Speakers for gaming/music

Smokey26 · 18 Mar 2020 at 14:28

Hi all. Got everything specced except speakers. New PC will be mainly used for gaming with music and web browsing as well. Unsure on what speakers to go for.

The Logitech g560 look nice but the lack of base control worries me and they don't sound great for music. Budget is upto 150 at the most.

PapaLazaru · 19 Mar 2020 at 20:05

Don't waste cash on a 2.1 setup for that budget, get a decent pair of active speakers, something like the PreSonus Eris E4.5 will be much better.

hornetstinger · 19 Mar 2020 at 20:07

Buy pc loudspeakers.

Then get a sledgehammer, smash them to bits. Then pour acid on them

Then go into audio hifi store and buy real speakers

PapaLazaru · 19 Mar 2020 at 20:24

Budget is £150, that's not really a suitable answer.

hornetstinger · 19 Mar 2020 at 20:26

Wharfedale diamond 9.0 with a t amp. That will be about £100. Far better sound than pc speakers

Cavallino · 20 Mar 2020 at 12:46

PapaLazaru said:
Don't waste cash on a 2.1 setup for that budget, get a decent pair of active speakers, something like the PreSonus Eris E4.5 will be much better.

Ive noticed on the PreSonus portfolio bigger speakers.... are they worthwhile to invest in? E.g. the
PreSonus Eris E5 XT

aoaaron · 20 Mar 2020 at 13:12

edifier speakers with a subwoofer out. buy subwoofer at a later date.

Smokey26 · 20 Mar 2020 at 14:04

PapaLazaru said:
Don't waste cash on a 2.1 setup for that budget, get a decent pair of active speakers, something like the PreSonus Eris E4.5 will be much better.

They do look very good, thanks for the input. They seem to be 150quid without Bluetooth or 50quid more for BT not sure its worth it for BT.

Marsman · 20 Mar 2020 at 18:23

2.1 speakers aren't worth bothering with for music. Fine for gaming and film use though. Stereo speakers are the way to go for music use.

Some good suggestions already.

Presonus speakers are good, but they are more aimed toward music production, so will have a more neutral sound.

Edifier are also worth looking at. There are a few for up to £150 that have a built in DAC and Bluetooth. 1280DB and 1850DB.

Smokey26 · 20 Mar 2020 at 18:38

Ended up going for the Presonus 3.5 as they were only £83. Thanks all.

Jenz · 26 Mar 2020 at 15:42

Smokey26 said:
Ended up going for the Presonus 3.5 as they were only £83. Thanks all.

I'm about to buy - are you pleased @Smokey26 ?

EsaT · 26 Mar 2020 at 16:43

Marsman said:
2.1 speakers aren't worth bothering with for music. Fine for gaming and film use though.

Stereo sound sucks for majority of games.
And isn't really any better for movies.
Unless defining immersion/sound quality only through amount of bass.
Good headphones and HRTF do lot better.

Smokey26 · 26 Mar 2020 at 21:17

Jenz said:
I'm about to buy - are you pleased @Smokey26 ?

Dont know, havemt arrived yet. Monday i think.

Smokey26 · 27 Mar 2020 at 15:56

Jenz said:
I'm about to buy - are you pleased @Smokey26 ?

Speakers turned up today. First impressions are there very good for music. Playing a load of different songs and there great. Im no major audiophile but there impressive. I will be trying Crysis 3 later so ill report back what there like in that. They also look very nice on the desk.

Sounded pretty good in crysis 3. You can adjust them a bit at the back of the left speaker, gives you a bit more base. Overall very happy.

JasonM · 28 Mar 2020 at 12:10

Just picking on a few things in this thread.

First, the issue with most 2.1 speakers is the main left/right speakers the drivers are to small to handle mid-range frequencies, because of this they are not so good for vocals in music. Couple this with the fact most 2.1 speakers there optimised for games and films that tend to have an emphasises on very low and very high frequencies.

However there is nothing wrong with using 2.1 speakers for music, providing you are using good quality main speakers that are already suited to music.

I'm using Yamaha desktop speakers NX-E700's with a range of 60Hz to 28kHz, however I have a small sub that provides support under 60Hz. My sub is set to provide gentle support, remember the No1 rule with a sub is that it can't be heard, and should only noticed it's present when it's disabled. I listen to Amazon music HD, and if I disable the sub the music is definitely worse, my source is a Essence ST sound card.

Also, one of the most important things is getting the speakers on stands (position, height from desk, distance from wall, distance from each other, toe in angle to listener), and also isolate them from the desk. If you search some of my posts I've written quite a bit about this.

* All the above is in relation to desk / office speakers, in my main room I have a full separates system with Yamaha floor standing speakers that go 30 Hz–36 kHz, and rear field / surround speakers. If you run large enough main speakers you often don't need a sub.

hornetstinger · 28 Mar 2020 at 12:13

EsaT said:
Stereo sound sucks for majority of games.
And isn't really any better for movies.
Unless defining immersion/sound quality only through amount of bass.
Good headphones and HRTF do lot better.

Buy better speakers. My stereo speakers will outclass your pc 2.1 speakers by several orders of magnitude.

EsaT · 28 Mar 2020 at 15:03

hornetstinger said:
Buy better speakers. My stereo speakers will outclass your pc 2.1 speakers by several orders of magnitude.

Stereo speakers is stereo speakers and won't ever do surround.

hornetstinger · 28 Mar 2020 at 15:16

EsaT said:
Stereo speakers is stereo speakers and won't ever do surround.

Obviously. But I'd rather have quality stereo over cheap and nasty surround.

Got stereo for gaming system as don't want house full of speakers already have 7.1 system and stereo.1 and another stereo.1

hornetstinger · 28 Mar 2020 at 15:29

JasonM said:
Just picking on a few things in this thread.

First, the issue with most 2.1 speakers is the main left/right speakers the drivers are to small to handle mid-range frequencies, because of this they are not so good for vocals in music. Couple this with the fact most 2.1 speakers there optimised for games and films that tend to have an emphasises on very low and very high frequencies.

However there is nothing wrong with using 2.1 speakers for music, providing you are using good quality main speakers that are already suited to music.

I'm using Yamaha desktop speakers NX-E700's with a range of 60Hz to 28kHz, however I have a small sub that provides support under 60Hz. My sub is set to provide gentle support, remember the No1 rule with a sub is that it can't be heard, and should only noticed it's present when it's disabled. I listen to Amazon music HD, and if I disable the sub the music is definitely worse, my source is a Essence ST sound card.

Also, one of the most important things is getting the speakers on stands (position, height from desk, distance from wall, distance from each other, toe in angle to listener), and also isolate them from the desk. If you search some of my posts I've written quite a bit about this.

* All the above is in relation to desk / office speakers, in my main room I have a full separates system with Yamaha floor standing speakers that go 30 Hz–36 kHz, and rear field / surround speakers. If you run large enough main speakers you often don't need a sub.

Doubt your Yamaha floorstanders go down 30hz. Probably plus minus 10db which means not proper method of testing

JasonM · 28 Mar 2020 at 15:50

hornetstinger said:
Doubt your Yamaha floorstanders go down 30hz. Probably plus minus 10db which means not proper method of testing

I was going off Yamaha specs only, I have had the door handle resonating in the hall-way outside the room, I run the speakers flat with no settings (neural). There is also 4 of the same Yamaha floorstanding speakers in that room working together (in stereo), they are not driven hard as power is shared between them.