My NEW Sim Rig Speakers - Edifier R1280T

[M D Gourley]

Disclaimer:
The information I have given here is only my personal observation and I have no HiFi knowledge whatsoever ...please see below RasmusP post for more professional editorial.

After using various Headphones for over 10 years listening to the Audio in Sims, I recently thought about having my first set of external Speakers because my living circumstances have changed so I can make some noise without annoying anyone else.
I did not want to spend to much money as I was more than happy with the functionality and sound my current Astro Headphones + Mix Amp Pro produce.

I wanted to find something that I could continue to utilise my Astro Mix Amp Pro by just plugging the speakers into the 3.5mm jack as the Mix Amp had the Volume Control at my finger tips. I did not want the typical cheap PC speakers which I have on the Office PC which sound ok, but still sound a bit tinny and have no real bass.
I tried out the Office PC Speakers first to test the connection to the Astro Mix Amp to see if it was possible and whether it would work. I also did not want to clutter up my Sim Rig with lots of extra gear, so 2 speakers placed in the position shown in the photo was the plan.

Came across the Edifier R1280T from my local Computer Store...'How much you say', that's well within the budget!. What I liked is that I could still use the Astro Mix Amp Volume control and plug them in as mentioned above....I'll take 'em...and if they do not sound that good they can be an upgrade for the Office PC.

Un-Boxed them and was immediately impressed with the quality and finish of the Edifier R1280T, very solid when giving them the knock test and have a reasonable weight to them and just on the first impressions I thought they looked great.
The Edifier R1280T came with all the connection cables 3'5 to RCA / RCA to RCA and Speaker Wire for connecting to 2 speakers, plus a Remote for controlling the Volume....Google Search for more specs and reviews.
They also have a dedicated 'Treble' / 'Bass' / 'Volume' controls nicely placed on the side of the main powered Speaker....oh, they are powered speakers.

I chose to utilise the better quality RCA to RCA cables I already had and connect them to an Audioquest Flex-Mini / RCA Adaptor which then plugged into Astro Mix Amp 3.5mm jack.

Firing up my first Sim 'Raceroom' and was immediately struck with the extra Bass and more weight to the sound that my Heaphones did not have, although they lacked the detail you get from Headphones....at that moment.
Proceeded to adjust all the Sound sliders in Raceroom and 'wow'...very happy with the audio that came out of the Edifier R1280T...it was just a wall of sound in front of me and I found myself just driving / cruzing slowly around the Nordschleife testing out the Rumble Strips which sound like rubber wheels actually rolling over them, going off track listening to the gravel stones hitting up under the wheel guards to all the car sounds...awesome.

Tried and set up rF2 / ACC / AMS2 / Dirt Rally 2 / Wreckfest and all of them had an improvement with having the extra Bass added to the mix giving a more well rounded sound...to my untrained ear so only my personal opinion.

Very happy so far with the Edifier R1280T speakers for Sim Racing...and for the price I paid, I am not disappointed.

P.S. I used 'BluTak' to secure them to my Sim Rig Desk...does a great job of stopping the vibration

 

[M D Gourley]

UPDATE:

Have been watching a few YT reviews on the Edifier R1280T's to get any further tips / information set up and thoughts of the reviewers.

One reviewer mentioned that these are not Audiophile Speakers, have a flat response and the mids are a little recessed and suggested to turn the 'Treble' up all the way and the 'Bass' all the way down / off.

I tried this and agree on turning the 'Treble' up to full, +6 ( the Treble and Bass have a + - 6 adjustment) but kept 'Bass to it's '0' center position as this was great for Sim Racing by adding a more fuller sound, especially in Wreckfest where the impacts have a nice soild sound to them now(personal opinion only).

Have also noticed that the R1280T's need some warm up time as they do sound better when been on for a while, although this could just be that I am getting used to the sound.

Recessed mids for Music listening....this will depend on what type of music / audio you feed it. I generally watch / listen to YT Music Videos and while the quality can vary immensely, listening to YT High Quality Audiophile music proved very pleasing to my ear on the R1280T's
While most of the music is not really my cup of tea so to speak, I did very much appreciate the great sounding Vocals some of the music had with great imaging and a descent sound stage. Having the speakers slightly angled towards the center helped greatly with the imaging and this was mentioned by one YT Reviewer, considering where the R1280T's are placed on my Sim Rig I'm more than happy.

Audiophile sample listened to below...time stamp 50:40...wow!

Trying out most of my installed Sim Racing titles also proved to vary in sound quality from Sim to Sim and even car to car within the Sim which is to be expected....however, this was even noticeable when using Headphones, but the added 'Bass' the speakers gave made for a more pleasing variation in sound.

I've set up the sound in Windows at 100%, set the R1280T volume to a comfortably loud setting, more than I would normally have it set to then use the Volume on the Astro Mix Amp Pro to control the loudness...and they can get loud with very minimal distortion which was surprising and pleasing to hear, however I did not test out 'Full Noise' because they are positioned approx 1 metre from my ears. Found there is a 'sweet spot' when turning up the volume where it all comes together and just sounds amazing, especially in Raceroom.

All in all, absolutely no regrets so far and at the price point the Edifier R1280T is great 'Bang for Buck' value. (personal opinion)

 

[RasmusP]

Hi!
That was a nice read about your new purchase! Congrats

A few notes from my semi-professional perspective on all this:

Who cares about "audiophile". If they sound good to your ears, then it's all perfect! And from what I quickly read, they are stunning value at that price point!

One thing about positioning them:
You should try if flipping them gives a wider stereo image. Mids and highs are more important for the stereo image so having the small drivers farther away from each other might work better!

Now a bit of waffling:

One reviewer mentioned that these are not Audiophile Speakers, have a flat response and the mids are a little recessed and suggested to turn the 'Treble' up all the way and the 'Bass' all the way down / off.

Having a look here:

Edifier R1280T Powered Speaker Review

The updated R1280Ts already has a dedicated subwoofer out port, but I don't know how clean it is, so you may still be better off with your original plan. From an Amazon review of the R1280Ts: "The Edifier sub-out is basically a headphone jack. It is full-range; there is no 'crossover.' It is...

audiosciencereview.com

They aren't too bad! They have a little bit boosted bass around 80 Hz to sound "fuller than they are", a few dips in the mids and a few spikes towards the treble.
So they might sound a bit harsh if some sounds/music don't work well with these spikes.
And they probably sound a bit "rounder" due to the less pronounced mids.

However turning treble to +6 and bass to -6 means losing most of the enjoyable bass and making the speakers sound sharp/harsh.

More highs mostly mean a fresher, energizing sound but are also "tiring" at the same time. So what you enjoy for 15 minutes might make you turn down the volume a lot after an hour.

I personally would put the bass to -2 and the treble to +2 to get a more or less flat sound and then use an EQ to dial down the treble spikes and boost 40-60 Hz for more deep bass


Btw about all this "audiophile" bs you can find everywhere on the internet and in real life, where people say they "can't enjoy Spotify" because of the low quality and then only listen to "high end" headphones with almost no enjoyable bass and highs that hurt my ears:

I mixed some music in professional recording studios and these speakers sound very clear, but never harsh and they have so much punch and deep sub-bass, that a kick drum track without a low cut feels like an earth quake.

I listened to a lot of different music on these systems and all modern pop songs had punchy, deep bass! They all have almost perfectly flat frequency response curves with the drop off around 10-20 Hz so if the low end of a recording is dialled in "correctly", you'll always have a really enjoyable, fat bottom end!

Whenever I search for headphones, I want them to sound like these speakers, not like analytical "mids and highs only with bass to search for in your imagination" sound (90% of Sennheiser headphones...).

(The issue with headphones is that if they produce the same bass, they become a bit mushy due to the too small single driver. So you have to choose between clarity or enjoyable bass or paying 1000€+)

Audiophile sample listened to below...time stamp 50:40...wow!

Some great sounds/songs in that video/audio!
However 50:40 is just way too bassy voice with also too much highs. Sounds "big, fat and awesome" but I'm not sure what it has to do in an "audiophile" video.
It's basically the "negative" points of your speakers put into a recording so it sounds exactly like a flat recording would sound on your new speakers with bass and treble at +6

But again: who cares if it's enjoyable and makes fun!

Found there is a 'sweet spot' when turning up the volume where it all comes together and just sounds amazing, especially in Raceroom.

Absolutely! With speakers that have a flat response at all volume levels, that's not such an issue but with cheaper systems you need a certain amount of volume to get the bass starting to be fun but if you turn them up too far, they start to show their weaknesses.



A last note:
You should try to turn the bass to +6 and the highs to -6 and then wear your headphones too and run everything at the same time!
It could sound absolutely awful but it also might be super enjoyable to get the stereo detail from your headphones but the bass and ambience from the speakers!

And a quote from the owner of one of the recording studios who also works in a Hi-Fi shop:
"When you can't buy full-range, standing stereo speakers:
You first search for a pair of smaller speakers that give you instant enjoyment. Their sound needs to make you smile at the first track.
Then you buy them and put 2x the amount of money into the subwoofer! It's even more important!".
I ended up buying a pair of Elac speakers with 1x treble driver and 1x 5" mid-low driver. 300€ per speaker. Then I got the mentioned guy to combine them with a 150€ yamaha subwoofer.
Yes, I now had "some bottom end rumble". He then made the famous quote and plugged in a 600€ subwoofer.

Holy cow what a sound! Shutting off the stereo speakers, all I heard was rumble but when combined, ALL songs sounded FAT without being boomy, getting headaches or anything.
Dubstep had super low and massive bass, live recordings of Stevie Ray Vaughan ( 41:23 on your "audiophile" video ) had way less bass ofc, but it still had this "Fullness" I only head in the recording studios or from good sounding concerts!
But at the same time it was never too much bass, no note from the bass was louder than the other.
With cheaper subwoofers, different notes get a different volume and some recordings can sound fat and awesome while others sound super thin.

That was 11 years ago and I still enjoy my system every day

 

[M D Gourley]

Hi!
That was a nice read about your new purchase! Congrats

A few notes from my semi-professional perspective on all this:

Who cares about "audiophile". If they sound good to your ears, then it's all perfect! And from what I quickly read, they are stunning value at that price point!

One thing about positioning them:
You should try if flipping them gives a wider stereo image. Mids and highs are more important for the stereo image so having the small drivers farther away from each other might work better!

Now a bit of waffling:


Having a look here:

Edifier R1280T Powered Speaker Review

The updated R1280Ts already has a dedicated subwoofer out port, but I don't know how clean it is, so you may still be better off with your original plan. From an Amazon review of the R1280Ts: "The Edifier sub-out is basically a headphone jack. It is full-range; there is no 'crossover.' It is...

audiosciencereview.com

They aren't too bad! They have a little bit boosted bass around 80 Hz to sound "fuller than they are", a few dips in the mids and a few spikes towards the treble.
So they might sound a bit harsh if some sounds/music don't work well with these spikes.
And they probably sound a bit "rounder" due to the less pronounced mids.

However turning treble to +6 and bass to -6 means losing most of the enjoyable bass and making the speakers sound sharp/harsh.

More highs mostly mean a fresher, energizing sound but are also "tiring" at the same time. So what you enjoy for 15 minutes might make you turn down the volume a lot after an hour.

I personally would put the bass to -2 and the treble to +2 to get a more or less flat sound and then use an EQ to dial down the treble spikes and boost 40-60 Hz for more deep bass


Btw about all this "audiophile" bs you can find everywhere on the internet and in real life, where people say they "can't enjoy Spotify" because of the low quality and then only listen to "high end" headphones with almost no enjoyable bass and highs that hurt my ears:

I mixed some music in professional recording studios and these speakers sound very clear, but never harsh and they have so much punch and deep sub-bass, that a kick drum track without a low cut feels like an earth quake.

I listened to a lot of different music on these systems and all modern pop songs had punchy, deep bass! They all have almost perfectly flat frequency response curves with the drop off around 10-20 Hz so if the low end of a recording is dialled in "correctly", you'll always have a really enjoyable, fat bottom end!

Whenever I search for headphones, I want them to sound like these speakers, not like analytical "mids and highs only with bass to search for in your imagination" sound (90% of Sennheiser headphones...).

(The issue with headphones is that if they produce the same bass, they become a bit mushy due to the too small single driver. So you have to choose between clarity or enjoyable bass or paying 1000€+)

Some great sounds/songs in that video/audio!
However 50:40 is just way too bassy voice with also too much highs. Sounds "big, fat and awesome" but I'm not sure what it has to do in an "audiophile" video.
It's basically the "negative" points of your speakers put into a recording so it sounds exactly like a flat recording would sound on your new speakers with bass and treble at +6

But again: who cares if it's enjoyable and makes fun!


Absolutely! With speakers that have a flat response at all volume levels, that's not such an issue but with cheaper systems you need a certain amount of volume to get the bass starting to be fun but if you turn them up too far, they start to show their weaknesses.



A last note:
You should try to turn the bass to +6 and the highs to -6 and then wear your headphones too and run everything at the same time!
It could sound absolutely awful but it also might be super enjoyable to get the stereo detail from your headphones but the bass and ambience from the speakers!

And a quote from the owner of one of the recording studios who also works in a Hi-Fi shop:
"When you can't buy full-range, standing stereo speakers:
You first search for a pair of smaller speakers that give you instant enjoyment. Their sound needs to make you smile at the first track.
Then you buy them and put 2x the amount of money into the subwoofer! It's even more important!".
I ended up buying a pair of Elac speakers with 1x treble driver and 1x 5" mid-low driver. 300€ per speaker. Then I got the mentioned guy to combine them with a 150€ yamaha subwoofer.
Yes, I now had "some bottom end rumble". He then made the famous quote and plugged in a 600€ subwoofer.

Holy cow what a sound! Shutting off the stereo speakers, all I heard was rumble but when combined, ALL songs sounded FAT without being boomy, getting headaches or anything.
Dubstep had super low and massive bass, live recordings of Stevie Ray Vaughan ( 41:23 on your "audiophile" video ) had way less bass ofc, but it still had this "Fullness" I only head in the recording studios or from good sounding concerts!
But at the same time it was never too much bass, no note from the bass was louder than the other.
With cheaper subwoofers, different notes get a different volume and some recordings can sound fat and awesome while others sound super thin.

That was 11 years ago and I still enjoy my system every day

Thank you so much RasmusP for this information, much appreciated.

I have changed the speakers around and had a listen based on your information. It's great to have someone that has some knowledge in this area as I was purely basing my listening experience on what I heard with my ears....and they were at the right price point.

Audiophile music, I hear you...only said that as it says that in the title of the Video.

You mentioned getting a 'Subwoofer'...initially I was looking at these 'Edifier S350DB' but the price point was a bit much, although these are still cheap.

Thank again for your input

 

[RasmusP]

Nice! Hopefully it does indeed sound better now hehe.
You could also try to put them straight instead of angled towards your ears.
Putting speakers in an angle is more a thing when being able to use the "stereo triangle" with the same distance from speaker to ear to the other speaker.
If they are more or less straight in front of you, just put them straight to not get interference between the speaker soundwaves up until behind your head.

About the system with the subwoofer:
You did the right thing!

Looking at the Edifier homepage, the subwoofer system has:
Frequencu response

• R/L: 160Hz -20kHz
  SW: 40Hz –160Hz

Your stereo pair has 75Hz - 18kHz

Stereo speakers that only reach 160 Hz always sound super thin and a subwoofer having to play something higher than 80 Hz will always sound boomy instead of fat and chunky.
And stopping at 40 Hz, you don't get to enjoy what a good subwoofer can do anyway...
Better to have a solid pair of slightly bigger stereo speakers and have the low end from both channels!
Above about 100 Hz, human ears can locate sounds. From experience, I'd say me and my friends can locate sounds down to around 60 Hz.

So a subwoofer should really only play the real low end, otherwise it's better to get the bass from the main speakers!

When going for a subwoofer, one should aim for something like 20 Hz as the low frequency and then dial in the high-cut (it should have one!) to 50-70 Hz.

My elac system for example lists the stereo speakers with 50Hz - 30kHz and the subwoofer with 20-180 Hz.

But I'd still like it to reach lower! Over the years I found some songs that I really like where the lowest note is quieter than the others but were at identical volumes over the studio system.

But to be honest such systems can also be annoying since you need to isolate them from the floor and take adjustments to the room to dampen sound reflections... A sub 50 Hz note shows all the weaknesses of your room and then you just get mushy bass resonances and headaches.
And the sound of the room changes with different volumes.

Hopefully not too much blah blah... Enjoy your speakers! That's the most important thing to do, instead of spending all your time/energy/money to get the perfect sound but barely enjoying it in the end

 

[M D Gourley]

Nice! Hopefully it does indeed sound better now hehe.
You could also try to put them straight instead of angled towards your ears.
Putting speakers in an angle is more a thing when being able to use the "stereo triangle" with the same distance from speaker to ear to the other speaker.
If they are more or less straight in front of you, just put them straight to not get interference between the speaker soundwaves up until behind your head.

About the system with the subwoofer:
You did the right thing!

Looking at the Edifier homepage, the subwoofer system has:
Frequencu response

• R/L: 160Hz -20kHz
  SW: 40Hz –160Hz

Your stereo pair has 75Hz - 18kHz

Stereo speakers that only reach 160 Hz always sound super thin and a subwoofer having to play something higher than 80 Hz will always sound boomy instead of fat and chunky.
And stopping at 40 Hz, you don't get to enjoy what a good subwoofer can do anyway...
Better to have a solid pair of slightly bigger stereo speakers and have the low end from both channels!
Above about 100 Hz, human ears can locate sounds. From experience, I'd say me and my friends can locate sounds down to around 60 Hz.

So a subwoofer should really only play the real low end, otherwise it's better to get the bass from the main speakers!

When going for a subwoofer, one should aim for something like 20 Hz as the low frequency and then dial in the high-cut (it should have one!) to 50-70 Hz.

My elac system for example lists the stereo speakers with 50Hz - 30kHz and the subwoofer with 20-180 Hz.

But I'd still like it to reach lower! Over the years I found some songs that I really like where the lowest note is quieter than the others but were at identical volumes over the studio system.

But to be honest such systems can also be annoying since you need to isolate them from the floor and take adjustments to the room to dampen sound reflections... A sub 50 Hz note shows all the weaknesses of your room and then you just get mushy bass resonances and headaches.
And the sound of the room changes with different volumes.

Hopefully not too much blah blah... Enjoy your speakers! That's the most important thing to do, instead of spending all your time/energy/money to get the perfect sound but barely enjoying it in the end

Great information RasmusP, thanks.
My gut feeling and my wallet sided with the Edifier R1280T Speakers
Little flaw in my new postioning...when I swapped them round I still wanted the 'Controls' on top of the speaker to adjust when needed, this positioning resulted in a flipped stereo image, noise from right wheels on rumble strips in Sim sounded in the left speaker...will have to place the controls on the main speaker underneath and unusable

 

[RasmusP]

will have to place the controls on the main speaker underneath and unusable

Or you could flip the cinch connection to swap left and right?

The rca cable looks like you could do that

 

[M D Gourley]

Or you could flip the cinch connection to swap left and right?

The rca cable looks like you could do that

Yes, I did try that...'Red RCA' was connected to the Red Input, so I changed that to the other side, swapped them around...it still did not change.
Then I changed / swapped the back of the speaker cables as well....it did not change anything...that should have worked.

Anyway, I have spent the afternoon adjusting the position of the R1280T's, listening to the sound imaging etc and as you suggested straightened them up facing forward more and moved them as far apart as possible...and I would have to say I am happy with the sound they produce in their final resting position...new photo at top

Thanks for your help and information...and hopefully this thread will possibly help others.

 

[RasmusP]

Yes, I did try that...'Red RCA' was connected to the Red Input, so I changed that to the other side, swapped them around...it still did not change.
Then I changed / swapped the back of the speaker cables as well....it did not change anything...that should have worked

That is really weird... Switching the RCA on one end should definitely flip the channels!
If you flipped it at both ends, the channels stay the same and only the color of each channel changes but the left channel is still connected to the left channel.
Depending on how late at night you do cable stuff, this might happen haha

About the speaker cable:
NEVER flip that with active speakers!
It's not changing left/right, it changes +/- of one speaker.

This means changing the phase of the passive speaker and the speakers aren't in sync anymore.
You get all kinds of issues like canceling out frequencies, stereo image loss etc.

Anyway, I have spent the afternoon adjusting the position of the R1280T's, listening to the sound imaging etc and as you suggested straightened them up facing forward more and moved them as far apart as possible...and I would have to say I am happy with the sound they produce in their final resting position...new photo at top

Thanks for your help and information...and hopefully this thread will possibly help others.

Nice!

 

[M D Gourley]

That is really weird... Switching the RCA on one end should definitely flip the channels!
If you flipped it at both ends, the channels stay the same and only the color of each channel changes but the left channel is still connected to the left channel.

Eureka...light bulb moment...I flipped both ends...yawn
...now I know what I'm doing...thanks for the valuable piece of info.

I was also thinking that placing the Speakers in this position would help the sound reflect off the side Monitors towards me...just thinking out loud

It's been a good learning experience and an informative thread

 

[RasmusP]

Eureka...light bulb moment...I flipped both ends...yawn
...now I know what I'm doing...thanks for that valuable piece of info.

In case you're wondering how I dared to suggest that:
I was talking from my own experience

I guess it comes from being used to digital/virtual connections of things, which somehow can cause the brain fart of us thinking that the color of the cable might determine the channel instead of thinking about it like plain copper lines that don't know what's their purpose