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Looking for decent 2.1 set

I've always wondered how Near-Field monitors would perform as general computer speakers. I know they won't color the sound at all like a normal speaker would, so that's something to consider.

However, you say this is mostly for House music, are you just a listener? Or are you a DJ/Producer, working with Audio Programs such as Ableton?
 
Does your motherboard have optical or coaxial digital output? If so, I'd consider getting a receiver + passive speakers and a powered sub.
 
Dang... Are prices really that high in Europe? Do you guys earn ~ 150k Euros / year salary?

Those do seem comparable to the KRK studio monitors in both price / specifications.

I don't see the added benefit of that subwoofer. The specs say 50-250 Hz range, and the speakers state down to 40 Hz. I would either choose a better sub (look for something that will do ~20 Hz +/- 3dB), or skip it altogether. Those monitors should have good bass with the 8" drivers and all that power.
 
450 said:
Does your motherboard have optical or coaxial digital output? If so, I'd consider getting a receiver + passive speakers and a powered sub.
Click to expand...

Please give me a setup that outperforms the one I've picked up for the price.


J Macker said:
Dang... Are prices really that high in Europe? Do you guys earn ~ 150k Euros / year salary?
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It depends on what youre looking at, but average yes its more expensive than USA. But tell me a better setup for the price o better price on USA for this one.

Regard to the sub.. yes, it seems a no sense the speakers can reach lower frequencies than the sub itself.
 
baco80 said:
Please give me a setup that outperforms the one I've picked up for the price.
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If your MB has optical out:
Harman Kardon AVR135 or similar used receiver: ~$120
Energy RC-10: $279
Energy ESW-V8:$225
 
baco80 said:
Please give me a setup that outperforms the one I've picked up for the price.




It depends on what youre looking at, but average yes its more expensive than USA. But tell me a better setup for the price o better price on USA for this one.

Regard to the sub.. yes, it seems a no sense the speakers can reach lower frequencies than the sub itself.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if you're trying to be argumentative, or if theres a language barrier here

I'm going to assume the latter

honestly if the goal is stereo sound, look at Swans, KRK, Mackie, Yamaha, etc, should save you some money

sound-card wise, the Essence ST is good, but if you don't need the headphone amp, why spend all that cash? grab a Xonar DX or D1, save yourself a bundle

would also take J Macker's advice on the sub/speakers

if you want to go with the receiver/speakers route, h/k, Cambridge, Yamaha, and Onkyo all make decently inexpensive units, Yamaha, JBL, Polk, and Klipsch/Mirage all make decently inexpensive speakers

using onboard digital, unless your board supports DDL or DTS:C, you will only get 2.0 output from that (except for DVDs or other multi-ch encoded sources), otherwise if you want 5.1 via S/PDIF from things like games, you need a real-time encoding scheme, like DDL
 
That sub looks pretty bad lol, and it only weighs 5kgs more than speakers. I don't know about the driver but the enclosure mass is basically a multimedia subwoofer.
 
J Macker said:
I don't see the added benefit of that subwoofer. The specs say 50-250 Hz range, and the speakers state down to 40 Hz. I would either choose a better sub (look for something that will do ~20 Hz +/- 3dB), or skip it altogether. Those monitors should have good bass with the 8" drivers and all that power.
Click to expand...

The 50-250 Hz range listed is not the frequency response of the subwoofer but rather the range that the built in crossover can be set to; the frequency response of the subwoofer doesn't actually seem to be listed.
 
I would think that hooking them up might be a challenge. I don't know what the availability of XLR cables is. If they are easily found it would be a non issue. Guess you could just get 3.5 to 1/4 adapter cables.
 
skyline889 said:
The 50-250 Hz range listed is not the frequency response of the subwoofer but rather the range that the built in crossover can be set to; the frequency response of the subwoofer doesn't actually seem to be listed.
Click to expand...

Yes, kinda strange it does not list frecuencies response...
 
Personally, I'd ditch the soundcard and buy a well taken care of AV reciever from eBay.
Nearly all motherboards have some sort of SPDIF outs now right?
 
At first just wanted a good 2.1 speakers set for computer. I wasn't thinking on a whole sound equipment with pre, amp, speakers... If I consider a receiver for a pc, I will start on thinking on hi-fi.. wasn't thinking on going so far
 
Studio monitors (such as the ones you listed) are the simplest then, but you may want a subwoofer. But with receiver & bookshelf, you do not need to purchase a soundcard. The cost of the receiver is counterbalanced by the soundcard savings. With a receiver, it acts as the pre amp and amp, so it's really not that complex.
 
From my personal experience a dedicated sub in a smaller room may seem a bit boomy. I had a SVS SB-12+ (sealed sub) in my room and even at pretty low volume levels it seemed to drown out the speakers.

I personally like a pair of bookshelves with good bass response over a 2.1 setup when we are talking about just a small office desk setup.
 
Sorry for the OT post but astrallite, you have a very nice setup given in your sig. How do you like the Be718 and how do they compare with the Sierra 1? Not often someone has both Ascends and Ushers.
 
J Macker said:
I would either choose a better sub (look for something that will do ~20 Hz +/- 3dB), or skip it altogether.
Click to expand...

Do you have any suggestion about a subwoofer for that price? 250€ ($350)

Studio monitors (such as the ones you listed) are the simplest then, but you may want a subwoofer. But with receiver & bookshelf, you do not need to purchase a soundcard. The cost of the receiver is counterbalanced by the soundcard savings. With a receiver, it acts as the pre amp and amp, so it's really not that complex.
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Same for the receiver, any suggestion for aprox the soundcard price, $150.

Thanks.
 
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baco80 said:
Do you have any suggestion about a subwoofer for that price? 250€ ($350)
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Lowest you're going to get for $350 new:
eD A2-300 http://www.edesignaudio.com/product_info.php?products_id=407 20hz
Hsu STF-2 http://www.hsuresearch.com/products/stf-2.html 25hz

baco80 said:
Same for the receiver, any suggestion for aprox the soundcard price, $150.
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Anything you can pick up by Harman Kardon, Onkyo, Denon...
You should be able to find an Onkyo SR50x or SR60x series for that price, as well as most of Harman's non-HDMI receivers, or newer low-end receivers with HDMI.
 
Zenshi said:
Sorry for the OT post but astrallite, you have a very nice setup given in your sig. How do you like the Be718 and how do they compare with the Sierra 1? Not often someone has both Ascends and Ushers.
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Huge price difference between the speakers you have to consider, the Ushers are around $2500/pair and the Sierras are $800-900/pair, so you could buy 5 Sierras and still have $500 left for a sub for the same amount of money. The Ushers have a very linear frequency response, the Sierras a little more up and down (but still very linear). I have the Ascend CBM-170SEs as well, and the Ushers FR resembles closer to the more linear 170s, but with much deeper bass and greater treble extension of course . The treble is not as prominent as the Sierras as the Ushers (or 170s), but the midrange stands out (the FR graph of the Sierras does suggest this, slightly more energy in the midrange than the treble). This makes voices a little more prominent and I think the Sierras are very well suited to low volume listening, especially for a desk.

The Sierras use a long-throw 5" driver which is VERY punchy and puts up a ton of bass, far more than the Paradigm Sig S2v2 I have, surprisingly given it's 7" woofer (confirmed by soundstage's FR graphs of the two speakers). While it is not going into sub frequency territory, you could really confuse the Sierras for floorstanders in a dark room. I think there is a tendency for the Sierras bass to sound a little one-noted compared to the Ushers and Sierras woofers though.

They both have very similar design philosophies although achieve it slightly differently. The Sierras use a special crossover to mimic the time alignment of a coaxial driver and while the Ushers use a slanted front to put the woofer closer to the listener; the Sierras use bamboo to control resonances while the Ushers are a giant slab of MDF (1.5" plus a 1/8" of solid wood on the sides), which is why they weigh twice as much as the Sierras.

Finally, the Ushers have something closer to 83db sensitivity while the Ascends are closer to 87-88db, so you are talking about about 2.5x more amp power needed to reach the same volume levels.
 
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Thanks for such a thorough description astrallite. I had heard the Sierras went far down in the Bass but I did not realize it was that far. Anyway from your description, I am also intrigued by the CBM-170SE's. When I do decide to get speakers, I may consider these as well as the Usher s520's that I have always wanted. I have heard the 170s are often preferred over the Ushers, which I had heard are tad bright (though this may be because they need a decent driving amplifier to drive them or else they get heavy on the tweeter). Unfortunately the 170s are nowhere near as nice to look at as the s520s and I do want to get one with good WAF as I plan on passing everything I get eventually to my wife. Maybe choose between the s520s, intimus 4Bs and 170s. Oh and looking forward to seeing how much the Sierra 0.5 and the Swan D1.1SE sell for when they come out.

Anyway thanks again and this will be my last OT post here. :p
 
Bright typically means the frequency response at 30 degrees (or more) more closely resembles that of the on-axis performance. Almost nobody sits on-axis since the typical person arranges their speakers more for decor than performance (and not stand around with a radioshack mic to find where the speakers need to be positioned to be perfectly-on axis).

So in effect, almost everyone is listening to their speakers off-axis, where dispersion characteristics of their tweeter effects how much the treble rolls off. If you took a series of bookshelf speakers from a dozen brands with relatively flat on-axis FR (but with wildly different off-axis performance) and pointed them at your ears I guarantee you that you will find them all bright/forward sounding. So my understanding is very few people like the sound of neutral speakers, but rather speakers with a rolled off FR response.

One solution is to simply listen to speakers with their grills on if you want to reduced top end.

And oh yeah, the 170s are pretty ugly, especially with the grills off, although since they are so nondescript you could say they disappear pretty well into a room. (IMO the Ushers aren't really that great of lookers either but the cabinet finishes are better). I personally don't want to be distracted by looking at speaker drivers while I'm looking at something on the screen, so I typically use speakers with the grills on.
 
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