powered computer speakers are one of the hottest categories in home audio
right now as we all spend more time at our desk adding a great sounding pair of
speakers certainly makes listening to music much more enjoyable than those
tiny little speakers in your laptop or even the cheap
speakers that came with your desktop in this video we'll go over a few tips
tricks and upgrades to improve the performance of your powered speakers
some costing very little and some that cost nothing but a few minutes of time
now let's get started
first we're going to make sure your speakers are set up correctly
for this one all you need is a tape measure simply hooking up your speakers
and computer and then clicking the play button is all it takes to get music
going but this isn't going to tell the whole story
if you set up your speakers properly in relation to your ears
you'll hear a nice wide sound stage in front of you
while you're working this makes music much more fun and pleasant to listen to
all you need to do is make sure each speaker is the same distance from your
ears and the easiest way to do this is to
position your chair exactly how it will be
when you're seated at your desk and then measure from each speaker
to the center point of your chair we like to try to go for an equilateral
triangle or as close as you can get to it so if
your speakers are three feet from the back of your chair
put them about three feet apart on your desk
we also suggest you experiment with angling them in just a bit
the further apart they are the more you'll want to angle them
in play a very simple recording something with a single voice
is always best and when you get them set up properly
the performers should sound like they're coming right out of the computer screen
and one more thing on position most powered speakers have a dedicated left
and right speaker so make sure they're in the correct position
another great way to improve your current setup is adding a pair of
speaker stands just about every powered speaker company
makes a set of stands for their speakers and while you can definitely spend a lot
if you want to you can typically get a good pair of
stands for thirty to fifty dollars these serve two purposes first they
angle the speaker up so it's pointing more towards your
ears this gives the speaker a much taller sound
which makes the music sound more like the band is in the room
secondly the stand will help isolate the speaker from your desktop
your desk resonates with the speaker as it plays and this does add some
coloration to the sound after you add your stands go back
through our first tip on setting up your speakers
to make sure they're positioned properly now we're going to talk about DACs or
digital to analog converters also known as a DAC
a DAC is what converts the digital music signal coming from your computer
to the analog signal that you hear DACs are in
everything we use from cell phones to televisions since they're used
everywhere there is a huge range of quality and price
all computers have a DAC inside them and how you choose to hook up your
computer to your powered speakers will determine if it's being used or not
if you're running a cable from a headphone jack on your computer
into your speakers the conversion from the digital the analog is happening
inside the computer which means you're using the computer's
built-in DAC if you have your computer connected to
your speakers with a usb cable that means the digital to analog
conversion is happening once the signal reaches the DAC inside of the powered
speaker an easy way to know which DAC is being
used is to remember that auxiliary cables and rca cables
transmit an analog signal from your computer
and a usb cable transmits a digital signal from your computer
a whole new category of tiny usb DACs has emerged in the last few years
and these little devices simply plug into a usb port on your computer
and they have a small mini plug connection for an audio cable to a
headphone cable all you have to do is simply plug one of
these into your computer and connect a cable and plug the other
end into the analog input on your powered speakers
depending on your computer or streaming platform you may also need to set your
new DAC as the sound output so your computer knows where to
send the digital signal the difference between an external DAC
and the computer's DAC or even the DAC that's built into your
speakers will astound you we've had many customers write to us
just to tell us how much better their music sounds with an external DAC
the better your speakers are the more you'll appreciate it too
while ultra high performance DACs can get up into the thousands
our favorite DAC for the money is the audioquest dragonfly black
at only $99 this is a great upgrade for any pair of computer speakers
we're going to talk about speaker stands again for just a minute because we
wanted to draw our attention to a specific pair
isoacoustics 130 stands the sonic improvement with
these stands is big these will fit most power
speakers that are larger than five inches wide and six inches deep
this makes them pair up great with the peachtree m series,
kanto tuk, yu4, and yu6, the audioengine a5 series and hd6 models, and most of the
klipsch power speakers as well they can be adjusted to 14 different
heights and they have a variable tilt adjustment as well the isoacoustics
technology is all about reducing the energy from other
surfaces getting back into the speaker cabinet we decided
to try these out under a pair of peachtree
m24s and we were blown away at the improvement
once again make sure you just take a few minutes to position your speakers
correctly once you get them mounted on the stands
and you'll be very happy with the results
enjoying music while we work sure makes the day go by faster and i know for me
personally it really improves my productivity
these enhancements and little tweaks will really make your music more
enjoyable during the day and even more fun when you crank it up
after the work day is over if you have any questions at all about
your powered speakers or any other home audio or home theater gear
feel free to give us a call chat with one of our experts at audioadvice.com
or stop into one of our raleigh or charlotte north carolina showrooms
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