Best 2.0 Computer Speakers

[dman220]

My cousin wants to get rid of his subwoofer and buy a good 2.0 computer speaker setup. Does any one know which would be a good set for around $150.00 to $200.00? He did not give me an exact price, but I am guessing around this price point. If there is a good set for a little more please let me know. I tried looking online, but most stuff is for 2.1 or more. If you could help I would appreciate it.

 

[dman220]

Yes, he doesn't want to have the subwoofer under the desk. I am not sure why. I think he is going for a clean sleek look I think, but don't know. He has a very cheap 2.1 setup right now. Let me know if there is anything else you want or need to know.

 

[caamsa]

I don't buy from Tiger Direct but I know that these are a good set of 2.0 speakers.

Link to review

http://playlistmag.com/reviews/2005/04/promedia/index.php


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1732769&Sku=K134-1012&SRCCODE=GOOGLEBASE&CMP=OTC-GOOGLEBASE

 

[achensherd]

I'm partial to my Creative Gigaworks T20:

Product page at Newegg.com

They provide decent bass for small to medium sized bedrooms/studies considering there's no subwoofer, and the sound is very clear. The bright blue power LED might annoy some, though.

 

[pchoi04]

If your cousin wants something simple, elegant and still sound good, I would recommend the Bose Companion 2 Series II.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7933686&st=bose&type=product&id=1151657980013

My friend has these speakers and I thought they were pretty solid.

 

[Guest]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836127002

try these.

I have the studiophile AV 40's they blow away the sound quality/loudness/bass of Klipsch 2.1s. I've owned, several high end Klipsch and Logitech setups and never thought a set of 2.0s could rock so hard, I would fully recommend the AV40s

 

[squatchman]

How about headphones? I know the audiophile losers are all swearing by whatever $500+ pair that Sennhauser is putting out, but are those really that much better than a pair of twenty dollar Koss Earbuds?

 

[cjl]

The M audio stuff looks really nice. That would probably be my recommendation.

 

[srpg]

>How about headphones? I know the audiophile losers are all swearing by >whatever $500+ pair that Sennhauser is putting out, but are those really >that much better than a pair of twenty dollar Koss Earbuds?

In a word, yes. And they are not $500. My Sennheiser HD580 was $129.99 from newegg 5 years ago, all I've done so far is replace the cables with the sturdier HD650 ones. Granted you will need an amp for them.

But if you don't plan to spend $100 on a pair of headphones. There are plenty of sub $100 headphones that are way better than your average earbuds. Grado SR60, Sennheiser HD555, Sennheiser HD515, Koss Portapros, Koss KSC75, Shure E2C just to name a few

 

[Guest]

If you want good headphones, earbuds, shell out for a pair of Shure's. Even the entry level ones are exceptional, especially if you commute to work - they're completely sound isolating - you couldn't hear a firetruck screaming by you (I didn't).

+ the audio quality is second to none. Spend as much or as lil as you want. You get what you pay for. Odds are you have no need for $500 headphones - if you need to ask, you don't need em.

 

[djcoolmasterx]

READ THE POST DATES

 

[AIRCRAFTWOODY]

audioengine 5 speakers are very nice.
http://www.onecall.com/ProductDetails.aspx?id=95375

 

[irishredbloke]

Creative Gigaworks T20 are pretty darn good for the price.

 

[blueness]

READ THE POST DATES

And yet, I came to this thread and found posts after your not-so-helpful post that were of value to me. Go figure.

 

[Shatter242]

Agree'd This is still relevant info. All the speakers recommended are still commercially available. eg the Audiophile 4.0's are $149 at Fry's.

As for headphones I'd like to chime in that I never heard the Sound blaster X-fi sound as amazing as I did when I hooked up my Pioneer HDJ-1000 headphones. They are a little more pricey than you average headphones, but when you hear the sound you'll understand why, with bass so deep (20Hz) that you'll think the room is shaking, and 3d positional audio that you'll swear somebody is behind you breathing.

I'm leaning towards the 4.0's for desk speakers for all reason listed above (don't want a sub or a bunch of speakers all over)

I'm going to do some more poking around at newer Creative speakers and see what people say.

Thanks

 

[mike13579]

Philips MMS321 are about the best 2.0 out there.


Sharpen up the sound with some equalizer changes, the high ranges/tweeters are awesome. These things are designed for listening in one or two rooms, which most people do anyway. They're not for rocking the entire house. I've yet to listen to higher quality sound from 2.0 computer speakers.

If they're not loud or sharp enough run them through an amp and use an equalizer on any old media program.

To fix the (lack of) bass issue, hook up a separate sub and use these speakers (take away some bass on the speaker eq) and you've got one serious sound system.

I'd like to get another pair and hook these up in a surround sound setup



edit - they run between 35-45$ on ebay for the pair

 

[mike13579]

Lol for 250 to 300usd you can buy home theatre with surround sound and use the sdif connection

and you can buy a much better system with 4-6 of these speakers, a separate sub and amp

 

[Shatter242]

The point you guys are missing is that we aren't talking about a multi-speaker surround system. Most of those are only running 8-10 watts/channel anyway. What we are discussing is 2.0 sound systems.


I ended up going with the M-Audio AV4 for $150. They have a great sound, very natural. For my tastes I needed the treble turned up a little bit on the PC and they're just right. Heavy enclosures and they come with adhesive foam bottoms to prevent low end vibration.

These are studio reference monitor grade. Nice, clean simple.

Only three wires needed, so no real clutter added. Works great with the SB X-FI sound card.

 

[mike13579]

Yes the Philips MMS321 2.0 is a 2.0 system You can hook up any multiple 2.0 systems for faux surround sound with an adapter and set eq on your front speakers with clearer midrange and highs, and the back speakers with more low/mids. Set the sub wherever. Which is crudely what surround sound does anyway. You could even buy dedicated sets of different speakers with more bass on certain ones and more highs on others. The philips works with any soundcard I am aware of, you will need a 10 band equalizer at least (unless you like that loud little-bass sound, I don't care for it), which most cards or onboard driver have or are available. These speakers begin bass frequencies at 50hz, impressive for the little drivers and bass resonator. I have tested it at 40hz so they're better than advertised. Tweeters go all the way up to 200khz. To get the most out of them use a 15 band eq. There is no other 2.0 in existence to have such a wide range of frequencies at these power levels, if you use it as quiet-normal desktop speakers then they have the most definition than anyone else. My pos on board real tek only has 10 band equalizer.

The stock settings are too much for the 200-400 HZ, it really thumps the bass out of the box so take a little power away on this ratio. Add more to the mid and high ranges (where these things shine) and you have a better system than anything out there with very decent bass. The noise ratio when they're turned up to max (80watts) is absolutely nill with a well tuned eq. Very high quality sound

Again add separate sub/amp for real bass. I can't recommend these anymore than I have, 40 watts/channel, comes with its own 80watt amp. If you want more out of the midrange you can always upgrade to aftermarket amp. The tweeter seems to have more room for juice also.


My only complaint is the left speaker needs a better ground. If you're familiar with amps you know what I mean. The tiny 3.5mm cord running from the main speaker to auxiliary sends a very slight hum and it needs a bigger ground. Though it isnt noticeable from 2 feet away (it's just static ground interference, not speaker noise it goes away when power ie sound is sent to the speakers)

 

[Daave12]

Thanks for the list, it looks good....I am sure it would be helpful to us....

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey