Here's My two cent's on all of the items you've listed :
> 1) Flatbed scanner
> (decent quality, price / performance matters)
Scanners are getting chearper and cheaper. 6X9's can be had for anywhere
from $49-$199 here, after rebate.
> 2) cdrom drive (scsi acceptable / preferable?)
Plextor, Like previousley mentioned, are solid, solid drives. However, make
sure you look at VeloCD...same burnproof technology.
> 3) cdrw (one that won't burn coasters)
ditto
> 4) sound card (to replace a legacy pro audio spectrum)
> What kinds of sound cards are out there now?
> Does it make sense to get something fancy?
> The sound from the current card is not very good.
> It pops an crackles --- although I've heard complaints
> that this is a w2k issue. (Is it worth bothering to
> upgrade?)
.
Minimally, you want the SoundBlaster Live! card, its about $50 OEM. The
SBLive! 5.1 Platinum has SPDIF(RCA), Optical, and Midi I/O Ports on the
front panel, as well as having an IR remote. Cost's about $250cdn though.
My ISA AWE32 pops and crackles under winME, when I had 2000 I was using via
codecs for audio. Wierd thing is, higher I push clock speed, the slower the
clicking gets. At 600, its about twice a second, but at 900, it's almost
completly gone
> 5) speakers --- again, is there any point in buying
> something more than the plain-vanilla offerings?
> I sometimes have the suspicion that fancier-looking
> computer speakers are just fancier-looking cases
> with the same cheap speakers inside.
For myself, no. In my apartment my computer runs into the auxiliary inputs
on my Sony stereo and pumps it through a Polk surround system. Makes the
gaming kinda loud, but...it's so nice when people are over, just load a
playlist and leave it alone. I work in the sound industry and need to hear
*good* sound (replacing that ISA card today!) but I don't know what your
preferences are. Two excellent (if pricey) reccommendations I can make are
the Midiland
http://www.midiland.com/products/home_products.htm
and the Klipsch'
http://www.klipsch.com/
Check out the Pro-Media v.2-400. I've ordered a few of those for friends,
and they sound great.
Cheers.
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