2.0 monitors needed.

theforce · 16 Dec 2009 at 17:39

I have a friend that wants some monitors for his PC in order to listen to music. I have told him that cheaper solutions will provide good results but he emphasized that he wants "monitors" and that is something no amount of logic will manage to change.

In addition he is planning of powering them from his on-board soundcard. He has his eyes on M-Audio AV-40. Any ideas guys?

Amnesia · 16 Dec 2009 at 18:26

he wants monitors to listen to music.... 2 for the stereo effect is it ?
he wants to power them from his sound card ?

let us know how you get on then.

Marsman · 16 Dec 2009 at 18:31

They are good speakers, definitely the best of the M-Audio bunch below £100. In fact as far 2.0 goes, you won't find any better below £100. You can get better, a lot better, but they cost a lot more. The AV40's provide good sound at a reasonable price. Audio Engine A2 are another good pair of monitors, £130 cheapest I have seen. Opinions seem to be divided on which is the better, so I'd probably say the AV40's seeing they are £40 less on average.

dazzerd · 18 Dec 2009 at 20:37

I have had a pair of the AV40's for a week now and they are good, in fact ey sound better than the tannoys and yamaha amp I used to use.

They are pretty brutal though, most speakers colour the sound to give the desired effect, these don't you will hear all the crap of poor recordings or encodings, it takes some getting used too.

theforce · 19 Dec 2009 at 01:42

Thanks for the replies guys. Is there a digital-in option for these speakers(AV-40) or only analog inputs? If so wouldn't they hear bad on an on-board. Since the speakers will be mainly used for music l was telling him to go for a cheap Xonar.

Marsman · 19 Dec 2009 at 01:58

Only analogue. You can get some Edirol/Roland Cakewalk MA-15D that have digital connections. £140 approx.

Depends what onboard he has, newer boards are better than older ones for onboard sound.

jellybeard999 · 19 Dec 2009 at 11:18

The issue with using monitors is they are intended for studio use, and tend to be far too revealing. When people talk about warm and bright sounding speakers, monitors are towards the bright end and become tiring. If its to enjoy music rather than scrutinise, I'd seriously suggest going for a standard amp/speaker setup or something like the Acoustic Energy setups or similar.