New speakers, £100 budget, 5.1/2.1??

rick827

rick827

rick827

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Im retiring my old creative 5.1 speakers I got about 8 years ago i think for £35 :D

Question is, do i bother with 5.1 again? my gf has some HK sound sticks and they fill the room amazingly and I notice there's little around my budget for 5.1 sets. Would i be better with something like the acoustic energy aego M's?
 
If you listen to a lot of music, I'd recommend 2.1 over 5.1 any day :)

5.1 usually just replicates the sound, or fiddles around with the sound through electronic trickery, to try and create a larger sound, when the music was generally encoded for stereo sound by the recording artist and thier respective recording technicians.

Not to mention, if you spend the same amount on 2/3 speakers, as 6, it goes without saying you have the potential to get better drivers :)
 
If you want speakers for music forget pc speakers and get an amp and bookshelf setup if you want it for games movies occasional music get a 2.1
these
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-001-AE
these don't have a headphone socket
or these
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-032-LG&groupid=702&catid=22&subcat=
these do
You could get a quality little amp and set of speakers second hand for
around £80-£100.
I have the z4 and there's no midrange for rock
electronic music is fine though.
 
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I'd go for Acoustic Energy 2.1 from OCUK. I bought these a little while ago and they sound incredible and look great too. Tiny little speakers but they really are superb.

I'm sure you could get better sound quality from a dedicated amp/speakers but it's far more hassle and they'll take up a lot more room.
 
Go for the Aego M over any Logitech stuff. Before any one crucifies me, the Logitech's dont sound bad, but they dont match up to some of the other kit out there, except in over the top, over-accentuated, flabby bass, and are often lacking around the midrange. Compared to a lot of PC speakers, they're pretty good, but there are better things out there, unless you like having stupid amounts of relatively uncontrolled bass.

Sorry if I seem rather critical, but thats my opinion on them, and lets be honest, a lot of people who've heard these and rated them highly will not have compared against anything other than average cheap pc speakers (horrible), or poor mini hi-fi systems, which on average sound pretty basic in the first place. Compared to other high end audio, there are other things that will blow them away in overall sound quality and frequency range.

And yes I've listened to plenty of Logitechs, various models are constantly in use at my workplace, and several of my friends have various models, some of whom have now dumped them to move up to hi-fi gear themselves for the better overall sound quality.

Aego M's on the other hand have a pretty decent reputation all round for the price, and Acoustic Energy (the manufacturers) make some pretty high end hi-fi audio kit, so are definately a reputable make. As noted on some reviews though, like standard hi-fi speakers, the Aego's do apparently appreciate a bit of a burn in to fully realise thier potential.
 
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Im currently using logitech Z-10's (2.0) athough they dont have a sub but they produce more than enough base, they sound prity good all round and are worth considering. Check out some of the reviews online. There much bigger than they look in the pics on the OcUK website and there wight is prity deciving as they are prity weighty. Not to mention they look nice and well under budget.
 
Thanks for all the advise guys,
I'll try go for some bookshelf speakers and an amp if I can get hold of some second hand. Any other recommendations? I hear good things about the Kef cresta 10's?
 
The Cambridge A5 is a decent starter amp as Raikiri mentioned earlier, others are also fond of pretty much anything from NAD/Arcam :)

I dont have much experience with Kef speakers, but Im quite fond of older missions (some of the newer ones before they went out of business are meant to be have been a fair bit worse than the older ones), and also quite like the Mordaunt Short 902i my mate bought, but tbh its personal preferance, and my actual testing of varied hi-fi kit is limited.

You might be best going to a local hi-fi shop, demoing some of the cheaper kit together, and then trying to find the ones you like best second hand :)
If you do that just remember different speakers and amps work different together, and can be affected differently by different positioning and sized rooms too, but if you can at least hear your combo together, it might give you a better idea whether you like the sound. I'd suggest taking a favourite CD or two from different genres, so when you demo some kit, you'll really notice any differences in your favourite songs on the CDs.
 
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Alexrose1uk said:
Go for the Aego M over any Logitech stuff. Before any one crucifies me, the Logitech's dont sound bad, but they dont match up to some of the other kit out there, except in over the top, over-accentuated, flabby bass, and are often lacking around the midrange. Compared to a lot of PC speakers, they're pretty good, but there are better things out there, unless you like having stupid amounts of relatively uncontrolled bass.

Sorry if I seem rather critical, but thats my opinion on them, and lets be honest, a lot of people who've heard these and rated them highly will not have compared against anything other than average cheap pc speakers (horrible), or poor mini hi-fi systems, which on average sound pretty basic in the first place. Compared to other high end audio, there are other things that will blow them away in overall sound quality and frequency range.

And yes I've listened to plenty of Logitechs, various models are constantly in use at my workplace, and several of my friends have various models, some of whom have now dumped them to move up to hi-fi gear themselves for the better overall sound quality.

Aego M's on the other hand have a pretty decent reputation all round for the price, and Acoustic Energy (the manufacturers) make some pretty high end hi-fi audio kit, so are definately a reputable make. As noted on some reviews though, like standard hi-fi speakers, the Aego's do apparently appreciate a bit of a burn in to fully realise thier potential.
Click to expand...

Quoted for truth
 
Alexrose1uk said:
Go for the Aego M over any Logitech stuff. Before any one crucifies me, the Logitech's dont sound bad, but they dont match up to some of the other kit out there, except in over the top, over-accentuated, flabby bass, and are often lacking around the midrange. Compared to a lot of PC speakers, they're pretty good, but there are better things out there, unless you like having stupid amounts of relatively uncontrolled bass.

Sorry if I seem rather critical, but thats my opinion on them, and lets be honest, a lot of people who've heard these and rated them highly will not have compared against anything other than average cheap pc speakers (horrible), or poor mini hi-fi systems, which on average sound pretty basic in the first place. Compared to other high end audio, there are other things that will blow them away in overall sound quality and frequency range.

And yes I've listened to plenty of Logitechs, various models are constantly in use at my workplace, and several of my friends have various models, some of whom have now dumped them to move up to hi-fi gear themselves for the better overall sound quality.

Aego M's on the other hand have a pretty decent reputation all round for the price, and Acoustic Energy (the manufacturers) make some pretty high end hi-fi audio kit, so are definately a reputable make. As noted on some reviews though, like standard hi-fi speakers, the Aego's do apparently appreciate a bit of a burn in to fully realise thier potential.
Click to expand...

Just nabbed myself a set of these, very nice! Sad to lose the 3 extra speakers of my cheapy Creative Inspire P580, but the sound quality is amazing, and how many sources output true 5.1 anyway? I dont play many FPS's so dont need surround sound for that.

Great souding, and pretty cheap for decent speakers

:D
 
if you listen to music forget 5.1 just get amp and decent stereo speakers which will blow em out water.just got a a5 ca amp for 50 quid now looking for speakers for 100 (amp cost 50) and 50 on speakers, nothing in pc range will come close.
anyone got b&w 602s or w diamonds 8.1s or 9s how good are these.
 
A couple of decent speakers will be fine without a sub then? Only reason i ask (correct me if im wrong on this) a sub is going to come in at like 100W? and the CA A5 amp is 60w/channel?
 
dgmug said:
if you listen to music forget 5.1 just get amp and decent stereo speakers which will blow em out water.just got a a5 ca amp for 50 quid now looking for speakers for 100 (amp cost 50) and 50 on speakers, nothing in pc range will come close.
anyone got b&w 602s or w diamonds 8.1s or 9s how good are these.
Click to expand...

You are under-estimating the Aego's, I suggest you give them a listen before writing them off :)
 
1mm3 said:
The wharfedales are around £100 and the amp around £40?

Anything cheaper for a beginner?
Click to expand...

I got some Kef Cresta 10 speakers for £50 new however they're £120 now (I was very lucky). Maybe some Tannoy F1s (£90 new) second hand, Wharfdale 8.1se (£80 new).

Amp wise a Sonic Impact T amp is rather impressive for the size and money however it only has one input, if that isn't an issue they can be had for £25 new and delivered. Keep in mind they're best used with easy to drive speakers such as my KEF Cresta 10s.
 
I was going to start a new thread but if you dont mind I'll hi-jack this one.

I'm in the same boat, I'm selling my 5.1 AV system (Amp and Mission M33 speakers) because my new room at uni is too small for all of that. I was going to go for the Aego's but the lack of a headphone socket is really putting me off so I was thinking about the Z-10's also the lack of a sub with the Z-10's won't **** off my house mates but I worry about the sound quality.

Anyone with the Aego's what do you do about using headphones? is there an in-line adapter I could use to flick between the two outputs?

Cheers

Panzer
 
A splitter would reduce the sound quality just go for the logitech z4's
if you want games movies occasional music paid £45 new for mine they do have a lack of midrange when it comes to rock so it really depends what music you are in to.If you are in to dance electronic rap r&b the midrange isn't really as much of an issue the z4's are great for the small budget they have a wired remote volume with headphone socket and mic socket they will still play through the headphones even if switched off in standby mode.
Am a firm believer that only budget pc speakers are worth getting as you get into amp and bookshelf territory when you start thinking £100.
Even my gale mini monitors blow away the z4 though.
 
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