Computer speakers for $150

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PigCorpse

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 4, 2005
Messages
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Hi,

This is my first post on [H] for 1.5 years. I'm thinking of getting a set of speakers when I go back to college. I'm only using them for music, specifically rock, metal, and trance.

From some of my own research I've found that these are all highly recommended:

Swans M10
Swans D1080MkII
M-Audio AV40

In addition these have been praised as well, though many seem to say that they are inferior to the three above:

Klipsch ProMedia 2.1
Logitech z2300

Any recommendations? All of the above are within budget but I like spending less anyway.

Thanks!
 
I too am looking for a similar type of speakers. After a bit of research I nearly ordered the m-audio AV40 off amazon but I saw there was a 1-4 month wait. Digging further I considered getting the Swan M200MKII since it wasn't that much more than the AV40 but then I found out the Swan M200MKIII will be available in September and though I could wait for those--but then I saw that the price was nearly double that of the M200MKII. Now I think I'll just hold off on getting any speakers and wait for prices to come down a bit. Now to the question posed by Op: I'd consider getting the M-Audio AV40's if I were you--do keep in mind that only a couple of weeks ago these were on sale @ Amazon for $119 shipped so that's the price you should shoot for. From what I've read they are the best quality/value speakers of the ones you mentioned above and have a lot of endorsements and positive reviews. Good luck.
 
PigCorpse said:
In addition these have been praised as well, though many seem to say that they are inferior to the three above:

Klipsch ProMedia 2.1
Logitech z2300
Click to expand...

Vastly inferior. Compared to the others you listed, these two are low-grade pretenders that are priced far above their value.

Swan D1080MkIIs or M-Audio AV40s are an easy recommendation, and very good for the money. Of the two, I would favor the Swan D1080MkIIs over the M-Audio AV40s.
 
hmm, I have the 1080's right now and find them to be quite good. There is bass if you crank the volume, I also discovered that mine came with the bass adjustment knob set to 0 (no bass) and turning that up to the 'default' midpoint greatly improved things.

haven't heard the AV40's to compare though.

I'd give the 1080's a vote though, 'would buy again' :-P
 
go with the Klipsch or Swans, forget you ever saw Logitech made speakers

don't pay more than ~$120 for the Klipsch setup though
 
what about the audioengine A2s?

where do they fit in? (are they better than the D1080s?)
 
I have the Klipsch 2.1's and they sound great and fill my room with sound easily.
One thing I do hate about them is the lack of on/off control easily accessible. Its only on/off switch is on the back of the sub, so position the sub on the floor, to my left and with the blow hole facing away from me, so I can turn it on/off with my left foot.
 
The M-Audio AV40 are a great value if you can get 'em for $120 imo, much more so than the A2 (which go for $200 IIRC?), even the Swan M10 go for like $100... I thought the AV40 used to go for a lil' higher. I'm pretty happy with the Samson SD3i I got for $120 too FWIW. (+tax since I got 'em locally, way less than I'd spend on shipping for most of my options down here in Puerto Rico tho)
 
A2s are great, but the problem is they're mini speakers. Don't get mini speakers unless forced to by space concerns. The full bookshelf-sized A5s are probably better than the other options here, but I doubt you'd see them for $150 any time soon unless they were second-hand.

Do note that very few things in the bookshelf size are going to have "great" bass...they just don't have the internal volume or driver area to pull it off. There's a reason why subwoofers are big (and no, not that fake shit that comes bundled with a Logitech set that they call a subwoofer). Lower frequencies mean longer wavelengths which means you have to push the air more slowly to generate bass frequencies. If you try to do this without a lot of speaker area, the result is going to fall flat on one or more levels. Good bass means a subwoofer. Fortunately, they're easy to add later if you decide you want one, and the D1080s / AV40s should both have far better bass even just with the satellites than most things you've heard if the Logitechs were ever a consideration for you.
 
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