Emotiva mini -X a - 100

[vincedea]

Hi everyone, new here so please bare with me as i do not know a lot about speakers and amps. Now I am on a budget so I really dont want to go over like $400 so the lower the better. So here I go.

I am very interested in purchasing the emotiva mini amp to use with my computer. I plan on purchasing the Pioneer SP-BS21 speakers.

Now my question is I would like to create a 2.1 system but it does not seem i can add a subwoofer to this amp. What are the possible ways in doing so, so that I can control the volume of the speakers and the subwoofer all together by using the amp volume control?

What type of subwoofer would you suggest in making it an easy way in creating a 2.1 setup?

and if it difficult would you recommend on getting different types of speakers other than the pioneers that has more bass?

So to recap:

setup will be used with computer setup
how to setup subwoofer with amp
what type of subwoofer would you recommend making it easy to setup correctly
and what other type of speakers would you recommend


Thank you and I look forward to learning a lot from your suggestions and experieces.

[ansat]

Nov 2, 2012 14:03:43 GMT -5 vincedea said:

Hi everyone, new here so please bare with me as i do not know a lot about speakers and amps. Now I am on a budget so I really dont want to go over like $400 so the lower the better. So here I go.

I am very interested in purchasing the emotiva mini amp to use with my computer. I plan on purchasing the Pioneer SP-BS21 speakers.

Now my question is I would like to create a 2.1 system but it does not seem i can add a subwoofer to this amp. What are the possible ways in doing so, so that I can control the volume of the speakers and the subwoofer all together by using the amp volume control?

What type of subwoofer would you suggest in making it an easy way in creating a 2.1 setup?

and if it difficult would you recommend on getting different types of speakers other than the pioneers that has more bass?

So to recap:

setup will be used with computer setup
how to setup subwoofer with amp
what type of subwoofer would you recommend making it easy to setup correctly
and what other type of speakers would you recommend


Thank you and I look forward to learning a lot from your suggestions and experieces.

This will work if your sub has high level inputs. emo amp --> sub --> speakers

[vincedea]

Nov 2, 2012 14:05:46 GMT -5 ansat said:

Nov 2, 2012 14:03:43 GMT -5 vincedea said:

Hi everyone, new here so please bare with me as i do not know a lot about speakers and amps. Now I am on a budget so I really dont want to go over like $400 so the lower the better. So here I go.

I am very interested in purchasing the emotiva mini amp to use with my computer. I plan on purchasing the Pioneer SP-BS21 speakers.

Now my question is I would like to create a 2.1 system but it does not seem i can add a subwoofer to this amp. What are the possible ways in doing so, so that I can control the volume of the speakers and the subwoofer all together by using the amp volume control?

What type of subwoofer would you suggest in making it an easy way in creating a 2.1 setup?

and if it difficult would you recommend on getting different types of speakers other than the pioneers that has more bass?

So to recap:

setup will be used with computer setup
how to setup subwoofer with amp
what type of subwoofer would you recommend making it easy to setup correctly
and what other type of speakers would you recommend


Thank you and I look forward to learning a lot from your suggestions and experieces.

This will work if your sub has high level inputs. emo amp --> sub --> speakers

Thank you for your reply. So I would hook up the speakers to the sub and then the sub to the amp? which in turn I can adjust the volume for all the components?

What type of sub would you recommend?

[ansat]

There is many to choose from. What are you trying to achieve for bass? How low do you want to sub to go? Is this just for music? What kind of music?

BTW -- Welcome to the forums!

[garbulky]

At 400, there's not a whole lot you can do for quality if you include the speakers and electronics in your budget. But rest assured, the mini-x will do a good job with your bookshelves. They will also not distort. What is your source? Is it the inbuilt PC sound card? You should know that inbuilt sound cards provide poor quality sound compared to other offerings.
Also the biggest gains in quality come from your speakers.

Anyway, you can use an audio splitter from your source. It will duplicate the signal. Then you can pass one to the subwoofer and one to your mini-x bookshelves.

Some subwoofers have a passthrough. Here you put the source signal into your subwoofer and it passes the signal to your mini-x from another stereo jack on the subwoofer. You then adjust the cross over on the subwoofer to tell it how much bass you want it to take.
I'm not very experienced in subwoofers so I don't have any reccomendations.

There is a company that's slightly above your price range that produces some very nice speakers for good value. They are called tektondesigns and they have a well reviewed speaker called the m-lore for about 600.
Check out their stuff if you are able to. Most of them are very efficient so a low powered amp can drive them to good volumes.
www.tektondesign.com/products.html

I say this because of this. At your price range, the amount spent on speakers can GREATLY increase your sound quality experience. I've experienced a lot of systems at those price points and I found that in the end, I lost money. Because even though those systems were good, I ended up spending more money upgrading because every time I did I noticed big benefits. If you've never heard a good system before, then I guarantee you the price difference is SO worth it.
For instance, that M-lore I pointed out will have great bass and audiophile level quality for little money. AND the mini-x will drive it very well. In fact the bass that you will get will probably be better than any subwoofer that you can buy currently within your current budget.
Best of luck in your search and I think you are making a good decision with the mini-x.

[ansat]

garbulky, splitting the signal will not work as op is looking to control the volume for the sub and speakers from the mini-x volume control. Its going to have to be high level to achieve this. But given the budget. I might advise against the pioneers. Still waiting for more info though.

[garbulky]

ansat: Stupid me. Sorry, I don't know much about subs!
Vince: Ansat is right ignore my splitter reccomendation.

[vincedea]

Nov 2, 2012 14:30:02 GMT -5 ansat said:

There is many to choose from. What are you trying to achieve for bass? How low do you want to sub to go? Is this just for music? What kind of music?

BTW -- Welcome to the forums!

I just want bass, where should should be in music,movies, and games. I listen to all types of music, from like house all the way to classical. i dont need the bass to like have my whole house shake or what not as the setup will be in my room. I figure an 8 in or 10 in subwoofer should do the trick.

The reason I choose those pioneer speakers was because they tend to go on sale for $50 and a lot of reviews say they are worth the price of $50, so I am just waiting for them to go on sale.

Also I was wodnering does using the high level outputs change the sound of the speakers vs having them hooked up to the amp itself?


garbulky: I will be using a xonar dx sound card, I may also use my iphone/ipod for music listening at times when i dont need my pc turned on.

[ansat]

Ok, I have not experienced any difference in the performance of left and right while using high level inputs. The sub does not perform as well in my opinion but it beats having to keep the sub at one setting for all levels of sound.

The speakers that you are looking at will likey need a xover point of around 100hz. I dont buy for a minute that they will play down to 60 as advertised as they are a 4 inch speaker. I think a 8 or 10 would do you good to get you down to 40hz. Maybe 35hz

Now for 450$ you can get a pair emotivapro.com/products/powered_monitors/airmotiv5.php
that will get you to 50hz and a very nice sounding speaker that doesnt need a amp. Cheaper if they have some b=stock or factory renewed.

But If I were to recommend something cheap. Check newegg. 100$ will get a 10" polk with great reviews.

[garbulky]

If you go with the airmotives, you will have to use the volume control on the xonar/ipod to control the volume. The airmotiv volume controls are individual on each speaker so they aren't easy to use as a volume control.
The airmotivs have got good reviews on the lounge. I personally wouldn't go that route as I'm a tower/separates kind of guy, but it comes recommended from a lot of people + you get the amplifiers with them. It will most likely beat the sound quality of the pioneers that you're looking at. I would still recommending saving a bit more so you can go one step higher like the m-lore towers as the returns are worth it. Good luck with your decision.

[wizardofoz]

the sub hi level (speaker inputs) basically have a voltage divider to drop the signal to the sub...they produce very little load change to the speaker signal and should not impact your sound audibly. purists will say otherwise but at your budget you basically have no options to do much else for 2.1 using the mini-x and some bookshelf speakers

[vincedea]

Nov 2, 2012 16:16:58 GMT -5 ansat said:

Ok, I have not experienced any difference in the performance of left and right while using high level inputs. The sub does not perform as well in my opinion but it beats having to keep the sub at one setting for all levels of sound.

The speakers that you are looking at will likey need a xover point of around 100hz. I dont buy for a minute that they will play down to 60 as advertised as they are a 4 inch speaker. I think a 8 or 10 would do you good to get you down to 40hz. Maybe 35hz

Now for 450$ you can get a pair emotivapro.com/products/powered_monitors/airmotiv5.php
that will get you to 50hz and a very nice sounding speaker that doesnt need a amp. Cheaper if they have some b=stock or factory renewed.

But If I were to recommend something cheap. Check newegg. 100$ will get a 10" polk with great reviews.

What is a xover point?

I think i will be getting this amp, since i havent been able to find amp that looks as awesome as this one but with an sub line in or line out for easy sub installation.

if there are please let me know.

[geebo]

The crossover point is the point at which the signal gets routed to the speakers or the sub. For example, if you set the crossover to 100 then any thing below that point will go to the subwoofer while anything above that frequency will go to the main speakers.
Polk makes a number of subs that you can connect the amplifier's left and right outputs to inputs on the sub. Your speakers then connect to left and right outputs on the sub. All that's left is to set the crossover and volume level of the sub.

[vincedea]

Nov 3, 2012 1:12:44 GMT -5 geebo said:

The crossover point is the point at which the signal gets routed to the speakers or the sub. For example, if you set the crossover to 100 then any thing below that point will go to the subwoofer while anything above that frequency will go to the main speakers.
Polk makes a number of subs that you can connect the amplifier's left and right outputs to inputs on the sub. Your speakers then connect to left and right outputs on the sub. All that's left is to set the crossover and volume level of the sub.

ahh I see sounds easy enough to do I hope lol.

What sub would you recommend from polk that would go perfect with this amp?

[vincedea]

can you guys also show me or link me a photo of what exactly i should look for in the sub? with all teh outputs and inputs on the sub itself.

thank you

[ansat]

There is really only one at newegg that would fit your budget. There is also a martin logan that would be in your budget also. 400 - 220 for the mini -x -50 for the speakers and making a assumption that you have all the cabling needed only leaves 130 budget for the subwoofer. This is not a recommendation based on matching the sub with speakers but matching a sub with your budget.

When looking for a sub you will need the high level input / output and the crossover (LPF) adjustment

On a side note: That mini-x will drive any speaker / tower that you will find out there. Giving your budget I would advise getting the mini - x and pair of better quality speakers and upgrading to a sub later down the road. Matching speakers with a sub on a computer desk (making a assumption here) is not a easy task as you are very close the speakers and there is lots of just "stuff" in and around them lends to usually less then ideal placement and a sub that lives at your feet. You are going to find that you will not find a perfect match no matter what you do
at a listening position of a few feet. But here are the requested images

[vincedea]

Thank you for the pictures. After giving some thought I think I will spend a little more money on the speakers to go with this amp and get a subwoofer way later down the road.

So I guess now what would be some good speakers that will give out decent bass that would work with all types of music, movies, and games.

[ansat]

www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000TD6REQ

Would be a good bookshelf with decent extension.

Also take a look at the used market in the area.

sent from my phone. sorry for the short response. Tony

[garbulky]

I know I said this two times before but .... the tekton design M-Lores! 8 inch driver and tweeter. Easily driven. Goes down very low for the price, gets you around 40 hz and most cheap subwoofers will struggle for that response. It's also handbuilt by a master crafstman. 30 day money back. 5 year warranty. Comes in black red white and gray

Review: hometheaterreview.com/tekton-design-m-lore-loudspeaker-reviewed/
www.stereotimes.com/speak080712.shtml
Buy: www.tektondesign.com/lore-m.html

[dwwjr56]

Hello and welcome!

Try the audioengine line of speakers. Plenty out there in the used dept, but also in your price range new. You would want the p4 series as those are the non-powered version.
I have the "5" series and I think they sound pretty darn good.

audioengineusa.com/
They also have "b" stock (refurb) if you click on
audioengineusa.com/Store/refurbished#.UJWE6ny9KSM

Plenty on eBay and others here

www.amazon.com/Audioengine-Premium-Passive-Bookshelf-Speaker/dp/B002FJVTGI/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1351975852&sr=1-5&keywords=Audioengine+4