Sound Is All Relative

[howpet]

Tonite I got talked into trading my logitech 5300"s for a set of 2.1 Altec Lansing speakers.
My daughters idea so how can you say no. Her bedroom is larger than my cave. I had no idea how much accoustics could come into play as to how a set of speakers perform.
The 5300"s were almost overdriving themselves in the smaller room (AKA to much input)
I"m listening to Wish You Here on the 2.1 system and it"s never sounded better (in the smaller room).
The 5300"s in her room also sound so so much better.
Sooo... If anybody wasn"t already aware (I wasn"t) bigger isn"t always better if it doesn"t fit your application.
I got a peck on the cheek for the trade

My Gramma used to say "A Change Is As Good A Cure" ...

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by howpet

Tonite I got talked into trading my logitech 5300"s for a set of 2.1 Altec Lansing speakers.
My daughters idea so how can you say no. Her bedroom is larger than my cave. I had no idea how much accoustics could come into play as to how a set of speakers perform.
The 5300"s were almost overdriving themselves in the smaller room (AKA to much input)
I"m listening to Wish You Here on the 2.1 system and it"s never sounded better (in the smaller room).
The 5300"s in her room also sound so so much better.
Sooo... If anybody wasn"t already aware (I wasn"t) bigger isn"t always better if it doesn"t fit your application.
I got a peck on the cheek for the trade

You discovered what a lot of people already knew.

Room acoustics, room materials, materials in the room, speaker type and size .. etc etc.

This is why there are companies who specialize in this.

[howpet]

It"s really amazing...I can"t describe how much difference there is...
I have the better sound card...2.1 speakers...smaller room
She has the bigger room 5.1 speakers.
The kiss on the cheek sealled the deal.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by howpet

It"s really amazing...I can"t describe how much difference there is...
I have the better sound card...2.1 speakers...smaller room
She has the bigger room 5.1 speakers.
The kiss on the cheek sealled the deal.

Honestly..

5.1 and music don't mix. You want music to sound good run it in nothing more than stereo which is also probably why your 2.1 is sound better.

[Arinoth]

Unless the music has been recording in/for 5.1, which a lot seem not to be, all that happens is the stereo music is remux'ed so that it'll play through all 5 speaker channels.

[Ardric]

I would definitely agree that 90%+ of achieving good sound is the speakers you use, the room you put them in, the room treatment (damping, furniture, etc), and speaker location. Simply moving the speakers around in the room can often make a bigger improvement than swapping sound cards, mp3 vs flac, etc. That's why I'm not a fan of PC speakers in general, but would rather use a hand-me-down receiver from the living room system and a good pair of stereo bookshelf speakers or near-field studio monitors, with some effort put into placing the speakers where they work best... even if that means rearranging some of the room to make it all work. There's lots of good stereo systems from the 90's on craigslist that will blow away anything that's mainly intended for PC use.