovering for awhile, I got the satellites set up on the shelf that runs over the window my desk faces and the speaker wires run behind the curtains to where the sub was to go. I set the sub on its front face on a couple of rags so I wouldn't scratch up the sub or the floor, pushed it part way under the kneehole, crawled under there (I hate that place right now), and hooked up the speaker cables, the input cable from the computer (3.2mm to two RCA plugs), the cable for the remote pod, and the power cable. That part was easy. Then I tipped the sub back upright and pushed back as far as it could go and crawled back out (if only crawling out and getting back to my feet was so easy). I fired up the computer, reset it to the new speakers, fiddled around with some settings, and I now have sound.
Even when just using the onboard audio on my ASUS P9X79 WS, everything sounds much, much, clearer and crisper than my old Logitech 5.1 system, especially the treble and the bass. Getting 5.1 was a mistake since one doesn't really need it for music and there isn't enough room in my bedroom where it was set up to mount the rear speakers properly. It was ok when I was sitting at my desk but the rear speakers would disappear when I listened from my bed. When I got the Logitechs, they sounded much better in the store than the Bose 2.0 speakers I had planned on getting for around the same price and they sounded just as good at home but they really weren't a good fit for the room. As good as the Logitechs were (considering how much they cost), the Corsairs are much better and well worth getting. Are they as good as true home theater speakers cost two to ten times as much? Of course not, but for the price and considering how small a room they are in (9'x12'), they sound fantastic. I haven't cranked the speakers (and won't because I don't want to bother the neighbors or hurt my ears) but, judging on where I have the computer and speaker volume settings at, they could easily rattle the windows.
The control pod has a longer cable than the old Logitechs did so there are no worries about having enough length no matter where I put it on the desk (pity they didn't take that into account with the speaker cables). I was worried about how bright the view screen would be at night but it can be set to turn the screen off after a certain period of time and the light for the buttons is bright enough to be seen but much dimmer than the power light on the old Logitech pod; I'm quite happy with that.
I haven't done too much fiddling with the settings (I have a slight amount of bass boost in the Realtek EQ and the speakers are set for Classical) since I'm tired and ache pretty much all over (I do have a spot on my left ear lobe that doesn't ache too much) so I'm giving it a rest for the rest of the day. I'm going to experiment with the settings for the next couple of days, then get an ASUS Xonar Essence STX sound card and see if there is enough improvement to justify the cost and the loss of a PCI-e slot.
Those Trooper cases are proper nice.
I could have done some nice upgrades with that lol.
