Fairly decent PC Speakers in the £30 - £50 range?

[s162216]

Hi,

In about a month I am off to Nottingham Trent University (my second choice unfortunately, didn't do well enough to get into the University of Bath) to study Pharmacology. I am not bothering to take a TV with me as I am going to use my desktop gaming/home theatre PC with a video capture card connected to my Freeview (UK free to air digital TV) PVR. However I am in serious need of getting some fairly decent speakers to go with this as obviously as much as I would like to, I can't take my receiver, speakers etc with me as that would probably annoy too many people (although my room is on the ground floor so not as much vibration to annoy them with.....) and plus I only have so much space as this picture shows with a similar room

I need to save money so I can't give more than about £50 to these speakers (which I will likely only use for about a year as I will have to get an appartment or flat in my second year and can then bring my HT). I don't really mind if its 2.1 or 2.0, but I would like something fairly decent sounding with some bass but good mids and highs as well. I will be using them for films, gaming and music.

Currently I am looking at:

• Creative Gigaworks T20 2.0. Set of these going fairly cheap on ebay at the moment and ending soon, so may get them as they are said to have some good sound in reviews, especially the bass for a 2.0 set but only when they are turned up quite a bit
• Logitech x-210 2.1 £32
• Creative Inspire T3100 2.1 £34
• Logitech Z-313 2.1 £34

What does anyone think to those choices, which one would you get? Or are there any others that might fit what I want that anyone knows about?

 

[WaynePflughaupt]

In that price range you should be able to pick up a used set of Yamaha YST-MS50 speakers. Hard to beat for the price. Check eBay. There’s a link to a review in my signature.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[yepimonfire]

honestly i wouldn't use computer speakers, imo they are mediocre at best, if i were you i would look into some active monitor speakers try b&h photo i'm not sure if they ship to uk but you can atleast browse the site and find what you want elsewhere. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/ monitor speakers can be very accurate. as far as bass goes you won't get usable bass unless the response is a minimum of 50hz -3dB

 

[s162216]

Looked on ebay for them, only found one and it was quite a bit outside my price range.
Any other suggestions anyone?

I would get monitors but the price of them is too much, they just don't seem to go cheap in the UK. B&H's shipping price to the UK is extreme, I've considered buying some USA only photographic film off them before but the cost of the actual film would be about 10% of the total price.

I have been thinking about getting an old stereo receiver and taking my two fronts and and leaving the centre behind. Not sure if I'll have enough space on my desk for the speakers, receiver, VHS player (I still have loads of them) and PVR. I suppose I could stack the units on top of each other,

 

[s162216]

Are these alright? Their only £45 with postage.

http://www.gear4music.com/Recording-and-Computers/Behringer-1C-Studio-Monitors-White/BFV

Frequency range is from 60 Hz - 23 Khz (-10dB) which is a little more (less bass) than I would like but then again thats about the output of my HT at the moment as I have no sub.

 

[yepimonfire]

i'm guessing its more like 70hz -3dB, i'm not entirely sure about that model but i know behringers b2030 monitors sound unreal for their price and many members of this forum like them, i can guaruntee they will outperform computer speakers, it doesent say if it's active or passive though, the difference is active speakers have amplifiers in them, similar to a computer speaker, but much more powerful, passive are just like any other speaker, they require external amplification. you may want to call and check.

 

[s162216]

Damn it, I swear those were active when I checked behringers site initially. Looking again and reading carefully says their passive. The cheapest active monitors I can find are £69 and a bit too much.

I am seriously thinking of the old stereo receiver idea as their not too expensive and would let me use my existing speakers.

 

[XEagleDriver]

More ££, but worth it over the long haul

These are about three times above your price goal, but they will serve you well beyond just the next year.

Once you are a rich pharmacologist, they will continue to serve at a computer desk or future guest/bedroom.

M-Audio AV-40s

If you can find AV-30s instead, they should be about £90 assuming my poor currency conversion skills are even close.

Cheers,
XEagleDriver

 

[s162216]

They are about £90 but I really don't want to spend that much on them. The AV-20s are about £60 but reading reviews of them I don't think their worth it.
I am now having to spend £50 on a new motherboard to replace the one in my signature as I went to put my HTPC together and well... the motherboard doesn't work.

The cheapest way to do this will be either a cheap stereo receiver or amp unless anyone else has anything to suggest.

 

[XEagleDriver]

Concur the AV-20s are junk. The receiver/speaker option is probably best--you may want to look into the UK versions of eBay, Craigslist, or even pawn shops for a cheap/good deal.

XEagleDriver

 

[s162216]

Been looking on ebay for a while. There seems to be some decent stuff going cheap so I'll get one.

How sort of old would you go back? Some of the stuff I've found goes back to the late 70's!

EDIT: I've found a nice Technics SA-GX100L stereo receiver going for 99p at the moment and ending in 3 days. Do you think that would meet what I want? I can have a use for it anyway later on as an amp for the sub I will one day build.