Sound System on an incredibly tiny budget

[rhead1123]

Hey

First real post, mostly a noob when it comes to speakers and sound systems - Though I kinda know my way around computer audio and file formats.

I'm a pretty broke college student moving into his first apartment - It has a living room where I'll be spending most of my time. I was looking for a set of speakers (Was thinking 2.0, maybe 2.1)

I can't afford much more than 200-250 for the entire system. I was looking around on the website and found the Yamaha NS 6490. Is that a good option for me to buy? Is there a better option now?

I know that I also need to buy a receiver - I know there's a separate forum for that, but I thought that two posts might be redundant.

Also - I'll be using my desktop pc for a source. I figure at my price range, my motherboard's onboard sound card should be enough

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Hey

First real post, mostly a noob when it comes to speakers and sound systems - Though I kinda know my way around computer audio and file formats.

I'm a pretty broke college student moving into his first apartment - It has a living room where I'll be spending most of my time. I was looking for a set of speakers (Was thinking 2.0, maybe 2.1)

I can't afford much more than 200-250 for the entire system. I was looking around on the website and found the Yamaha NS 6490. Is that a good option for me to buy? Is there a better option now?

I know that I also need to buy a receiver - I know there's a separate forum for that, but I thought that two posts might be redundant.

Also - I'll be using my desktop pc for a source. I figure at my price range, my motherboard's onboard sound card should be enough

At 200-250 you should forget receiver and go with active monitors or multimedia speaker
This should be more than plenty of high quality sound - not for large party but plenty for solo/duo listening music and movies
http://www.pssl.com/Behringer-B1030A-Active-Studio-Monitor-Each - you could ask ask Zzounds to match price

 

[rhead1123]

Thanks for the quick reply - I'll probably have around 4-6 people in the apartment most days, and we all like listening to music. Will these do the trick?

 

[bikemig]

Active monitors and a computer as a source are the way to go with your budget. You could also check these out, http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?loudspeakers=swan-active-desktop-sound&p=swan-m200mkii&cPath=21_24&products_id=184.

 

[rhead1123]

I'm a little confused, what exactly are multimedia speakers? for example - What do you guys think about the Bose Companion 3 series 2 (239 USD on amazon)?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I'm a little confused, what exactly are multimedia speakers? for example - What do you guys think about the Bose Companion 3 series 2 (239 USD on amazon)?

Lets just put it this way: In terms of power and precision of sound behringers I listed above will significantly surpass Chinese designed Swans, but these Swans will easily kill any Bose system up to 5 times the cost

Behringer B1030A - Are active monitors, means they have active crossover and woofer and twitter speakers are powered separately - makes it very efficient - read really loud and also easier to make it audio precise.
They are sold as each and fully independent from any other speakers.
The unspoken truth is Behringer is famous for designed their equipment by using heavy dose of "inspiration" from world top Pro Audio manufactures.

Swans and AudioEngine (like these) are powered speakers (or multimedia monitors)
They have passive crossover and a single stereo amplifier to power all four components and a single volume control to control both speakers.

 

[m_vanmeter]

I have a smaller set of Behringer MS16 active monitors attached to my computer at work - and they work extremely well. The larger B1030A's should meet your needs without any other electronics required.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

I have a smaller set of Behringer MS16 active monitors attached to my computer at work - and they work extremely well. The larger B1030A's should meet your needs without any other electronics required.

I have same MS16 at work as well, they are good, but my home pc JBL LSR2325P are in entirely different league. So much more sheer power and clarity - it's amazing.
I strongly believe that Behringer B1030A in same class as my JBL's

 

[markw]

I'm a little confused, what exactly are multimedia speakers? for example - What do you guys think about the Bose Companion 3 series 2 (239 USD on amazon)?

Overpriced. Way overpriced.

You're being influenced by the name.

 

[rhead1123]

Thanks for all the help guys - I've decided to buy the Behring set - should I buy them from the Pssl website itself? they're significantly more expensive on amazon.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Thanks for all the help guys - I've decided to buy the Behring set - should I buy them from the Pssl website itself? they're significantly more expensive on amazon.

I don't know anything about that site, but like I said Zzounds is well established site and they do Match price - go to their site, find the product and ask for match.

 

[bikemig]

@rhead1123: tell us what you think of your new system once you set it up; I'll bet it will seriously rock. Btw, one thing you will want to think about is the bitrate of the MP3 files you play; as a general rule, the higher the bit rate, the better but I've found that even the 256 kbps variable bit rate you get from a site like Amazon actually sounds pretty good as well. Alternatively, you may also find that a streaming service such as Spotify or Mog is pretty cost effective as well.

 

[rhead1123]

Generally I tend to listen to Q8 .ogg rips via EAC when I have my laptop/Cowon D2 with me. At home my collection's stored in FLAC. Eventually I'll make mp3 copies of the FLAC stuff for Google Music.

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

Generally I tend to listen to Q8 .ogg rips via EAC when I have my laptop/Cowon D2 with me. At home my collection's stored in FLAC. Eventually I'll make mp3 copies of the FLAC stuff for Google Music.

Google music supports flac ...

 

[yepimonfire]

Hey

First real post, mostly a noob when it comes to speakers and sound systems - Though I kinda know my way around computer audio and file formats.

I'm a pretty broke college student moving into his first apartment - It has a living room where I'll be spending most of my time. I was looking for a set of speakers (Was thinking 2.0, maybe 2.1)

I can't afford much more than 200-250 for the entire system. I was looking around on the website and found the Yamaha NS 6490. Is that a good option for me to buy? Is there a better option now?

I know that I also need to buy a receiver - I know there's a separate forum for that, but I thought that two posts might be redundant.

Also - I'll be using my desktop pc for a source. I figure at my price range, my motherboard's onboard sound card should be enough

polk audio monitors are cheap and sound good.

behringer B2030p's

some of JBL's bookshelves.

infinity primus models.

all good places to start.

200 for the whole system? well, you're either gonna have to spend a bit more on the speakers or go with something super cheap. you can get a useable 2ch receiver on newegg for about 100 bucks, pair that with a pair of polk audios monitor 30's and that runs around 200.




or......... you could also get a pair of active monitors and just hook them straight into your desktop. M-audio makes a few decent ones.

these are alright. http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Studiophile-Bi-amplified-Reference-Monitors/dp/B0014IEBM0/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3JB4YLEU8FKV9&colid=1VLB95LXOOWST


EDIT: just realized how late i was.

NVM