Speakers...

[Lead_Head]

Lo all,

Finally decided on some speakers for my shuttle!

They are these:



I think they look very stylish and have good reviews. A lot of places are selling them for about £130, but I've found em on Richer Sounds for £50 (in black) or £60 in Beech (above).

I take it they will connect to my Shuttle (wont they)?

I will need some stands for them, or will resting them next to my monitor / or somewhere else on my desk be ok?

Where can I look for stands? I like wooden ones (they will match both my room + the speaker) and look better than the black ones. Silver look good tho.... Where can I look for them? Anywhere online got a god reputation?

Cheers in advance.

Nick

[fondie]

a fine choice of speakers Nick, and as i've mentioned a couple of time before at this price from richer sounds a real bargain!

unfortunately, they won't connect directly to your shuttle, the power output of your sound card / onboard sound is only very small and the signal needs amplifying before it will drive any speakers. you might notice that most pc speakers require a mains connection, this is because they are active speakers and the amplification is done within the speakers themselves. to power those mission speakers (as you would for most hi-fi speakers, as almost all are of a passive design, though there are a few exceptions, not so much at the budget end of the market) you will require external amplification, something like the cambridge audio A1 you will see in the richer sounds catalogue. the speakers will connect to the amplifier via speaker cable and the amplifier will connect to your sound card via a 3.5mm jack to phono connectors cable, such as this one http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/d...2/display.html

i believe those speakers are magnetically shielded, though have a check on the spec sheet you can find on the mission website, in the case that they aren't you'll want to keep them aware from your monitor or other sources of magnetic interference, but otherwise they'll be ok. placing them on your desk would be alright, but placing them on proper stands would be better, if you do decide to put them on a desk/shelf etc, consider trying to isolate them from the surface as much as possible, perhaps little rubber feet might help.

i'm not sure you'll find cheap all wooden stands, though you may get some with beech bases. argos have a small selection of stands, though i couldn't vouch on their quality, and richer sounds have a few also, for an online retailer i could recommend http://www.hifibitz.co.uk whom have a very large selection of stands and usually good prices too.

hope that helps a bit, and i hope the need for an amplifier doesn't put you off, any more questions and i'll do my best to answer them.

[Howard]

Yeah you'll need an amplifier. They are not active speakers.

The good news is once you've bought an amp (As Fondie said, the Cambridge Audio A1 is an excellent choice) you can be certain you are achieving far better quality audio from your PC than any computer / multimedia speakers can produce.

I would certainly go this route if my desk had any more space.

[3Dfx]

Nice speakers... tho I personally chose the Kef Cresta 2's....Just sounded better (but this was awhile ago im sure theres better now, but not by much in that price range)

[Lead_Head]

Cheers for the great advice chaps!

I was thinkin they needed amping, but I was told otherwise :/

I just need to find a decent(ish) amp now :/

Anyone selling one?

Nick

[Lead_Head]

oh, and on a side note....

http://www.richersounds.com/index.ph...l.php&p=301415

It only produced 30 watts of power... this RMS or max?

The speakers are capable of producing 75 watts... is that max or RMS?

Ta

Nick

[Howard]

Max is usually rated as PMPO which is only a marketing ploy to make them sound powerful tbh.

RMS is what you should be looking at, and 30watts can be pretty powerful if it's a good amp, and sensitive speakers. What are their impedance?

[fondie]

both the power values given, the mission speakers and the cambridge audio amp, are in Watts RMS, as is almost all hi-fi equipment. despite the figures, i think you'll find that a 30wpc amplifier will drive those speakers admirably, though i think the best option for you is to pop along to your local richer sounds and ask for a demo

[5lab]

agreed, they will be perfectly loud enough. one thing thou - they will probably not be magnetically shielded so you cant have em near a pc screen. bit of a problem.. might be better off with some pc speakers - if you want something styish then get some creative i-treagues. very nice. otherwise you can get shielded hifi speakers, or just move them further away

[Howard]

I've had hifi speakers that aren't shielded on my desk. How big is your desk? You should try to keep them at least 60CM from the monitor. But you might get away with less. Place them in your desired position and see if it interferes with the monitor.

if you want something styish then get some creative i-treagues

Style is probably about all they're good for TBH.
Those Missions coupled with a good amp will be of far better quality than ANY computer speakers.

[fondie]

the m71i's are magnetically shielded, so they'll be fine next to a monitor

[Howard]

Many modern bookshelf speakers are actually. Mine are.

[gumbossos]

nice speakers - nice price was thinking of getting some myself