Downsizing - New 2.0 / 2.1 speaker advice

Nick307

Nick307

Nick307

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Hi All

Im hoping to purchase a laptop soon (Sony Vaio Z Series) to replace my desktop machine. I have recently sold my Creative Labs Gigaworks S750 7.1 Surround sound speakers as i did not feel my rooms makes the nest use of them.

Im looking for some advie on the best 2.0 / 2.1 speakers to run on my laptop when i have it on in my room. Additionally, i also have a SKY+ box in my room that i will also want to watch and output the sound through these new speakers.....so the speakers must have the correct inputs.

With my old 7.1 setup i ran a phono to 3.5mm jack cable from the sky box to the creative breakout box, hopefully can do this again with the new speakers but again i need to make sure the speakers have the right inputs..

Any ideas anyone? i have had a quick look at Creative T20 series and logitech speakers.

The new speakers will be used for music (varying types) games, Movies and watching my sky box

Nick
 
Logitech have some good cheaper ones - if your gonna spend £80 tho I would recommend spending the extra and getting the acoustics. Can't wait to buy them myself.
 
T20's would be useful as they have an auxiliary input on the front, so you can connect the laptop with ease without having to unplug the sky box connect to the rear. Some people like them and think they are good speakers for the money, others think they are poor. Personal preference really.

M-Audio AV40's. They are larger speakers than the Creative T20's, so depends how much space you have. In terms of sound quality, they trounce Creative's T40's, which are only a tenner less on average. They too have auxiliary front input.

Behringer MS40's, are another option. They have SPDIF input, so you could connect to the sky box that way, and use the analogue RCA connectors to your laptop. There are the MS20's aswell, smaller and cheaper, but also inferior, sound quality wise.

You could get some 2.1 speakers, but 2.1/5.1 PC speakers fall flat on their face when it comes to music. They are designed for gaming, which they excel at, but musically, they suck. Very few 2.1 PC speakers handle music well, AE Aego M's, being one of the few sets that are decent musically. Spending around £50-£70 on a set of 2.1 speakers, will get you plenty of bass though, if you value bass above sound quality.
 
Nick307 said:
hmm its a tricky one, i thought the gigaworks 2.0 speakers may be a good option but im guessing not!
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As far as I'm aware, you won't get much better than the t-20's for the money. They are superb. Don't know what the other guy is talking about to be honest!

I run my system through a y splitter, hi-fi amp for movies and the t-20's for games, and sometimes music depending on the volume I want, if I have friends round I route music to the hi-fi, if I'm on my own the t-20's are fine, unless I'm wanting to spank it a bit.

Don't get me wrong, your not going to bring the house down with them, but at a reasonable volume they offer excellent quality, and superb bass.

They take a little setting up to get the sound right, but if you take the time to do that, and don't try to get night club levels of sound out of them, they are a very sweet set of powered 2.0 speakers for good money.

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to anyone, and bear in mind my actual hi-fi system consists of tannoy speakers and 10" paradigm sub woofer.
 
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Agreed with mattyfez on the T20s. To get better value for money you'd be looking at 2nd hand hi-fi stuff.
 
Marsman said:
M-Audio AV40's.
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Just a vote of confidence in these, have been using my AV40s for awhile now and paired with my Xonar D2X I am really very happy with the results.

I have a set of Z5500s back home and the AV40s are so much nicer to listen to music with (though for booming movies or games the Z5500s do shake the place up in a way that is rather satisfying :) ).

I can't comment on the other speakers but I am very happy with what I have here.
 
And the T20s have the additional 3.5mm jack input so i can connect a skybox into them?

Also, Just looking on OCUK store here and there is the Creative T20 Series 2, The T20W and also the T40s

Anyone know which ones are better?
 
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Nick307 said:
Also, Just looking on OCUK store here and there is the Creative T20 Series 2, The T20W and also the T40s

Anyone know which ones are better?
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T40's are likely to be better, due to having an extra driver. As I said previously, the AV40's will trounce the T40's, which makes the T40's a poor buy, unless one has no desk space for slightly larger speakers.

Edit: As for the wireless ones, well they are only of use if one must have them not tethered to the source at all costs. You would need a Creative wireless audio device aswell, which adds cost. Poor value really, unless you must have wireless.
 
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I've never heard t40's, but have read that they are basically the same as the 20's but with an extra driver, and as such, possibly not as significantly better as the price tag would suggest. They are also quite a lot taller.

I would suggest the t 20, or step up a marquee.
 
From reviews I've read, T40s sound the same as the T20s but go a bit louder. Consensus was not worth the extra over the T20s.
 
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