What to know before buying a set of speakers for gaming

 - Niladri Sarkar  

Building a gaming PC is not only constricted to assembling a top notch CPU and the cabinet. It also includes the other basic I/O peripherals, i.e. Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Joysticks/Controllers, and last but not the least, (at least) a pair of speakers, or a pair of headphones for equivalent purpose. I was inspired to write this after one of my close friends asked me out a couple of days ago about what speakers to buy for his rig, so today we are here to discuss about the specs and features that would be handy to check out before  buying speakers.

   

     There are a number of specifications and features to check out before figuring out what is enough or perfect for you. While it may seem baffling about the technical terms and number, you tend to make decisions based upon the looks or word of the mouth. So before you get into influence, check out the points discussed below.

• SNR

     SNR or S/N is the abbreviation of Signal-to-noise-ratio (or maybe also sound to noise ratio, to understand in simpler way). It is the ratio between the intensity of the needed signal to that of the intensity of the noise. Even tough noise is absolutely present in any form of signal, but the mentioned value (which is generally denoted in dB) is the threshold value at which the presence of the noise in the signal is audible.

     General verdict, higher the value, greater is the clarity of the signal at higher volumes.

• Frequency Response

     Frequency response defines the range of the frequency values at which your speakers will operate. We know that our range of perception of sound ranges from 22 Hz to 22 kHz. Most commercially available speakers have a response of 45Hz to 20kHz, but some of the good speakers offers a range from 20 Hz to 18 kHz (practically ,we normally cannot perceive much of the spectrum beyond 16kHz). Some more dedicated models will start the response from 10 Hz, which is obviously a good point as it will make you “feel” more of the oomph (frequencies below 30 Hz are not heard, rather “felt” by the body). This is something you will obviously look out.

     General verdict, lower and wider the response range is, the better it is.

• Impedance

     Not much is there to discuss about it, it is a straight up concept.

     General verdict, more the value of the impedance, you can attach it to a more powerful system and have optimal quality of sound.

!!CAUTION!!

Do not, rather, NEVER connect any speaker/headphones of low impedance values to a powerful system, as it may blow out the cones or damage the circuitry.

• Output Power

     9 – 20 W PMPO rating of a speaker is good.

     General verdict, more the PMPO value, more you can crank up the volume.

• Material Used

The type of material used for the cabinet does play a very major role in the output quality. The most expected thing is a wooden cabinet, as it produces the most natural and the bassiest sound of all types of cabinet. AVOID CHEAP PLASTIC at any cost.

For tweeters, see that the material used for the cone is silk or not, and for the woofer, supercooled polyester.

These will provide you with the best quality of output.

Some extra features worth mentioning are:

• Bluetooth/aux in/USB/micro SD slot – These are handy features that will come useful if you have a party at home and play some of the party bangers from your phone/tablet/memory card/USB compatible flash drives.

• FM – Many manufacturers are also including FM modules into the speakers to allow even more versatility.

• Remote control – This is an exclusive feature that comes with models that have in-built FMs and/or USB/micro SD slots. The purpose of the remote is pretty self-explanatory.

• Dedicated Woofer level control – This will allow you to adjust the output level of the woofer without altering the output level of the satellite speakers. Many models even feature a 2/3 band equalizer for a greater level of personalization.

• Magnetic Shielding – Even though it is not-so fancy feature, but still it does a job of interrupting the glitches in the speaker caused due to stray radiations from nearby wireless devices.

So this is all for today.

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