Audible budget speakers for notebook ($200-250)

[theriel]

Hello!
I'm looking for some speakers for my laptop. I am not a big audiophile. I just want something audible (and by audible I mean something like my headphones: Sennheiser MX500).

There is, however, a small problem:
First of all I have to resign from any options including amplifiers etc., as I will be living in a college hall so the place will be very limited. Because of taking care of my limited space I will also have to resign from subwoofer, so only 2.0.

Budget? Well, let's say that $200, maybe $250.

I have seen:
-Klipsch Promedia Ultra 2.0
-Creative Gigaworks T40 Series II
-BEHRINGER MS40
-M-AUDIO Studiophile AV 40
-Quite interesting: Swan D1080MkII
-Quite interesting: Audioengine A2 Desktop Speakers

I would be grateful if you could help me in choosing some speakers. If you are not very familiar with such low-end speakers, please just look at their specs and try help me basing on it. Any opinions/advice highly appreciated. I know that I won't have great quality - but I usually listen to flac/highest quality ogg, so I can hear the difference.

P.P.S. I listen mainly to jazz, classical/choir music, guitar/flamenco music. So higher tones are more important for me than lower (hence I will withstand the lack of subwoofer).

Best regards,
Theriel

 

[adwilk]

I think for the price the Klipsch is gonna be tough to beat. I think they can be picked up for around a hundy.. The a2's are pretty sweet and probably are a little more transparent and more "monitor" like with warmer sound. Those two from the list will probably provide you with the most low end response.

 

[gus6464]

If I was in the same dilemma as you I would go with the Audioengine A2. Superb speakers for the money.

 

[mudrummer99]

Let me preface this with I'm a big fan of Klipsch and have owned their Promedia 2.1 system for about 3.5 years now. That being said, I think you will very disappointed with the Promedia 2.0. I bought them to use with my wifes laptop and only heard a very marginal improvement over the built-in speakers in the laptop. I have heard the a2's and they are very nice sounding speakers, I would look further into those as well. Hope this helps.

Mike

 

[WmAx]

The AudioEngine A2 is the best option listed above for sound quality. This is based on credible measurements produced by Stereophile of this product. Nothing else above is likely to even come close to the measured performance. The A2 is a true mini hi-fi speaker.

As for the Klipsche: utter rubbish. Poor quality drivers, poor quality highly resonant speaker cabinets, etc. Same goes for the Creative. The others, at least my have some chance of being better in quality as compared to the bottom level Klipsche and Creative.

Even better than the AudioEngine A2 above, is the KRK Rokit 5. The recently discontinued model. I measured one of these units and it even exceeds the A2 in linearity and it has very good low distortion bass extension down into the mid 50Hz range, when used near field(as you will be doing). If you search online, you might still find a pair for $200-$225, which was the last going clearance price that I saw. I have measurements of the KRK Rokit 5 available upon request. If you could stretch your budget to $300, you could get the Rokit 5 G2. Essentially identical, but with some acoustic improvements, such as the smooth large radius front baffle to improve diffraction of upper mid/high frequencies. It truly is a superb speaker for the money - and very few speakers in existence get that recommendation from me, since my hobby is in the field of loudspeaker systems design.

-Chris

 

[Joe Schmoe]

I third the Audioengines. Great sound, and perfect for your application.

 

[theriel]

Thank you for your help and time!

If I might ask - have you ever had any experience with BEHRINGER MS40 and Swan D1080MkII ? According to my best knowledge and what I have found over Internet, these two are much better than Audioengine.

I would be greatful if somebody could refer to the above mentioned ones.

Best regards,
Theriel

 

[jostenmeat]

The AudioEngine A2 is the best option listed above for sound quality. This is based on credible measurements produced by Stereophile of this product. Nothing else above is likely to even come close to the measured performance. The A2 is a true mini hi-fi speaker. . .

Even better than the AudioEngine A2 above, is the KRK Rokit 5. . .

-Chris

Chris, how do these two speakers compare with the Behringer Truth that you have advocated in the past? And I know you find the Truths to be superior to the Ascend 170 SE that I was so impressed with!

 

[WmAx]

If I might ask - have you ever had any experience with BEHRINGER MS40 and Swan D1080MkII ? According to my best knowledge and what I have found over Internet, these two are much better than Audioengine.

I would be greatful if somebody could refer to the above mentioned ones.

I have not measured those two, nor do I know of a credible source of measurements for them.

I doubt they match the A2, much less exceed it. I'm not saying it's impossible that they are superior; but it seems like it is of low probability. The A2 has overall measurements that correlate with human hearing, that is simply fantastic for this price class of product - far better than anything previously introduced to the market as an amplified mini multi-media speaker, to my knowledge.

BTW, here are the measurements of the KRK Rokit 5 I recommended(note: this is not marketed or sold as a multi-media speaker - it is a professional audio monitoring speaker for audio production purposes): http://www.linaeum.com/productinfo/other/krk_rokit5/

BTW, I will happy to do a measurement set as seen for the Rokit 5, if anyone wants to lend a small speaker like this for measurement(s). PM me if interested.

-Chris

 

[WmAx]

Chris, how do these two speakers compare with the Behringer Truth that you have advocated in the past? And I know you find the Truths to be superior to the Ascend 170 SE that I was so impressed with!

The Behringer Truth that I recommend(Model B2030P) is not fair to compare, as it needs an active crossover and subwoofers, where as the KRK for example, has a broad enough bandwidth to work without a subwoofer. However, as for comparison in the 80Hz on up range, the B2030P is superior in regards to off axis response(it has very similar frequency response plots even far off axis), and it's overall frequency response is more even/flat; it would be superior for mid and far field use in a room(assuming actively crossed, and used with stereo subs).

-Chris