Spec me speakers (£300)

[crimson101]

Hey Guys!

Recently finished my new build and in need off adding some audio, I understand the basics but I wouldn’t class myself as an audiophile. Modest budget of around the 300£ mark, being used for the standard Music/Games/Movies combo.

I started with the idea of Bose Companion 50 (2.1 “PC Speakers”), then it was AudioEngine A5+ (Powered 2.0s), and now I’m leaning towards JBL LSR305s (2.0 Studio Monitors) with something like a Lexicon Alpha as the USB interface.

I can just about fit the JBLs on my corner desk, but they would probably have limited breathing room from the wall behind. Since Gaming/Movies is in the mix, I’m a bit concerned the 2.0/studio route will have enough low end…Advice & any recommendations please?

 

[dt97583]

You could consider...

M-Audio BX5 D3 5" Powered Studio Monitor

 

[Things change I've changed]

You can get a pair of Yamaha HS7's from totalsounds for only £315, plenty of youtube reviews, very nice monitors but you would obviously need the lexicon to run them so pushes you over your budget a bit.

 

[nicknack35]

Ruark MR1 MK2's can be had for £329 great desktop speakers lovely finish nice size and sound great love mine

 

[robs1]

I just got some LSR305s a few weeks ago.
I guess most would regard me as an audiophile if they saw my main hi-fi, but the JBLs were to put on the desk in my office - they get a lot of hours listening every day! So very much nearfield listening.
They are superb in my opinion, great imaging and detail, great bass for the size (5" woofer) and a real bargain price too. There is a mark 2 version just come out so you may see some price reductions.
I liked them so much I jumped in with both feet and just got the matching subwoofer too (LSR310s) which, as it should, adds deeper and accurate bass, certainly a significant improvement - but costs a fair bit more than a pair of the LSR305s themselves so a bit extravagant. It is also rather large. The 305s are excellent without it. I have the monitors maybe 3" off the back wall and no problems.
The downsides (minor I guess) is that they are quite large compared with you average desktop speaker from Logitech etc, so you need to have the space for them (and toeing them in). They also need cables which you might not have - inputs are 1/4" TRS or XLRs. They are designed for balanced leads, but unbalanced TRS is fine - does mean you'll probably need to buy cables (or the parts and solder them up yourself). Or get a DAC with balanced outputs.

 

[Super-Spy]

I posted my thoughts on a range of studio monitors when I was looking.

You can read my post here: https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/posts/26683087/