So much for new speakers ...

Lately I've been hearing some buzzing/distortion from the right speaker on my home computer. OK, I think, my speakers are about 4 years old and it may in fact be going bad. Of course, I did not actually switch the offending speaker to the other side to verify that it was causing the problem.

Now I know. I went to my favorite online merchant Amazon.com and bought a pair of M-Audio AV 40 speakers. Now, these are a "2.0" setup. I had been using a "2.1" (2 speakers and a woofer) setup: Altec Lansing MX5021 speakers. And guess what? The buzz/distortion followed me to my new speakers. When I switched the right and left channels (the AV 40's have dual RCA jacks for left and right, making this trivial), the buzz switched to the other side. Argh!

The AV 40's are pretty good, certainly not embarrassing as far as small (6 x 6 x 8) desktop speakers go. In fact, after quite a bit of messing around with the EQ and Jammix Enhancer on WinAmp, I was able to obtain a decently balanced (treble vs. bass) sound quality from them. Initially they sounded muddy and the midrange was very indistinct. But even with a lot of "sound enhancement" therapy, they simply do not compare to the MX5021's. Not even a little bit. The MX5021 speakers are so much cleaner and clearer, it's hard to understand how anyone can listen through anything else. Of course, they cost over $200 when I bought them, originally. And they're worth it.

So I went back to Amazon.com and bought a new sound card, a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE. I didn't spend a fortune on it ($13.95 after a $15 gift certificate) and I realize I may be taking somewhat of a chance, but if I thought the OEM sound card (an SB Live!) that came with my Dell 8400 seemed pretty good before, the new card should sound noticeably better. We'll see.

So now I have this primo pair of M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 speakers that I don't really need.