Looking for New Speakers

Kevin Pooley · 16 Apr 2021 at 15:21

I've recently found some money to upgrade my PC's sound. Currently I'm using the on-board sound on the Gigabyte B460 HD3 Intel Socket 1200 Motherboard, and a generic pair of speakers I've had for twenty years, so anything will be an improvement!

Activities:
A little gaming, listen to loads of music (mainly Spotify and on CDs) and the occasional film. I want something with a proper bass, but don't need a great deal of power otherwise - It's just me in a small room.

I'm unsure whether I would need a sound card, although I hear some external 'cards' are quite good these days.

I am looking to spend £100-£150

Thanks in advance.

The_Arbiter · 19 Apr 2021 at 08:25

Your board has a reasonable soundcard built in, and at £150 getting an external one isn't feasible. Start looking at Active monitors imo, but i can't imagine at £150 monitors vs musical bookshelves differ all that much. Ideally you'll be looking at typical bookshelf size speakers at this price for "good" bass. Cheap little speakers just won't deliver, while the bigger ones will, they'll be uncontrolled/boomy, but that's down to cost at the end of the day.

If you've got an audio shop in your town see if they have any B stock, or will let you listen to some. I'd recommend this personally.

mattyfez · 19 Apr 2021 at 13:15

I suppose the obvious solution would be some active speakers like edifier of some sort.

Donnie Fisher · 19 Apr 2021 at 19:41

Yup - I'd say something like would be the order of the day as well. The edifiers also have a bluetooth version which would stream from your phone for music as well.

Kevin Pooley · 19 Apr 2021 at 21:57

I’m very glad to have both your suggestions – I know very little about the subject.

So active speakers seem to be the way to go? I see the logic of large over small speakers, but just to clarify, what does uncontrolled mean in this context?

I see that there are a number of Edifiers in my price range. Would one of these work with my mobo - If not then I do have room for an internal card – If so what might your recommendation be? I know that some cards have dedicated output for a sub-woofer, but would a single aux output work?

Hypersonix · 19 Apr 2021 at 22:57

If you can stretch to the top end of your budget I would recommend looking at the Presonus Eris E4.5 active monitors.

You can connect the mini jack line output of your motherboard to them using stereo 1/8th “ jack plug to 2 x 1/4” mono jacks cable.

Then you could upgrade your soundcard in the future to something like a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 and connect the monitors to it using 1/4” jack to jack cables.

Would be great for music, movies and general computer use.

midweek · 19 Apr 2021 at 23:19

Hypersonix said:
If you can stretch to the top end of your budget I would recommend looking at the Presonus Eris E4.5 active monitors.

2nd for this. I have the Eris E3.5 monitors and they are really nice.

Kevin Pooley · 20 Apr 2021 at 00:16

Hypersonix said:
...Presonus Eris E4.5 active monitors.
Then you could upgrade your soundcard in the future to something like a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2...

That sounds like a plan. Thanks to all of you for your helpful suggestions.

Jenz · 20 Apr 2021 at 12:31

110% love my Eris 4.5 Monitors. Superb quality. They also fit very nicely on Kanto K4 Speaker Stands.

Kevin Pooley · 29 Apr 2021 at 17:42

Just popping in with some feedback. I've plugged in my shiny new pair of E4.5s, they sound great, and I now have proper bass. Even tracks that don't really have much in the way of bass now have some bass! Overall sound is also good, and as a bonus they look good too. Thank you all for your suggestions.

Hypersonix · 2 May 2021 at 07:39

Kevin Pooley said:
Just popping in with some feedback. I've plugged in my shiny new pair of E4.5s, they sound great, and I now have proper bass. Even tracks that don't really have much in the way of bass now have some bass! Overall sound is also good, and as a bonus they look good too. Thank you all for your suggestions.

Great! Glad you’re please with them.

tsinc80697 · 27 May 2021 at 10:39

How do the E3.5 compare to the E4.5? I'm looking for a set of speakers for my Mac Mini and spotted this thread. Not sure if the E4.5 will be too big for my current desk space.

Hypersonix · 27 May 2021 at 14:19

tsinc80697 said:
How do the E3.5 compare to the E4.5? I'm looking for a set of speakers for my Mac Mini and spotted this thread. Not sure if the E4.5 will be too big for my current desk space.

I haven’t heard the E3.5 version but my I’d imagine they are pretty good for the money.
If you want to go a bit further price wise I had Genelec 6010a monitors (I think they are now 8010) and they are amazing. Very small on the desktop too.
Genelec do a sub for them called the 5040b.

tsinc80697 · 27 May 2021 at 14:40

Thanks, will take a look at the Genelec ones. I'm not too fussed on price, I just need something small but decent sounding. Tried a few cheapo speakers and they just awful.

Currently got a HomePod Mini but using it as a computer speaker is terrible, Airplay is a pain in the ass as it disconnects everytime the computer goes to sleep and theres a 2 second delay between playing/pausing a video/music and it outputting on the speaker.

mattyfez · 27 May 2021 at 16:11

If you want smaller, creative t-20 are very good. depending if you like thier looks. They look like PC speakers rather than hi-fi bookshelf speakers.
I've got some old skool t-20 MK1 and they are good enough that I can't justify buying new desktop speakers, probably had them 12 years now.

JasonM · 30 May 2021 at 18:44

PRODIPE Pro 5 V3 are amazing quality for the money, however your looking at £200 for a pair.