Computer speaker recommendations.

For listening to the occasional MP3, sports video clips (like ESPN) and
such. The speakers on my LCD are pretty puny and not really loud enough
to hear much. I don't have a sound card so standard mother board
connections are all I have available. The mother board has VT1708
high-def with a 6-channel audio out I/O port.

If anyone has had good results with something in the $40 or less range I
would appreciate the info. A woofer would be nice but that may run more
than $40, still if a bit more $$ is a good investment I'm open to
suggestions.

Thanks,
John

John wrote:

For listening to the occasional MP3, sports video clips (like ESPN) and
such. The speakers on my LCD are pretty puny and not really loud enough
to hear much. I don't have a sound card so standard mother board
connections are all I have available. The mother board has VT1708
high-def with a 6-channel audio out I/O port.

If anyone has had good results with something in the $40 or less range I
would appreciate the info. A woofer would be nice but that may run more
than $40, still if a bit more $$ is a good investment I'm open to
suggestions.

You want a powered speaker set. That means you'll need an A/C outlet
nearby to plug in the speakers (so much for portability along with a
laptop, and forget battery-powered speakers since they are weak and need
feeding too often). I haven't found a decently priced LCD monitor that
included speakers where they were even usable for the center position.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...eId=1&name=2.1
(you can sort by rating but remember that's someone else's ear and
preferences doing the rating, and note the less number of votes the more
lopsided is the voting to a few of them)

The .1 means subwoofer (2.1 = 2 stereo speakers, 1 subwoofer). For
under $50, they don't list and 4.x, and up, combinations since those
have more speakers so cost more money. You didn't mention for WHAT you
use or want the powered speakers. For a lot of apps, just the front 2
speakers is sufficient. Yet I've played games that made use of surround
sound so I could hear someone sneaking up behind me because the
footsteps were coming from behind from the rear speakers.

Speakers, like monitors, is something that I go to the retail store to
figure out if I like them. Just going by specs won't tell you if they
sound good to your ears or look good to your eyes. I've seen speakers
and monitors with great specs that were crap.

I've had Logitech speakers but wasn't impressed (wouldn't bother with
them again). Creative and Altec have been pretty good but then I am
usually looking at the $200+ range and not the low end. A lot depends
on what type of sound you like to hear. I've tried speakers that were
extremely clear but too much on the mid- and high-range and not enough
oomph but also experienced muddy speakers with lots of oomph but little
clarity (that the kids seems to love but then look at what they're
putting in their cars).

On 2/26/2012 8:10 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
John wrote:

For listening to the occasional MP3, sports video clips (like ESPN) and
such. The speakers on my LCD are pretty puny and not really loud enough
to hear much. I don't have a sound card so standard mother board
connections are all I have available. The mother board has VT1708
high-def with a 6-channel audio out I/O port.

If anyone has had good results with something in the $40 or less range I
would appreciate the info. A woofer would be nice but that may run more
than $40, still if a bit more $$ is a good investment I'm open to
suggestions.

You want a powered speaker set. That means you'll need an A/C outlet
nearby to plug in the speakers (so much for portability along with a
laptop, and forget battery-powered speakers since they are weak and need
feeding too often). I haven't found a decently priced LCD monitor that
included speakers where they were even usable for the center position.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...eId=1&name=2.1
(you can sort by rating but remember that's someone else's ear and
preferences doing the rating, and note the less number of votes the more
lopsided is the voting to a few of them)

The .1 means subwoofer (2.1 = 2 stereo speakers, 1 subwoofer). For
under $50, they don't list and 4.x, and up, combinations since those
have more speakers so cost more money. You didn't mention for WHAT you
use or want the powered speakers. For a lot of apps, just the front 2
speakers is sufficient. Yet I've played games that made use of surround
sound so I could hear someone sneaking up behind me because the
footsteps were coming from behind from the rear speakers.

Speakers, like monitors, is something that I go to the retail store to
figure out if I like them. Just going by specs won't tell you if they
sound good to your ears or look good to your eyes. I've seen speakers
and monitors with great specs that were crap.

I've had Logitech speakers but wasn't impressed (wouldn't bother with
them again). Creative and Altec have been pretty good but then I am
usually looking at the $200+ range and not the low end. A lot depends
on what type of sound you like to hear. I've tried speakers that were
extremely clear but too much on the mid- and high-range and not enough
oomph but also experienced muddy speakers with lots of oomph but little
clarity (that the kids seems to love but then look at what they're
putting in their cars).


They would be used on an XP workstation and so needn't be portable.

John

On 2/26/2012 8:10 AM, VanguardLH wrote:
John wrote:

For listening to the occasional MP3, sports video clips (like ESPN) and
such. The speakers on my LCD are pretty puny and not really loud enough
to hear much. I don't have a sound card so standard mother board
connections are all I have available. The mother board has VT1708
high-def with a 6-channel audio out I/O port.

If anyone has had good results with something in the $40 or less range I
would appreciate the info. A woofer would be nice but that may run more
than $40, still if a bit more $$ is a good investment I'm open to
suggestions.

You want a powered speaker set. That means you'll need an A/C outlet
nearby to plug in the speakers (so much for portability along with a
laptop, and forget battery-powered speakers since they are weak and need
feeding too often). I haven't found a decently priced LCD monitor that
included speakers where they were even usable for the center position.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...eId=1&name=2.1
(you can sort by rating but remember that's someone else's ear and
preferences doing the rating, and note the less number of votes the more
lopsided is the voting to a few of them)

The .1 means subwoofer (2.1 = 2 stereo speakers, 1 subwoofer). For
under $50, they don't list and 4.x, and up, combinations since those
have more speakers so cost more money. You didn't mention for WHAT you
use or want the powered speakers. For a lot of apps, just the front 2
speakers is sufficient. Yet I've played games that made use of surround
sound so I could hear someone sneaking up behind me because the
footsteps were coming from behind from the rear speakers.

Speakers, like monitors, is something that I go to the retail store to
figure out if I like them. Just going by specs won't tell you if they
sound good to your ears or look good to your eyes. I've seen speakers
and monitors with great specs that were crap.

I've had Logitech speakers but wasn't impressed (wouldn't bother with
them again). Creative and Altec have been pretty good but then I am
usually looking at the $200+ range and not the low end. A lot depends
on what type of sound you like to hear. I've tried speakers that were
extremely clear but too much on the mid- and high-range and not enough
oomph but also experienced muddy speakers with lots of oomph but little
clarity (that the kids seems to love but then look at what they're
putting in their cars).

Oh and I forgot to mention, I don't want battery powered ones. I can
plug them into the power strip along with every thing else.

John

On Feb 26, 7:05 am, John wrote:
For listening to the occasional MP3, sports video clips (like ESPN) and
such. The speakers on my LCD are pretty puny and not really loud enough
to hear much. I don't have a sound card so standard mother board
connections are all I have available. The mother board has VT1708
high-def with a 6-channel audio out I/O port.

If anyone has had good results with something in the $40 or less range I
would appreciate the info. A woofer would be nice but that may run more
than $40, still if a bit more $$ is a good investment I'm open to
suggestions.

Thanks,
John

$10 more, periodically on sale (Newegg had them 3 weeks ago), Pioneer
bookshelf monitors. $50 more and you're looking at entry Polk Audio.
The Pioneers are well know among audio circles for an unusual
marketing standpoint an engineer took when making accurate speakers
intended to be affordable. For the time being I've a pair hooked up to
an ART 10-30Khz amp. Occasional MP3 is nice to hear for what it's
actually capable, removing having to guess is a nice although,
although that could change as fewer discs are released and the trend
for digit format continues to increase. As of course there's a whole
substratum of plastic cast speakers marketed within such a price
range. Fairly easy to assess for value once getting over the notion
most all basically are dealing in grandeur schemes with garbage.

I went with a Klipsch 2.1 ProMedia system rated at 200 watts for about
$150. It's a great setup that has survived for nearly 10 years,
through 3 complete computer rebuilds. The only reason I would upgrade
is if I wanted a 5.1 or 7.1 setup. Otherwise, this will probably be
the last set of computer speakers that I own.

Don't be cheap with your speakers. Good ones will last far longer than
your cpu, motherboard, graphics card, or computer.

That said, here are a few things to look for from better speakers.

1. Get more power than you need, at least twice as much. Driving an
amplifier / speakers at 100% means distortion, clipping, at
overheating from your components. Driving your speakers at 50% (or
less) completely eliminates those issues.

2. The volume control knob should be separate from your speakers. For
best sound, you'll end up moving your speakers to the far corners of
your desk, or even moving them off your desk. This makes reaching for
the physical volume dial very inconvenient. Having a volume dial that
can detach from your speakers (like the Klipcsh ProMedia series) or a
discrete desktop volume dial (like the Bose Companion 5 series) is the
solution to this problem. And don't rely on software to solve this
issue - every game sets up their sound controls differently, which
gets very annoying, very quickly.

3. Make sure your speakers have a bass control dial separate from the
volume dial. Certain games just drive the bass way too much, since
they assume most people run the games using crappy speakers /
headphones, so a separate bass dial is the simplest solution.
--
// T.Hsu

On Feb 26, 1:00 pm, Ting Hsu wrote:

Don't be cheap with your speakers. Good ones will last far longer than
your cpu, motherboard, graphics card, or computer.

Not really. Soundcards over the past decade have been surprising
resilient to innovation;- think there's a mention of Neil Young in
this month's Rolling Stone, taking issue with industry over low-
fidelity standards over digital stream releases, increasingly seen for
a new standard, some are projecting as replacing disc formats as early
as the next three years. Recently in upgrading my signal carrier path
to a laser modulated cable between the amp and new soundcard, by the
same standards, I might now be good for nearly as long as my ancient
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz served for elementally accurate tonal
reproduction, apart further digital effects processing or redundant
arrays to source-imaging enhancement.

Of course, as you say, the main speakers, not the Pioneers I'd
advanced, are vintage and well-cared for older models, well before
computers became viable aides to audio entertainment, and still can be
found as somewhat in demand on secondary markets for restoration
purposes.

I bought this set for $59.99 back in 2009.....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836116035

It's now $39.99 at Newegg.... a great deal in my opinion.

Although it doesn't have a sub-woofer, Bass sound is really good, and
they still sond like new.

On Sun, 26 Feb 2012, John wrote:


For listening to the occasional MP3, sports video clips (like ESPN) and such.
The speakers on my LCD are pretty puny and not really loud enough to hear
much. I don't have a sound card so standard mother board connections are all
I have available. The mother board has VT1708 high-def with a 6-channel audio
out I/O port.

If anyone has had good results with something in the $40 or less range I
would appreciate the info. A woofer would be nice but that may run more than
$40, still if a bit more $$ is a good investment I'm open to suggestions.

Go to a garage sale, buy a stereo amplifier or receiver for ten bucks.

Then buy small speakers, or big ones, either at a garage sale or new.

You'll get more for the money than buying something labelled as "computer
speakers".

For a long time, I used a Delco digitally tuned car radio as the
amplifier, I added an external input jack, and fed the computer soundcard
into that. It gave me a radio, a good one, near the computer too. Then I
changed that to some stereo receiver I got for ten bucks at a garage sale,
those are plentiful since people seem to want smaller things nowadays.
For that matter, in the spring when the university students move out, it's
not uncomoon to find ministereos waiting for the garbage, though often
those don't have the needed auxiliary input jacks.

Initially, I used that Delco with a pair of generic metal cased speakers,
which I replaced with Minimus 7 tiny speakers bought at garage sales. I
could have bought descendents of those speakers at Radio shack, under a
differnt name, waiting till they were on sale, spending less than some of
those 'computer speakers" cost.

Or if you have the space, buy bigger speakers. The only good thing about
the tiny speakers is that they don't take up space, but if you have space,
then there's a wider range you can choose from, lots of bigger speakers at
garage sales.

When I got my first HDTV last year, I did't like the tiny built in
speakers, so I fed it into a boombox that I'd found waiting for the
garbage, not that much an improvement, but the speakers are larger, and
forward facing, and it's cheap, I can replace it later with another garage
sale stereo receiver and speakers.

Michael

I had the original ProMedia v.2-400 Computer Speaker System
(http://www.klipsch.com/promedia-v-2-...speaker-system) from
12/1999 for almost a decade (3/7/2009) until its subwoofer went bust
(horrible rattling noises with no bass). I ended up with a Logitech
Z-2300 speakers (2.1 setup and analog). I still preferred my Klipsch.

Also, onboard audio sucks for bass.


On 2/26/2012 10:00 AM PT, Ting Hsu typed:

I went with a Klipsch 2.1 ProMedia system rated at 200 watts for about
$150. It's a great setup that has survived for nearly 10 years,
through 3 complete computer rebuilds. The only reason I would upgrade
is if I wanted a 5.1 or 7.1 setup. Otherwise, this will probably be
the last set of computer speakers that I own.
--
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Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.