Under $200 computer speakers—Music only

[siddjazz]

I have been researching good speakers to replace my really old altec lansing ones and after a lot of reading up I decided to build one myself over a period of time. The problem here is the low budget.

I am a beginner and have never done this earlier, so what i need to know is does it make sense to buy a pair of active speakers and then repurchase a proper setup later, or is there a way to hook up active speakers to a sub through a receiver or a t-amplifier? This will work well as I can start of with a pair or AV40's or Swans 1080MKII8, and then get a sub when money permits.

Else I'll just have to save up more to get a proper receiver, sub and passive speakers.

Any recommendations for a setup? Or components?
Just a note, I am in India so we usually get only the mainstream brands, but any and all suggestions will really help.

Thank you everyone

[markw]

Spend most of your budget on speakers and search craigslist, pawn shops, good will, garage sales, or whatever, for a decent used/vintage two-channel receiver.

[edit] Oops... India I see. then a T-amp might be a good springboard for now if you can't find something used.

[siddjazz]

Spend most of your budget on speakers and search craigslist, pawn shops, good will, garage sales, or whatever, for a decent used/vintage two-channel receiver.

[edit] Oops... India I see. then a T-amp might be a good springboard for now if you can't find something used.

Hey thanks for getting back. So active speakers CAN be connected to a receiver? if they can, who do so many posts say you cant??

Do correct me if i'm wrong with the setups below

Line out from laptop --> stereo receiver --> AV40 --> optional sub OR
Line out from laptop --> DAC --> stereo receiver --> AV40 --> optional sub

and if i use a T-amp

Line out from laptop --> T-amp --> AV40 --> optional sub (specific kind?)

[BoredSysAdmin]

I don't know local prices, but here Behringer b1030a cost $99/each and it's probably much better than AV40 or swans

Hey thanks for getting back. So active speakers CAN be connected to a receiver? if they can, who do so many posts say you cant??

They could, but this not ideal - you'd need to find receiver with pre-outs - these are more expensive and it's complicated setup

Do correct me if i'm wrong with the setups below

Line out from laptop --> stereo receiver --> AV40 --> optional sub OR

You can't connect sub to av40

Laptop->avr-> av40 and avr->sub

Line out from laptop --> DAC --> stereo receiver --> AV40 --> optional sub

you would be wasting money on dac, otherwise same issue as before

and if i use a T-amp

Line out from laptop --> T-amp --> AV40 --> optional sub (specific kind?)

If you get t-amp - you'd need to find used PASSIVE speakers (AV40 are active)

The better configs would a)
Laptop-> Klipsch ProMedia 2.1

or
Laptop -> external 5.1 soundcard -> active speakers (or t-amp plus passive speakers) and same soundcard to sub (most subs are active)