Good Stereo speakers for PC?

Double07

Double07

Double07

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Looking for a half decent set of speakers for my PC as my cheap numbers are starting to look out of the place with the other stuff I've spent a small fortune on!

Im not bothered about 5.1 or surround or any of that jazz, just a good pair of stereo speakers, possibly 2.1 if anyone knows of something that the sub makes an actual difference given Im not going to be spending a fortune here.

Any thoughts?
 
Gray2233 said:
What's your budget?
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Tough to answer as I honestly have no clue what something decent even costs as audio has never been something I have paid much attention to over the years unlike GPU/CPU. With that in mind I am no audiophile but something decent would be good. Maybe about 100 quid or there abouts?
 
First of all I would avoid getting any 'gaming' ones, you want studio monitors or hifi speakers. You then have two options - powered or passive. Powered run off mains and passive you would need a t-amp. For powered speakers I'd recommend Presonus Eris or Edifier. Some models have bluetooth, some don't. Some are bigger than others so that's something to consider too.

For passive you can't go wrong with the Wharfdale Diamond 9's and a SMSL amp.
 
Edifier make some solid active 2.0 setups.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £179.98 (includes shipping: £0.00)
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Unfortunately the 1600T's aren't in stock at the moment or they'd be a good buy at £90.

Otherwise you're looking at Wharfedale Diamond 9.0's and an AMP for a little more money if you go the passive route, as mentioned by @maj . You could always check the second hand market and see if you can get a bargain, I managed to pick up some Wharfedale Diamond 10.1's awhile back for £60. Monitor Audio Bronze stuff is often decently priced second hand.
 
Thanks for the input, yeah I would probably be looking at the kind of things that you have recommended as I would stay away from the "game" stuff and just prefer a decent pair of solid sounding stereo speakers. I had looked at the edifier stuff and was sort of where I was thinking but wasnt sure if they were decent so its good to get some feedback and know I am on the right track :)
 
If going passive its worth looking at the Nobsound NS-01G I was in the market for some speakers but I didn't want to spend much and sub £30 speakers generally aren't great. I had an old par of hifi speakers in the loft and paired with the little amp they sound great (for the price)
 
Ended up getting a pair of presonus Eris 4.5s. Was a bit more than my initial £100 budget but not too much and I was going around in circles so just bought something and I can learn from there :)
 
montymint said:
My Creative T20 II's cost about £70 and produce a very nice sound (to me anyways) for less desk space.
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Good stuff in this thread but I wanted to comment on these. I've owned 3 pairs of Creative speakers (2x T40s, 1x T20) spread across 2 computers, and in all I've started off really impressed with the sound, and then a year or so later they start to develop problems.

The first T40 developed a tweeter that you could always hear, oscillating at high pitch. They went back under warranty, they said there wasn't a problem, then repaired them. Didn't last much longer before failing. The second T40 (bought because I liked the sound) and the T20 (bought because I wouldn't buy another T40 - so maybe a different model would be better?) both developed the same problem: the speaker where the power comes in would stop working, so you'd lose stereo. If you turn the volume up to deafening it would come back on; and go off again when you turn it back down. Sometimes that wouldn't work; otehrtimes it would work perfectly.
 
For speakers buy from a company that actually specialises in speakers. Things to look for.

Wooden speaker encloser.
At least a 4" centre driver, else your mids will be poor.
Front ported if possible, this way you can place them closer to a wall. This last thing is not that important, but choose front ported if it's an option.

Personally I would be getting a separate amp, then pick up some good desktop speakers such as Denon, Yamana, Poke etc. There are places that sell surplus stock and you can source yesterdays model speakers at 50% off, however rules don't allow to me post links. This path would give you best bang for your money.

However if you don't want all this messing around and want one stop for everything - then Edifiers I would choose. The Edifiers are good for money, however compared to say a Yamaha desktop speaker the encloses are not constructed as good, and Yamaha's will typically have better quality tweeters than an Edifier.

Then any money left over, speaker isolation foam, reasonable quality pure copper cable, then speaker stands would help also.
 
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I have been toying with the idea of buying some Edifier S3000Pro's but they come in at around £569, they have some very good reviews, maybe one night when I have had a few beers i will wake up next day and realize i ordered a pair!
 
Silicon Si said:
I have been toying with the idea of buying some Edifier S3000Pro's but they come in at around £569, they have some very good reviews, maybe one night when I have had a few beers i will wake up next day and realize i ordered a pair!
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There a lot of money for what they are. I would want them on discount or offer before buying.

For that amount of money you could get a seperate amp, and some good passive speakers, then money left over for external dac or good sound card.
 
OP, how are you finding them? I'm in exactly the same boat. My beloved Monitor Audio WS100's are on the way out and space is at a premium.

Looking at these, the smaller ones or the Wharfedale DS-2.
 
Double07 said:
Ended up getting a pair of presonus Eris 4.5s. Was a bit more than my initial £100 budget but not too much and I was going around in circles so just bought something and I can learn from there :)
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I bought the same a few months back.
more than happy with them as long as they last a good few years.


I saw on some sites in the comments people saying they got a bluetooth version of the speaker presonus ceres 4.5 when they actually ordered eris.

Here's what presonus say the difference is
PreSonus Ceres BT speakers are based on our Eris line of studio monitors. Since studio monitors are designed to provide extremely accurate sound, Ceres speakers give the listener a very detailed reproduction of the program material.
Granted the tuning of the Ceres is modified relative to Eris in order to accommodate the design, such as the grilles over the woofers. The internal volume of the Ceres enclosure is different in order to handle the Bluetooth electronics. However we have tried to keep Ceres speakers as accurate and detailed as the Eris studio monitors.
Of course speaker placement is always important so please be mindful of placing them close to walls and corners, if possible. But there is no need to set up your Ceres speakers in an equilateral triangle unless you want to. You can set them up as you would any pair of stereo speakers in order to accommodate your room.
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So I guess you have to be careful where you order from if you want actual monitor speakers, sounds like ceres modify the sound a bit to be more hifi and probably have less base because the internal space is smaller
 
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