Small desktop speakers for general use- £30

[danlightbulb]

Damn this is so hard!

The room is small, 2m square. Normal PC gaming situation, a bit of media consumption, some music on whilst working from home etc.

Im going to be sitting less than a metre in front of these speakers.

Is it overkill for my use and I should go back to the pebble?

...I was so close to making a choice lol.

 

[throwaway4372]

I have the t40, would have recommended them earlier if they were in budget, great speakers, compact enough.

 

[JasonM]

Another reason why raising a speaker up is better than tiling.

When a speaker is close to desk (or any other objects) the vibrations from the speaker resonate with the desk. When you raise a speaker your putting more physical space between the speaker and objects around it. It's the same principle as in a room, you want speakers away from walls, and positioned more into a room.

The stands have foam.

That foam is more so the speakers don't slip. It's doing very little compared to acoustic foam.

On my stands I even use isolation spikes that helped isolate even more.

That is the foam I am running.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AMWts8CpjkgO_VlLQzx0V5FaXwul0F8B0LiaMfpxhMISsi4_O4Y25Ongb7dfDTG6ch7bwCGtoYwbVWq58m1oAj_8Fj1gSO0KGkOqwOMEFTJi4meSlITV6YOVpg3eDGhlmobUHKEWOTDMLvUbqARJv5jf-h9s=w686-h914-s-no?authuser=0

The I added these they were £10 for 8 of them.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AMWts8CtxLSMoN1Llwxm2dXarymDw_Jqc9dXEWpuxdxpDZiuUkYGI_39Wn96jQRQQBBaZldzVNMSGIjRC9-5jg8Rc4KjkcO7rghjRVCfToEOKWnX66Z1dBWd_938_J_CPlJv5hiuE3U049D09vZaCRyZpyA5=w686-h914-s-no?authuser=0

 

[danlightbulb]

It's the same principle as in a room, you want speakers away from walls, and positioned more into a room.

So do you think Im wasting my money going for something of this size/power in a small home office? The speakers will have to be near to a wall, and within a metre of my seating position.

 

[The_Arbiter]

... I should go back to the pebble?.

Yes imo. Try them, it's a mere £20. You have a small room that is acoustically not great, so better speakers, amp and foam is a rabbit hole. By all means go on the audio journey, but for the sake of £20 to find out it's enough for you or not versus excessive amounts straight up...

I'm trying to decide on a screen setup atm in my dining room, i wish my choice was as easy as yours

 

[JasonM]

So do you think Im wasting my money going for something of this size/power in a small home office? The speakers will have to be near to a wall, and within a metre of my seating position.

Providing you can fit them on your desk there still a good option, you might just have to run them at lower levels. You be better with these then the other £30 options that have been listed.

What I would do, is try and pull your desk away from the wall. Take a look at the picture below. This speaker is at the minimum it can be to the wall before sound degrades. So this gives you some basic idea of the distance you need from hard surface's.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AMWts8CpjkgO_VlLQzx0V5FaXwul0F8B0LiaMfpxhMISsi4_O4Y25Ongb7dfDTG6ch7bwCGtoYwbVWq58m1oAj_8Fj1gSO0KGkOqwOMEFTJi4meSlITV6YOVpg3eDGhlmobUHKEWOTDMLvUbqARJv5jf-h9s=w686-h914-s-no?authuser=0

With-in a meter of seating position that is good. When your sitting this close your listening in near field. The closer you sit to a speaker, the less influence the room has on the sound. An extreme example of this is headphones where the room has no effect. Those Eris 3.5 will be designed for near field, so your fine being this close to them.

 

[hartgeh3]

The pebbles are decent enough for the price. Send them back if you find them rubbish.

 

[danlightbulb]

The pebbles are decent enough for the price. Send them back if you find them rubbish.

I already tried them (borrowed them off someone at work for an evening). They were ok yeah. I don't know what Im missing though as never had anything better. They didn't feel 'immersive'.

 

[JasonM]

I already tried them (borrowed them off someone at work for an evening). They were ok yeah. I don't know what Im missing though as never had anything better. They didn't feel 'immersive'.

Hartgeh and The_Arbiter might have a point, maybe try a more simple option first. Your room is not great for audio, maybe I'm complicating things by talking about stands and stuff.

 

[hartgeh3]

I already tried them (borrowed them off someone at work for an evening). They were ok yeah. I don't know what Im missing though as never had anything better. They didn't feel 'immersive'.

I would say spend more money in that case, but going by the size of the room I don't think its worth it. Why not get headphones instead? I use wireless in-ear headphones with comply foam tips...hear everything!

 

[danlightbulb]

Your room is not great for audio, maybe I'm complicating things by talking about stands and stuff.

Thing is, don't many/most home offices have rooms that are probably not great for audio? Yet people still have decent speakers on their set up.


I dunno...the difference between my two options is £50, I don't know why Im so worked up about it. Overthinking.

 

[The_Arbiter]

It's the curse of the tech enthusiast There is no cheap an easy way to get a favoured set up for us, unless you can borrow or demo in your own home of course.

If you've tried those Pebbles before, (i've no idea what they're like), and they aren't for you, you really have no other choice then the next price brackets up. £100 2nd hand 2.0 plus a dac would be my next choice. Bare in mind many things have poor inflation baked in now, so price brackets feel less transparent now.

 

[throwaway4372]

get the t40 and the steelseries qck mouse mats and stop stressing out lol, ur stressing me out and I don't even care.

 

[JasonM]

Thing is, don't many/most home offices have rooms that are probably not great for audio? Yet people still have decent speakers on their set up.

Bingo! I was going to post about this, but now you asked the question.

Your 100% correct most of the rooms are compromised / far from perfect. My home office has loads of hard surfaces, huge Ikea Glant desk (3 sections long), wood floor. Then I run triple monitors and I my speakers are spaced a little more then they should be. Yes despite this I can still enjoy the music. So sometimes you have to make the best of a bad job, and work with the environment you have.

 

[danlightbulb]

I've ordered the Eris 3.5. will feedback how it goes.

 

[JasonM]

I've ordered the Eris 3.5. will feedback how it goes.

Well done and I think you be ok with them.

One thing speakers have a break in period where the material of the speaker driver changes, run them for at least 20 hours before you fully judge them. Also don't run them to loud at first.

 

[hornetstinger]

Too big for your desk?

JBL my Love - 4355 - Vintage HiFi Club

JBL my Love - 4355 JBL 4355 One of the most prestigious speakers, ever. Technical data Scheme 4 ways, 5 loudspeaker bass-reflex scheme, and a floor type Using unit 2235Hx2, 2202H, 2441, 2308, 2307, 2405H Play band 31.5Hz - 18000Hz Allowable input Bass region: 400W Crown compass: 200W...

www.vintagehificlub.com

 

[danlightbulb]

Just the right size, and sound nice even fairly quiet.

 

[hornetstinger]

R

ust the right size, and sound nice even fairly quiet.

Raise them up on stands

 

[JasonM]

fairly quiet.

Power the speakers directly from a wall socket.

Also don't run them from the same extension lead as the computer, as this increases the chance of a ground loop between the computer (source) and amplifier. In a perfect world you always want your source and amplifier side as separated as possible on the mains.