How about $400.....could i possibly get moniters and a sub?
I urge you to read my posting history. Get an idea of the value of my suggestions.
For that price, if you want speaker with built in amps, you can get KRK Rokit 5 2 way studio monitors plus a Dayton Audio 10" powered subwoofer. The Dayton is the absolute best made for the dollars spent. Just about anyone will agree with that....
The KRK monitors I have measured, and are an absolute superbly built speaker, with excellent performance well beyond the norm for this price range. It has excellent on and off axis response and rather low cabinet resonance; lower than most, and this is one of the most critical things for realistic tonality in vocal, piano, etc.. Resonances color timbre; one of the primary key identifiers between instruments/voices.
Now, it will cost a little over $400, but it will be a superb set, humiliating just about anything else you may consider. Comparing to actual computer speakers is not fair at all: every aspect of performance is so far improved in my recommendation that you CAN NOT compare them.
I assume your computer has a soundcard with a sub output jack and bass management(which means a built in xover). If it does not, you can buy one that does or get a good quality external hardware based xover for about $80(Behringer CX2310).
Now, I did measure the older Generation 1 KRK Rokit5, but the new one apparently only has improved things like radius front to help with treble diffraction and other minor improvements.
Please refer to my measurements:
On axis, full range(merged nearfield and mid-field response):
On and off axis response, showing out to 90 degrees horizontal off axis:
Distortion vs. frequency vs. SPL @ 1 Meter
Waterfall Respnose(
cumulative spectral decay showing energy storage of upper mid-range and treble bands; showing driver/crossover related resonance(s)):
Effect of rear treble control dial in different positions:
Now, cabinet resonance is not shown in a measurement here, but just so you know: if you were to take the speakers, amp and crossover circuit and put it in an identical cabinet but with average resonances, the sound of this speaker would be radically changed, for the worst! The cabinet is that important, and this has an unusually good cabinet in this respect.
-Chris
