Sound

[JuddWack]

Hey everyone.  I got another question for you.  Again im planning on playing a lot of the newer Midway and fighting games, which have a lot of sound in them.  What type of sound card is reccomended and speakers?  Thanks.

[ripzone]

I think Sound Blaster's  cards are the best!
If you're using Dos, I think  SB16 (http://www.americas.creative.com/products/product.asp?product=268)are the best.
In Windows, any sound card will work!

I like very much the Creative Inspire 2.1 2400 Speakers w/ Subwoofer (http://www.americas.creative.com/products/product.asp?maincategory=3&category=17&product=170).

[naomi+]

I've tried the creative inspire 2.1, very good set. im buying them for my cab as well. BTW they are the same as the cambridge soundworks set, both made by creative with different boxes....I work at the dreaded CompUSA and the computer tells me they are both the same hehehe. enjoy!

[Brad Lee]

Do it.

I got a set of the Inspire 2.1 2500 that are almost identical and they sound great. For a card I used my old sb live 5.1 and it's all good

Best part is that I got the speakers for $10! $30 minus $20 rebate from Circuit City

[JuddWack]

My cabinet is going in my family room where our television, computer, and cd player is.  This is not only going to be used by me, but also my brother and sister and their friends.  Does anyone have any ideas how the volume level could be easily adjusted without having to play with the computers settings?

[Silverwind]

well.. if the speakers are anything like the cambridge soundworks that I have.. it comes with a volume control.. (a wheel knob)  you could put that maybe under the front of your control panel for easy access to the volume?

[JuddWack]

Thats exactly what I was thinking, but is the knob connected to the speakers or do I have to do rewireing?  Are they speakers loud or wimpy?

[Silverwind]

The sound output is fairly decent on mine.. i have two pair though on my PC.. one for front one for rear..

The volume control works like this...

[subwoofer] -> [volume control] -> [soundcard]

the sattelite speakers plug into the subwoofer..  I think the volume control is at the end of a six foot length of wire.. so you have a little bit of flexibility...  my set of speakers even came with double sided tape for the volume control!

[elfman12]

Yeah, and the cool thing with the cambridge/creative volume controls is that they can even shut off the speakers totally.

I'm looking into a headphone amplifier/distributer, so that I can have 2 headphone jacks underneath the front panel... and using the creative speakers I can just kill them and plug in headphones - all without getting into the cab or adjusting software volume controls.

Since my cab is next to the living room like yours, I already figured out that this is a must-do, for me anyway.

[ashardin]

I got a 3 piece set off of ebay that had an inline volume control that worked great.  It was about 2 inches long and an inch thick with the knob on top.  I got a bracket and installed it between the CP and monitor bezel on the inside.  

Did a cursory search but didn't find the unit but scour ebay, you can find units with inline volume controls.

[Silverwind]

I purchased mine from www.mwave.com

They have the soundworks 2.1 set for $31 and the inspire 2.1 for $34

I think they are the same speaker set just branded different?? Not sure but the specs look about the same..

either case they look like they both have the remote volume control..

[neuromancer]

Hey everyone.  I got another question for you.  Again im planning on playing a lot of the newer Midway and fighting games, which have a lot of sound in them.  What type of sound card is reccomended and speakers?  Thanks.

For games the soundcard probably doesn't matter too much. If you want good audio for other purposes, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is one of the best performers -- about $75 direct.

For speakers, better is better. I run my computer through a surplus Technics amp into some bookshelf speakers and a 12" subwoofer.

For a MAME cabinet, I wouldn't consider anything under 6" for the woofer, paired with a good tweeter. They don't cost *that* much.

Bob

[Jakobud]

Dont forget that these arcade games did not have THAT good of sound (compared to todays PC games).  You don't need some sort of crazy Sound Blaster Live Platinum Super Ultra Deluxe 5.1 EX card.  You will get just as good as sounds with a Sound Blaster 16.

[Thenasty]

well.. if the speakers are anything like the cambridge soundworks that I have.. it comes with a volume control.. (a wheel knob)  you could put that maybe under the front of your control panel for easy access to the volume?

Can you still buy this ? What do they callit now? I have one and like to get the same one cause of the volume control being seperated.

[Silverwind]

If your speakers are still under warranty.. they might replace the volume control for free.. (1 year I believe)

Now... is the volume control the only thing wrong with it?  I encountered a similar problem and contacted creative's tech support and they had a replacement for I think $5??

Speakers are getting a lot cheaper nowdays... might be worth it just to buy a new set.. heheh

The ones I listed at www.mwave.com are the cambridge soundworks.. so should be what you have..  they also carry the inspire 2.1...  might be cheaper somewhere else.. but i've purchased a few times from them and they are pretty good..

[Thenasty]

Silverwind, what I meant was, I wanna get the same ones because of the volume control being seperated. I have not seen any other speakers that has a volume control (knob kind, not slider) seperated from the unit. I got my creative soundworks when it first came out ($100.00) back then. I have not seen this kind in Compusa or Circiut city so i wa wondering if it still being sold somewhere.

[Silverwind]

Right.. I understand what you mean...

these ones should have the same volume control knob seperated from the subwoofer..

I have two sets of cambridge soundworks and both of them have the seperate volume control..
the ones I listed at www.mwave.com should have that also..

I'm not sure what other information you are looking for?

browse through the specs.. should be similar as what you have..  it will be hard to find an original cambridge soundworks.. but these are the "updated" version...

http://direct.mwave.com/mwave/doc2/256852.html