Really good PC speakers

[DaKid]

Hiya guys,

I'm after some suggestions on computer speakers. I really like the Bose MusicMonitor speakers, but at £250 they're not exactly cheap. Specifically I like the power, sound and size of them, but I realise that some of the money is going to pay for the name. Does anyone have any other suggestions that might come close to being a rival for them? Maybe around the £100-£200 mark?

I'm definitely not looking for a 2.1 system, and I'm also in no hurry, so any and all other suggestions are welcome

Many thanks,

DaKid

[Smudger]

Creative T20s or T40s would probably do you. I've got the old T20s, and they sound superb.

Review of T20 Series 2 here:

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/computer-s...view-49300826/

They're £55 for the T20, £95 for the T40 at Amazon...

[DaKid]

Creative T20s or T40s would probably do you. I've got the old T20s, and they sound superb.

Review of T20 Series 2 here:

http://reviews.cnet.co.uk/computer-s...view-49300826/

They're £55 for the T20, £95 for the T40 at Amazon...

Very interesting. Thank you.

The T40 Series II is only £77 from Dixons with free delivery, so that does seem a pretty good price.

I do always worry about buying under budget though, as I'm the sort of person who thinks that if I pay half the price I'll get no better than 2/3 of the quality! Because of that I'd be interested to know what I could get if I did pay more

[MSIC]

The T40 Series II is only £77 from Dixons with free delivery, so that does seem a pretty good price.

I was about to recommend the very same, as I own them.
I have absolutely no regrets, although want to be clear that I dont know honestly if they are as good as a pair costing £300.

[DaKid]

Have now discovered some other alternatives elsewhere, including the Audioengine A2. Seems there is a market for this type of speaker. If I could just find the candidates more easily!

[Saracen]

....

I do always worry about buying under budget though, as I'm the sort of person who thinks that if I pay half the price I'll get no better than 2/3 of the quality! Because of that I'd be interested to know what I could get if I did pay more

Understandable. Though I think you'll find the law of diminishing marginal returns applies here, just as it does with domestic hifi speakers. That is, as you go up the price range, you have to spend increasingly large amounts to get a reasonably difference in quality. If you spend £100 on hifi speakers, you can get quite a lot better for £200. If you spend £1000, you have a to spend a lot more to get a similar jump in quality. And if you spend £5000, well, I hope you have a house to mortgage or a trust fund to tap to take the next step.

Of course, PC speakers are a lot lower down the price structure than that, but the principle applies.

And, if you've got a decent budget and really want quality sound, think about a cheap but decent second-hand hifi amp and hifi speakers. Use an amp input to take a feed from the PC.

[DaKid]

Understandable. Though I think you'll find the law of diminishing marginal returns applies here, just as it does with domestic hifi speakers. That is, as you go up the price range, you have to spend increasingly large amounts to get a reasonably difference in quality. If you spend £100 on hifi speakers, you can get quite a lot better for £200. If you spend £1000, you have a to spend a lot more to get a similar jump in quality. And if you spend £5000, well, I hope you have a house to mortgage or a trust fund to tap to take the next step.

Of course, PC speakers are a lot lower down the price structure than that, but the principle applies.

And, if you've got a decent budget and really want quality sound, think about a cheap but decent second-hand hifi amp and hifi speakers. Use an amp input to take a feed from the PC.

Very fair point, but I've currently got a Yahama amp and two Eltax floorstanders plugged into my PC, but I'd much prefer a more space-saving alternative!

[shaithis]

Very fair point, but I've currently got a Yahama amp and two Eltax floorstanders plugged into my PC, but I'd much prefer a more space-saving alternative!

No £100-£200 PC speaker setup is going to sound like money well spent if your going to unplug a decent amp and speakers first.....

[DaKid]

No £100-£200 PC speaker setup is going to sound like money well spent if your going to unplug a decent amp and speakers first.....

Well-spent is subjective, no? My choice is to sacrifice quality and size of sound in order to gain a huge amount of space in my study, but I'm not willing to put up with the normal tinny little PC speakers that are so ubiquitous. There has to be something in the middle, and my intention is to try and make a reasonable stab at finding the best compromise I can

[shaithis]

Just making sure you understand there will be a noticable step-down in SQ

And I stand by my statement.....they will not sound like money well spent in comparison.....but they may look or even feel like it

[dfour]

What about plugging a pair of wharfedale diamond 9.1 into your amp

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/2197

£99:95 delivered. very highly rated speakers in there time.

[Spud1]

First question should really be do you want "Good PC Speakers", or "Good speakers" - there is a big difference.

I gave up on PC speakers a few years ago as I found all of them to be well..rubbish..in one form or another. It was always either lack of decent inputs (typically lack of digital support), lack of decoders (difficult to find some that can do DTS/DolbyD and even worse if after TrueHD et al), but usually the speakers were just very poor.

I quickly moved to a budget amp and separate 5.1 speaker system and the difference was immense. Even a cheap £200 amp with £200 speakers will be miles better than any PC speaker system that you can buy - even the £300 fancy logitech ones.

Anyway, the answer of what to buy is really covered by these questions.

1) Do you watch movies on your PC? If so, get a proper set of speakers - the ability to properly decode Dolby HD et al is worth it.
2) Is your PC in a large room? Get a proper set of speakers, the smaller PC ones won't cope well with large rooms.

If the answer to those 2 question is no..then standard £100 PC speakers will do the job for your perfectly. Then when you progress to becoming a bit of an audiophile (most PC geeks do in their late 20s ok ok it's a generalisation but it's true in my experience!) you can just replace them with a real "hi fi" setup.

No sense in spending more than the £100 or so imo, you don't get any better sound for it in most cases...

[scaryjim]

Sorry OP, I've got nothing to add to your search (I'm not an audiophile, and find my £30 logitech S200s more than acceptable ), but I have to jump in and say...

... a cheap £200 amp ...

...

I know all things are relative, but I don't think I'd ever call £200 for an amp cheap. Reasonable, certainly, but not cheap...


EDIT: OK, I've just done a google search and I retract that statement. I thought technology was meant to get cheaper with time though

[kalniel]

EDIT: OK, I've just done a google search and I retract that statement. I thought technology was meant to get cheaper with time though

The hole in the wallet is an important part of the acoustic quality for audio equipment - if it's not large enough they just won't sound as good

[scaryjim]

I remember being able to get entry-level integrated amps for well under £100 last time I was looking. OK, that was ten years ago, but I didn't think the entry cost would've gone up that much. Inflation must've been worse than I realised...

[g8ina]

http://www.superfi.co.uk/index.cfm/p...roduct_ID/2543

£139 and they are Acoustic Energy