What desktop speakers are you using?

[Nexus18]

Still using my edifier r1600t with an essence STX 2 sound card (hifi setting)

 

[Tephnos]

Perhaps the most important component of a PC / desk audio is speaker stands and speaker isolation.

For a speaker to sound correct it has to be positioned, for example you have to get the tweeters in the area of your hearing. The other thing is when you lift a speaker from the desk it changes the bass and how the speaker fills the room.

There is also optimum positioning of the left right speakers from each other. If you widen the gap between two speakers it increases bass, close the distance between the left right speakers it will highlight higher frequencies. You should be positioning speakers so the vocal is central and sounding back behind your monitor. After this you should toe speakers in so the sonics of the overall sound is balanced.

Another thing to discover is the minimum distance a speaker can be from the wall. Generally you want the speakers as far back as possible (i'm assuming your desk is against a wall), however there is tipping point where the sound quality will suddenly drop off, so normally you would place the speakers just ahead of that point.

I'm referring above to under 1 cm adjustments in distances and height, and small 5 degree changes in toe angle. These small changes are all it takes to adjust the sound. This is why you need proper deskstands you can adjust and lock in place.

If you have a sub, that needs placing so it's sonics are working with the main left / right speakers. Again it's positioning of the sub, how far forward / back to the wall. Lifting a sub on a isolation platform again helps tighten sound.

The other thing important is speaker isolation foam as it stops resonance into your desk that will muddy the sound. To help understand resonance place your hand flat on your desk with music playing, if you can feel vibration that is resonance that's reducing your sound quality.

And regardless if you have a £100 setup or a £1000 or more setup the above all applies. This is why a budget system that's setup correct can sound better then a incorrectly setup more expensive setup.

And none of this is expensive, speaker isolation foam can be as little as £10. Adjustable desks speaker stands there £20 upwards. Subwoofer isolation stands are more money, however you can at first use polystyrene foam to lift and isolate a subwoofer. After this it's just your own time to set everything up.

Yes, placement and the room the speakers are in can make a noticeable difference indeed!

My Focals are on stands at either side of my desk. Tweeters roughly ear level (but they have a wide dispersion on frequency charts so the sweet spot is quite wide, similar to KEFs).

 

[JasonM]

Yes, placement and the room the speakers are in can make a noticeable difference indeed!

My Focals are on stands at either side of my desk. Tweeters roughly ear level (but they have a wide dispersion on frequency charts so the sweet spot is quite wide, similar to KEFs).

Your correct some speakers the tweeters have a wide dispersal pattern, I run some Yamaha speakers and those tweeters appear very directional.

Something else I never mentioned is you can turn speakers up-side down (so the tweeter is at the bottom). This allows the speaker to go higher away from the desk (so it fills the room better, and lets speaker cabinet breath more), yet by turning the speaker upside down you still get the tweeter in the correct location.

 

[JasonM]

Still using my edifier r1600t with an essence STX 2 sound card (hifi setting)

I actually ran those, and have 2 sets in box's i'm thinking of selling.

Those R1600T's were the best speaker OCUK sold for £50. The downside is the cabinets had a bit vibration in them compared to more expensive speakers, also the tweeter on them was a little harsh, Edifier is now moving to soft dome tweeters. Also like most 2.0 speakers they lacked frequencies below around 50Hz and would benefit greatly from a sub, they were pretty flat speakers however, as in they were not particularly coloured. But overall amazing speakers given what they originally sold for, they sound better with the dust covers off them. Btw nice sound card also.

 

[Mr Gimp]

I'm running some Creative Megaworks speakers on my work rig that I bought from @mrbios 15 years ago

 

[Nexus18]

I actually ran those, and have 2 sets in box's i'm thinking of selling.

Those R1600T's were the best speaker OCUK sold for £50. The downside is the cabinets had a bit vibration in them compared to more expensive speakers, also the tweeter on them was a little harsh, Edifier is now moving to soft dome tweeters. Also like most 2.0 speakers they lacked frequencies below around 50Hz and would benefit greatly from a sub, they were pretty flat speakers however, as in they were not particularly coloured. But overall amazing speakers given what they originally sold for, they sound better with the dust covers off them. Btw nice sound card also.

Yup, that's when I got mine, when they were on sale here

Pleased with them on the whole, personally I'm not a big fan of heavy bass so quite like these for that reason, the clarity of them is fantastic with the hifi preset on my essence stx 2. Can't say I notice any vibration but I'm not the best when it comes to audio differences especially as I get older lol. I did have the dust filters of at the start but I put them back on for the more minimal look.

I'll need to get something for my LG E7 though as the TV sounds pretty poor when compared to my desktop pc.

Any recommendations for speaker stands for the edifier speakers?

 

[JasonM]

personally I'm not a big fan of heavy bass so quite like these for that reason,

Any recommendations for speaker stands for the edifier speakers?

It's not about heavy bass, it's more gentle fill in of frequencies below around 50hz. The best sub woofers are the ones you can't hear. What I mean by this is you only notice the sub is working after it was switched off.

I run these these exact stands and isolation foam

https://www.gear4music.com/Recordin...onitor-Speaker-Stands-by-Gear4music-Pair/1DP7

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Neewer®-Acoustic-Isolation-Dampening-Stabilizer/dp/B01JRU328U/ref=asc_df_B01JRU328U/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310822982624&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4473066531450521122&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1006663&hvtargid=pla-359515928143&psc=1

You place the foam on top of the speaker stand.

 

[413x]

Really happy with my b&w 607s damn they go loud! Even with the puny amp



Plan on moving the tower, and mounting them a bit higher and added separation
Ideally want some desk arm clamps or something to mount

 

[Joe Jones]

I built some speakers a few years back as it was something I always wanted to do...they're a bit big for the room but still sound great. Goes down to about 18hz and then it's hard to really distinguish the sound from the room shaking.

 

[CFC-420]

I had Logitech Zxx something but they started farting after a few months so just threw them out, rubbish product. I use my DAC/Headphones exclusively now.

 

[Guest2]

iLoud micro monitors - https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/iloudmm/

Terrible name, great sound

 

[Smiffy-UK]

I have an Edifier R1280T that I just purchased from OCUK a couple of weeks back. They're pretty good for less than 100 notes.

 

[Phil2008]

I have an Edifier R1280T that I just purchased from OCUK a couple of weeks back. They're pretty good for less than 100 notes.

I have these and they sound pretty good once tweaked the bass/treble

 

[Smiffy-UK]

I have these and they sound pretty good once tweaked the bass/treble

Same, wasn't no trouble at all to tweak. I was going to get the next ones up for 20 more, but wasn't in stock, I think they were double the power and Bluetooth maybe?

Tbh I'm 34 with 2 kids a Mrs and a house not 18 and a show off anymore so I won't be blazing gangster rap anymore, bone thugz n harmony I'm looking at you haha.

 

[Tephnos]

Been test-driving some ELAC DBR62's for the past couple of weeks due to the rave reviews on ASR. My previous speakers (which I think I posted here) were Aria 906s.

To sum up: Using these nearfield, I find that they're quite warm and laid back in presentation compared to the Arias, which I felt had a bit more 'sparkle' in the highs (which is curious, considering the Arias have a rolled off treble to make them sound smoother, and the ELACs have a boosted treble in comparison). The warm character of the ELACs is no doubt aided largely by the fact these kick out some serious low end for a simple 6.5" bookshelf, which likely massively alters my perception of the higher frequencies previously described. These would make great HT speakers, for sure. They're also very well suited for long periods of listening, as their warmth makes them non fatiguing for everyone, I'd say. I had no troubles listening to the Arias for as long as I wanted, but not everyone can deal with 'sparkly' highs for that long. Sweet spot dispersion is also extremely wide, much like the Arias, without the need for a coaxial driver setup.

Also, they look great. Pic related.



Will I keep them? Probably not. I miss the sparkle of the highs that the Arias had, but I think I'm going to go in a completely different direction and trail a pair of Genelecs next, and see how I get on with the undisputed 'kings' of pure flat audio reproduction.

 

[Joe Jones]

Pure flat reproduction doesn't mean things will sound good. Vital for mixing audio but not so good for home use.

I'm all for using an eq to tame the sound to the profile I like. It won't turn a turd into a diamond but if you've got good stuff you can tune the sound to what you like which accounts for the room interactions as well.
The physical dimension of my room creates a null around 180hz so I have to eq that a bit to get the sound I want....if I run 'flat' the sound is less engaging.

 

[Tephnos]

Pure flat reproduction doesn't mean things will sound good. Vital for mixing audio but not so good for home use.

I'm all for using an eq to tame the sound to the profile I like. It won't turn a turd into a diamond but if you've got good stuff you can tune the sound to what you like which accounts for the room interactions as well.
The physical dimension of my room creates a null around 180hz so I have to eq that a bit to get the sound I want....if I run 'flat' the sound is less engaging.

I am quite aware that flat doesn't mean good, but I'm interested to see how I'll find them anyway. There are plenty of people who use Genelec speakers just for casual listening and love them regardless, to the point Genelec now sell some of their speakers purely designed for casual home usage.

I'm not a fan of messing with EQs. The more faff something is, the more I grow to dislike it over time. I'd rather just pick a speaker/headphone I like and roll with it.

 

[Chaos666]

I do not need massive speakers for my pc as for all of the media consumption i have plex and i watch it on my tv with 5.1 proper system.
I use headphones for most games..
my speakers of choice for my pc i logitech z313 i got them cheap and they do the job well enough

 

[Super-Spy]

Wow some of you guys have an amazing audio setup !

I run a pair of Active Monitors, white Adam Artist 3s on Iso Acoustic stands

 

[Things change I've changed]

Really happy with my b&w 607s damn they go loud! Even with the puny amp



Plan on moving the tower, and mounting them a bit higher and added separation
Ideally want some desk arm clamps or something to mount

Nice speakers but I implore you to upgrade your amp, the 607 sensitivity is extremely low @ 84dB and they also dip down to 4ohms, I think even Tephnos would agree it is wholly insufficient.