Could you suggest another brand that is a bookshelf speaker that would work it better then the 90s? I got no room on the floor but plenty on the desk
Hi-Fi speakers require a certain amount of distance between the speaker and the listener for the tweeter sound and the woofer sound to integrate. The general* guidance is that the speakers should be around 6ft apart, and that the distance to the listener from each speaker should be the same as between the speakers.
Unless a desk is absolutely enormous then chances are that Hi-Fi speakers might not integrate so well at relatively short listening distances. That won't stop people using them on a desk top, but it's not what they're really designed for and so the sound will be a bit different from a conventional Hi-Fi type layout.
There are some speakers though that are designed exactly for this role. They're called Nearfield Monitors, and they're often used by music producers and recording engineers.
Nearfield monitors can be
passive just like ordinary Hi-Fi speakers. or they can be
active which means they have high efficiency amplification built in.
You see, unlike passive speakers which use a an inefficient crossover to filter bass from treble, active speakers filter the audio before amplification. Whilst that requires a separate amp inside each speaker for the tweeter and woofer, there's no loss of power like there is when an amplified signal passes through a conventional crossover. This means less power is required for each driver, and the amp powers can be tailored for the driver requirements too. The tweeter doesn't need much power, so its amp can be quite low powered. The woofer amp is where the juice is.
Whether you choose active or passive depends on how the speakers are to be driven.
Passive nearfield monitors will run from a conventional Hi-Fi amp. If you go active, they have direct inputs for analogue audio, so you could either hook them up to an analogue source directly such as the audio card on a PC, or you could run them from a DAC which has a volume control.
There are plenty of brands and reviews of nearfield monitors. There are also supplies of new and used stock so you have some options and ways to extend the buying power in your budget. There's a pair of Focal Alpha 50 Evos on Ebay at the moment for £400 for the pair. They're worth a look. That would leave you around £600-£700 to fund a DAC with volume control.
*not every Hi-Fi speaker follows this, but the majority do if you read each manufacturer's product instructions.
