Plastic or Glass Toslink between CD player and amp?

Turbota

Drenis ... I thought 2-channel was to mean that you just have 2 distinct audio channels (in this case .. left and right) whether your powering 2, 4, 6 or however many speakers that are attached to the amplifier.

disclaimer: I am no audio expert by any stretch :cheesygrin:

Face

4 speakers powered off 2 channels=cacophony of sound.

Turbota

Face wrote: »

4 speakers powered off 2 channels=cacophony of sound.

ca.coph.o.ny
[kuh-kof-uh-nee]

noun

1. Harsh discordance of sound; dissonance: a cacophony of hoots, cackles, and wails.

2. A discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds: The cacophony produced by city traffic at midday.

3. Music: Frequent use of discords of a harshness and relationship difficult to understand.
___________________________________


Well, I learned a new word today ... "Cacophony"

Now ... Please, lets not be pugnacious

Face

With more than two speakers you lose this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereophonic_sound#Playback

maximillian

Two speakers putting out the exact same sound, i.e. two left channel speakers, will result in constructive and destructive interference of the sound waves. In otherwords, as Face said it, a "cacophony of sound." I tried it early on in my audio experience and it is simply bad to do. If you want a bigger sound then get bigger speakers, not more of them.

Turbota

I read that link you provided and certainly understand what the author is saying ... However, I have basically the same system in my house in the Philippines (front and rear speakers) that I am going to put together here, and I did an A - A/B test.

To me, the sound was more "spacious / open" sounding while listening with all 4 speakers running than with just the 2 front speakers (considering that the listening room is large enough for 4 speakers).

Hey, I am no expert when it comes to audio, but MY ears said it sounded better with 4 than with 2 .... Like I said in another thread; Go to one of those up-scale dance clubs. They have speakers all over the place (even on the ceiling) ... Music coming from all over. And to me, it sounds pretty good. Of course, some of these clubs have very very expensive sound systems installed.

Right or wrong, but I am betting there are others that are using more than 1 pair of speakers in there audio-only music systems too.
__________________________________

Can't see much from this photo, but again, my house in the Philippines is a 4 speaker system. The listener would be sitting in the couch off to the right, that's barely visable in the photo (you can only see the end of the couch) ... And you can only see 1 of the rear bookshelf speakers that's sitting on a speaker stand. The "Rear" speakers would really be more off to the listener's sides, and not so much to the listener's rear ... but I think you can get the idea.

F1nut

Your set up is all wrong for any kind of serious listening. Get the speakers out of the corners, move them closer together and more out into the room. Get rid of the second set of speakers and add more carpet to cover that hard floor. If you just want background noise, leave it as it is.

Turbota

F1nut ... Thank's for the tips

Unfortunatly, for the system I have in the Philippines, carpet is not an option. Just really not available there. Maybe more area rugs.

maximillian

It may sound more full with more speakers, but your imaging will be awful. That's what I experienced. It may rock-the-house (i.e. background noise) but it doesn't sound like it should.

Again, maybe your setup is all that you are looking for and you don't want to engage in critical listening and obtaining of feeling of being immersed in the recording and realism of the performance. Nothing wrong with that. But, many users here want that experience and work hard and spend a lot to achieve it.

Turbota

As far as that system I have in the Philippines, there really was not alot of choices as far as audio equipment goes. The Philippines is a 3rd world country, and the components that you find here in the US just aren't available there. Living far from Manila (the capital) don't help at all either.

My hearing isn't that great at all after many years flying turbine aircraft (to include multi-engine turbine helicopters), but to me, that system I have in the Philippines was pretty good sounding despite my severe high freq hearing loss.

oh well ... I am easy to please when it comes to music quality ... as long as you keep the rap / hip hop on the shelf, and out of the CD player, and the music is not too 'boomy'.

I probably don't really belong in this forum, since most members here are much more serious about music then myself, but I find this board is a good place to get my somewhat un-technical questions answered by people that understand this stuff alot better than I do.

And I say .. thank you for that

F1nut

I probably don't really belong in this forum, since most members here are much more serious about music then myself, but I find this board is a good place to get my somewhat un-technical questions answered by people that understand this stuff alot better than I do.

And I say .. thank you for that

Nonsense, you belong here.

heiney9

You have to remember even someone like myself who has very strong opinions are just giving solid suggestions. You can try it with two speakers and if you still prefer 4 then it's your rig. There are no absolute right and wrong way to do audio, but there are better methods and as long as you keep an open mind you belong here.

H9

Turbota

Well, I already bought 4 speakers ... but there is always that ever present A-A/B switch to fall back on :biggrin:

tonyb

Turbo, keep in mind when you ask questions, you'll get a variety of answers from many with experiences that differ greatly. Not any single one is right or wrong, but is best used to serve you as a guide to better sound. Nothing is written in stone. 4 speakers means 4 channel, just to get the jargon right, and if that floats your boat, rock on brother.

As F1nut so put it....nonsense, you belong on this forum. No need to feel intimidated, music is enjoyed on every level regardless. So keep asking away, you may not agree with all the answers, but who cares, it's your ears that matter.

Turbota

thank you sir

transmaster

Before you purchase any optical cable check out links below.

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/digital-audio/index.htm

http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/digital-audio/digaudprices.htm

transmaster

Turbo6TA wrote: »

Why is that?

I would think that just because it's capable of playing Blu-Ray discs, that it would be just as capable (quality wise) for playing CD / MP3 as any regular CD or CD/DVD player that has RCA audio outputs on the rear case.

Just asking

That is right and here is the difference; The frequency in nanometers of the lasers that read CDs are about 780 nm; DVD lasers, about 650 nm; and Blu-ray disc lasers, 450 nm. right away you can see the shorter the frequency, wave length, width, of the laser the smaller the "pits" on the optical dish the closer together they can be, and the denser the data storage can be. Blu-Ray disc players and burners have all three lasers installed on the pickup. Sensors in the pickup sense what disc is on the spinner and activates the appropriate laser diode (for you high end people a photon transducer) to scan the surface. Except for the density, meaning storage space, of a given disc format it is all 1's and 0's. Unless you have a real expensive optical drive plugged into a real cheap receiver the D/A converters in an optical drives are not going to be superior to the converters built into a modern digital home theater receiver. besides that Receivers such as my Onkyo TX-NR709 process the audio signal in a digital mode until it is finally converted to an analog signal at the end to feed the finals, so what is the point in feeding such a receiver and analog signal when it will be converted on the spot into a digital stream. Not playing music on a Blu-Ray, why not, just think how many albums in a losseless format can recorded on a Blu-Ray disc. Then there is the matter of bits and bytes. A modern high bit sample rate lossless (FLAK) recording is magical, they will not fit on a CD, they require at least a DVD. Below is such recordings I have the two versions of the Gimell release below. Gimell has free samples, and free total downloads of selected single tracks. of all of their formats so you can hear what a really high end, properly mastered digital recording sounds like. The Thomas Tallis Scholars are the very best, and wear ever possible these church masses are performed in the very church they there were first preformed in the 16th century.

I have been a steady customer of Gimell sense the mid 1980's go here: http://www.gimell.com/recording-josquin---missa-de-beata-virgina-and-missa-ave-maris-stella.aspx

Josquin - Missa De beata virgine and Missa Ave maris stella
The Tallis Scholars
CDGIM 044
Total Playing Time 76 minutes

Studio Master 176 FLAC 24bit 176.4kHz 2,679.0MB
Studio Master 96 FLAC 24bit 96kHz 3,196.2MB 5.1 surround

As for the cable you are on your own. Only those who know the mysteries 猪肉脂肪佛秩序 can evaluate interconnect cable.