[Aman]

If you absolutely cannot decide on a speaker, at least choose from a company where you can have a trial period.

I think that it'd be hard for you to not like the $300 Epos speakers, but if you wish to be on the safer side, companies like Axiom Audio, Ohm, Omega, and etc. all sell with money-back guarantees. www.axiomaudio.com would be a great place to get a 300 dollar speaker. In fact, their M22ti is a REALLY good option, for under 500 dollars. If I remember correctly, it could also be under 400 dollars.

Whatever you do, make sure that you keep my recommendation for the power amp. That amp is surely one of the best available purchases in that market today. The Parasound is not only cheap but sounds fantastic.

I, personally, like the Epos speakers better -- but the Axioms are also great, and they also do offer the 30-day trial period. The only expense you'd have to pay is the shipping to get it back to their headquarters. They refund your purchase and everything.

On the other hand, the Epos speakers are available at many great, reputable dealers, who may in fact offer you a trial period as well. Since Music Hall distributes Epos to the United States, try giving ToddTheVinylJunkie a call and see if he can sell you a pair. Todd sells Music Hall gear, so it wouldn't be surprising if he could special order you a pair. He'll give you a great price and great service, in addition.

Whatever you choose, good luck. Just don't end up buying PC speakers!

 

[GuardianKnight]

Aman: Is it possible to hook up a subwoofer to that Zamp? Just wondering.

 

[Aman]

Yes, it is. I believe it is called passive mode, on most subwoofers.

Essentially, what it is, is that it has four speaker terminals - two in and two out. The speaker cable that goes into the Z-Amp will then go into their respective "In" terminals, and the "out" terminals would connect the subwoofer to the speakers. What happens is that it receives just the bass signal that you desire (you usually have an option as to how low you want the subwoofer to go) and then sends the rest of the signal to the speakers to work with.

I do not recommend using a subwoofer in a stereo setup, however, unless you really know what you are doing. Most of the time, subwoofers drag down the sound much more than they help it.

 

[dariusf]

Look for Event speakers to audition, guitar center has them, they are just amazing. The Event Precision 8 are the best sounding near field monitors I have head and prefer them to the old monitoring standard Mackie HR824. The Precision 6 and 20/20 bas is also great. Check them out. With the active ones you don't need the amp and the Precision 8 is bi-amped.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/manufacturer/Event

 

[1031tensai]

thank you to everyone who put a piece of mind in this thread. i really appreciate it.

for the power amp, i think im pretty much set with the zamp v3, unless there are any objections to it, which i doubt.

for the speakers, i am trying to find a store where i can try these speakers. but in the meanwhile, it will be great if you can continue to post speakers that you personally like that i should consider. it will be great if you can give a sound description as well. for reference, i listen to basically any kind of music, but i mainly listen to j-pop, rock, classic, and jazz (in the order i listen most)

thanks!

 

[Aman]

Sounds like you'd benefit from a speaker that accels in mid-bass to midrange performance. In MY opinion, the Epos speakers are right up there. I wouldn't go with the Axioms because they sound a little more thin to me than the Epos, and that means less bass extension and less fullness in the midrange area.

Whatever you do in this situation, do not go with crossoverless designs like Omega. You most likely won't find what you're looking for in that kind of speaker.

 

[rmx]

I just went down this route. I got a T-amp, a nice cardas IC, some crappy cat5 cable twisted to make speaker wire and some axiom M3ti's hooked up to my computer. Right now, it's overkill... but that's just the way I like it. I'm going to mod the t-amp for more bass with better capacitors, and upgrade the speaker cabling to homemade starquad cables, and it should be just perfect. I got everything used, so it cost me under 300 dollars total for the whole setup, but even new, it's definitely worth it. Those axioms are phenomenal for the money.

 

[Jasper994]

I think I'll chime in because everyone else seemed to confuse powered speakers with computer speakers. He was asking about powered monitors (studio monitors). I own M-Audio BX8's and I've heard a number of other powered monitors. I think they are a great way to go, and for the money they're hard to beat. Besides the BX8, you should consider Event TR8 or ASP8 (to get the ASP8 into your budget you'll have to do some serious negotiating but it should be possible), Mackie, and possibly JBL.

 

[Scrith]

Hi, resurrecting this thread because I just picked up some Epos ELS-3 speakers (around $300) for my computer yesterday and they sound absolutely wonderful. These are replacing Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 (I was only using 2.1). Actually, for now, I'm still using the Klipsch subwoofer and amp unit (they work fine with these speakers, though I've turned down the subwoofer a bit because the Epos have more bass than the old Klipsch satellites). These speakers are 4 ohm, by the way (as are the Klipsch satellites).

For what it's worth, the ELS-3 speakers, even at only $300, are the one of the highest, if not the highest, rated speakers under $2000 in the Stereophile bi-annual equipment reports. I bought them without hearing them first. I also have some very nice old MB Quart speakers for my main stereo (these were purchased more than 10 years ago after extensive listening tests at local stereo stores).

Honestly, after hearing these, I'm beginning to think that I'll be using headphones less...they just don't provide the same great feel and natural sound of speakers. I purchased the Epos because they were small enough for my computer area (they are as large as I'm willing to go, actually) and had many glowing reviews throughout the internet (and were cheaper than every other comparable speaker).

 

[CSMR]

Out of date advice

 

[pne]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scrith Hi, resurrecting this thread because I just picked up some Epos ELS-3 speakers (around $300) for my computer yesterday and they sound absolutely wonderful. These are replacing Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 (I was only using 2.1). Actually, for now, I'm still using the Klipsch subwoofer and amp unit (they work fine with these speakers, though I've turned down the subwoofer a bit because the Epos have more bass than the old Klipsch satellites). These speakers are 4 ohm, by the way (as are the Klipsch satellites). For what it's worth, the ELS-3 speakers, even at only $300, are the one of the highest, if not the highest, rated speakers under $2000 in the Stereophile bi-annual equipment reports. I bought them without hearing them first. I also have some very nice old MB Quart speakers for my main stereo (these were purchased more than 10 years ago after extensive listening tests at local stereo stores). Honestly, after hearing these, I'm beginning to think that I'll be using headphones less...they just don't provide the same great feel and natural sound of speakers. I purchased the Epos because they were small enough for my computer area (they are as large as I'm willing to go, actually) and had many glowing reviews throughout the internet (and were cheaper than every other comparable speaker).

yes, but its best to take stereophile and other online reviews/ratings with a grain of salt. we've all heard the giant killer stories, and most of them aren't true. There will always be that budget component that matches anything underneath $xxxx.xx etc, and there will always be that $xxxx.xx midfi component that holds its own against the $xxx, xxx.xx component etc. This is how mid-fi sells. People like hearing they get a great deal for the money and that their $400 speaker is 99% of a $5000.00 speaker. In the end you should judge for yourself. Yes giant killers exist but they are probably only tailored to your ears only, and do it for you.

 

[1031tensai]

wow

, i didnt notice the thread i started had been resurrected (although 2 weeks ago)

i had my focus on headphones these days, but this resurrection of my thread re-hooked me into reconsidering the epos speakers.

scrith, would you tell me how you put your speaker system together? did you connect the klipsch amp unit to the benchmark dac1? i will most likely buy either the dac1 or the lavry black for my computer, therefore there's a possibility that i may imitate your setup (if i buy the epos speakers as well).

sorry for this re-resurrection lol

 

[cotdt]

Computer speakers are horrible, go for bookshelf speakers instead. There are many to choose from!

If you get efficient speakers you can use a digital amp which are really cheap and better than solid state!

 

[cosmopragma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasper994 I think I'll chime in because everyone else seemed to confuse powered speakers with computer speakers. He was asking about powered monitors (studio monitors).

I second the recommendation for active studio monitors.Passive is common, but oldfashioned.Active crossovers and a separate built-in amp for any transducer is just superior and the studio gear is often a bargain (though admittedly ugly since the studio guys don't care that much for looks).I have some active Behringers in the office, and you can easily get them with a good return policy.Really good for the price, in fact they are sounding better than my $1200 speakers at home.

 

[cotdt]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmopragma I second the recommendation for active studio monitors.Passive is common, but oldfashioned.Active crossovers and a separate built-in amp for any transducer is just superior and the studio gear is often a bargain (though admittedly ugly since the studio guys don't care that much for looks).I have some active Behringers in the office, and you can easily get them with a good return policy.Really good for the price, in fact they are sounding better than my $1200 speakers at home.

Active crossovered speakers are very rare and way out of his price league! When it comes to generic actives, I have the Behringer DCX2496 and I recently sold it in favor of passive. The Behringer messed up the instrument separation and it was really annoying for me. Passive was better in every aspect, but only because I used better capacitors when I built the speakers. Many wellrespected speaker builders say that passives with good capacitors beat any generic active crossover, even ones that cost over $3000.