2.1 speakers for film, music + gaming

[K404]

Hey all. I've been looking at reviews and..... i'm stuck.

Some of the most consistently praised systems are out of production (e.g. Z2300) and/or the revised versions aren't as good (Soundsticks III)

Logitech appear to have QA problems (many people complaining about DOA or faults after a few months)

The Corsair SP2500s are a bit beyond my price


I have a couple of questions......

Who are Microlab and are they "any good?"

The Genius gamer systems are getting praise for being much better than their pricetag suggests....... despite the 1337 colour scheme.... are they *really* worth getting?


It would be nice to have something with a remote control or a wired control hub. I need an Aux in port in an easily accessible place and controls to change input

Cheers guys n gals

[Kallenator]

Why not get some cheap floor standing speakers and an old Integrated amplifier? Just set up something like this for a friend of mine and it blows Z2300 out of the water without a second thought for less money.

Like these:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/speak...ders-702e.html

or these:
http://www.avforums.com/forums/speak...02s3s-oak.html

Lots of second hand stuff here, sure you can find something close to your location, or get them to ship.
http://www.avforums.com/forums/speak...ified-adverts/

[Splave]

http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMed.../dp/B000062VUO

Ive had them since they came out and still running strong. Now I use them as surround speakers in my home theater system lol! Subwoofer can get you into trouble with the neighbors for sure

[Andrea deluxe]

i tryed a lot of 2.1 kit...

the best for pc is cORSAIR sp2500

now @ 199$

http://www.corsair.com/en/pc-compute...er-system.html

[NKrader]

promedia 2.1 is the best for clarity.

corsair if you like loud bumpy music.


if mostly movies id pick the corsair, mostly music promedia.

personally i dont buy prebuilt systems anymore easy enough to put together a decent reciver/speaker/sub 2.1 for the money that these companies want..

but i have been eyeballing that bose companion 3.1 system. its pretty rad and small.

[Andrea deluxe]

promedia 2.1 is the best for clarity.

corsair if you like loud bumpy music.
.

absolutely false...

corsair have 6 separate amp... one for each speaker (subwoofer have dual coil)

the clarity of the tweeter are absolutely crystal clear precisely because have a dedicated amplifier and the filtering are active made by the dsp!

trust me... i have listened a LOT of kit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIWJnpmX6O0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbYNkxUuUg4
microphone does not capture the bass at all...but...

[K404]

Thanks for the suggestions

The Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 are out of production and the Corsair units are ?170+ in the UK. The separates route..... I'd have to do a whole lot more reading, but it's been on the "to do" list for a while, maybe now is the time for me to start learning my way around proper hi fi

Any more suggestions are welcomed though

I don't have the most space to work with, I can't have 19" rackmount-sized amps/equalisers, needs to be more like a shoebox shape

[Dumo]

http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMed.../dp/B000062VUO

Same here

[NKrader]

absolutely false...

corsair have 6 separate amp... one for each speaker (subwoofer have dual coil)

the clarity of the tweeter are absolutely crystal clear precisely because have a dedicated amplifier and the filtering are active made by the dsp!

trust me... i have listened a LOT of kit...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIWJnpmX6O0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbYNkxUuUg4
microphone does not capture the bass at all...but...

wasnt saying they were bad.? where did you get that.. pro media still get the some of the best audiophile reviews.

to each their own, i like them both, for what they are good for.

and i have owned most of the computer sets of speakers for 6months+ so "trust me" lol
everyone has differant ears. differant strokes for differant folks just in my experiance looking back I enjoyed the promedia the most, appart from the silly plug that breaks lol.. silly design flaw..



i got tired prefab mess and just use onkyo 606 plus infinity primus speakers. in a 2.1

[[XC] Oj101]

Z2300s were overrated, in fact all Logitech speakers are overrated. The problem is the type of person likely to review computer speakers is not someone likely to have been exposed to much other than computer speakers. I'm not going to say they sound particularly BAD, but they definitely aren't great. There's more to sound than big volume and no distortion, which are the only two tick boxes the Logitechs check.

[NKrader]

Z2300s were overrated, in fact all Logitech speakers are overrated. The problem is the type of person likely to review computer speakers is not someone likely to have been exposed to much other than computer speakers. I'm not going to say they sound particularly BAD, but they definitely aren't great. There's more to sound than big volume and no distortion, which are the only two tick boxes the Logitechs check.

they wernt that bad if you really liked rap music, only

[[XC] Oj101]

Hahaha the speaker equivalent of Beats headphones

[zalbard]

Genius and Microlabs are garbage, stay away.
Klipsch linked above is actually pretty good, I would also recommend that.
Try looking up used speakers, you can get nice large wooden ones fairly cheap. But yes, you may need an amp.
But unless you are not listening to stuff alone, I would very much recommend grabbing a pair of headphones.

[K404]

Please can we not mention b**** in a thread about audio?


Ah.... headphones. Want, but cannot have right now because I need to hear what's goin on around me

[zalbard]

Ah.... headphones. Want, but cannot have right now because I need to hear what's goin on around me

Just don't buy closed-back headphones. Open-back headphones provide little to none sound isolation. Plus most also sound better for the price.

[Bobsama]

There are some worthy open and semi-open headphones at many different price points. You can easily go over $200 for just the headphones--nevermind the often necessary amp or the preferable DAC (or, at a minimum, a sound card like an Asus Xonar DX).

But yeah, much better sound for the price--at the price of convenience. Even Koss PortaPro's ($35) sound better than most computer speakers.

[K404]

Any more suggestions? (please...... things that are currently in production!)

[defect9]

You could always build speakers and tune them to your ears.

For headphones, Grado SR80i are excellent open back models. Sennheiser is supposed to make great open backed phones as well, but I'm not very versed in them. Admittedly, I go for closed back or in-ear models as of late.

There are also some very well reviewed Audio Technicas, but the model numbers aren't on the tip of my tongue right now.

[kuroikenshi]

If you feel adventurous you could always Fab your own speakers. Purchase the best drivers, like Peerles and then get a decent amplifier to drive them...... a nice Class A Amp or a valve tube will give you unreal sound..... BTW this is a 56k warning job.

[Kingcarcas]

I've been happy with budget offerings from Polk and Pioneer, they both used to go on sale at Newegg. For portable headphones i have the Koss KSC75 as well as the Panasonic HTF-600s for 30 bucks. My main cans after trying out a few different ones are the Ultrasone HFI-580.
If you want it to thump you will still need to add a nice subwoofer to the mix, you'll need to save at least $200 for that.