Need advice for some good PC speakers

Perfect_Chaos · 6 Sep 2021 at 11:03

I need some new speakers, my current ones are basic Typhoon ones from Aldi or Lidl and must be at least 17 years old. They're going bad, for a little while i noticed a buzzing noise from them, but lately every time i turn them on the buzzing is quite loud and then it goes quieter after some seconds, today i went to turn them on and it might have been louder so i just turned them straight off because I'm not sure if they're safe.

I've seen some Edifier ones suggested, looked them up and they seem to get good reviews only they are said to have more bass even when turned right down, which i don't think i want.

Creative T40 look good, but spoiled a bit by some stupid energy saving feature which you can't turn off, no good for notifications.

Closest I've seen that look almost right is probably the PreSonus Eris E3.5.

Just looking for decent speakers with bass and treble control, i don't want to spend too much but up to £100 is fine, I'd rather not go much above that unless there is a big jump in quality. Needed for all around use, so games, bit of music and videos etc.

Suggestions?

Guest2 · 7 Sep 2021 at 09:44

I had some Typhoon speakers too, they did the job for many years. Looked exactly like these, thanks for reminding me - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274104557364
Now have iLoud micro monitors but these are bit out your budget.

Do you have any space (desk space / floor space) limitations?

Perfect_Chaos · 8 Sep 2021 at 15:43

Guest2 said:
I had some Typhoon speakers too, they did the job for many years. Looked exactly like these, thanks for reminding me - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274104557364
Now have iLoud micro monitors but these are bit out your budget.

Do you have any space (desk space / floor space) limitations?

I saw you can still buy those new on ebay for a tenner, but mine have the volume, bass and treble separate as well as the subwoofer.

Trying to get rid of a lot of junk to make room and been selling things on ebay lately too, so i don't have much spare space at the moment other than on the desk.
As for cost i don't mind spending more if the difference is there in quality, if not I'd rather save the money.

Don't know what to get but I've noticed there's not that many PC speakers that have both bass & treble controls for whatever reason.

Jenz · 8 Sep 2021 at 16:33

I love my Presonus Eris 4.5's if that helps. Awesome sound.

Guest2 · 8 Sep 2021 at 23:20

Perfect_Chaos said:
I saw you can still buy those new on ebay for a tenner, but mine have the volume, bass and treble separate as well as the subwoofer.

Trying to get rid of a lot of junk to make room and been selling things on ebay lately too, so i don't have much spare space at the moment other than on the desk.
As for cost i don't mind spending more if the difference is there in quality, if not I'd rather save the money.

Don't know what to get but I've noticed there's not that many PC speakers that have both bass & treble controls for whatever reason.

I remember now, the Typhoon speakers came with my first PC in 1995! Good times.

I would avoid searches for any 'PC speakers' as you will mostly find poor quality ones in the £20 - £50 price range. Hifi gear or 'active monitors' is what you want to be looking for. Active monitors are powered speakers, like PC speakers but usually for monitoring in a studio so will not colour the sound (apply super bass, surround or nonsense like that) Some come with EQ settings on the back of the speakers (like bass, treble or simple high frequency / low frequency switches) along with volume control.

If you want a space saver and have the cash for good speakers, i'm sure you wont find many better than iLouds for the price. I'm yet to see a bad review, even noaudiophile.com reviews it was good

http://noaudiophile.com/IK_Multimedia_iLoudMM/

This sums them up quite well

This speaker has the right kind of compromises, and is so very close to the ideal desktop speaker. With the DSP correction applied the sound quality of the iLoud at low levels sounds damn near as good as quality monitors like the JBL LSR305, but takes up 1/8th the space.

I expect the IK Multimedia iLoud Micro Monitor to blow a lot of people away, and to sell like hot cakes. This is truly a groundbreaking speaker, and at it's price range it's an easy recommendation to someone in this niche of the market.

Perfect_Chaos · 13 Sep 2021 at 09:48

Jenz said:
I love my Presonus Eris 4.5's if that helps. Awesome sound.

Still thinking about what to get.

Guest2 said:
I remember now, the Typhoon speakers came with my first PC in 1995! Good times.

I would avoid searches for any 'PC speakers' as you will mostly find poor quality ones in the £20 - £50 price range. Hifi gear or 'active monitors' is what you want to be looking for. Active monitors are powered speakers, like PC speakers but usually for monitoring in a studio so will not colour the sound (apply super bass, surround or nonsense like that) Some come with EQ settings on the back of the speakers (like bass, treble or simple high frequency / low frequency switches) along with volume control.

If you want a space saver and have the cash for good speakers, i'm sure you wont find many better than iLouds for the price. I'm yet to see a bad review, even noaudiophile.com reviews it was good

http://noaudiophile.com/IK_Multimedia_iLoudMM/

This sums them up quite well

The only thing i can see with these is that there are some complaints about noise at 50hz

Still not completely sure what to buy now.

Guest2 · 13 Sep 2021 at 10:46

Perfect_Chaos said:
Still thinking about what to get.

The only thing i can see with these is that there are some complaints about noise at 50hz

Still not completely sure what to buy now.

No port noise at all on mine

Why they didnt include foam baffles is beyond me. Thats some packing foam rolled up. It can easily be removed and no noise at all at 50hz, even with volume turned up

Also, some Konig & Meyer mic stands arrive today / tomorrow so will get pics. They are much better raised up at ear level instead of desk

Guest2 · 16 Sep 2021 at 18:38

Nice solid German made stands arrived

Perfect_Chaos · 26 Sep 2021 at 22:48

@Jenz @Guest2 appreciate the responses, I saw there was a discount on the Presonus Eris 4.5 BT version recently for £113 so I put an order in before the price went up again, I can always cancel if I change my mind but they seemed hard to ignore at that price.

@Guest2 does the foam completely fix that issue or didn't you have it anyway? I seen quite a few mention the 50Hz thing.

Bill Turnip · 26 Sep 2021 at 23:13

I'd like to know about the 50hz thing too - I've previously trialled the ilouds and liked them, but they simply didn't suit what I needed at the time.

I'm now looking at switching some rear speakers with them for increased clarity (my current ones are an old Logitech set that don't match that well with my jbl's) and think that these are possibly the best option, but unsure if it's over kill.

Guest2 · 27 Sep 2021 at 08:19

@Perfect_Chaos @Bill Turnip Yes, the foam completely gets rid of port flapping. As far as I can tell, there is no loss in quality at lower end either.

Jay85 · 29 Sep 2021 at 12:13

Guest2 said:
I remember now, the Typhoon speakers came with my first PC in 1995! Good times.

I would avoid searches for any 'PC speakers' as you will mostly find poor quality ones in the £20 - £50 price range. Hifi gear or 'active monitors' is what you want to be looking for. Active monitors are powered speakers, like PC speakers but usually for monitoring in a studio so will not colour the sound (apply super bass, surround or nonsense like that) Some come with EQ settings on the back of the speakers (like bass, treble or simple high frequency / low frequency switches) along with volume control.

If you want a space saver and have the cash for good speakers, i'm sure you wont find many better than iLouds for the price. I'm yet to see a bad review, even noaudiophile.com reviews it was good

http://noaudiophile.com/IK_Multimedia_iLoudMM/

This sums them up quite well

My first windows pc - Gateway pc (with the cow pattern logo) don't know if anyone remembers came with typhoon speakers bundled in. Going way way back now lol

Jay85 · 29 Sep 2021 at 12:16

If you're going for Edifiers, i would be a little careful with the S350DB's, i've had 2 sets and both came with an annoying high pitched sound. Edifier tech support finally came back to me today after sampling the audio i gave them from 1 meter away and they confirmed its an internal issue and should be returned.

Guest2 · 29 Sep 2021 at 15:47

Jay85 said:
My first windows pc - Gateway pc (with the cow pattern logo) don't know if anyone remembers came with typhoon speakers bundled in. Going way way back now lol

Look what's sat next to me

Jay85 · 29 Sep 2021 at 18:51

Guest2 said:
Look what's sat next to me

Holy COW!!!!! That brings back memories!!! Was the same shade of yellow after a few years in the sun as well :cry:

. Wish i had kept mine, i don't even know where the wife has stashed it.

thanks for posting it!

Guest2 · 29 Sep 2021 at 21:09

Jay85 said:
Holy COW!!!!! That brings back memories!!! Was the same shade of yellow after a few years in the sun as well . Wish i had kept mine, i don't even know where the wife has stashed it.

thanks for posting it!

No problem

It has the original Gateway OEM Voodoo 3 '3000G' GPU still inside and full ISA soundblaster 16 (CT2230) Other items include a load of Microsoft peripherals, Yamaha speakers and CRT monitor
I'm going to sell up soon due to space and having side graded to a retro laptop. Granted its quite hard sourcing a good soundcard for the laptop... Also need to pay for holidays.

Space Monkey · 22 Nov 2021 at 01:46

Perfect_Chaos said:
@Jenz @Guest2 appreciate the responses, I saw there was a discount on the Presonus Eris 4.5 BT version recently for £113 so I put an order in before the price went up again, I can always cancel if I change my mind but they seemed hard to ignore at that price.

How'd you get on with the Presonus speakers?

I'm looking to do something similar, though I've just ordered some Mackie CR8-XBT speakers as I've caught them on half price, new, just waiting for stock to arrive, so couldn't turn down that kind of a deal!

Though I'm still looking and the Presonus are on my shortlist