[sirkillalot]

I'm in the market to purchase a set of speakers and looking for advice, some of what i'm looking for is:
 
Mainly going to be used for my PC. I do play video games but mostly my speakers are used for music. ATM i'm running a logitech Z313 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121034&Tpk=z313) and i'm looking to upgrade. My sound card will support 7.1 but i think i'm leaning more towards a smaller 5.1. I was looking into buying a set of the logitech Z906 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121050) but they seem to be sold out everywhere, so i'm at a total loss for what to go after.
 
I'm looking for something around 300, pretty much open to anything at this point.

 

[Lenni]

why 5.1? if the purpose is mostly music, you might be better off with 2.0 or 2.1. surround sound at that price range is mostly a gimmick - you'd have to spend thousands to get anything half-decent that resemble surround sound, not counting room treatment.
 
a pair of Audioengine A5+ would be a real step from the Z313. also Emotiva has cut the price on its powered monitors (check Emotiva's forum for more info). if you must have a sub included in the budget, then SWAN makes some decent desktop systems in that price range.
 
any of the speaker mentioned above will be a step up from the Logitech's little empty boxes. all should come with 30-day money back guaranteed. it's important to audition, since you'll be using them for the next few years.
 
I'd advice not to waste money on the Logitech's empty boxes, unless you watch movies all the time and want surround sound, which you're not gonna get anyway because is mostly a gimmick.
 
best
 
 
edit: check also AVS forum for more powered speakers advice

 

[sirkillalot]

I have to thank you for all of the advice you have given me. I'm super surprised at what i did get though, i figured logitech to be half decent speakers (I'll admit I'm a fan boy of them, but it's from experience with their products outside of audio). Honestly the emotiva you linked look super nice but they are simply just too costly for me at the moment. I was looking around the swan sight and they have some decent desktop setups for in my price range.
 
My question to you is, if i go with a D1010 IV http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?loudspeakers=swan-active-desktop-sound&p=swan-d1010-iv-active-desktop-loudspeaker-system&cPath=21_24&products_id=166&osCsid=7a70782bf739a9a24c3e84ade45f7ca2 would i actually notice an improvement over what i'm currently using?
 
My first choice would be the M50W http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?loudspeakers=swan-active-desktop-sound&p=swan-m50w-active-desktop-loudspeaker-system&cPath=21_24&products_id=167&osCsid=7a70782bf739a9a24c3e84ade45f7ca2 but they are currently out of stock on them.
 
 
Thanks again for all the help man, i do appreciate it a ton.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

 
My question to you is, if i go with a D1010 IV http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?loudspeakers=swan-active-desktop-sound&p=swan-d1010-iv-active-desktop-loudspeaker-system&cPath=21_24&products_id=166&osCsid=7a70782bf739a9a24c3e84ade45f7ca2 would i actually notice an improvement over what i'm currently using?
 

 
That depends more on the listener, in this case, you. My friends, who were in a band with me, were surprised how different headphones can sound, or how much better they can be over their bundled ear buds even for just a little bit more money. Their partners on the other hand are all tone-deaf while my other female friends always borrowed my Grados.
 
This isn't to doubt your capability to pick out tonal differences, much less soundstage imaging, but simply a disclaimer - there have been too many enthusiastic recommendations met with varying levels of angry, frustrated, "should have bought Bose/Beats etc" threads here, regardless of what may become obvious to anyone who spends enough time in audio forums like Head-Fi.
 
Quote:

My first choice would be the M50W http://www.theaudioinsider.com/product_info.php?loudspeakers=swan-active-desktop-sound&p=swan-m50w-active-desktop-loudspeaker-system&cPath=21_24&products_id=167&osCsid=7a70782bf739a9a24c3e84ade45f7ca2 but they are currently out of stock on them.
 

 
If you think you'll need the subwoofer, I'd say wait for this one. I'm using the D1080MkII 08 though, no subwoofer, and on top of more coherent music playback (since I don't need to worry about subwoofer integration - like time alignment, or if its placement EQs it, etc) it's great for games and movies barring surround effects. If you play Total War, imagine full-size HT/audio sound quality and it's almost like a serious HT set-up sans surrounds.

 

 

[Lenni]

you're welcome.
 
it's not to do with the company itself - I like Logitech very much too - it's to do with the nature of those systems. if I had to choose between similar 5.1 systems, I'd probably choose the Logitech's too. but those little empty boxes cannot ever compete with better built speakers, which have their own dedicated built-in amps, for example.
 
I'm sorry I didn't realize most of the Swan's were out-of-stock. that sucks. it looks like they're not easy to find.  maybe try emailing Swan or The Audio Insider to find out what the story is.
 
I think you'd definitely hear an in improvement with the Swan D1010 over the Z313's, but to be brutally honest most similar 2.0 speakers would be. the fact that the D1010's are pretty much the only one still in-stock makes me wondering. the reason could be that their not the best of the bunch, so to speak, I guess. yeah the M50W would be a better choice. the folks at the AVS forum may know more about Swan's speakers. it's more speaker orientated than headphones, I guess.
 
otherwise, if you can save a little for awhile, the Emotiva's are just fifty bucks over your budget, and they have a 30-day money-back.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenni /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
I think you'd definitely hear an in improvement with the Swan D1010 over the Z313's, but to be brutally honest most similar 2.0 speakers would be. the fact that the D1010's are pretty much the only one still in-stock makes me wondering. the reason could be that their not the best of the bunch, so to speak, I guess. yeah the M50W would be a better choice. the folks at the AVS forum may know more about Swan's speakers. it's more speaker orientated than headphones, I guess.

 
It might simply be because it uses 4" drivers. People might think the gains in a smaller footprint may not make up for the disadvantage in bass response vs the D1080 or other 5"-driver monitors, especially when you don't plan on using a sub.

Personally though I prefer the matte finish on this, problem is the D1080MkII 08 was locally available, so I got that one instead.

 

[Lenni]

Quote:

Personally though I prefer the matte finish on this, problem is the D1080MkII 08 was locally available, so I got that one instead.

 
they seem to be out-of stock everywhere. are they really this popular that supplies cannot meet demands? jeez... 

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

 
they seem to be out-of stock everywhere. are they really this popular that supplies cannot meet demands? jeez... 

 
D1080MkII 08 is already phased out I think, we just have some NOS stocks here. The MkIV is due to come out but so far I haven't seen a review in English/Roman alphabet, and most forum discussions that come up on Google are in Chinese. Most likely they haven't shipped much of them out of Taiwan yet. And yeah it's taking too darned long; AudioInsider's stock status has been like this since August last year, so it's also possible that they might be shifting to another distributor, but no word really on why they don't have the new ones anywhere. The smaller D1010MkIV are available though.

BTW, I think their moving hte stuff fast has a lot to do with this too as much as production and shipping. When I learned it was locally available days after posting, I called up one fo the retailers and asked if they have demo units - they did and I said I'd check them out (without reserving any of the stocks). I liked them so much I was gonna buy them right there, but turned out somebody got there a few hours ahead of me and took the last one home (they sold about three of them in a matter of days; that's amazing for a relatively unknown, internet marketing-based brand). The new stocks were just barely off the truck when I took one home, and while I was getting mine packed, someone went in to check it out too (dunno if he got one though). So yeah, safe to say they're quickly  moving almost everything the factory ships out. The only ones that didn't seem to be moving were the S3W's but that's more likely because people looking for cute/lifestyle speakers probably want an Apple dock and/or both speakers in one chassis much more than they care about stereo imaging and solid enclosures. I would've gotten one of those but the volume control knob was just too cheap feeling, no matter how solid they looked. I'd rather one that felt solid when turned, even if it was made of plastic.