New speakers, help me decide

Soldato
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Righto, my pseudo-5.1 surround speakers have finally been binned for too much static crackle, they've had a hard life... rat chewing through the power cable being just one of their highlights! :p

Now, there's a 2nd hand set of Bose Companion 3 Series II speakers for sale 2nd hand around the £100 mark, that seem to review pretty well.

What I'm wondering is if there's anything around the £100 mark new, that would equal or better them?

Specifically I'm thinking either the Creative Gigaworks T40:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-116-CL&groupid=702&catid=22&subcat=

Or the M-Audio Studiophile AV40 MkII:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-006-MA&groupid=702&catid=22&subcat=

Anyone used these, or can recommend for or against?

(Yes, I saw the similar thread recommending the KH soundsticks... but they're just.... god awful, so I'll pass on those!)
 
Agreed, the M-Audio do seem to be the best speaker for the money.

Trouble is, I keep reading reviews of them saying there's a slight background hum. I've really sensitive hearing for things like that, so it'd annoy the hell out of me!

The 2nd hand Bose set has now sold, so I'm now thinking of maybe something around the £75 mark, just trying to decide what.
 
The AV40's used to have a problem with the cheap volume pot used. Whilst they are great speakers, that's what put me off getting a pair a couple of years ago. These being MKII version, I would hope they have sorted that out. They are good value though at £90. Not long after I was looking at the MKI's, they went up to about £140.

Edifier R1600T and R1900T are very good and also worth considering.
 
Some places claim the MK2's have had the hum removed, while other people claim it's still there even in the MK2. Either way, it's just not worth the risk to me really.

Not sure if I want to go for the 'large hi-fi-style' speakers, as I already have spare hi-fi speakers that I could hook up through an amp, I just dont want to have to fiddle around with awkward volume controls etc on the amp all the time.

Anyone any experience of the Edifier Prism 2.1's? Looks interesting...
 
Having the hifi amp and speakers would be your best bet, especially as you already own them. My amp has no remote control and the volume control is a long way away so i leave my amp set at a moderately high volume and control the volume via the keyboard controls on the pc. (I haven't touched the volume control on the amp whilst using the pc for months)
 
Having the hifi amp and speakers would be your best bet, especially as you already own them. My amp has no remote control and the volume control is a long way away so i leave my amp set at a moderately high volume and control the volume via the keyboard controls on the pc. (I haven't touched the volume control on the amp whilst using the pc for months)

I've only got the speakers, not the amp. The amp is downstairs driving some enormous Mission 701a active floorstanders, that threaten the walls when turned up loud! :D

I could get an amp, but there's no volume controls on my keyboard because it's utterly bog standard cheapo in every way possible.

Might just end up getting a ~£35 set of speakers such as:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-139-CL&groupid=702&catid=22&subcat=

and decide what to do with the old hi-fi speakers later.
 
If you have spare speakers you could get a mini T amp, if they are fairly easy to drive. That's what I did with for use with my main PC, rather than go for the AV40's. Using an integrated amp wasn't really an option as it would have taken up too much desk space. Plus I've already got one connected to my HTPC and other devices. I use that for more serious listening, if there is such a thing. :p

A T-amp was ideal for me. Cheap, small and does a good job at decent volume levels. Admittedly, they are not going to match a dedicated amp for power, and they do have a high THD (total harmonic distortion) once you go above a certain level, but I've not had to increase the amps volume anywhere near high enough that it would start to distort. With Windows set at 100%, a 3rd volume on the T-amp I find is easily loud enough.
 
If you have spare speakers you could get a mini T amp, if they are fairly easy to drive. That's what I did with for use with my main PC, rather than go for the AV40's.

Any ideas on where to get a T-amp from, excluding anywhere that takes 4 weeks for them to be delivered from Hong Kong?

I'd like to have decent audio back before Christmas....
 
I got mine from the famous auction site. Most are from China, but there are UK sellers. Just search for T amp TA2021. There are a few here in the UK.

What speakers do you have? or do you know the sensitivity and Ohm rating?
 
They're Mission bookshelf speakers, cant remember the sensitivity and Ohm rating offhand, I'll look tonight. Should be easily driven by those T-amps though.
 
Yeah should be fine. Unless the speakers are known to be really difficult to drive, I would have thought any speaker would work fine. I remember some guy on an audio forum bought one as an experiment to power his floor standers while his main amp was in for service. He was surprised how good the little T amp sounded. They were not particularly sensitive speakers IIRC. Mine are 8Ohm and 88dB.
 
Couldn't find a T-amp that would get to me in any sensible timescale, and most of them seem to come with the wrong power adapters. By the time I'd waited, bought another power supply, paid shipping twice, I may as well have picked up a 2nd hand full size amp.

Anyway, did a bit of an impulse purchase and bought these - never seen anything else on OcUK with 50 5* reviews!

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-000-AE&tool=3
 
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