A couple speaker options. Entry level speakers.

This is for a computer speaker setup, no home audio. I have onboard audio (Realtek RTL8112L) and I don't game very often. I mainly listen to music and was wanting a opinion on which option would be best. I listen to trance and some rap btw.

This will be in my so called office, around 15x15ft. I would get the m10 at first glance, but I don't have room for the mid speaker thing. I am on a 70" L desk with 2 monitors and a hutch.


Budget: Around 150$.

Option 1: Klipsch Promedia 2.1 (read a lot about amp problems due to heat and heard that the sound quality is fair). ~ Ive seen a lot of great reviews about them on amazon, but I also seen good reviews on a car component set I bought last year which turned out to be utter shit. Not sure if I trust amazon.



Option 2: Sony SS-B1000 5 1/8-Inch Bookshelf Speakers - Sony SA-W2500 100w Subwoof ~ I seen a few videos on the speakers from youtube. I know online videos are to be taken with a grain of salt due to the camera audio qualities, but they sounded very nice. The sub is active so I am not sure if I would need a receiver? Here is a link: of the subwoofer.



Option 3: Swan D1080MkII ~ From the sounds of things on the forum. These seem to be very top notch, but don't offer that much bass. I like a little bit of bass. I take it these hook up via RCA so guess I'm good there.


Thanks for any replies.

its "Fair" (sorry, that bothered me)

on to the speakers:

Option 1 - I think anyone with a failure will whine, anyone with a success story won't necessarily speak up, ignore customer reviews period, I know my PM2.1's have been going strong since 2003 without a hitch, survived a few moves, etc, most of the users with complaints have the 5.1 setup, the PM2.1's are a decent little multimedia setup on the whole

Option 2 - those speakers REQUIRE a receiver/amplifier, period. before you ask "but the sub is active, its active, see, its active!", thats nice, it can power itself, and nothing else, so you will need a receiver (or some other form of amplification) to go this route

Option 3 - fairly trendy option, has a bit of a "Flavor of the month" feel to me, not a bad product, but no subwoofer and the bass will be lacking as a result, otherwise a decent, compact option

given your fairly limited budget of $150, I'd get the PM2.1's unless you feel like spending the time to shop used (I'm sure a lot of people will tell you to go out and shop used and provide many fuzzy personal anecdotes of how cool it is, I have nothing against it, but it does take time and patience, and you'll still end up with a receiver or amp to pair with some passive speakers, unless you find used studio monitors, which is the same boat as the Swans)

The Swans, of those you listed. Bass isn't going to be great without a full subwoofer, which would eat your whole budget on its own. But it should be better than most options at that cost.

Well listening to everything may not be an option but I think its pretty easy to go find some PM 2.1s to listen to. I have thought these sound nice, and are warmer than most of the other PC speakers you find.

The Swans probably will be less in the bass area than the Promedias. Its woofers are smaller than the Promedia's sub. It may be warmer in the highs due to the soft cloth tweeters. It also has the advantage of having MDF enclosures vs what appear to be plastic enclosures for the Promedias. Also the drivers in the Swan seem flush with the surface so there may be less directional issues. Not sure though since I never heard these.

The only thing I could find on those Swans in terms of listening is what you see on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtTPAZT1aVE&feature=related

I don't know. I probably would like either of them.

Zenshi said:

Well listening to everything may not be an option but I think its pretty easy to go find some PM 2.1s to listen to. I have thought these sound nice, and are warmer than most of the other PC speakers you find.

The Swans probably will be less in the bass area than the Promedias. Its woofers are smaller than the Promedia's sub. It may be warmer in the highs due to the soft cloth tweeters. It also has the advantage of having MDF enclosures vs what appear to be plastic enclosures for the Promedias. Also the drivers in the Swan seem flush with the surface so there may be less directional issues. Not sure though since I never heard these.

The only thing I could find on those Swans in terms of listening is what you see on Youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtTPAZT1aVE&feature=related

I don't know. I probably would like either of them.

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the Klipsch do have plastic housings, yes, but ABS doesn't instantly mean a death sentence for speakers' SQ (it isn't quite the same as those $2 90's PC speakers that everyone has had, the housing is actually decently designed for the PM's (it doesn't rattle or squawk, for example)), pretty sure they have some batting or something in their housings to deal with vibration/etc

they're decent for the money, I'll say that; no they aren't the best speakers ever made, but as a $100-$150 kit, they do pretty well across a full freq range, they're compact, look decent on a desk, etc

the Swans are probably more accurate (probably as in, most people would probably agree with that, this is all subjective) but don't have a subwoofer or large woofers to compliment them, paired with a subwoofer they would be an easy choice over the Klipsch setup, but will cost more configured as such (and getting the volume levels matched up may be more of a hassle than with the Klipsch system (note: may, not will))

the sole reason I suggest the Klipsch setup is because of the limited budget and their inclusion of a subwoofer, they're a neat, self-contained package, if OP doesn't mind the potential of buying more stuff in the future, that changes things, the Swans are more upgradeable/flexible (you can add to them more easily), and theres plenty of other stellar active or passive solutions in that $100-$150 range

obobski said:

the sole reason I suggest the Klipsch setup is because of the limited budget and their inclusion of a subwoofer, they're a neat, self-contained package, if OP doesn't mind the potential of buying more stuff in the future, that changes things, the Swans are more upgradeable/flexible (you can add to them more easily), and theres plenty of other stellar active or passive solutions in that $100-$150 range

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Yeah, I don't think the Swans have a sub out. So there will be more work in wiring up any added sub to the Swans. The PM 2.1's make all that easy.

Zenshi said:

Yeah, I don't think the Swans have a sub out. So there will be more work in wiring up any added sub to the Swans. The PM 2.1's make all that easy.

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to wire the swans, or most other active monitors with a sub you have to get into what I like to call the "splitter fiesta", basically you take the stereo output, split it, feed one side to your speakers, the other to your sub's line in, and set the crossover on the sub

it can get ugly if you need gender/type changers to accomplish this

alternately, if you get a super neat sub that has stereo line in and stereo line out, you can just pass through the sub and let it do everything as it should, and all works out, Polk's DSW subs have this feature (as an example)

Zenshi said:

Yeah, I don't think the Swans have a sub out. So there will be more work in wiring up any added sub to the Swans. The PM 2.1's make all that easy.

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There's this thing called a "splitter" that costs $0.50 and also makes it very easy...