Recommend me a 2.1 PC speaker system for less than $200

A

axehandle

Newcomer
I need a new speaker system for my pc and I don't have the room for a 5.1 system. Reading various reviews has only served to make me MORE muddled and confused on the issue of which 2.1 system to get. Balanced, rich audio is most important to me, I generally dont crank the volume up to obscene levels.

Some of the models I've read up on:

Klipsch Promedia 2.1
Altec Lansing Expressionist Ultra MX6021 2.1-CH
Harmn Kardon Soundsticks III
Logitech Z623

They are all in the same price range so I would appreciate some suggestions on which one has the best audio quality.

Thanks!
 
axehandle said:
Klipsch Promedia 2.1
Click to expand...
I'm a die hard Altec-Lansing fan, but I picked these up a few months ago and have been in love ever since! Fantastic speakers, enough volume to get you kicked out of any apartment and more clarity than any other speakers I've ever heard...and they work very well at low volumes too. (I tend to keep the sound on my system low so I can hear what my kids are doing. ;) )
 
Philips SPA5300. Much cheaper, but they perform on the level you require.

I bought a set as a present for my best friend, who's an audio-buff and had an Altec-Lansing set before. And he's very enthusiastic about them. Just about all the reviews I could find are as well.

I'm not sure about the availability in the US.
 
Btw, Logitech aren't bad, but they're pretty much your run-of-the-mill. Everyone, their brother and their dog has one. And they're well-build, but not particularly great.
 
Don't know if you've made your decision yet, but I'd agree with the Klipsch out of those models....

As others have commented, Logitech and Altec Lansing are pretty good quality and solid, but not hugely dynamic sound-wise.

The best in 2.1 is supposedly the Razer Mako ("the best PC speakers we have ever heard" according to this article), but I don't think they make them new now, they're from 2009 - and they're slightly over-budget. Worth checking eBay, perhaps, as they'd be under budget second-hand (obviously)... just checked eBay however and no joy at present....
 
My experience with an Altec Lansing 5.1 was pretty bad. 2.1 speakers in the PC area I have to say generally suck. I think the .1 bit barely works even in living room conditions, where getting the balance right is hard enough but not impossible, and even then goes at the cost of nice surround sound in that area. I really don't like it. Another problem is that with most PC speakers you're getting way less range and quality where it matters most.

I bought my wife 2 way 2.0 speakers from Logitech, and they have a good amount of oomph, and although slightly lacking in the higher ranges, the overal balance is just better. And these cost like $50-$60 or so tops. I've had quite a few of these and the 2.0s have so far always impressed me more, the best perhaps were three way 2.0s, and even those weren't that expensive. If you ask me we are currently getting much worse quality for our money with the 2.1 systems than we used to get with 2.0. And I'm not normally one to consider anything from the past better than what we have now. ;) But here, Statter, I have a doubt.
 
I bought my wife logitech z323's recently and have been a little jealous ever since. I know enought about listening differences that I won't claim to be an expert, but I do also have nice reference monitors and mix music daily. So I'd think the z623 are a reasonably priced option. The z323's are a touch midrangey, and not terribly loud, but quite compact, wellbuilt, and well, the best pc 2.1 setup I've experienced yet.
 
Maybe you can find used AL MX5021. It IMO looks and blends into the evironment better than any other set, doesn't use much desk space, and can be modded for better sound.
 
I just HAVE to put the plug in for anyone who ever reads this: if you want accurate sound reproduction and far better sound quality check out some cheap powered studio monitors.

If you want that rumble and 'thump' (terrible onomatopoeic word btw) you can later add a real subwoofer as well as a little eq. However it may not be perceived to be as 'loud' as those terrible pc tweeters (usually means compressed and boosted around 150-300hz).

$164, 4.75 inch woofer
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-BEH-MS40-LIST

$195, 6.5"
http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Monito...6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1303859768&sr=1-6

Or if you have an old amp sitting round, you can do better by going passive.

Just putting another (better sounding) option out there. Nothing to be afraid of but perhaps a few inches more desk/shelf space, better spatialization, hi-end, and, and and... :)
 
The left rear satellite of my Logitech "wireless" 5.1 surround system is dying... It winks the power LED regularly, and apparantly that's a sign of the power supply failing to start up due to some component failure (worn-out cap, I believe, from when my Sony surround system developed the same problem a few years back).

Thing is, how do I get it fixed? It's going to be expensive I'll wager, probably more expensive than it's worth considering time to try and diagnose a problem without access to proper schematics, but I also don't want to throw out an otherwise fully working surround system, especially as I like the "wireless" nature of the rear speakers...

I'm a bit of a sad panda now. :(
 
Is the rear wireless speaker in question on AC Power? Then the first thing I would do is try a different AC.
 
The549 said:
I just HAVE to put the plug in for anyone who ever reads this: if you want accurate sound reproduction and far better sound quality check out some cheap powered studio monitors.

If you want that rumble and 'thump' (terrible onomatopoeic word btw) you can later add a real subwoofer as well as a little eq. However it may not be perceived to be as 'loud' as those terrible pc tweeters (usually means compressed and boosted around 150-300hz).

$164, 4.75 inch woofer
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-BEH-MS40-LIST

$195, 6.5"
http://www.amazon.com/Alesis-Monito...6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1303859768&sr=1-6

Or if you have an old amp sitting round, you can do better by going passive.

Just putting another (better sounding) option out there. Nothing to be afraid of but perhaps a few inches more desk/shelf space, better spatialization, hi-end, and, and and... :)
Click to expand...

if you have no amp, or an ill-working, space wasting old one, there are amazingly cheap and great sounding class D amplifiers out there, built from modern technology.
these go by the name of t-amps. they are loud enough and really belong on "serious" speakers!


http://cgi.ebay.com/2011-New-Versio...380?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a536ee24
http://cgi.ebay.com/SMSL-SA-S3-TA20...718?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aaa8f8a76

I have both a cheap lepai and higher quality sa-s3, can't notify a sound difference except the cheaper one is louder and more enjoyable - a sound card will fix that (onboard sound for now, following a hardware disaster), and I'll install a system-wide equalizer as a pulseaudio plugin :)
 
no, no no, you dont need speakers,
what you should do is wire your headphones directly to the speaker outputs of your amplifier....
 
Grall said:
The left rear satellite of my Logitech "wireless" 5.1 surround system is dying... It winks the power LED regularly, and apparantly that's a sign of the power supply failing to start up due to some component failure (worn-out cap, I believe, from when my Sony surround system developed the same problem a few years back).
Click to expand...
Can find a couple of threads about people who simply swapped all the elcos and got it to work again ... if you have a soldering iron it's an option, that's just a couple of bucks worth of capacitors.
 
Blazkowicz said:
if you have no amp, or an ill-working, space wasting old one, there are amazingly cheap and great sounding class D amplifiers out there, built from modern technology.
these go by the name of t-amps. they are loud enough and really belong on "serious" speakers!


http://cgi.ebay.com/2011-New-Versio...380?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43a536ee24
http://cgi.ebay.com/SMSL-SA-S3-TA20...718?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4aaa8f8a76

I have both a cheap lepai and higher quality sa-s3, can't notify a sound difference except the cheaper one is louder and more enjoyable - a sound card will fix that (onboard sound for now, following a hardware disaster), and I'll install a system-wide equalizer as a pulseaudio plugin :)
Click to expand...

Cool! Never saw those before, would have bought for a previous budget band recording (mmm 18 channels and 2 mixers [for color and parametric eq] and tube preamps and signal flo) if I'da' thought of it.

I want an amp with vu meters. :)

783094293_5b00258a9e.jpg
 
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