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Hey all
My previous set of speakers was a Klipsch promedia 4.1 set. I used this set through college and the first year of grad school, but at the last party that I threw at my apartment...the DIN connecting the control pod to the subwoofer basically melted and snapped. Tried to get it fixed via a vendor on ebay, but he replaced the DIN and it still didn't work, so I just dumped the speakers.
Thus, I need new ones! I've been doing some research online, and it seems that there really haven't been that many spectacular sets of speakers that have come out in the last few years. Every time I look for articles on "best 2.1 computer speakers" or "new 4.1 computer speakers" there aren't really any hits that come up from the last 2 years or so. Checked pcmag.com, pcworld.com, and a couple of other forums and it seems that the products available just aren't that innovative.
Thus, it looks like I might buy an older product, or look at a completely new alternative. First choice would be 2.1 vs 4.1/5.1. I usually use these speakers for listening to music / throwing parties (so having good bass is pretty important), but I also use them for gaming (I really only play starcraft, dota, and random webgames. Probably SC2 and D3 when they come out though). Poker too, but that doesn't require anything in terms of speaker power. I think 2.1 is probably the way to go because my room isn't that well setup for surround sound, I have to put all of the speakers on my desk to avoid having cables being lying all over the place.
Another option for me to look at would be buying floor speakers and an amplifier and hooking it up to my computer. Does anyone have any experience doing something like that? Would it be difficult? I would imagine that I have to buy some sort of adapters to make sure that everything fits in together, do these cause a large drop in quality?
Finally, I've looked at a couple of products in particular. Does anyone have a set of the Logitech z-2300 2.1's? They seem to be pretty well regarded. Another set that I've seen recommended is the Aego M's. Anyone seen that set?
I don't want to spend TOO too much (picked up saying this from Artosis' casts) money on this, but my price range is around $150-$250 or so, pretty flexible because I'm saving like $3200 on housing this semester because I'm abroad so I have money to play with.
Thanks guys, any help would be appreciated!
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I'm in the process of buying a Logitech z-2300 2.1. Gets very good reviews overall, perhaps the best 2.1 speakers still out there. Rather expensive though, so waiting for a sale etc.
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Valhalla18444 Posts
Razer's Mako is far and away the best, it's won multiple awards and the sound quality is fucking unreal
it might be a little too pricey for you though, i'm not sure what they go for around your area
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balls those are expensive haha, I would definitely want to hear those in person before deciding to throw down that much money
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Valhalla18444 Posts
On February 17 2009 18:24 KOFgokuon wrote:
balls those are expensive haha, I would definitely want to hear those in person before deciding to throw down that much money
find a way to do so then
theyre 2.1 and they destroy every 5.1 system i've ever heard
granted ive never heard anything that ranges above like $600, but yeah dude they're incredible
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On February 17 2009 18:36 FakeSteve[TPR] wrote:Show nested quote +On February 17 2009 18:24 KOFgokuon wrote:
balls those are expensive haha, I would definitely want to hear those in person before deciding to throw down that much money
find a way to do so then theyre 2.1 and they destroy every 5.1 system i've ever heard granted ive never heard anything that ranges above like $600, but yeah dude they're incredible
nice, they're sold at best buy, when I get to colorado next month I'll check these out
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FS you should put a disclaimer that you work for razer lol
OP, the reason why you cant find any new speakers that are "spectacular" is because speakers are speakers they are very simple devices. New speakers do LOOK spectacular tho, just look at the Mako for example. ...But it very expensive and does look like you pay for a bunch of gimmicks.
About 'sound quality'.. it is very subjective and our perception of sound is highly adaptable, AND sound is affected greatly by the listening environment. I'm not going to diss the Mako too much but pretty much just go for something well regarded with good reviews and even hype... they are all pretty much the same and you would probably trick yourself into thinking the 'sound quality' was really good if you believed it to be so.
What im trying to say is, unless you have perfect hearing and have the speakers set up properly in a sound stage, true 'sound quality' is pretty much irrelevant.
but moving on, I actually have my set up on floor speakers. I run a digital coax to my a/v reciever and that drives my speakers. When talking about room shaking bass for parties, there is simply no substitute for size thats why floor speaker sets with big subwoofers is a good way to go. 8" subs common with pc speaker sets such as the Mako are simply not true subwoofers.
goodluck with ur hunt, i suggest looking for used sets. speakers are speakers.
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im using razer mako. its good. and being 2.1 it saves a lot of space compare to 5.1 system.
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On February 17 2009 18:26 SpiritoftheTunA wrote:http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Studiophile-AV-Powered-Speakers/dp/B000MUXJCOthese are what i got not even 2.1, just 2.0 cuz i originally bought them as a keyboard amp, but my synth is with my bandmate who has a better amp anyway now. amazingly high quality midrange, decent bass but if you're used to a subwoofer, will take getting used to.
were they just plug and play to your sound card?
yea, one of the things is that I need some pretty good bass cause I throw parties fairly often, and I'm used to the sub that came with my klipsch speakers, I think having no bass at all would be a pretty big change
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Hong Kong20321 Posts
i have a creative t3100 or something or 3000? not sure anyway its a 2.1 set up
pretty good for its price id' say
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On February 17 2009 20:27 alffla wrote:
i have a creative t3100 or something or 3000? not sure anyway its a 2.1 set up
pretty good for its price id' say
how far can you push the sub on these speakers?
i could push the 4.1 promedia sub basically to the point where it was too loud for my building, with room to spare
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Valhalla18444 Posts
On February 17 2009 19:17 gusbear wrote:
FS you should put a disclaimer that you work for razer lol
OP, the reason why you cant find any new speakers that are "spectacular" is because speakers are speakers they are very simple devices. New speakers do LOOK spectacular tho, just look at the Mako for example. ...But it very expensive and does look like you pay for a bunch of gimmicks.
About 'sound quality'.. it is very subjective and our perception of sound is highly adaptable, AND sound is affected greatly by the listening environment. I'm not going to diss the Mako too much but pretty much just go for something well regarded with good reviews and even hype... they are all pretty much the same and you would probably trick yourself into thinking the 'sound quality' was really good if you believed it to be so.
What im trying to say is, unless you have perfect hearing and have the speakers set up properly in a sound stage, true 'sound quality' is pretty much irrelevant.
but moving on, I actually have my set up on floor speakers. I run a digital coax to my a/v reciever and that drives my speakers. When talking about room shaking bass for parties, there is simply no substitute for size thats why floor speaker sets with big subwoofers is a good way to go. 8" subs common with pc speaker sets such as the Mako are simply not true subwoofers.
goodluck with ur hunt, i suggest looking for used sets. speakers are speakers.
hey now, i'm not some sleazy salesman  I wouldn't be recommending this stuff if I didn't legitimately think it was totally badass. My job has nothing to do with selling Makos
the main draw of the Mako is that its crystal clear at high volume, which is really important to me given the average level of volume i listen to music at
it also looks fucking sweet
if those two things aren't important to you then there are probably better options, but I think those are pretty universal desirable traits
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jesus FS do you sleep haha
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Hrmm I believe any 2.1 speaker system ranging from 65-100+ watts should be what your looking for. I currently have some logitech that I bought almost 3 years ago and it max's out at 70watts. I also have another set of some cheap ass speakers just for the highs to sound a bit better(lil cheap speaker set is probably only around 10-20 watts). I live in a 2200 square foot house and I can turn my shit up halfway and be able to hear it around the house. If i bump it all the way it certainly is heard at my front door just a tad bit.
I have heard the M-Audio-Studophiles and they sound real good for the highs and mids. You will not be getting explosive lows(bass) from it although. I believe you can easily plug up a self powered sub to these speakers thou if you are looking for some booming bass.
If you wanna go the floor tower speaker setup I believe you you will need an a/v receiver of some sort to plug your pc's sound card up to that.
All in all you might just be looking for a good logitech 2.1 setup. I have seen many people on this site that have logitech and I myself have a set and it is totally worth the money you pay for logitech.
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United States22883 Posts
Dual purpose.
Seriously though, the HK Soundsticks 2 are pretty good but like most people have said, the Z-2300 are on top. I think the Cambridge Soundworks stuff is still excellent too.
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Valhalla18444 Posts
On February 17 2009 23:25 KOFgokuon wrote:
jesus FS do you sleep haha
I live in Singapore, man. There's a difference in time zone
Truthfully though during the working part of a week I survive on 4-5 hours a night.
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oh, i thought you were in canada
that makes more sense then
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Valhalla18444 Posts
Arrived here Feb 6th
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i have the logitech z2300 and theyre more for gaming.
the Klipsch promedia's are more for music.
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they don't make the promedias anymore I don't think, otherwise i'd heavily consider just buying another set of 4.1's
On February 18 2009 02:24 FakeSteve[TPR] wrote:Arrived here Feb 6th
oh right you made that thread, I completely forgot
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Get another set of the promedias. You won't find a better set of 2.1 speakers, especially not at the price, and with that booming base.
Klipsch still offers the Promedia 2.1(not the 4.1s however) at their online store, but it seems best buy no longer carries them.
http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/promedia-2-1.aspx
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hmm, the sub will be such a downgrade tho i dunno if i can handle it haha
i'll have to check out some more models in person i guess. problem is that half the time the speakers aren't set up in the store, or they won't let u play all that loudly ><
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I recently bought Creative T20 Series II, they sound really good and the price was not too bad either. Doesn't have subwoofer included, but I think spending money on a pair of good 2.0 speakers is better than spending it on a 2.1 set with low quality subwoofer (and satellites).
Having said that, the M-Audio Studiophile speakers someone posted earlier are really good (a friensatellitesd of mine has these), but they are in a completely dfifferent price-range.
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again, the issue with no sub is a) what i'm used to, and b) the fact that I need more bass ><
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On February 18 2009 19:17 KOFgokuon wrote:
again, the issue with no sub is a) what i'm used to, and b) the fact that I need more bass ><
Well, you can always buy a sub separately. This is probably the best way to go about it anyway if you are concerned with quality, that is.
The problem with many 2.1 sets that are being sold is that they are just low quality.
Besides, many of the higher quality satellites (like the M-Audio pair) provide plenty of bass as is..
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The M-audio's I don't think provide as much bass as KOF is wanting. Although the m-audio's are very nice sounding (friend has a pair of them) I believe it has very nice highs and very very nice mids but lack in the lows. But like meathook said you can just buy a sub separately and then really have a banging system.
And yea most 2.1 sets are a bit low quality but you usually get what you pay for. I suggest buying some M-audio and a separate sub and hook that shit up and if its not what your looking for in sound (which i doubt) then you can easily return it. Keep receipts of course and don't bang up the products. Then you can easily just order the Klipsch online like you originally had.
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
I have the z-2300. I can't say I've heard too many other higher-end (read: not crappy) set of speakers but I love the z-2300 
I should note that the bass is overwhelming for me because this is the first time I owned a speaker set with bass so prior to this, I've never listened to so much bass for a prolonged period of time. And I can't tell you the number of times I woke up my parents at 2 in the morning because I was playing Mass Effect and I forgot to turn down the bass all the way (Mako shots are like BOOOOM) 
These should be loud enough for most people too. I couldn't turn them up past half way because I was afraid my neighbours would come knocking at my door lol
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ok sounds good, thanks for the help everyone. I'll hvae to refer back to this thread in a month when i'm back in the US so i can check out some setups in person
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The soundsticks are way better than any alternative mentioned.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/sc/30706630-2-440-overview-1.gif)
