computer speakers

[Jacob]

Any particular recommendations for computer speakers, say under £50? For that matter- do you get much if you pay more?
I want to be able to play along with my banjo. :shock:

 

[MMUK]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Logitech-980-00 ... ch+s-02648

Newer version of what my brother has and for the money they're pretty damned good

 

[Steve Maskery]

+1

 

[petermillard]

+2 - I have an older pair of these and they're excellent for the money. If you don't have space for the sub, then Creative T10s are pretty good as a desktop speaker. As for spending more to get more, then I think it all depends on what you expect from active speakers.. In my house I have a pair of the above Logitechs, some Harmon Kardon Soundstick llls (~£100) and a pair of Acoustic Energy AEGO 2.1Ms (~£200) all hooked together to make a poor mans Sonos system.

Are the AEGOs better than the Logitechs? Sure, but not 5x better, not the way I typically listen.

HTH Pete

 

[AndyT]

If you just get the right cable, normally a stereo 3.5mm jack to a pair of phono plugs, you can connect your pc's sound card output to an auxiliary input on your existing stereo and use what you already have. It costs only a couple of quid and is as good as you wanted to buy.

 

[Racers]

Do you get that farty one note bass that most subs seem to do, not quite in time to the music?
And you can't identify what instrument it is, bass guitar, bloated water buffalo, packing case?

Pete, not a fan of subs especially cheap ones

 

[petermillard]

Do you get that farty one note bass that most subs seem to do, not quite in time to the music?

No.

And you can't identify what instrument it is, bass guitar, bloated water buffalo, packing case?

No - though the packing case is one of my favourite instruments...

Pete, not a fan of subs especially cheap ones

No, really? like I said, it depends on your expectations; < £50 computer speakers aren't really a substitute for HiFi - but the surprise is just how good they can be for 'casual' listening. And as I said, the creative T10s (T20s are a bit beyond the £50 budget) are a good option if you don't want a sub.

Pete


edited for clarity & spelling.

 

[Jacob]

Thanks for that. Went for cheapest in the end - Logitech Z120. £12!! all the way from Germany!!
Not hi-fi but not too bad, alright for my purposes i.e. either side of lap top, close up, easily portable, small, simple.

 

[MIGNAL]

I bought a Logitech set with the sub. I think they were around £25. Certainly not high end Hi Fi but perfectly acceptable for what they are. The 'problem' with high end Hi Fi is it can easily become a very slippery slope, obsessive. I got out when I bought a cartridge for £140 (long time ago) and within a couple of weeks I was looking at others that cost double that!
I feel a lot better now.

 

[doorframe]

The 'problem' with high end Hi Fi is it can easily become a very slippery slope, obsessive. I got out when I bought a cartridge for £140 (long time ago) and within a couple of weeks I was looking at others that cost double that!

Yup. We've got a guy here at work who blows almost every penny he earns on Russ Andrews hifi accessories. You've got to see the site to believe it. And people still fall for it. They definately do walk among us (as titled in another thread).

This is just a snippet of the 'I saw you coming' range on offer...

http://www.russandrews.com/category...&customer_id=PAA2646024014796LVIVYIYFIWNZVEMV

 

[AndyT]

The 'problem' with high end Hi Fi is it can easily become a very slippery slope, obsessive. I got out when I bought a cartridge for £140 (long time ago) and within a couple of weeks I was looking at others that cost double that!

Yup. We've got a guy here at work who blows almost every penny he earns on Russ Andrews hifi accessories. You've got to see the site to believe it. And people still fall for it. They definately do walk among us (as titled in another thread).

This is just a snippet of the 'I saw you coming' range on offer...

http://www.russandrews.com/category...&customer_id=PAA2646024014796LVIVYIYFIWNZVEMV

Aw come on now, they are giving 40% off!! Don't you know a bargain when you see one? Where else are you going to save that much on speaker cables?!! :lol: :lol:

(Sadly, there's no discount on this cable for my MP3 player, so it costs more than my player and the stereo system I plug it into - even if I scrape by on the 0.5 metre option! :duno: )

 

[MIGNAL]

Years ago I had an online spat with a few on a Hi Fi forum. At the time I was making Plinths for transcription turntables. Someone said that the armboard wood type made a difference to the sound. A few agreed. They actually believed they could tell the difference between one made of Walnut and one made of Oak! It's a bolted down armboard ffs. I pointed out that I couldn't tell the difference when the two woods were used on an acoustic Guitar! Given that I've done numerous blind listening tests (on Guitars) I'm obviously not the only one. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that a fair chunk (obviously not all) of this listening is done by looking at the price tag/make. I'm afraid the blind listening tests really do even things out a little. It's actually a little disconcerting, especially when I'm just as guilty in selling relatively high priced instruments.
It does make folk happy though. :wink:

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Not unlike wine snobbery!

 

[bugbear]

Years ago I had an online spat with a few on a Hi Fi forum. At the time I was making Plinths for transcription turntables. Someone said that the armboard wood type made a difference to the sound. A few agreed. They actually believed they could tell the difference between one made of Walnut and one made of Oak! It's a bolted down armboard ffs. I pointed out that I couldn't tell the difference when the two woods were used on an acoustic Guitar! Given that I've done numerous blind listening tests (on Guitars) I'm obviously not the only one. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that a fair chunk (obviously not all) of this listening is done by looking at the price tag/make. I'm afraid the blind listening tests really do even things out a little. It's actually a little disconcerting, especially when I'm just as guilty in selling relatively high priced instruments.
It does make folk happy though. :wink:

Hi Fi is real, and distortion (and worse) at the low end is real. But at the top end, as perfection is approached asymptotically, the prices go crazy and so do the people.

BugBear

 

[MIGNAL]

Whatever 'perfection' is. Pretty hard to pin down, especially when very few people agree on what constitutes an ideal.
Someone recently posted a guy playing exactly the same piece of music on 7 or 8 different very high end Guitars. The response was interesting. Every single Guitar got chosen as a favourite, save one. That one was the least known maker of the bunch. The rest was split fairly evenly, although I think one was selected above the others by a matter of . . . 2 votes! I think that one was the most expensive. It would have been much more interesting if it was carried out as a double blind test, complete with a few Walmart specials! It's also interesting to note the response when people post pictures of Guitars that have been made by the real high end, well known makers. Everything becomes 'fantastic!', 'incredible workmanship!!', unbelievably beautiful !!! - you get the idea. When a 'no name' is posted the response tends to be very muted and sometimes the no name looks a much better presented Guitar.
Perception. It's one of the golden keys.

 

[bugbear]

Whatever 'perfection' is. Pretty hard to pin down, especially when very few people agree on what constitutes an ideal.

Precisely - that's were the madness comes in. Lower down, the faults are quite obvious, and the remedies fairly simple. There's a reasonable price/quality relationship. But somewhere near the top, it all goes nuts.

BugBear

 

[Racers]

Well I can easily tell the differenced between feedback capacitors in my power amps and better front end regulation.
Its not as slight as it seems to be, but it is a case of diminishing returns.

Pete

 

[MIGNAL]

Better that you can tell by a double blind test though. I've been through all of this, many years ago. I was building valve amps for fun. The main problem with swapping out components is the time it takes between the two sets of listening tests. Usually it's at least 20 minutes or so. That's a long time. We are trying to 'remember' the sound we heard. We are also fueled by our expectations of the (obviously) better Cap. I'm not stating categorically that differences don't exist. They clearly do. Sometimes it isn't even a case of being better/superior but just plain different. People often tend to simplify things into absolutes or rather that's what they prefer to do. The double blind test with an immediate switch between components will obviously give a more scientific indication. Even then it doesn't necessarily really prove which is better, just which is preferred. But it might surprise you just how much of a shock (hmm) these double blind tests can be.

 

[Racers]

I tend to give things a chance for a week or two and see if i like the changes, sometimes detailed becomes hard after a week.

Pete

 

[doorframe]

You fussy pineapples. What's wrong with Amstrad, anyway????