[JMS]

I found some great computer speakers for $30 that I thought I'd share with you guys. I never liked the 3-piece satellite/woofer systems because the frequencies around 100-200 hz cannot possibly be adaquately covered by either the woofer under your desk, or the little single-driver satellites. Besides, the woofer is too busy booming out crappy bass to output any musical content. Good for those who like lots of treble and lots of bass, but not for those who like music, which has something in between.

The speakers I'm talking about are the Creative Labs SBS270 2-piece multimedia speakers, which are readily available retail for $30 and can be found on shopping.yahoo.com for less. I've compared the sound to the $99 Monsoon PlanarMedia 9 and this beats it hands down.
Besides outputting very good, balanced sound for $30, one of the SBS270's biggest virtues is its quiet electronics. I've tried numerous other computer speakers at this price range and they all ouput an audible hum/hiss even with no signal, which gets very annoying when the speakers are 2 feet in front of you and you're trying to work. The SBS270's do hum/hiss but at much lower levels than average, and are basically inaudible. The $99 Monsoon satellites also have low levels of hiss -- satellites have an easier time at this because the amplifier is under the desk -- but when you plug headphones into the jack, you'll get a hiss so nasty you'll want to take the headphones off right away. The SBS270's headphone-out is silent, and is powerful enough to drive the HD-580's. The jack's sound is quite decent, although the bass is a little loose and bloated. Nonetheless, very good for $30.

So, if you're like me and don't like 3-piece systems for music, or you don't want to spend > $100 for speakers to be used in a noisy environment playing MP3's, you can't go wrong with the SBS270's. The sound is dark out of the box but the tone controls will fix this nicely. Finally I can actually enjoy listening at the computer instead of the big rig, and for only $30.

 

[bootman]

I found them for under $16.

 

[JeffL]

Interesting...never would consider 2.0 speakers ever, since they are at the bottom of the food chain. I have to have good punchy bass though, and with my SonicXS 2.1s I have found that, and a very SWEET midrange.

You are definetly right that the PlanarMedia speakers aren't HI-FI, but the PlanarMedia 9s were not only underpowered, by as with all Level 9's PlanarMedia speakers suffers from a *SEVERELY* high set crossover...200Hz! This is just rediculous IMO....which is why I am going to sell my Planarmedia 14s.

I think however, if all you've heard is the Planarmedia 9s, you have a *very* biased opinions, because despite all the good reviews for them, they really do suck. They may be detailed speakers, and accurate, but that means nothing...they are by no means NATURAL by all claims, especially in the bass and midrange departments. My SonicXSs by far beat them anyday

I will OTOH, consider this one heck of a deal, and will buy a pair just so I can replace the Altec 45.2s I gave my parents...they don't need a subwoofer, so these would do nicely.

 

[gswpete]

The EV's are sweet. Super deal if you can find them for $40.