On the Hunt: beefy PC speakers...

[bmccord]

Ok, I have an old set of Yamaha PC speakers at the office that has a little 6.5" sub but after being here late many a nights, I am looking for something with a bit more kick. I was looking for perhaps a 4 speaker unit with maybe an 8" sub. However, the soundcard has just a phono out plug so nothing special. Basically, what is a nice sounding, deep playing, good looking set that I can pick up for under 300 bucks. I like the idea of blasting jazz/rock/etc and feelin it. Office is 14'x19'x9'. Thanks.

edit- I have thought about bringing in an old AV setup but I would like to keep things clean and simple...

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

Logitech Z5500 or Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 would sound great in that room. The Logitech needs a bit of eq'ing with Winamp. The Klipsch sounds pretty good right out of the box - highs may need tamed a bit depending on your taste and the room itself. The Klipsch amp is a bit too much for the speakers, and guys have been known to blow them, so if you go that route - don't overdrive the speakers. Keep the music under audible distortion levels and you should be fine.

http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=712

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=2177,CONTENTID=9486

 

[bmccord]

I like the logitech ones. Too bad nobody has any to demo around here. As for hook-up, do they wire up like normal speakers with terminals or are they prewired? The reason I am asking is I would prefer to wire them myself for ease of rear speaker placement. Any other brands anyone can thing of?

 

[WorldLeader]

The Logitech z5500s wire up (at least mine did 6 months ago) with normal speaker cable that could be removed like any old speaker. The subwoofer really will pound out sound in a small-mid sized room with 10' or lower ceilings, and you will feel the music. Quality wise it is on par or better than many of the offerings out there for the price, and it can't be touched in terms of loudness. It is easy to set up, and (unlike what the manual leads you to believe) you can use your old bookshelves instead of the Logitech satellites. This doesn't really help the sound much, but it looks better sometimes. This is an excellent bargain for ~$210. The control box also has LOTS of inputs and ways to wire up all your components, plus it looks cool.

I love mine for the bargain price.

 

[bmccord]

Where did you find them for $210? The cheapest I found was at newegg.com for $263 plus 36 for shipping. Let me know.

 

[sholling]

I have Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 Ultras (still in the box because I'm moving) and the older ProMedia 4.1 system. The 4.1's wowed my friends because they simply blew away my friends' home audio systems. For your application I don't think that either Logitech's or the Klipsch 5.1's are a good answer. Instead I'd look at the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 for the office. It just makes more sense and it sounds like all you will be able to drive from a single output is a 2.1 system, and this is a serious 2.1 PC system. A pricegrabber.com search shows it availabe for as low as $135 delivered and with 24 reviews it's managed an average rating of 5 out of 5 stars.

http://www.klipsch.com/product/product.aspx?cid=103

 

[Sheep]

This is hilarious. I JUST came back from checking out computer speaker systems.

Screw paying 300 bucks. The logitech X-530s have a REALLY clean, detailed sound, and with good bass too. Toms hardware measured them with 100~ish dBs inroom around 35Hz. Thats DAMN good for a 70 dollar speaker system. In a room that big, they MIGHT not be enough.

After much experience with the big computer speaker system (Esp. logitech) I can safely say they are NOT the answer. They're VERY harsh, and the bass is boomy.

I was looking at the klipsch's today and the speaker enclosures (not sub) are very cheap. They resonate when knocked, and they're made of plastic. The logitech sats are of better build, but the sound isn't as good (The klipsch's were metallic sounding BTW).

I haven't heard the gigaworks(yet) but I have heard the subwoofer suffers from port noise. I've also heard the sats are the best as far as PC speakers go. They don't have a whole lof of dampening in them, but the use decent looking drivers and are not horned.

Food for though,

SheepStar (you can just talk to me on MSN)

 

[muncybob]

I have had the Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 set up for a few years now and they sound great as long as you don't over drive them....as noted previously the amp is beefy and the sub has a great punch but isn't boomy. You can get (as I did) B stock directly from Klipsch or on Ebay for barely $100.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

I'm running PSB image 1B's off a NADc370 connected to my PC.

Yeah the amp is overkill, but its what I had lying around. I don't think I'll ever go back to computer-specific speakers.

 

[bmccord]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. For once, I wouldn't mind giving up a bit of sound quality for some, more-or-less, shake the office sound. And for this money I think the Logitech 5.1 set may be the answer. The acoustics in my office pretty much suck so I will go listen to a set tomorrow and see what they sound like. I hear Circuit City has them. Who knows. Thanks.