SPDIF support

[Bill Sconce]

On Fri, 6 Apr 2007 15:58:13 -0400
Bill McGonigle <bill at bfccomputing.com> wrote:

> I have them hooked up over heavy gauge analog cable

"Analog cable"?

Er, this would be, like...   "wire"?     :)


and_water_has_to_come_in_plastic'ly yrs,

-Bill



Kidding.  Sort of.  It is SO hard to de-program ourselves from
marketing tripe.  F'rinstance, there's nothing wrong with Monster,
which except for hype is no better or worse than ... "wire".

But digital connections to SPEAKERS?  Good grief.

Bill M is right on.

_____________________________________________________________________
Bill McGonigle <bill at bfccomputing.com> wrote:

> ...I'd definitely put the money into better speakers, and be  
> ambivalent about the connection methodology.  I wound up with some  
> speakers sold as recording studio monitors from ROR Audio Research  
> (now defunct) - they're small and sound great.  I have them hooked up
> over heavy gauge analog cable (not Monster) and driven by a mid-range
> Sony amp (in Stereo) + 15" Sub, and it's great.  There's a great big  
> cable mess hidden behind the electronics in the living room, but I  
> was maximizing for audio reproduction and budget, not cable  
> neatness.  I'll be sad when the speaker substrate finally decays.   
> Oh, and I've had these for 18 years - so invest every penny you can  
> in quality gear and the amortized cost will still be low.
> 
> By way of comparison I've seen $99 "Home Theater" speaker systems at  
> the Warehouse Club with SPDIF inputs, and I'm certain they don't  
> sound as good, even though they loudly exclaim, "Pure Digital", right
> on the box.
> 
> On 5.1 &. 7.1 - it's cool, but I realized I wasn't hearing the  
> surround unless I was listening for it when I realized one day my  
> surrounds had been disconnected for about 3 months when I forgot to  
> reconnect them after cleaning up a cable mess.  I still have the sub  
> connected via an analog frequency filter and there's nothing wrong  
> with it (that I can hear in a standard room).  I'm all for audio  
> geekiness and have spent time playing in anechoic chambers, but this  
> is a living room.  Also, I spend more time these days watching Norm  
> Abrams and Fred Rogers than I do listening for the clink of brass on  
> Chapter 29 of The Matrix, but I still need some quiet time with Miles
> Davis every once in a while and you just can't hear Tony Williams's  
> brilliant cymbal work on bad speakers.
> 
> That is all to say, my design requirements may be different than  
> yours, but there's one perspective to consider for where to allocate  
> resources.
> 
> -Bill