Need help finding studio speakers

Underfr0g,

It's a big subject and to choose all the parts, it's necessary to know about the use- is this for recording /mixing / editing, and with Sonar or other full-capability software? Is it 2-channel only? And what is the placement of these speakers> this affects the size.

You might have a look through the range at: http://www.sweetwater.com/shop/studio/studio-monitors/

And while you're at that site, look at the sound interfaces.

I've had a variety of digital sound setups including a dedicated computer running an external Firewire interface with MIDI and vacuum tube microphone preamp and an Audio Research / Vandersteen 3A playback. For my ordinary computer sound system, I;ve had very good results with an M-Audio 192 PCI soundcard- and that has Pto Tools and MIDI I/O:

M-Audio Audiophile 192 Soundcard Audio 64 bit > sold for $75

http://www.ebay.com/itm/M-Audio-Audiophile-192-Soundcard-Audio-64-bit-/321980493121?hash=item4af7886d41%3Ag%3Ai-AAAOSwX%7EdWnS-A&nma=true&si=5g96Hp8au69IT7I66hDsVVrkFs0%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

The sound is decent and these seem to last forever. I've had three of the M-Audio 2496 and currently have two of the 192's and I the 2496 from 2004 still works perfectly after thousands of hours. There are of course current consumer-level sound cards from ASUS and others, and then going into the studio-level interfaces.

On a more moderate day to day level, I have been very pleased with a Logitech z2300 2.1 sound system:

LOGITECH-Z-2300-THX-CERTIFIED-2-1-SPEAKER-SYSTEM-WITH-SUBWOOFER > sold for $95

http://www.ebay.com/itm/LOGITECH-Z-2300-THX-CERTIFIED-2-1-SPEAKER-SYSTEM-WITH-SUBWOOFER-/121822912189?hash=item1c5d361ebd%3Ag%3AaYAAAOSwxN5WU7Dp&nma=true&si=5g96Hp8au69IT7I66hDsVVrkFs0%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

> I think this cost about $350 new. And this has a 125W subwoofer and 45W satellites and best of all, a wired remote with on/off, volume, subwoofer level, and headphone jack. I like the sound quality and the satellites can be placed next the monitor so it's very immediate. I use the headphones sometimes with Sennheiser HD280 Pro. This gets a mention as the new upper models of these systems don't have the wired remote. I also have two Logitech z313 2.1 systems, one for the a second computer and one for a television that runs off an M-Audio 2496 sound card in a Dell E520. These are only $30 in the US and also has the wired remote.

On another level, you can have a PCIe sound card that powers an integrated amp out to the studio speakers such as the ones listed in Sweetwater or bookshelf speakers depending on the placement. I used an EMU 0404 PCIe sound card in an HP Elite M2496F (Q6600) to 1973 Marantz 2275 receiver to run Infinity 360's and then changed that for ab Audio Research LS3 and D130 combination. However, the Infinities are floor standing and were actually well off to the sides so the stereo imaging was spoiled. Placement is very important.

So, infinite possibilities.

Cheers,

BambiBoom

Modeling:

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555]
[Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

Rendering:

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) (Revised) > 2X Xeon X5680 (6 -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 1333 ECC Reg. > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (27", 1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3500 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)