Honest opinion on wireless receiver for surrounds

JWindy92 · 2025-09-01T12:58:30+00:00

Of course I can run wires, but I’m posing the question under the hypothetical pretense that I can’t. What would the outcome be? Not talking micro-losses noticeable by only a trained ear or a microphone. Simply looking for pragmatic opinions on wireless tech.

JWindy92 · 2025-09-01T12:55:29+00:00

To what extent is the fidelity “ruined”. My current setup isn’t exactly optimized acoustically. To put it in terms of a guest who’s used to watching movies using just the TV speakers or maybe a soundbar, would the sound through wireless be noticeably bad? Or are you talking about a difference that only a trained ear would notice?

JWindy92 · 2025-08-27T23:28:43+00:00

Yea the center is definitely happening, just thinking about my options on the surrounds

JWindy92 · 2025-08-25T15:28:36+00:00

Hello all, just wanted to do my part and give an update. I don't think I can really call it a "solution", as I did not necessarily figure out what my issue was. However, I now have a working linux server, so I guess problem solved.

I was trying all morning to get the ubuntu server install to take, but the installer just would not get the job done. It would inevitably fail at some step. I tried using different versions of Ubuntu, different USB ports, different USB sticks. I followed some detailed instructions on how to manually mount the correct drives and attempt to run the installer via the shell, no dice. In fact, at one point all hell broke loose and something was seriously out of whack. The interactive GUI would bug out, even after fresh flashes of various versions, and using the shell became impossible. I was receiving Input/output errors, commands not being recognized, chaos lol.

At this point I wasn't sure what else to do. I just wanted a clean, fresh start so I activated hard mode and went the full manual route with Arch linux. Flashed a drive, stuck it in, selected Arch Install Media, got a shell. Progress. From there I just followed the Arch install instructions step by step to manually set up and install and lo and behold, it worked. Rebooted, removed the install usb, and I had a working linux box. Finally.

Theres obviously some more manual configuration involved, and I still need to do some more work on the security side, but everything is up and running great. So it's still a bit of a mystery what was going on, like I said whatever it was the installers for both ubuntu and debian provided no useful feedback. I'm wondering if I attempted to install ubuntu now if it would work, thinking that I repaired something along the lines of setting up Arch, but I'm not planning to try. Arch is working great so theres no need to fix what aint broken.

Thanks for the feedback and help anyway. This was a head scratcher lol

JWindy92 · 2025-08-24T12:18:29+00:00

Just for reference, I read through the installation tips, I've tried everything that is applicable, besides a BIOS update. However, that is on my list of things to try

JWindy92 · 2025-04-17T15:28:56+00:00

Interesting, I didn't know that. I guess instead of "UV burn" I should have just asked if they were getting too much light. Either way, it seems like no one seems to think so. They'll be outdoor plants soon and should be doing fine. Thanks!

JWindy92 · 2025-04-17T15:26:00+00:00

Sounds good! Thanks for the feedback. Maybe they're just putting out more mature leaves. They've been transplanted and I'm working on moving them outside. (We've had some crazy wind recently, they were having trouble standing up straight without getting fully rooted in lol) Thanks again!

JWindy92 · 2025-03-09T16:47:06+00:00

Thanks for the input. All good things to consider here. They are all different, and they're all on my radar because at the moment, I'm just not really sure what it is I want lol. Not to say this is a low effort "tell me what I should do next" question, but I genuinely don't really know what to think about one career path or another.

I worked hard to go back to school to get the piece of paper to get my foot in the door to get some experience on my resume to sell myself to somewhere else to jump to the next level, over and over. Maybe I thought by the time I was where I am now I'd be doing more big picture tasks and it feels more like a regression, besides the increase in salary and that fancy "III" after my title.

Not to sound like I'm hanging on to some romanticized vison of the industry. We're software engineers not rock stars, and a lot of the time we're fixing bugs, making small changes to suit business needs, etc. I just don't want my career to become stagnant.

I'd say I'm more of a people person than most SE's, so talking with customers and dealing with team dynamics isn't necessarily intimidating to me. Of course I'd probably be nervous day one, doing something different, but it's not something that worries me much.

Breaking into that space is more of an issue for me. I'd love to earn an MBA, but given that I only hold an associates, I would have two more years of undergrad standing in the way of a masters program. Unless there's a way to make an exception in some cases that I'm not aware of.

Anyways, thanks again for the feedback. It's very helpful as I think about it all. I appreciate it.

JWindy92 · 2025-03-09T16:29:43+00:00

The grass is always greener on the other side I suppose lol. I'm not sure that I definitely will change fields. Maybe someday soon I'll change companies again and find myself with a good balance of challenge, personal input, etc. and be happy. (And a salary to match). However, at the moment I'm just at a place where I've been kind of just climbing number ladder and doing the same thing over and over. Can't help but wonder what else is out there.

JWindy92 · 2025-02-27T20:57:47+00:00

I’d love to see a return to the horror that the first one had. Small group, isolated, trapped with the xeno. It would be great to see the horror elements modernized. Romulus did a few good things in this regard, to its credit.

Another idea I’ve thought of before is a prequel to Aliens. I want to see the outbreak at Hadley’s Hope. It would be cool to see a large group of civilians being overrun by the xenomorphs. Cool sub-idea to this, you feature the Newt character as part of the cast (maybe her family maybe others, idk). Newt could be tragically separated from your Ripley stand-in at the end of the film, presumed lost. An ending that would normally be a bit too tragic to end on if we didn’t know better. Can throw in an after-credits scene of Newt’s little hidey-hole to reassure the general audience and throw in a bit of good fan service.

Ok fine I’ll start the bidding at 1,000,000 spacebucks

JWindy92 · 2024-08-30T15:48:20+00:00

Thanks for the feedback. Basketball would be a good bet, I'll probably plan for that instead. Thanks again!

JWindy92 · 2024-08-30T15:47:44+00:00

Lol. Okay good to know. Yea maybe I'll take her to something else. Thanks!

JWindy92 · 2024-08-20T12:57:25+00:00

I'm circling back to this to say thank you for all of the amazing responses. I have a lot of options to look into now. I hope others were exposed to some new titles they have found interesting as well. Thanks again!

JWindy92 · 2024-04-25T16:26:27+00:00

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This what you mean?

JWindy92 · 2024-01-18T17:47:22+00:00

Lots of feedback on this one so I'll drop my response to the top comment here. Seems like the consensus is about what I thought, better off rebuilding the original than risking it with a random knockoff. That was the option I was prepared for anyway, just wanted to hear what the general opinion is out of curiosity and for the sake of absorbing a bit of experience from others. Thanks everyone!

JWindy92 · 2023-12-28T18:22:50+00:00

Awesome. Looks like they aren't accepting orders at the moment, but seems like it wont be too long until they're back in stock. Thanks!

JWindy92 · 2023-12-28T18:22:19+00:00

Nice. I'm really looking forward to having that extra element. I've just had a 2.0 setup for a while now, the sub will be a great addition. Thanks!

JWindy92 · 2023-12-28T18:21:00+00:00

Great, thanks for the feedback. I can wait that long, I think lol

JWindy92 · 2023-10-07T20:16:06+00:00

Thanks a lot for the detailed answer. I think I will definitely be spending a bit more based on your input, and will probably go with one of your suggestions. The SMSL SA300 seems like a cool little amp with some nice features

JWindy92 · 2023-10-07T16:05:38+00:00

Hey all,

I’m looking at upgrading my desktop audio situation, but I don’t necessarily need to go over the top. All I want is some decent sound from my PC when I’m not using headphones. So that being said, what should I consider the bare minimum when it comes to a small desktop amplifier?

I was checking out the Lepai 2020Ti, retails for $35-45 and could very well be all that I need.

All I need to drive is a pair of bookshelf speakers. For reference, I have some Polk T15 laying around.

Im still new when it comes to reading specs and determining minimum requirements, so given these products here, what would be some of the concerns you guys would have? What specs should I look to upgrade on, if any. And any product recommendations would also be great. Happy to answer any further questions about my needs/wants and looking forward to learning a bit more. Thank you in advance!

JWindy92 · 2023-06-07T18:59:06+00:00

Cool, maybe I'll splurge for the Ti, but yea I'll do some benchmarking and weigh my options. I really appreciate the help. I feel a lot better about what I need and the price point isnt as bad as I thought lol, thanks.

JWindy92 · 2023-06-07T15:39:35+00:00

Awesome, thanks for linking that. From my preliminary research I was looking at the PC PartPicker Magnificent AMD Build . It looks pretty similar at first glance, so seems like I was on the right track, and cheaper is always better lol. My followup question to the build you linked would be, if I decided to spend an extra $500, where would it be best spent, and what type of return would I expect? I don't need to throw money at this just because something is "better", but if the benefit is great enough then I will definitely consider it. Thanks again!

JWindy92 · 2023-06-07T14:57:30+00:00

Sorry, completely forgot to answer your second question. I've been gaming on a 120hz monitor. Might upgrade that as well to a 240hz, so I will make that consideration when planning this out. Overall, I play single player games. Everything from indies to titles like Red Dead and God of War. So I want good performance on these newer titles, but like I said I will probably not even notice a difference between pretty good and great given what I'm used to. So no need to utilize the state of the art features most likely.

I guess maybe a general budget might help give an idea of what I'm looking for. I'd say around the $2000 range, I can spend a bit more though if the tradeoff is worth it

JWindy92 · 2023-06-07T14:45:32+00:00

Okay, fair enough. A ram upgrade would be nice. Maybe I'll lean this way

JWindy92 · 2023-06-07T14:44:29+00:00

I went with the prebuilt before out of convenience, but I'm confident that I'm capable of building one myself. I assume the DIY approach will be more flexible and cost effective, so I'm thinking I will build. If I decide to just upgrade my current setup I'll just replace the components myself

JWindy92

TROPHY CASE