Desktop PC Speakers

[gtskater]

I'm looking to pick up some desktop PC style speakers for my computer because I will be moving into a house where for the first time ever, my Stereo will not be in the same room as my Computer, and I need to listen to the tunes on my PC.

Unfortunately I'm struggling to really find anything, so was wondering if anyone can make any suggestions what to buy and where to buy them from.

They don't need to be incredible, but I'll be looking to listen to predominantly d & b, hip-hop, some MP3, some streamed BBC radio.

Thanks in advance.

[Treble]

Have you had a look on eBay? Before I got my nice little set of a mate, I had a look, and there were some great 20-40watt amps with speakers there for about ?30.

Otherwise, a trip to Richer Sounds is probably just as useful as going for setups from a PC shop/supplier.

[superkully]

Make sure the speakers are shielded!

I bought some Yamaha (YST-10?!?)'s about five years ago and they are absolutly amazing. They were about sixty quid or something but they must be as cheap as chips now.

[Treble]

External amp, or is it in one of the speakers?

[superkully]

The amp is in one of the speakers, but these babies are really good and the build quality is astounding.

[Treble]

The amp is in mine too. It really is good: doesn't take up a lot of space, well shielded....perfect, really.

[charlesr]

http://uk.europe.creative.com/estore/product.asp?prod=158

Wah. ?60 for 5.1 surround speakers and soundcard.

[a_c_saunders]

I've got those speakers. Quite decent athough the volume control cable has a tendency to fall out the amp very often.

[Super Stu]

Aye, I'll vouch for Cambridge, my last few sets have been with them. Current one is the 4.1, seems to do the job just fine.

[Gluecifer]

i got some Altec Lansing AVS 300's
they arent particularly powerful, however they have a really impressive dynamic bass range, especially for music with a lot of bottom end.

on super high levels the sub taps out a bit, but on low to medium, normal listening levels, they sound very impressive. considering the price, AUD$80, they are great value.

lots of my friends have commented on how they dont sound like "pc speakers" which is the best recommendation i can give.

i have these on my pc and have a set of yamaha tss 10's for my home theatre, for home cinema on a budget these are amazing value. not recommended for music listening only, but for dvds and games they are exceptional. i have some friends with AUD$1000+ sony home theatre systems, and all have said mine sound markedly better,.. and they cost me AUD$375.

err, AUD is Australian Dollars, btw.



Gluecifer

[gtskater]

Thanks for all the replys guys. Much appreciated on all accounts I can assure you.

After getting inspiration from Trebles eBay suggestion, looking at your post Superkully, I decided to see what I could find. This came up and seems alright really. Kind-of just what I'm after.

Cheers for the suggestion Charlesr. I'm kind-of looking at a new sound card anyway, the one I've got at the moment is a standard on-the-motherboard POS so something like that would go down a treat. If it wasn't for the fact that I've already got the Widescreen and the Stereo that doubles up as a 5.1 DVD player I would have already made the order.

Gluecifer (sounds incredibly similar to glue-sniffer - I sincerely hope thats not an indication of your habits, there are far better drugs). I've always heard good things about Altecs but have never been looking for speakers before so don't know anything about them. Thanks, however for the suggestion.

If eBay doesn't some thru, then I'll see what I can find vis-a-vis Altec Lansing speakers, and how competitive they are in comparison to the Creative bundle brought to my attention by Mr Charlesr.

I'm in a wierd position really, unfortunately I don't know how long my set-up is going to be in this state for (well I know at least 9 months) but after that I'm not sure what will happen. I'm moving into a student house and my computer will be in my room, whereas my house-mates have obviously demanded that the TV and Stereo be placed in the living room (which is fair enough as it would never fit in the room that I'm getting).

So I don't know whether to go all out in the thinking that things will probably stay in a similar set-up like this whatever living arrangements I end up with next year, and then the year after and then after Uni - (big breath) or to spend the minimum with the thought that the Stereo and computer will meet again and I therefore would not be needing the speakers for while. I suppose however there is always eBay if I need to re-sell.

Taking this to its logical conclusion, the question that now needs answering is:

What was your AV/Games/Computer set-up like pre-Uni/College and how did it change to be post-Uni/College? Are there any pearls of wisdom that have been picked up along the way? Share your experiences forum-members.

[choddo]

Heh, before I went to college, Surround Sound was a twinkle in Mr Dolby's eye mate, so I had a mono TV in the lounge and a spectrum, C64 and Atari ST on a table hooked up to it. And that was it.

At college, I had a big hifi, but a mate had a portable telly so the ST got hooked up to that for some class Kick Off 2 action then pretty much the same thing but in a lounge in a flat for the final year.... and then post college;

lounge with Megadrive & SNES & stereo TV speakers (stereo in room)

then PC added in room with Cambridge Audio 2.1 speakers (still got them from about 6 years ago on my Pentium2 and they're going strong)

then moved in with to-be-wifey and 5.1 amp added in lounge & stereo moved out to garage GC, PS2 hooked up to amp via analog / optical cables respectively, PC still has 2.1s as mentioned before, and will probably always keep them seperate unless i upgrade the lounge stuff & move that amp into the study with the PC.

If I were you, I'd get some "good enough" PC speakers and keep em seperate for now. And/Or some good headphones maybe?