HomePod HomePods Quality Question

[swandy]

I have an older set of AltecLansing Speakers (two on my desktop with two tweeters in each and a larger sub-woofer on the floor under the desk). They sound (to my older "65" ears) fine, but they are gettin on in age (sort of like their owner). Have to be at least 20 years old.
Considering junking them and getting one of the HomePods. I play music exclusively through the iMac and use Apple Music. (Digitized my entire music library years ago.)
Trying to determine if (1) the HomePod will sound better and (2) if I get the larger HomePod with the Spatial sound will also be an improvement.
Any suggestions/ideas (aside from purchasing one and then returning if I am not satisfied)? Thanks

 

[Td1970]

HomePods sound great. If you use Apple Music it’s a great system. Without Apple Music it’s not nearly as smooth

They won’t compete with a “real stereo” due to their small size. The small driver is the HP sounds great but it’s not capable of real bass.

I have 2 minis and 2 full size HP. Love them.

 

[Phil77354]

Your situation is almost identical to my own. I have a large music library on my iMac and since the HomePods were first introduced, I have had a pair of them in stereo mode flanking the iMac.

I am going to predict that you will be very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the sound from these speakers.

See also (the photo below was posted below stereo pairing was introduced):

Might not be stereo yet, but the sound is dang good . . .
View attachment 750756

 

[MrPresident]

I hazard a guess and say that your AltecLansing speakers will offer a similar quality of audio to the HomePod mini. I’ve got a pair of HomePod mini’s and I find the audio quality to be underwhelming. In short, one is loud enough to fill a medium sized room, bass is present, highs are there but the sound as a whole lacks clarity. In my opinion, they are probably on par with most similarly priced speakers; I expected more due to overhyped reviewers.

So on your first point I would probably say you’d have to purchase two mini’s to get the same listening experience as your AltecLansing simply because the stereo spread will be what you miss; one HomePod mini can’t replace two well spaced apart speakers. Try listening to The Doors in mono... BORING!!! My suggestion would be two HomePod mini’s or try an original HomePod.

I don’t have any experience with the original HomePod so maybe some one else can guide you on your second question but I would be keen to see if any one has a similar setup to what your suggesting. The original HomePod will no doubt sound better than your AltecLansing but maybe overpowered as use as a computer speaker!

Just to be massively clear on this suggestion, sound and hearing are so subjective. Advice on a forum is no comparison to actually listening to speakers to see what you enjoy! You may not agree with me on sound quality of the mini’s! When it is appropriate try and listen to one and see what you think.

As you are exclusively using an iMac and Apple Music, prioritising Apple products makes sense. Just be aware that these devices have no way to physically connect to other audio hardware. I use near-field monitors with my iMac, these are the ideal solution but are expensive as they are used by professionals. If you are not interested in the audio interface and monitor solution; overkill for you I think, look at similar, updated products to your AltecLansing. New computer speakers like these will be available cheaper than HomePods and may have comparable sound quality.

 

[MrPresident]

Your situation is almost identical to my own. I have a large music library on my iMac and since the HomePods were first introduced, I have had a pair of them in stereo mode flanking the iMac.

I am going to predict that you will be very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the sound from these speakers.

See also (the photo below was posted below stereo pairing was introduced):

Just fully checked out your photo. That set-up looks great!! I’d aspire to it if I didn’t need inputs and outputs!

I’m guessing your set-up gets very loud. Out of interest, where do you have your volume around? Is it comfortable at higher levels?

The only thing that may not be suitable is the price. These are powerful speakers! Without doing any research, I suspect that computer style speakers like the original poster already has will cost less to buy new than two HomePod mini’s (£200) or two HomePods (£400-£500, if you find them on sale).

If money isn’t an object I imagine you’d be made up with a pair of those original HomePods!

 

[za9ra22]

I have a set of Altec Lansing 621 speakers connected to my iMac, and they far outperform a stereo pair of HomePods, not just in frequency range and response, but also available power/volume.

That said, the HomePods are really quite remarkable for their size and potential flexibility of use, so they get used in my home rather more than the Altecs do. But there's really no comparison, particularly on complex music or at higher volumes where the HomePods tend to sound a bit muddy and restricted, while the Altecs are clear and powerful.

 

[swandy]

Thanks everyone for your opinions. From what I can figure, I must have purchased these around 2003 or so (when they came out). They were probably around $100 as they were advertised as "computer" speakers - which is probably why an old friend who owned a computer store recommended them.
I agree that I would probably miss the stereo spacing that a single HomePod mini would do as I am usually listening to music when sitting in front of the iMac - very occasionally lay on a nearby couch.
My interest in a Homepod is also that when my wife and I spend our Friday/Saturday "Date Nights" we are watching in our family room which has a nice wall-mounted Samsung LCD TV and generally watching stuff on the attached Apple TV HD. But we are just using the speakers built into the TV itself and lots of times have trouble making out voices speaking. That's why getting a Homepod was intriguing. I could use it for my iMac and then move it downstairs for "date night". (Other times my wife generally watches TV in a smaller room and she really doesn't care what sound/music on the TV sounds like LOL.)

 

[Phil77354]

Just fully checked out your photo. That set-up looks great!! I’d aspire to it if I didn’t need inputs and outputs!

I’m guessing your set-up gets very loud. Out of interest, where do you have your volume around? Is it comfortable at higher levels?

The only thing that may not be suitable is the price. These are powerful speakers! Without doing any research, I suspect that computer style speakers like the original poster already has will cost less to buy new than two HomePod mini’s (£200) or two HomePods (£400-£500, if you find them on sale).

If money isn’t an object I imagine you’d be made up with a pair of those original HomePods!

With respect to volume, it does have the ability to get louder than I require, given that the speakers are placed right in front of where I'm sitting, but that is also dependent upon the source. I don't think I've ever felt that they did not have sufficient volume available.

Cost is something that depends of course on what any individual can comfortably afford. I purchased four of the original HomePods just as soon as they came out, which was a bit of an impulse purchase but I haven't regretted it. Two sit alongside my iMac, with the other two elsewhere in the house and used for both music as well as Siri interactions.

I previously had a pair of Audioengine A2 speakers on my desktop, along with their matching D1 headphone amplifier. That setup was not much different in price from the HomePods, and I was very happy with it for several years. The HomePods are considerably better, in my opinion.

I would not really recommend the HomePod mini for serious listening - I have one that I purchased out of curiosity, it is (as you would expect) not in the same league as the full-size HomePods.

The OP also mentions using these speakers for TV listening. I think that the full size HomePods could do a satisfactory job with that as long as volume expectations are not too great. The OP also mentions moving the speakers from the computer to the family room - that seems like a lot of trouble although since they aren't wired directly to the audio source, it is only a matter of unplugging and then plugging back in.

 

[za9ra22]

.... They were probably around $100 as they were advertised as "computer" speakers - which is probably why an old friend who owned a computer store recommended them....

The 621 set were $129 from Circuit City in around 2002 or 3, and were sold as 'computer speakers' too, but turned out to be far better than a description of that sort would suggest.

Which doesn't detract from the fact that the HomePod is a very good speaker. I bought one when they were only recently out, and was impressed by how well it performed. A single one produces an excellent 'spatial' sound stage where it is not all that obvious where the sound is coming from, and a stereo pair is sometimes quite amazing. Just that despite this, they can be bettered.

I would not expect most computer speakers over the years to do that, or even come that close, but the 621s do, just because they were truly excellent.

I have not tried them as sound output from a TV because I have no way to connect them, but I'd bet they outperform just about any standard TV speakers by a long margin! Personally, I'd plug the 621s into the TV's headphone jack, but their wired remote for volume isn't ideal.