Disclaimer: I have no idea what I am doing
Here's what I tried to do.
I have the Creative Inspire 5.1 5200 soundcard/speaker system
see specs here Creative Worldwide Support Creative Inspire 5.1 5200
I've used it for years, and for listening to MP3 music as background music, or sitting-at-my-desk normal volume, it sounds simply awesome! I'm not even using it as a 5.1 system anymore - I just run a minijack cable from my laptop headphones output, into the subwoofer/amp, and then to only 2 of the 5 speakers, cuz of course it's only putting out 2-channel stereo. And it still sounds awesome!
So, my girlfriend loves the sound I get with such small speakers, and I figured I have 5 identical speakers, I can give her a couple of the extras, try to duplicate my setup. I think, it's not the subwoofer, just need an amp, so I bought a Lepy 2020A+ which should be more than enough to drive these little speakers. But the result sounds nothing like when the Creative amp is driving it. With Creative, the bass sounds thick, dynamic, has it's own twang and dynamic, if that makes sense. With the Lepy, the bass just sounds weak and no body. Cranking up the bass with my laptop EQ and the EQ knobs on the Lepy makes no difference, just more of the same terrible sounding bass.
The difference is not the subwoofer. At the volume I listen too, the subwoofer barely makes a sound. The fact is, with my ear against the speaker, far away from the subwoofer, these little speakers sound awesome on the Creative amp and sound like laptop speakers on the Lepy. I'm thinking the Creative amp must do some DSP or have a special chip or something? What's the missing ingredient?
Here's what I tried to do.
I have the Creative Inspire 5.1 5200 soundcard/speaker system
see specs here Creative Worldwide Support Creative Inspire 5.1 5200
I've used it for years, and for listening to MP3 music as background music, or sitting-at-my-desk normal volume, it sounds simply awesome! I'm not even using it as a 5.1 system anymore - I just run a minijack cable from my laptop headphones output, into the subwoofer/amp, and then to only 2 of the 5 speakers, cuz of course it's only putting out 2-channel stereo. And it still sounds awesome!
So, my girlfriend loves the sound I get with such small speakers, and I figured I have 5 identical speakers, I can give her a couple of the extras, try to duplicate my setup. I think, it's not the subwoofer, just need an amp, so I bought a Lepy 2020A+ which should be more than enough to drive these little speakers. But the result sounds nothing like when the Creative amp is driving it. With Creative, the bass sounds thick, dynamic, has it's own twang and dynamic, if that makes sense. With the Lepy, the bass just sounds weak and no body. Cranking up the bass with my laptop EQ and the EQ knobs on the Lepy makes no difference, just more of the same terrible sounding bass.
The difference is not the subwoofer. At the volume I listen too, the subwoofer barely makes a sound. The fact is, with my ear against the speaker, far away from the subwoofer, these little speakers sound awesome on the Creative amp and sound like laptop speakers on the Lepy. I'm thinking the Creative amp must do some DSP or have a special chip or something? What's the missing ingredient?
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Be sure the polarity is correct on all speakers. That could make a big difference in the bass..
Apply some Baffle Step Compensation to the speakers. The Inspire amp may have this built in to match the speakers..
Apply some Baffle Step Compensation to the speakers. The Inspire amp may have this built in to match the speakers..