Best Speakers for under $40 USD - Seeking opinions!

[THM01]

Hello, I've got a tall order...

I do video editing and light audio editing and am looking for some speakers (any kind) for $40 USD or less that have better quality audio than my current speakers (which are starting to hiss at me after a faithful 6 years of service).

Thanks!

 

[thor220]

Very few computer speakers are going to be under 3 inches tall. By definition, they are designed to be larger to accommodate the uses of said PC.

For example

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GHY5F3K/ref=psdc_172471_t2_B007772TTO

Even a small pair like this that is designed for laptops ins't small enough to meet your demand. The only thing smaller is going to be soundbars and speaker designed for use with tablets.

A soundbar might be your only option as they are made to go under the monitor but the problem with that is they are very long, far exceeding you 4 inch width limit. Another problem is that PC soundbars aren't plentiful (as full speakers are much better on desks) and the few that are around are designed to clip onto the monitor.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Z205-Portable-Computer-Speaker/dp/B0043TB7OC/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1431671322&sr=1-4&keywords=logitech+soundbar

This is one of the cheaper models and it's still out of your price range.

Not that any of these smaller speakers are a good choice. They all sacrifice sound quality and price for size. If I were you, I would suggest that you loosen your requirements. You aren't going to find speakers in that price range and size that sound remotely good. If you can't, you might want to consider headphones.

 

[THM01]

Very few computer speakers are going to be under 3 inches tall. By definition, they are designed to be larger to accommodate the uses of said PC.

For example

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GHY5F3K/ref=psdc_172471_t2_B007772TTO

Even a small pair like this that is designed for laptops ins't small enough to meet your demand. The only thing smaller is going to be soundbars and speaker designed for use with tablets.

A soundbar might be your only option as they are made to go under the monitor but the problem with that is they are very long, far exceeding you 4 inch width limit. Another problem is that PC soundbars aren't plentiful (as full speakers are much better on desks) and the few that are around are designed to clip onto the monitor.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Z205-Portable-Computer-Speaker/dp/B0043TB7OC/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1431671322&sr=1-4&keywords=logitech+soundbar

This is one of the cheaper models and it's still out of your price range.

Not that any of these smaller speakers are a good choice. They all sacrifice sound quality and price for size. If I were you, I would suggest that you loosen your requirements. You aren't going to find speakers in that price range and size that sound remotely good. If you can't, you might want to consider headphones.

Great response, and along the lines of what I was thinking but didn't want to admit to myself, hah.

Alrighty, so forget the size requirement, and make it $50 USD if that helps at all. Any thoughts on that?

And as far as headphones go, I would love some but I wear glasses and I've never been able to find one that doesnt hurt my ears while wearing or later after wearing them. I wonder if any spectacle'd friends might have suggestions on that

 

[americanaudiophile]

These run about $80 but they are designed to do exactly what you need them for
http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/ms16.aspx
There are circumaural headphones that don't sit on your ears but around them that might prove comfortable. Your glasses may still be an issue but you could modify the cushions not to interfere with them.

 

[thor220]

Wow, what a coincidence, I wear glasses too. I cannot really think of any headphones that are conformable with glasses in that price range. I've tried many and I'm currently using the one's that don't hurt at all but they are quite expensive (ATH-A900x). Memory foam earpads (which is what you want usually for glasses) usually run around $30 on top of the price of the headphone, so it's really just wise to buy a good pair of headphones that come with higher quality pads.

For speakers, these are good in that price range
http://www.amazon.com/Creative-A250-Multimedia-Speaker-System/dp/B00CDJJZV6/
http://www.amazon.com/Cyber-Acoustics-Subwoofer-Frustration-CA-3602FFP/dp/B00BXF5HQ8/
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-980-000382-Z313-Speaker-System/dp/B002HWRZ2K/

These are the three best ultra budget speaker systems you can find. The next noticeable step up isn't until around $150.

 

[Skylyne]

Depending on what kind of audio editing your are doing, buying a cheaper set of desktop speakers might be more detrimental than helpful to your final production. Just throwing that out there. I'm not expecting you to need anything like studio monitors, but the range of most desktop speakers, and the quality of audio output is usually pretty sub-par for any type of proper editing. If you're doing things like noise cancellation, or something like that, a pair of headphones might be best to help isolate those noises; and when it comes to headphones, again, you'll need to pay a decent amount for that. Just throwing it out there, since I have done a lot of audio work in the past.

As far as dedicated desktop speakers go, I typically stick to Logitech, as they've yet to let me down, and typically have the most pleasing delivery and range to my ear. The ones that thor220 recommend (Logitech Z313) should fit the bill nicely for very basic purposes.