Computer Speakers on a Budget?

Angela asks: "In the spirit (and utter terror) of the upcoming holiday season, I would like to ask the opinion of the Slashdot community on speaker technology. The dilemma is this: I would like to purchase computer speakers for my audiophile husband for Christmas, but I am clueless when it comes to this particular field. I am also on a budget ($200USD or less?). What computers speakers would you suggest and why?"

Comments

Speakers

[Thalin]

Logitech. That's all I have to say right now. Their speakers are great for the price. If you want a 2.1 set, the 340s are great, and it only goes up from there, and they're affordable. Some sites have even rated the 560s (I think that's the right model number) as good as the Klipsch speaker sets which retail for a few $100 more. I've only listened to the 340s for any length of time, but for their size they're very nice speakers, with very good range and a nice wide cone of sweetspotness. So, depending on what type of setup you want, I'd recommend the Logitech series corresponding to it. Have fun!

speakers aren't the only important thing

[vsync64]

You might first consider getting him something better than his current sound card. Internal ISA and PCI sound cards are subject to RF interference from other components inside the case. Therefore, without good shielding around the DAC and all the connections leading to the analog cable, and on the end of said cable, there will be a lot of static and noise. On many computers you will find that with no sound playing, if you turn the speaker volume up, you will hear clicking, chirping, and hissing when you do things like move the mouse.

USB audio connectors such as the Extigy and the Stereo Link, on the other hand, have an all-digital connection to the computer and shielding around all the electronic components. This will produce much cleaner sound.

There's no point getting good speakers if the audio being played on them is of poor quality.

Buy real speakers

[zero_offset]

If he's actually an audiophile, he won't be interested in "computer speakers", and regardless, he won't want to listen to audio from his PC anyway -- and when he does, he won't be expecting even the basic quality an audiophile demands/expects/prefers. Not that I claim to be an audiophile (my hearing sucks), but I have plenty of friends who really are, so I've learned a lot about how these people think. That's assuming he's an audiophile, and not just "a guy who likes music a lot" (I can relate). The best thing you can do is buy a cheap external amplifier and spend most of the money on real home-stereo speakers. The cheapest external amp and the cheapest home stereo speakers are going to sound 100 times better than any crappy little desktop setup. If your budget is more flexible than you indicated in the article, consider dropping about $100 for a nice, very basic amp by somebody decent like Pioneer, and spend another $200 or so on some regular home stereo speakers. Don't listen to the standard geek line about shelling out tons of money for crappy little desktop speakers. Even the ones with separate subs sound awful in comparison to real stereo equipment. And if he's actually an audiophile according to the picky, traditional definition of the word, get him a gift certificate, suggest he buys a real amp, a really nice sound card, and some good speakres, and let him go "test drive" some equipment...

Get headphones

[mr3038]

With a budget of $200 or less the best choice would be a good pair of headphones. You can get pretty nice sound from some small speakers but with that small amount of money spent to two or more speakers and an amplifier isn't going to result in high quality sound. With any luck, $200 should get you pretty good headphones and an amplifier for those. And be cheap about the headphones and use more money on the amplifier because it'll probably last longer anyway. Read some reviews and remember that if the subject is going to wear glasses some cans are going to cause problems (for example, I cannot use any sennheiser setup but I have Sony MDR-F1 instead. Be warned that MDR-F1 is a bit hard for the amplifier and you can ruin the result with a cheap one.

It depends on the audiophile...

[Zapman]

And it all depends on the ear.

If you're not an audiophile, or just don't quite know what he's looking for, give him an IOU. Something like:

"You can spend up to $200 on speakers for the computer". And let HIM agonize over it. (Audiophiles enjoy agonizing over these things)

I'm into highish end sound, and I'd trust my SO to get something like this, but that's only because she's a (self proclaimed) music snob, and has much better ears than I do. She played a large roll in my last speaker purchase.