Speakers sound wrong

Spunge

Hello,
I bought some speakers and an amp for my room to play music off my computer but at low volumes it doesnt sound right. i've been trying to pin-point what the problem is and i think its that the drums are louder than the melodies or something.

For instance, im a big drum n bass fan and when i listen to it on my headphones i could hear the singing or melodies and the drums fine, they didnt overpower each other and it sounded good, but drum n bass doesnt sound too good on these, the drumming is just so much louder than the other music.

They aren't all bad, they play techno and hardcore very well at high volumes and some rock, and the bass is very impressive. But that problem is an annoyance.

So im just wondering if it's the speakers, the amp, both, or something else.



They are cheapo equipment, i know, but i was expecting no grievances.

Speakers --> http://www.acousticsolutions.net/product.asp?ID=1

Amp --> http://www.acousticsolutions.net/product.asp?ID=92

theslick

Maybe the "loudness" button pressed on the amp. This is a feature to boost bass response at low volumes - to bring it up above the threshold of hearing.

Spunge

Ok, tried that, didnt make much of a difference really

theslick

Can you play with the graphic equalizer settings of the player on the pc.
How is it connected from your pc? via the headphones out? To what input on the amp?

Spunge

I have a 2 to 1 cable going from my headphone socket on my computer to the connection for cd player on the amp.
I tried different settings on the equalizer which do make it sound better or worse but doesn't make it sound the way its supposed to.

theslick

tough one - here are some other thoughts.

drums too loud? which drum? bass drum?

speaker position - if in corners or up against walls, this causes bass reinforcement - bring them out a bit.

run in period - some new speakers sound crap until they have been used a bit.

Bass/treble controls zeroed on amp?

Speaker polarity correct? And well connected in with no stray strands. Good speaker wire?

Try swapping components to narrow problem. Eg connect up ipod instead of pc, try old mini with aux linein instead of amp etc.

Spunge

Well i thought it might have been the bass drum being too loud only, but when i turn the bass off and the treble up its the hi-hats are too loud, so it seems to be any drumming.

I tried running the system off my xbox but it was worse because there was no way to play with equaliser settings.

i tried them in many positions but didnt really help it too much.

I usually have the bass/treble on zero but ive tried many combinations

Dont know if the speaker wire is good, its got no strands and it came with the speakers.

Hopefully it's a run in period thing, as you said.

mossym

the headphone socket on your computer has a built in amplifer. you're connecting it to the line in on your amp..that's not going to be right, i bet ou have the volume turned up as well.

Connect the line out connection on your soundcard to the cd line in on the amplifier. Line in's on an amplifer are not meant to be connected to amplified outputs