Sony SA D40 vs Sony SRS D9

quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
I have a Sony srs D9 2.1 speaker system which was bought around 5 years back.Although its working fine,i've observed that its bass isn't that punchy and tends to distort esp. at slightly louder volumes in songs that are high on beats/low frequency effects.

I was wondering whether upgrading to Sony's current SA D40 4.1 speaker system would provide any noticeable improvements or not in sound quality as compared to my old D9,especially when it comes to the bass department.

Some of the reviews that i have seen on youtube etc seem to indicate that the D40 has a thumping kind of bass output,which is something that i was looking for as the subwoofer of my D9 sounds rather flat unless one sits really close to the speakers while a song is playing.Also the latter doesn't have some extra features like BT connectivity.However one drawback of the D40 is its lack of any bass/treble control feature-apparently its auto adjusted by the speaker itself!

So would buying the d40 to replace my d9 be a good idea for improved sound quality?Can anyone who might have heard D40's output share some insights on how it really sounds and whether its any better than my d9 or not?
 
TheSloth

TheSloth

The Slowest One
I have not heard Sony D40 but since you mentioned BASS I just want to suggest you Logitech Z623 since Z623 also cost about same on sale. The bass is enough to vibrate your glass windows of the room and send vibrations in your couch or bed. 12.5K is just the inflated price on Amazon and easy to ignore. But at 8K, for movies, we don't have much competition against Logitech Z623, I "believe". But feature wise, its a joke in 2021, no SD Card and Bluetooth. But that can be ignored when you get 2 years warranty.

Personal experience : I have been using Z623 since last 4+ years and always enjoy playing music, sometimes at loud volume and watching movies(Avengers, Man Of Steel kind of movies were just jaw dropping with these speaker, I wish I had big screen to complement the sound coming out of these speakers). Though I have exchanged once when it developed a problem after a year of usage. I went to service center along with Amazon invoice copy, explained and showed the problem to person in service center, got a new set right away. In last 2 months, the sub woofer has given up now, it worked when disconnecting and reconnecting the cable when its ON and that brought the life back to sub but its pretty much dead since last 2 weeks. Overall, satisfied with performance but this should have come 2 more years then it would have been totally worth for me. I bought this in mid 2017 for 10K. I think @Zangetsu or some other member bought this for 7K in 2019 or so.
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
i had briefly considered buying the z625(the updated version of the z623 with some additional features like BT etc).However it has remained out of stock at amazon/fk etc these past couple of months.I wonder whether logitech has discontinued this model or not.In fact this was my first choice while thinking about a replacement for my ageing D9.

I had even thought about buying the z906 (Even though its much more expensive)but was dissuaded after learning about the myriad issues that exist with its center console(which apparently has a tendency to break down/malfunction unpredictably and once it starts acting up the speaker system becomes useless),not to mention its grossly overpriced at the moment.

z623,while a compelling choice for its sound quality is also currently plagued by supply issues and an inflated price tag(like you have mentioned).I dont think its worth buying for 12k-earlier the z625 used to retail for about that price.

That's the reason i was leaning towards sony-but it wouldn't be worth buying if the sound quality isn't much better than my existing D9 speaker.The only way to confirm it would be to get a live demo,but unfortunately that option doesn't exist for me right now.
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
Is it normal for speakers to supply some kind of voltage or current via its 3.5 mm aux cable?

Today i tested the d40 speakers at a local shop and liked its output. But when i brought it home, set it up and tried to connect it to my pc via the supplied 3.5mm audio cable, its 3.5 mm connector(whose other end was connected to my speakers) gave a mild shock-i checked it with a current detector and found that it was indeed outputting some current through the audio jack, when the speaker was switched to tv or usb mode. The current seemed to stop when it was set to Bluetooth.

I am concerned that the current could damage my motherboard, so i didn't connect it to my pc.

I even checked the output from my old d9's 3.5 mm jack and found that it too was outputting a mild amount of current through it-this is something i wasn't aware of.

Is the speaker defective? Should i get rid of it?
 
RumbaMon19

RumbaMon19

Feel Pain.
@quicky008
The speaker does not have ground. Does it have a three pin socket? It is because current is flowing through a common ground of AUX cable. Manufacturers usually use common ground and drain for the Amplifier IC instead of insulating them, which causes the IC's Drain to flow through common ground hence making that sound. When you touch it, the current flows through you and earths itself. There might be an humming sound coming through it. Called 60hz hmm. What you can do is buy an ground insulator

This one is the cheapest i found but is out of stock Audio inslator cheapest.

This one is expensive but in stock. Expensive ground insulator

There is also a work around to this, i.e. buy manually grounding the aux, through the source but would not recommend it as it will void warranty.

Now coming to MoBo, If your PSU is properly grounded, then it will be able to handle the current from aux without any probs.
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
TheSloth said:
Hi @quicky008 , did you connect it to your motherboard? Or you found another way to use the speakers?
Click to expand...
As of now i am connecting it via Bluetooth, i am wary of using the aux cable as i am afraid it might damage my mobo.

After this recent experience i discovered that even my old srs d9 which uses a similar type of power adapter as the d40 has also been outputting current via the 3.5mm jack, and i had been using it like this all along unknowingly. I wonder whether my system has sustained any damage because of this or not.

@RumbaMon19 will this device be able to remove the leakage current from the aux cable or just filter any unwanted humming sound?
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
Will using this adapter cause any degradation of the audio quality from my pc?

Unfortunately however the cheaper one is out of stock on Fk,and i really dont want to spend around 2k on buying it from amazon instead.

Is there any chance that this adapter may be available with local retailers who stock audio/video equipments?
 
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RumbaMon19

RumbaMon19

Feel Pain.
quicky008 said:
Will using this adapter cause any degradation of the audio quality from my pc?

Unfortunately however the cheaper one is out of stock on Fk,and i really dont want to spend around 2k on buying it from amazon instead.

Is there any chance that this adapter may be available with local retailers who stock audio/video equipments?
Click to expand...

1) no, it will rather enhance the quality, as it will remove excessive hmm noise.

2) You may get it from local stores. Also check for it at car audio stores as car require it too.
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
this item is back in stock on FK-should i order it?

If it can remove the leakage current from the 3.5 mm aux connector then it should be useful for me.
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
after using this speaker system for a while(via bluetooth) i have observed that while playing video or audio tracks containing deep bass effects(such as the pronounced bass thumps in movies,trailers etc)the subwoofer tends to rattle and distort.

It doesnt happen while playing tracks that dont have such high levels of bass.This problem is particularly noticeable while playing videos files with 5.1 audio -on turning up the volume,the subwoofer creates an annoying rattling kind of a noise(as though its driver is vibrating more that its supposed to) during fight scenes or action sequences containing lots of low frequency effects.

I read somewhere that this may happen if the subwoofer is trying to reproduce frequencies lower that its actually capable of and this could potentially damage it-is this really true?

This speaker doesn't have any manual bass control,so i can't tune the bass to moderate/safe levels either,and these days i am forced to listen to it at lower volumes while watching movies or playing games etc for i am afraid that subjecting the speaker to audio with intensive bass effects might damage the subwoofer.

This is really annoying and i hadn't expected to run into such issues with this system.Is this a common problem with subwoofers of most low budget speaker systems?

@TheSloth : did your logitech z623's subwoofer distort or rattle while playing audio with heavy bass effects?
 
RumbaMon19

RumbaMon19

Feel Pain.
quicky008 said:
this item is back in stock on FK-should i order it?

If it can remove the leakage current from the 3.5 mm aux connector then it should be useful for me.
Click to expand...

Yes, You should, it will remove leakage current. You can also check if gnd is leaking current by touching the last ring on the aux port.

quicky008 said:
after using this speaker system for a while(via bluetooth) i have observed that while playing video or audio tracks containing deep bass effects(such as the pronounced bass thumps in movies,trailers etc)the subwoofer tends to rattle and distort.

It doesnt happen while playing tracks that dont have such high levels of bass.This problem is particularly noticeable while playing videos files with 5.1 audio -on turning up the volume,the subwoofer creates an annoying rattling kind of a noise(as though its driver is vibrating more that its supposed to) during fight scenes or action sequences containing lots of low frequency effects.

I read somewhere that this may happen if the subwoofer is trying to reproduce frequencies lower that its actually capable of and this could potentially damage it-is this really true?
Click to expand...

Basically, Home theatre subs are made in a box, with bass reflex system in order to provide a more room filling and that thumping effect. This is done because of small size of sub, i.e. 6", so they utilize both the areas, i.e. outside and inside to produce more bass. Here, the thump is made by the outer side while the inner side makes a deeper feel, which often virates window. When the Size of box is small, at lower frequencies, subs tend to vibrate more and hence making that distorting sound.

That is the reason why In THX certified home theatres and more expensive ones, they use a larger size sub (12"-15") and also bigger box with adequate reflex system in order to prevent this. One great example is SVS-PB16, Like this

*www.svsound.com/products/pb16-ultra

Notice the three reflex tubes in it. there is also a closed box reflex system, preferred by those who want a balanced sound output.

quicky008 said:
This speaker doesn't have any manual bass control,so i can't tune the bass to moderate/safe levels either,and these days i am forced to listen to it at lower volumes while watching movies or playing games etc for i am afraid that subjecting the speaker to audio with intensive bass effects might damage the subwoofer.

This is really annoying and i hadn't expected to run into such issues with this system.Is this a common problem with subwoofers of most low budget speaker systems?
Click to expand...

You can use a equilizer app on phone and using APO with PEACE as frontend on windows.

And this problem is infact in every system below 10-15K usually.
 
RumbaMon19

RumbaMon19

Feel Pain.
^^:lol::lol:People like destroying things. Just search for JBL flip/charge burnout. You will find a ton of people blowing there JBL's driver by playing bass heavy songs on LFM just to blow it and show the audience.
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
these people have so much money and resources lying around that they dont even mind smashing up perfectly functional speakers just for the sake of fun!

The dude in this video looks kind of psychotic to be honest!
 
OP
quicky008

quicky008

Technomancer
received the ground isolator today-after connecting it to the 3.5 mm aux cable of the speaker,my tester doesn't pickup any more current from the 3.5 mm output connector of the isolator-does it mean it has successfully removed the current that was leaking from the speaker via its 3.5 mm aux output?

if yes,is it safe to connect and use it with sensitive devices like computers now?

btw how exactly does the isolator remove the current from the cable?does it absorb it somehow?
 
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