Best $150 2.1 Speaker?

[jblovekim]

I've recently bought a gaming headset BUT I mainly use it for fps and adventure games. I plan on buying a digital tutors membership so I decided to buy a speaker since I'll be listening to various tutorials so I'm gonna be needing the CLEAREST output possible as It'll be mainly used for listening to videos tutorials, music and MOBA games like league of legends and DOTA.

Don't get me wrong, I love my headset but It's pretty convenient for me to use a speaker for listening to video tutorials as it is more comfortable and my headset heats on my ear for prolonged use SINCE I live on a tropical country and it's VERY hot this time of the year. Also, I'm a glass wearer so I would appreciate it if I wouldn't have to watch tutorials for a whole day without my ears sweating and my glasses' frames getting smashed in my head.

Since I've mentioned I live in a tropical country (Philippines), A LOT of brands are unavailable but still you could recommend anything as I've seen on amazon that I could get a free shipping for orders above $150 (apart from budget reasons, this is also one of the reasons for the budget).

I've recently got my eyes on:
1. Klipsch Promedia 2.1 (Unfortunately out of all 11 sellers on amazon, none of them ships to the Philippines so it's pretty hard to get my hands on these)
2. Logitech z623 (This can easily be ordered from my local appliance/computer store)

All suggestions are welcomed (Also if it's less that $150 it's still okay since I've only came up with $150 for the free shipping fee, anywhere from $70-$120 is also fine)

Oh and do I need a sound card? I've got a pretty old motherboard (ASUS H61M-C)

 

[i7Baby]

The Logitech are more known for their LOUDNESS than finesse.

Less than $150 limits you for high end speakers. I have and recommend MicroLab.

See Newegg's choice - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007679%204017%20600010683%20100007679+4017

Look at professional and user reviews.

 

[Cristi72]

Hello,

From your choices, Klipsch is the best all-rounder: good response on the entire audio spectrum. If you love insane boomy bass though, Logitech is your choice. For doing justice to these systems, a discrete sound card is advisable; however, if you were pleased of how your headphones worked, you will be even more pleased of using the above systems.

You can also go for Edifier S330d: http://www.edifier-international.com/products/edifier-multimedia/s330-s330d, a well-balanced system which, in addition with its analog L+R inputs, also decodes digital audio signals (it has coaxial / optical inputs); your motherboard have SP/DIF audio support, you just need to add this bracket and an optical cable (the SP/DIF header is located at the bottom of the motherboard, SPDIF OUT):

http://www.amazon.com/SPDIF-Optical-Plate-Cable-Bracket/dp/B003AV944Y (or try to locate one on local PC shops, they should have some laying around);

http://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-Toslink-Cable-Feet-Optical/dp/B004LSNF04.

The advantage is that you won't need an additional audio card, as the audio signal will have the best quality.

 

[i7Baby]

N1. Looks like Amazon is a better place than Newegg to look for speakers.

 

[jblovekim]

The Logitech are more known for their LOUDNESS than finesse.

Less than $150 limits you for high end speakers. I have and recommend MicroLab.

See Newegg's choice - http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&IsNodeId=1&N=100007679%204017%20600010683%20100007679+4017

Look at professional and user reviews.

Which specific MicroLab model would you recommend?

 

[i7Baby]

I've got the FC330 2.1 - a low end one. I don't run mine near as loud as my son does his Z623. I'm happy with it. But I'm no audiophile. Start with one from the top of your budget and look at reviews.

 

[jblovekim]

Hello,

From your choices, Klipsch is the best all-rounder: good response on the entire audio spectrum. If you love insane boomy bass though, Logitech is your choice. For doing justice to these systems, a discrete sound card is advisable; however, if you were pleased of how your headphones worked, you will be even more pleased of using the above systems.

You can also go for Edifier S330d: http://www.edifier-international.com/products/edifier-multimedia/s330-s330d, a well-balanced system which, in addition with its analog L+R inputs, also decodes digital audio signals (it has coaxial / optical inputs); your motherboard have SP/DIF audio support, you just need to add this bracket and an optical cable (the SP/DIF header is located at the bottom of the motherboard, SPDIF OUT):

http://www.amazon.com/SPDIF-Optical-Plate-Cable-Bracket/dp/B003AV944Y (or try to locate one on local PC shops, they should have some laying around);

http://www.amazon.com/Mediabridge-Toslink-Cable-Feet-Optical/dp/B004LSNF04.

The advantage is that you won't need an additional audio card, as the audio signal will have the best quality.

Unfortunately I haven't had any luck with finding someone to ship Klipsch speakers to the Philippines so I guess it's close to impossible.

I consider myself as an audio illiterate since I've practically spent my entire life on $10 speakers (My brother did let me borrow his old Altec Lansing speaker and I've got to say it definitely sound better although he had to take it back since he left). I don't know what 'bass' is, those 'mids', 'highs' and basically any audio term there is. I live in a small city and EVERY thing that I want to buy has to be shipped from a bigger city or internationally so I can't really 'test' which one I like.

Oh and listening through youtube videos about each speaker's audio output also wasn't any help as I'm still listening to those sounds through my speakers.

All I want is speaker that can output youtube tutorials CLEARLY. A speaker that is best at outputting dialogues and music (which is hard as music's sound differ, maybe for soft music since they're usually the ones played on the background of a tutorial or something).

Btw, the edifier s330d is available here so I'm gonna add it on my list of possible speakers and maybe gonna take off Klipsch since I have no luck in finding one.

 

[jblovekim]

How about this? Swans HiVi (M10) 2.1 (I've looked and I could order them for $75)

 

[jblovekim]

I think I'm leaning more towards the Swans M10 not only for its price but its reviews compared to my other choices were outstanding. I could sell them for $10-$15 less when I get enough money to buy a M50 (Can't right now since I'm $100 away from buying a GTX 970)

 

[ien2222]

I was going to recommend the Swan's for you, personally I'd get them over the Logitech or Klipsch.

If you do get them, as a suggestion you'll want to keep the "sub" up on the desk with the speakers if possible.

 

[Cristi72]

I think I'm leaning more towards the Swans M10 not only for its price but its reviews compared to my other choices were outstanding. I could sell them for $10-$15 less when I get enough money to buy a M50 (Can't right now since I'm $100 away from buying a GTX 970)

I don't have any experience about Swans; they seem a decent choice and there is no reason you'll not be pleased of their audio quality. The subwoofer needs to be positioned onto the desk because of the volume control, but it's not a turn-off feature if you don't mind and have the space. They lack a headphone output though (your headphones will sound much better going through an amplifier than directly from the motherboard).

A good article about the audio spectrum: http://www.teachmeaudio.com/mixing/techniques/audio-spectrum

 

[i7Baby]

My sub has volume control and is on the floor under the desk. I just leave it and use Windows volume slider.

 

[jblovekim]

Thank you guys, I've chosen the Swans M10 since it's the best available speaker in my country that fits my needs. Good thing I have a k95 keyboard (has an audio wheel on it) to quickly change volumes. I don't mind having a headphone slot that much since my system unit is close to me.

And thank you very much for the Audio Spectrum article! I've learned so much and now I know what those thumping sounds are. This is one of the reasons I picked your solution since it also provides good information when looking for a speaker as those frequencies are present in them.

All I need know now is to find out if I need a sound card (I'm looking at Asus Xonar DG) but it said it's optimized for headphones so I'm kinda thinking if they put effort in enhancing the headphone sound, the overall output sound maybe bland since the resources they had were used to make sure headphones sounds better. But I think I'll make a separate thread for this one since it's not the focus of this thread.

 

[Cristi72]

Thank you guys, I've chosen the Swans M10 since it's the best available speaker in my country that fits my needs. Good thing I have a k95 keyboard (has an audio wheel on it) to quickly change volumes. I don't mind having a headphone slot that much since my system unit is close to me.

And thank you very much for the Audio Spectrum article! I've learned so much and now I know what those thumping sounds are. This is one of the reasons I picked your solution since it also provides good information when looking for a speaker as those frequencies are present in them.

All I need know now is to find out if I need a sound card (I'm looking at Asus Xonar DG) but it said it's optimized for headphones so I'm kinda thinking if they put effort in enhancing the headphone sound, the overall output sound maybe bland since the resources they had were used to make sure headphones sounds better. But I think I'll make a separate thread for this one since it's not the focus of this thread.

Don't mention it, I am glad to help!

Xonar DG, while being decent, is more of a replacement for a broken on-board audio controller, as it's on par with the already decent audio solution from your motherboard (Asus H61M-C uses an ALC887 chip, while DG uses a CMI8786). For a notably better solution, you must step up to at least an Asus Xonar DS (or, if you can afford it, an Xonar DX or Creative SoundBlaster Z).

For now, I don't recommend you to buy a discrete audio card though; they will shine in gaming and music, but they will not have a big importance playing tutorials from Youtube, because such recordings uses mainly the voice spectrum (music is just for the background) and the quality of the audio source is not the best (not everyone has access to decent microphones and recording solutions). I guess you'll be better served by the Realtek equalizer (if you don't have the Realtek software installed, go to Asus and download the latest audio driver), which gives you the means to augment / reduce the audio level for some frequencies for a better voice comprehension.

 

[jblovekim]

Thank you guys, I've chosen the Swans M10 since it's the best available speaker in my country that fits my needs. Good thing I have a k95 keyboard (has an audio wheel on it) to quickly change volumes. I don't mind having a headphone slot that much since my system unit is close to me.

And thank you very much for the Audio Spectrum article! I've learned so much and now I know what those thumping sounds are. This is one of the reasons I picked your solution since it also provides good information when looking for a speaker as those frequencies are present in them.

All I need know now is to find out if I need a sound card (I'm looking at Asus Xonar DG) but it said it's optimized for headphones so I'm kinda thinking if they put effort in enhancing the headphone sound, the overall output sound maybe bland since the resources they had were used to make sure headphones sounds better. But I think I'll make a separate thread for this one since it's not the focus of this thread.

Don't mention it, I am glad to help!

Xonar DG, while being decent, is more of a replacement for a broken on-board audio controller, as it's on par with the already decent audio solution from your motherboard (Asus H61M-C uses an ALC887 chip, while DG uses a CMI8786). For a notably better solution, you must step up to at least an Asus Xonar DS (or, if you can afford it, an Xonar DX or Creative SoundBlaster Z).

For now, I don't recommend you to buy a discrete audio card though; they will shine in gaming and music, but they will not have a big importance playing tutorials from Youtube, because such recordings uses mainly the voice spectrum (music is just for the background) and the quality of the audio source is not the best (not everyone has access to decent microphones and recording solutions). I guess you'll be better served by the Realtek equalizer (if you don't have the Realtek software installed, go to Asus and download the latest audio driver), which gives you the means to augment / reduce the audio level for some frequencies for a better voice comprehension.

Thank You! I've decided to hold off buying a dedicated sound card at the moment so I could use the money to buy a gtx970. Since my cpu and ram is already good, the next part I'll be upgrading is the motherboard.