Looking to upgrade my PC speaker setup and wondered what was a good bang for bucks choice.

 

Ideally 2.1/3.1/5.1 and something that has a bit of oomph + a digital input (if possible). Quality is better than quantity though. At least it is if the price is right.

 

Any recommendations?

 

 

I'm not that keen on computer specific speakers such as the likes of logitech, creative, etc, not brilliant on sound quality and built to a price (plastic and horrible) I've got a pair of Bose active speakers, small but nice sounding, which I use very occasionally. Though if I was looking for a bigger sound I would look towards the "hifi end" of whats available, JBL for example. Really depends on your budget and if you want wireless, active or separate amplification and decoding, subwoofer or sound bar, bit of a mine field really. Probably the best starting point would be identifying your budget.

I guess it depends on where the PC is and what you want to do with it. 

I watch a lot of movies through my TV so I just plugged it into a spare input on my Hi Fi amp and it works for me.

 

I did the same in the garage but used a cheap 5 speaker surround sound system I picked up at a car boot for a tenner. 

I would pop into Richer Sounds and price up a cheap amp and passive speakers, or a pair of active speakers.

 

I dont have the room for it now, but my main PC used to run a pair of Gale 301s (from the days when they made PROPER speakers), powered by a Crimson Electric 100wpc* power amp and controlled by a QED passive pre-amp.

 

The sounds was AWESOME!!!!

 

As a bonus, the amp doubled as a foot warmer during the winter.

 

 

* That is PROPER "RMS"  Watts Per Channel @ 0.001% THD, not flim-flam that makes out a weedy 4" plastic box pumps out 1500Watts (pmpo @20% THD).

try AE speakers they are great.  http://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/#!aego/cgnd

Edited 28 November, 201411 yr by kelling

I'm not that keen on computer specific speakers such as the likes of logitech, creative, etc, not brilliant on sound quality and built to a price (plastic and horrible) I've got a pair of Bose active speakers, small but nice sounding, which I use very occasionally. Though if I was looking for a bigger sound I would look towards the "hifi end" of whats available, JBL for example. Really depends on your budget and if you want wireless, active or separate amplification and decoding, subwoofer or sound bar, bit of a mine field really. Probably the best starting point would be identifying your budget.

 

Mentioning the Bose speakers reminded me that I've got some 101 & 301 speakers that are spare. :S Then again, they'd require a seperate amp (another 'spare' item), but I don't really want to add to the desktop real estate with things that are so big.

 

I guess it depends on where the PC is and what you want to do with it. 

 

It's definitely not for watching movies as a proper AV setup caters for that but just general (if infrequent) music and maybe youtube bits.

 

I would pop into Richer Sounds and price up a cheap amp and passive speakers, or a pair of active speakers.

 

Active speakers are something for me to consider. Any suggestions?

 

try AE speakers they are great.  http://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/#!aego/cgnd

 

Small and decent sounding - starting to tick the boxes.

 

Is the optical output from my PC just to feed an AV setup or are there some 'smallish' PC type speaker that can be fed this way?

Maybe something like these? http://www.trust.com/en/all-products/19755-gxt-638-digital-gaming-speaker-21?from={6F76A52D-31B4-4BEA-98F9-E35FDD6E491E}#feature:WIRED-REMOTE+feature:GAMING+Group:SPEAKERS+from:{6F76A52D-31B4-4BEA-98F9-E35FDD6E491E}^2


Got a set of 2.1's from Trust myself, has a nice sound, also goes nice and loud, and if i wire it right with the correct adaptors, can use it instead of my 30W guitar amp if I need a bit more volume (mine are 50W )

I have been VERY disappointed with all of the "PC" speakers/speaker systems I have listened to, a budget HiFi set-up sounds much better and is usually much cheaper.

 

Wharfdale Diamonds are a very good, cheap compact speaker, not sure if they still do an active version though; however just about anything you buy in Richer Sounds or similar budget Hifi stores is going to sound better than anything they sell in a PC store, including those bigass subwoofer systems that do nothing but go BOOM!!

 

TBH the best PC speakers I have had were a pair of cheap no-name wooden cased ones a little smaller than the Diamonds that I picked up at a PC fair for £12; if it wasnt for the fact she would poke out the paper cones, I would put a set on my baby daughters PC.

You could take a look at some JBL control one's there is an active wireless version..http://www.johnlewis.com/jbl-on-air-control-2-4g-wireless-speakers/p231038733?sku=231038733&kpid=231038733&s_kenid=7fee495f-3e6e-7348-b303-00002c3eacc9&s_kwcid=402x28570&tmad=c&tmcampid=73&kpid=231038733

 

The Bose music monitors as previously mentioned, small speaker, big sound for a small speaker, biggish price though. http://www.johnlewis.com/bose-musicmonitor-computer-speakers-silver/p231555128?navAction=jump

 

As mentioned check out Richer sounds, there's some Roth active speakers (blue tooth coonnectivity) don't know much about them but seem to have good reviews. worth a listen. http://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-speakers/roth/oli-powa-5-mkii/roth-powa-5-blk-mk2

 

You can add a sub at any time and more speakers for 5.1 etc if you want.

As Kelling said try these http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acoustic-Energy-Aego-M/dp/B000VAF8GK/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1417276659&sr=8-4&keywords=aego

 

Never really heard a bad word about them and they still get good reviews even though they have been out for quite a while. A proper bang for buck choice..

I have quite an old setup now the Logitec z-5500 which is very load the sub is very big and bassy but the satellite speakes will destort under high loads.

 

Just make your mind up as to wether you really need 5.1 with the extra speakers or wether a simple but quality 2.1 should suffice, just read plenty of reviews on Amazon, Overclockers ect.

Edited 29 November, 201411 yr by theezenutz

That's quite a selection for me to ponder over and and I think a decent 2.1 setup would probably be more than adequate for my needs.

 

Off to spend time on the review's trail......

That's quite a selection for me to ponder over and and I think a decent 2.1 setup would probably be more than adequate for my needs.

 

Off to spend time on the review's trail......

When you've done all your reviews and made a selection, please report back as I, for one, would be most interested!

 

The PC speaker quality, cost, size dilemma has had me scratching my head for quite a while.

Bowers wilkins mm1

Start with Acoustic Energy Aego... Compare on Amazon and have a damned good look at linked or similar products.

 

Also worth checking for any group tests within the past few years.

 

If you want to spend the money or gape incredulous, have a look at Teufel UK.

Just another thing to ask/note. What are you plugging this into? Are we talking the onboard sound chip or a soundcard? No point getting decent speakers without something decent processing the noise in the first place!

Just another thing to ask/note. What are you plugging this into? Are we talking the onboard sound chip or a soundcard? No point getting decent speakers without something decent processing the noise in the first place!

I wounldn't imagine it would matter too much unless their is an importance on audiophile quality, in that case looking at pc speakers and sound cards isn't going to cut he'll be needing to look at a proper hi-fi components.

Just another thing to ask/note. What are you plugging this into? Are we talking the onboard sound chip or a soundcard? No point getting decent speakers without something decent processing the noise in the first place!

 

It's just the onboard sound port (Crystal Sound 2) which runs via Realtek HD Audio Manager. Probably still better than the AWE64 Gold soundcard which I've just come across though.

 

In discussing this dilemma with a friend, he mentioned about a set of speakers that I'd bought ages ago that were so good, all my PC using friends also went out to get a pair. Unfortunately mine died a death but everyone else still uses theirs. That's thrown a left field solution - if only I can source some as I know for definite that the quality was stunning.

The hunt is continuing on this path before I nip in to John Lewis etc to try what they have to offer!

TBH the best PC speakers I have had were a pair of cheap no-name wooden cased ones a little smaller than the Diamonds that I picked up at a PC fair for £12

 

I couldn't quite match GG's pricing but managed to get the exact same Yamaha model that I used to have - even though it involved a 200 mile round trip.

You can't put a price on audio happiness?

 

Their size really does defy how good the sound is - especially when they're available at 'cheap as chips' prices.

Thanks for all the input and hopefully others will benefit.