Hi folks.
So lemme start off by saying, I am a complete novice, so please excuse me if my questions seem obvious to those that have been through this a while.
I love tinkering, as well as learning, so the bug has bit me a bit with digging into audio, and seems like a fun hobby to take on.
Background - I want to upgrade my daily audio setup. I work at a desk in a home office 10-16 hours a day, swapping between headphones and speakers depending on the task.
My speaker setup atm is what I would consider bottom of the barrel (cheap pc speakers from 12 years ago - creative 2.1 setup hooked directly into line-in 3.5mm on my PC).
I've always spent on other components, but never really on audio, as it always felt like "high-end" was unobtainium in terms of cost. Now that I'm doing a bit better in life, I feel
like perhaps I can do better
Goal - Replace my current setup with something basic. I have an idea to build me a pair of 4" bookshelf speakers (4" woofer w/ 1" tweeter) as a start, and possibly add a 8" sub later on
as money allows (and if needed at all).
Q1 - Since I've never experienced "decent" audio (at least in my opinion), is it realistic that a set that I build from scratch would sound better than the set I have at the moment? My inclination
is to say yes, but I have no measure as to what to expect.
Q2 - What is the general consensus on costing for a "budget" setup for 2 bookshelves build DIY? I am not planning to design everything myself, and will likely be following some plans from online sources,
however i'd like to figure out whether what I am considering is even close to worth while or if I am just wasting my money at the end of the day. (From what I've costed out thus far, I'm looking at around R2000 for the drivers & crossover components themselves - ironically half the cost in this is with the crossover, so I am not sure if I'm overspending on those either Dayton Audio TCP115-4's and Dayton Audio NHP25Ti-4's)
Then finally - Q3 - I know very little about audio besides "3.5mm jack goes into source, done". If I am building a set of passive bookshelves, I have learnt that I would need an external amp to drive them. My question is,
if I build a set of passive bookshelves, and I want to add a sub later on, do I get a 2.1 amp now and build the sub passive as well, or is there alternative options to consider that might fit my situation a bit better?
Thanks, and apologies if this seems vague. I've done some reading on my own, as well as browsed through the forum for some of the answers, just figured i'd consolidate into a thread to make it more coherint.
So lemme start off by saying, I am a complete novice, so please excuse me if my questions seem obvious to those that have been through this a while.
I love tinkering, as well as learning, so the bug has bit me a bit with digging into audio, and seems like a fun hobby to take on.
Background - I want to upgrade my daily audio setup. I work at a desk in a home office 10-16 hours a day, swapping between headphones and speakers depending on the task.
My speaker setup atm is what I would consider bottom of the barrel (cheap pc speakers from 12 years ago - creative 2.1 setup hooked directly into line-in 3.5mm on my PC).
I've always spent on other components, but never really on audio, as it always felt like "high-end" was unobtainium in terms of cost. Now that I'm doing a bit better in life, I feel
like perhaps I can do better
Goal - Replace my current setup with something basic. I have an idea to build me a pair of 4" bookshelf speakers (4" woofer w/ 1" tweeter) as a start, and possibly add a 8" sub later on
as money allows (and if needed at all).
Q1 - Since I've never experienced "decent" audio (at least in my opinion), is it realistic that a set that I build from scratch would sound better than the set I have at the moment? My inclination
is to say yes, but I have no measure as to what to expect.
Q2 - What is the general consensus on costing for a "budget" setup for 2 bookshelves build DIY? I am not planning to design everything myself, and will likely be following some plans from online sources,
however i'd like to figure out whether what I am considering is even close to worth while or if I am just wasting my money at the end of the day. (From what I've costed out thus far, I'm looking at around R2000 for the drivers & crossover components themselves - ironically half the cost in this is with the crossover, so I am not sure if I'm overspending on those either Dayton Audio TCP115-4's and Dayton Audio NHP25Ti-4's)
Then finally - Q3 - I know very little about audio besides "3.5mm jack goes into source, done". If I am building a set of passive bookshelves, I have learnt that I would need an external amp to drive them. My question is,
if I build a set of passive bookshelves, and I want to add a sub later on, do I get a 2.1 amp now and build the sub passive as well, or is there alternative options to consider that might fit my situation a bit better?
Thanks, and apologies if this seems vague. I've done some reading on my own, as well as browsed through the forum for some of the answers, just figured i'd consolidate into a thread to make it more coherint.
