Bringing Home The Bass: 2.1-Channel Speaker Roundup

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[citation][nom]clownbaby[/nom]Wow, those freq response graphs are pretty telling that computer speakers are basically all trash. The bass peaks and generally crappiness in the mid range seem to be a common theme. Almost no consideration seems to be given to music listening.2.1 is the ideal setup for a computer imo. 4.1 at most. A center channel just isn't needed for monitor sized screens.You can buy a cheap onkyo receiver, some low end bookshelf speakers and a small sub for a few hundred bucks and have sound that will destroy the best pc speakers. The fact is, pc speakers are toys. There is no high end option. What they market as high end would be laughed out the door by the regular audio comminuty.p.s. Plastic is not an acceptable cabinet material[/citation]

Agreed. Give me 4.1 please.
 
Logitech Z-2300 is still the king of all the above 2.1 multimedia speaker sets under test. Have been using one for six years and is still going strong.

I personally did a review on my Z-2300 on Toms-hardware Forum. Check it out yourself : My Logitech Z-2300 Review
 
I've always had a receiver as a basis for my PC audio system ever since I upgraded my main stereo to surround sound long long ago. Currently I'm running an old Yamaha R-5 receiver with some small JBL 500 bookshelf speakers and an Infinity 12" sub. The sound is better than ANY computer speaker systems I've heard. If you connect the audio inputs on your PC to the monitor loop you've got an easy in for converting audio formats to digital, like vinyl LPS to MP3's using a decent turntable.
Oh and the artillery strikes in COD will rattle your teeth.
 
Hear we go again - the long and short of it is that the simplest gear from a real HiFi manuf. will beat all comers in all ways. Eg - I use a pair of KEF Coda 7s and a Yamaha Receiver from the 90's which cost me about $30 secondhand the lot. For sure better sound than any other stuff here. Likely louder, if required, too 😉

2.1 is a gimmick until you surpass the limits of simple, quality, stereo speakers.

Look as Bose - should be prosecuted for crimes against recorded sound, taking away swathes of midrange from people who don't know better!
 
Obviously good sound requires many things to fall in place, Quality discrete sound card (Creative, X-FI ), Speaker arrangement, Speakers, etc.. I used to have a good receiver and an Advent 500 watt tower speakers(multiple speaker config). Finding a good compromise/balance with space limitations becomes very important these days. Logitech's z5500 5.1 are great speakers in my book, And now reside in living room entertainment center. (plays movies and D.V.R. nicely) Logitech z5300 5.1's are awesome balance for one of my computer rigs. Altec Lansing 2.1's (2001), And Eastern 2.1's (1996) for living room computer (4.2 configuration)Sounds really good. Smaller rooms with less space can sound great with a 2.1 if your setup is right. I believe the review was a good compromise for the average person here to get a baseline on good clear quality speaker sound for the price. I would buy a couple of those speaker setups if need be(features,convenience). Logitech is one of my favorites for good punchy bass and decent mid range sound. Obviously there's much better sound options out there, But for anyone just wanting to plug these speakers in and go... will do fine with most of those speaker setups. Also getting discrete sound card will help tremendously. Of course I personally would rather have a 5.1 setup instead. :)
 
is it just me or is all the attention spent on the subwoofer? i dont want a 230 dollar sub and 20 dollar speakers! why do all of these systems use crappy satalites?? for 2.1 your better off buying a regualar stareo/cd player system and jsut plugging the aux jack into it.for 90 bucks you can get a sony with a 10 inch ported sub with four 6 inch speakers and two tweeters that sound WAY better then this garbage!
 
I will catch crap for this, but my new set of Bose Comp 3 sound pretty darn good for the price. I love the round fob that sits on your desk.

I do know my sound pretty good too. My home A/V system is all Focal speakers!

If somebody wants an easy to setup and enjoy system for there computer I don't think these sound too bad.
Thanks for the review!
 
I am surprised they didn't include the Razer Mako 2.1's in this arena drudge match...

Why is this Tomshardware?!

The real problem is you get people that are too scared to create their own unique setup and rely on companies making their own cheap plastic enclosures.. Granted I did own a pair of Klipsch 5.1 Promedias and fell in love with the sound they produced. After a few years I build my own and have my setup running on my paradigm setup.
 
[citation][nom]Hupiscratch[/nom]My Bose Companion 3 is doing great, and have the auxiliary jacks you´re asking. It should be on a next test.[/citation]

lol. Bose = Badly Overpriced Stereo Equipment.

Mid-bass is awful on Bose. Plus, for the price you pay, you could get some real top of the line equipment. I can't believe how often people fall for their marketing BS.
 
I have used the Klipsch system reviewed here, and it does sound great for what it does. But like most systems that don't include a 6 or 8 inch speaker, warm low mids are lacking. With all these systems it's like listening to the lows and highs with no mids- Low mids, specifically.

Most surround home theater systems suffer from the exact same problem. The answer is to get some speakers with larger midrange drivers, and you will probably have to piece together a system- most of these satellite type surround systems just don't cut it.
 
Everyone advocating using an amp and home theater speakers, what kind of huge desks are you sitting at? I have a Logitech 5.1 system, and there's just enough room on my desk for the 3 front satellites (and I have 3 monitors on my desk). I'm looking to replace my gf's 2.1 speakers with a new set (the subwoofer is making random popping noises, even when no sound is playing), and there's no space on her desk for bookshelf speakers, let alone an amp.

Is there something better than PC speakers in the $150 or less price range that doesn't take up significantly more space than PC speakers?
 
really wish we could have seen the bose companion three in this mix... My friend has a set and they sound incredible. Would hate to buy based on this article without knowing. Dont want to buy bose for the name and wonder if the corsairs were better... Clownbaby can you compare the companion three graph to the speakers listed here?
 
Is there like a how-to site for building speaker system for PC? I wanna see if all those people are right or not when they say they can get better for the money through these set-ups. unless they mean actually building the sub from scratch.
 
I own the x540's and klipsch promedia 2.1, the x540's were great for me until I hear the Klipsch promedia speakers I was sold on them for awhile until I moved, I can't have a sub because even at low volumes people up above me can hear it, so I was at best buy last week and was looking around and saw the Bose companion 2 2.0 speakers and heard them, they sounded great so I brought them home and hooked them up to my computer and they produce a lot more clarity then my promedia and logitech speakers, they of course don't have much but perfectly enough for the volume that I listen to them at.

I know a lot of audiophiles laugh at Bose, yes they are way overpriced but they do not sound bad, they just don't sound as good as a lot of other high end equipment, but I got these speakers for 90$ (yes sounds like a lot for 2.0 speakers) but I am loving them, at low volumes they sound incredible. However they aren't the best for electronica / Rap. I have heard high end equipment so don't tell me that I haven't.
 
I own the x540's and klipsch promedia 2.1, the x540's were great for me until I hear the Klipsch promedia speakers I was sold on them for awhile until I moved, I can't have a sub because even at low volumes people up above me can hear it, so I was at best buy last week and was looking around and saw the Bose companion 2 2.0 speakers and heard them, they sounded great so I brought them home and hooked them up to my computer and they produce a lot more clarity then my promedia and logitech speakers, they of course don't have thumping bass but perfectly enough for the volume that I listen to them at.

I know a lot of audiophiles laugh at Bose, yes they are way overpriced but they do not sound bad, they just don't sound as good as a lot of other high end equipment, but I got these speakers for 90$ (yes sounds like a lot for 2.0 speakers) but I am loving them, at low volumes they sound incredible. However they aren't the best for electronica / Rap. I have heard high end equipment so don't tell me that I haven't.
 
[citation][nom]clownbaby[/nom]Wow, those freq response graphs are pretty telling that computer speakers are basically all trash. The bass peaks and generally crappiness in the mid range seem to be a common theme. Almost no consideration seems to be given to music listening.2.1 is the ideal setup for a computer imo. 4.1 at most. A center channel just isn't needed for monitor sized screens.You can buy a cheap onkyo receiver, some low end bookshelf speakers and a small sub for a few hundred bucks and have sound that will destroy the best pc speakers. The fact is, pc speakers are toys. There is no high end option. What they market as high end would be laughed out the door by the regular audio comminuty.p.s. Plastic is not an acceptable cabinet material[/citation]

actually very high end speakers using ABS enclosure is very common, plus ABS is tougher then WOOD for weight ratio, plus it is not as porous as wood. ABS is sometimes used in some parts of paintball guns, if that gives u the idea of how tough they are,
 
I'm sorry but i don't have the time or skill to build my own kit. For 160 EUR I bought the SP2500 and as a non-audio phile i'm very very pleased with the quality. They were shipped to my work and took 10 min to setup at home. I'm not saying you "people that know better" are wrong but people like me is to whom these products are directed to, they have their place. Why trash them? you can say DIY is better for anything but not everyone has the skill to build anything, we buy what we think is a good ease/price/performance value.
 
Even after ten years, Klipsch still falls flat on its face when it comes to imaging and soundstage Over the last ten years I've been through Monsoon Planar Media 14s, Logitech Z-Cinemas and now Corsair SP2500s and all of them beat the Klipsch hands down when it comes to presenting anything other than an in-yer-face wall of sound. My general response to Klipsch remains "you can't image worth a damn, you still have boomy overblown bass but thanks for coming out". My latest eval was just over two weeks ago when I was deciding what kit to get for my Linux box. I was almost considering the Klipsch because I didn't know any other options existed any more (Monsoon is gone and the Z-Cinemas will not work prperly under Linux, assuming you can still find them) and then I heard the Corsairs. One thing is extremely important to note and it pretty much renders any out-of-the-box evaluation of the Corsairs invalid: they need break-in time. I set mine up and consistent with my tradition left mine alone playing for 50 hours at medium volume levels using a variety of music (not hard to do - my Windows box with the Z-Cinemas is in another room so I could just leave them and not hear them until they were done). At the end of that time frame, the somewhat harsh trebly sats and distinctly separate sub had integrated into a smooth detailed soundstage with clean, well dispersed and detailed highs, a smooth mid-bass and deep but tight bottom end - all things that the Pro Medias fail to do. The sound source is an Asus Xonar DX, the player is DeadbeeF using ALSA going directly to hardware with no mixers (AKA bit perfect sound) and FLAC files. The material ranged from soft rock to jazz to classical to dub and dancehall (you want bass heavy? dub is bass heavy!).

I tend to heavily discount online reviews because the reviewers never break in the speakers, often (but not always) have little experience in what quality audio actually sounds like and generally focus on the gaming application of the speakers which, let's face it, requires primarily boom and bust.

Suffice it to say that anyone wanting quality detailed audio with a well-developed positional soundstage in a PC speaker system should seriously consider the Corsairs over anything with a Klipsch name tag on it.

As I said (and the reviewer pointed out), Klipsch's modus operandi hasn't changed in ten years.

Pity.
 
Bose, Logitech, sounds bars all that EQed to sound big audio, doesn't play music. It might not have annoying distortion, but is stripped from musicality. But who cares if the DA converter of an Ipad is delivering the tunes, then we are only going so far anyway.
 
People just dont know and dont understand the difference between PC speakers and HIFI speakers. Please use your brain before debating on this next time..............
 
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