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desktop speaker suggestions?

M

my-name-here

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 23, 2012
Messages
281
i would like a good set of desktop speakers in the slim tall variety. i was considering these

i currently have these

thoughts? other suggestions?
 
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i would love some good book shelf style speakers but my current desk just doesn't have the space for it. perhaps when i move and can get a bigger desk. but for now the slim is kind of a requirement. the tall is more of a preference... don't really like squatty looking speakers.
 
mannyman said:
But they are beautiful... Lol How about these?

http://www.amazon.com/Altec-Lansing-VS4621-Computer-Speaker/dp/B0038W0NEU
Click to expand...

Those have received fairly poor reviews. Specifically, the midrange is muddy due to its downwards-firing midrange drivers. And the midrange changes if the desk surface is different (e.g. made of glass instead of cheap particle board).

And to the OP:

Personally, for the price the T40 II is not all that much of an improvement over your current Philips speakers. The T40's biggest failing is its recessed midrange (remember, speakers with drivers that small must sacrifice some of the mids to achieve a little more bass oomph). Unfortunately, there is no way whatsoever around this fact: A speaker that delivers both good bass and good mids needs to be very large and relatively obese. The Philips, by the way, suffers from most of the flaws that tall, slim desktop speakers with enhanced bass response suffer from: In order to attain a little more bass, the mids (especially lower mids) had to go. And it, like most speakers of its type, can't play both deep and loud at the same time.

And the T40 II takes up much, much more desktop real estate than your current Philips speakers: The enclosure is nearly twice as deep as it is wide.
 
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Thats the only thing i could think of to match his tastes, Possibly he could place the towers onto something to give it a decent sound.

The OP could get bookshelf speakers and stands for them?
 
Not for 150. Only other option I see is just getting a decent pair of headphones for when he wants a sound improvement over the speakers.
 
Went from a pretty solid set of Logitech speakers to the Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 system and absolutely love it! They don't take up much room but sound great. I wouldn't classify them as audiophile quality because the sub is a little too muddy and the midrange isn't as crisp and natural as I like but in terms of games and movies, no complaints at all!

Don't get me wrong, they still sound very good for music but they're best suited for games. I'd say they are the best set of 2.1 computer speakers you can get without going with a set of dedicated bookshelves and receiver. I'd give them a 8.5 for games and a 7.5 for music.

Most Best Buys carry them so you shouldn't have a problem getting a demo. Highly recommended and $150.
 
mannyman said:
Thats the only thing i could think of to match his tastes, Possibly he could place the towers onto something to give it a decent sound.
Click to expand...

Except that in my brief experience with them I could never get them to sound decent no matter where I put them: For best sound absolutely nothing at all whatsoever can be within 6 to 8 feet of the face of the downwards-firing midrange driver. Unfortunately, putting them on something means that the surface will be less than one inch from the face of the midrange driver. And any surface, no matter how large or how small, that's located so close to the face of a midrange or tweeter driver will severely color the sound from the midrange driver.
 
You just need to get creative with speaker placement, desk isn't ideal anyway unless you're angling them up from the desk and towards yourself. What's around/above the desk?
 
Impulse said:
You just need to get creative with speaker placement, desk isn't ideal anyway unless you're angling them up from the desk and towards yourself. What's around/above the desk?
Click to expand...

I do know this. But the Altecs mentioned by Mannyman have one severe fundamental flaw: The tweeters and midrange are aimed at completely different directions - and there is absolutely no way whatsoever to get those satellites to avoid being so close to a surface without hanging them from a ceiling - and then, from a suspended position the tweeters then get aimed in the wrong direction. That makes the sound so incoherent.
 
Oh, my bad, I was speaking to the OP. Seems more logical to make some room than to sidegrade to another pair of slim speakers. Audioengine A2s are another alternative imo, a little overpriced and $50 over budget but they're just about the smallest set of bookshelf type powered speakers I've seen that are still pretty solid.
 
this is how my desk is right now. i can't really move the monitor to the right anymore than it is or it wont be in front of me really since there are draws in the way and this is the only spot i can have the chair. i've got 4 inches of space on the left side of the monitor maybe 4.5 if i squeeze it.
 
those m10's are calling my name... i could probably squeeze em in. i guess those are at the top of my list right now. still going to keep looking for awhile and taking more suggestions.
 
They are good. They come in black and white be sure to grab the one you like better.
 
yeah, i noticed that. if i get them i will probably pick up the black just because it won't stick out as much... i think the white ones look really nice though.
 
I think they only come in black. You can take the covers off the speakers as well. Looks a little cooler with them off because of that big ass horn tweeter.
 
I replaced my piece of crap AV30's with these
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Numark-NPM5-Active-5--Studio-Monitors-106219009-i1482791.gc

Sounds better with 5inch drivers and best of all the back amp does not get HOT like the AV30 or imbalance sound bullshit.

Creative t40 will probably sound good for computer speakers but watch out for the glue they use for the drivers, some tend to melt off and start leaking and become visible around the drivers.
 
TroyX said:
http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-PROME...LZ5G/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1334626030&sr=8-3
Click to expand...

I had a pair of these until my bitch x-girlfriend broke them. They sounded amazing for the price, very accurate and "bright". The sub was very decent as well , it won't hit any crazy lows but it does go through bass frequencies with smooth transitions and it doesn't flutter and hit dead zones fast like other subs in its price range.

Excellent buy for a casual home user but if you are doing any critical work monitors would probably be a better bet.
 
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Yeah but he needs a small setup while the pro medias are great they are not exactly small.
 
Edifier C2 is decent, though you may have to pay for shipping from Canada. Should be within your $150 budget though. Edifier S21D would be alright too.
 
iplayCS said:
I replaced my piece of crap AV30's with these
http://www.guitarcenter.com/Numark-NPM5-Active-5--Studio-Monitors-106219009-i1482791.gc

Sounds better with 5inch drivers and best of all the back amp does not get HOT like the AV30 or imbalance sound bullshit.

Creative t40 will probably sound good for computer speakers but watch out for the glue they use for the drivers, some tend to melt off and start leaking and become visible around the drivers.
Click to expand...

I agree with you that excessive heat from the back of the amp is the biggest failing of the M-Audio/Avid AV-anything. In addition, I also have an AV-30, and it has the same failing as any other small-woofer-driver speaker system: It can't output both accurate and deep at the same time. Fortunately, M-Audio does favor the midrange over the lower bass in those AV-30s, however. Most of the music is actually in the midrange, not the bass! And much of that is in the upper part of the midrange, at that! No wonder why some very large speakers sound crappy with music because they can't reproduce much if any upper mids whatsoever. In fact, quite a few of the 8" 2-way speakers from the 1980s (with the typical 8" woofer and 1" dome tweeter) sounded like crap due to the total lack of upper midrange response (the typical 8" woofer rolled off significantly above 1.5 kHz, while the tweeter did not reproduce much if anything below 5.0 kHz, leaving a nearly two-octave gap or "suck-out" in the frequency response).

And my original comment about the T40 II is based on my pair of T20 IIs (the T40's little brother). The T40 simply adds an additional 2.5" "woofer" driver to the one that's in the T20, and set the two "woofer" drivers and a tweeter in a larger cabinet. And both the T40 and the T20 suffer from the same recessed lower midrange response in order to produce lower and deeper bass response than the size of the drivers themselves could physically handle naturally.
 
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E4g1e said:
I agree with you that excessive heat from the back of the amp is the biggest failing of the M-Audio/Avid AV-anything. In addition, I also have an AV-30, and it has the same failing as any other small-woofer-driver speaker system: It can't output both accurate and deep at the same time. Fortunately, M-Audio does favor the midrange over the lower bass in those AV-30s, however. Most of the music is actually in the midrange, not the bass! And much of that is in the upper part of the midrange, at that! No wonder why some very large speakers sound crappy with music because they can't reproduce much if any upper mids whatsoever. In fact, quite a few of the 8" 2-way speakers from the 1980s (with the typical 8" woofer and 1" dome tweeter) sounded like crap due to the total lack of upper midrange response (the typical 8" woofer rolled off significantly above 1.5 kHz, while the tweeter did not reproduce much if anything below 5.0 kHz, leaving a nearly two-octave gap or "suck-out" in the frequency response).

And my original comment about the T40 II is based on my pair of T20 IIs (the T40's little brother). The T40 simply adds an additional 2.5" "woofer" driver to the one that's in the T20, and set the two "woofer" drivers and a tweeter in a larger cabinet. And both the T40 and the T20 suffer from the same recessed lower midrange response in order to produce lower and deeper bass response than the size of the drivers themselves could physically handle naturally.
Click to expand...

Yes I remember having some of the cheap 80's 2 way 8" woofer speakers, The consensus is that when you trade efficiency for X max its going to roll off in the mids.

When you do this it can still reproduce them just not at satisfactory levels where as when you have efficiency it cant reproduce the lows at all and while most music does take place in the mids music still takes place in the bass... :D and is nice to have .A good 3 way system will always sound better.

The swans are very musical and aesthetically pleasing.

P.S. the Numark's are pretty good.
 
mannyman said:
P.S. the Numark's are pretty good.
Click to expand...

:cool: Good to know! Haven't heard much about the company. Didn't want to spend too much money on active monitors. KRK 5's for $150 each speaker was well over my budget. Guitar Center also had the Mackie MR5mk2 for $150. Almost bought those. Also was looking at getting the Sony B1000 with the mini T amp since it would convient to have a volume controller on my desk. Not a big deal though I just use Volumouse to control volume. So far I'm satified with the Numark's but might try out the Mackie's :p

I did have a problem with a slight right speaker rattle/noise at certain low frequencies but I think I've fixed by connecting directly to the wall outlet. I'm sure it's my Belkin surgemaster causing the noise. Been fine so far.
 
iplayCS said:
:cool: Good to know! Haven't heard much about the company. Didn't want to spend too much money on active monitors. KRK 5's for $150 each speaker was well over my budget. Guitar Center also had the Mackie MR5mk2 for $150. Almost bought those. Also was looking at getting the Sony B1000 with the mini T amp since it would convient to have a volume controller on my desk. Not a big deal though I just use Volumouse to control volume. So far I'm satified with the Numark's but might try out the Mackie's :p

I did have a problem with a slight right speaker rattle/noise at certain low frequencies but I think I've fixed by connecting directly to the wall outlet. I'm sure it's my Belkin surgemaster causing the noise. Been fine so far.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't think a surge protector would do that. It could have been rattling for the bass.
 
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