help picking new speakers

[MfiveM]

Ok, I have been trying for years to put together a good computer speaker system and have not had great luck. I have bought and sold the following:

Altec Lansing FX6021
Klipsch ProMedia 2.1
Bose Companion 5

(sold after 4 days)
Harman Kardon SoundSticks

All were ok, but do nothing for me in sound, I am better off using my Pico & UE11's, so now I am looking for a new pair. I would like to keep it basic in terms of equipment and amps. I am looking at the following speakers right now:

Amphion Ion
Dynaudio MC15
Bang & Olufsen BeoLab 4 or maybe the BeoLab 3, I love the design just not sure how they sound.
AudioEngine 5
B&W CM1

I would also be looking at an dac to power them, which one, I do not know. So what would you guys recommend for building a great sounding computer set up with my Mac powering it via either firewire or usb.

 

[moosehead]

Audioengine A5 or A2. Fantastic sounding speakers for a good price. Hook them up with a decent soundcard/dac and a powered sub and you will have a killer sounding computer rig. Also they have an internal amp.

 

[Hookem]

I am listening to the A5's with a Velodyne VX-10 powered subwoofer.

Pretty smoking setup...You can find the Velodyne for about 150.

Going to go buy a pair of Mackie MR-5's to compare the two.

I agree with moosehead...Audioengine makes some killer sounding speakers.

30 day test drive if you order them from Audioengine...Best customer service I have ever had done business with...Second place is way...And I mean way back there.

You could certainly do worse than Audioengine that's for sure.

You have a couple of ways you can go.

How much do you want to spend ???

If you state how much you would like to spend it would help getting recomendations for combinations that fit your budget.

You can go the "active" or powered speakers with a USB/DAC and add a powered subwoofer.

Another option is a USB/T-Amp to power passive bookshelf speakers...Dont know about adding a woofer for the T-Amp bookshelve combination.

I have looked around and it would appear that the Mackie MR-5's for about 300.00 dollars a pair should sound good.

The Mackie MR-8's are about 500.00 for the pair.

Here is a review...Well sorta.

Musician's Friend - Hands-On Review: Mackie MR5 and MR8 Active Studio Monitors

This could get interesting...So many products that can make up a computer as source audio system.

 

[MfiveM]

I really do not have a set price budget as some I am looking at go up to $1200 a pair. The only thing is I do not have a lot of room to put big studio monitors, whatever I get needs to be on the smaller/slimer side of things.

It seems that I can not go wrong with the A5's, I might give them a try. The Mackie look like a great monitor but I know they are going to be too big for the desk.

 

[Hookem]

To my way of thinking the MR5's should be about the same size as the A5's.

Still too curious about the MR5's not to give a pair a test drive.

But hey that's just me...Buy em...Try em...Sell em.

Sounds like you should be able to do much better than either of the 5's.

 

[Operandi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael M /img/forum/go_quote.gif I really do not have a set price budget as some I am looking at go up to $1200 a pair. The only thing is I do not have a lot of room to put big studio monitors, whatever I get needs to be on the smaller/slimer side of things. It seems that I can not go wrong with the A5's, I might give them a try. The Mackie look like a great monitor but I know they are going to be too big for the desk.

With that budget most of higher-end monitors that would blow a way the Audioengines would be an option. Like you already mentioned one of the problems is size particularly depth (at least in my case).

There are a bunch of active monitors at Sweet Water you can take a look at, most of them will fit your budget, but a lot may not fit your desk space. The Tannoy Reveal 5A is one set that is fairly compact and would be a good option.

I was going to go with the KEF iQ1 before I decided to build my own. They are compact and the Uni-q driver has a lot of advantages in a nearfeild environment (single point source). You could pair it with a T-amp like the Firestone Big Joe, or Trends. Either option would be a nice step above the A5s.

 

[Hookem]

The KEF iQ1's sound like an intresting solution.

And although I do not have any experience with T/Amp, passive speakers from everything I can gather around here in a month, operandi is giving you some good advice.

 

[royalcrown]

This may not be the most convenient response, but if your budget is that high I suggest going out to your local speaker store and auditioning models yourself. Amplification will have an effect that is subtle at best between all reasonably good amplifiers (which will be present at the speaker store), so I suggest going there, hiding/ingoring all brand names and prices, and just start listening to your favorite music (usually the guys working there will let you listen to a few tracks of your own), Bring a pen/paper, and start writing down observations. When all is said and done, then look at prices, and find the one you liked the most at the best price range. Make sure you also do your listening at the same distance as at home.

The reason I say this is because what's "good" and "bad" in a speaker is highly subjective, and frankly these differences reveal themselves the most with transducers. Even looking at whether one prefers a "bright" or "warm" sound, you can find 20 different opinions on what is "bright," what is "warm," and whether or not a given speaker is one or the other. Going and listening is probably your best shot. Plus, if you don't like the local prices, once you've established what speaker you like, then you can take your search online for the best price and get the best of both worlds.

Good luck with your search.

 

[TheAnomaly]

yea the KEF's look pretty nice, and at a reasonable price. i'm still trying to figure out what desktop setup i want, too, and i'm leaning toward a low power amp (the trends or maybe the nuforce icon, because it can also be a decent heapdphone amp) and a bookshelf speaker. i'm sort of considering the KEF iQ1, various klipsch bookshelves, maybe the new nuforce speaker, etc. something small, reasonably good efficiency, 300-700 (though 700 is the absolute limit for right now!) range not counting the amp.

 

[penger]

I've read the ERA speakers are better good bang for the buck too.

 

[MoNelly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moosehead /img/forum/go_quote.gif Audioengine A5 or A2. Fantastic sounding speakers for a good price. Hook them up with a decent soundcard/dac and a powered sub and you will have a killer sounding computer rig. Also they have an internal amp.

X2

 

[Hookem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheAnomaly /img/forum/go_quote.gif yea the KEF's look pretty nice, and at a reasonable price. i'm still trying to figure out what desktop setup i want, too, and i'm leaning toward a low power amp (the trends or maybe the nuforce icon, because it can also be a decent heapdphone amp) and a bookshelf speaker. i'm sort of considering the KEF iQ1, various klipsch bookshelves, maybe the new nuforce speaker, etc. something small, reasonably good efficiency, 300-700 (though 700 is the absolute limit for right now!) range not counting the amp.

I have found any speaker using horn tweeters to have high's that are way to bright for me ears...Listener fatigue sets in very quickly.

Just sold a pair of ProMedia 2.1's that I could listen to for about 20 minutes before I was becoming uncomfortable and in short order turning the music off.

A friend who is a horn tweeter fan boy even adjust the high's via EQ to get what he calls "sizzle"...LOL...I call it painful.

I would highly reccomend actually going and listening to any speaker that has a horn tweeter before buying them...As I find the highs extremely harsh with a mechanical, unnatural sound.

I personally like silk dome tweeters...To my ears they have a much smoother, natural sound versus horns.

 

[MfiveM]

I think i am going to give the Audioengine A5 a try since everyone seems to like them and then will go from there if they do not work for me.

Thanks everyone.

 

[MaloS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael M /img/forum/go_quote.gif I really do not have a set price budget as some I am looking at go up to $1200 a pair. The only thing is I do not have a lot of room to put big studio monitors, whatever I get needs to be on the smaller/slimer side of things. It seems that I can not go wrong with the A5's, I might give them a try. The Mackie look like a great monitor but I know they are going to be too big for the desk.

JBL LSR4328p too big?

 

[Hookem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael M /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think i am going to give the Audioengine A5 a try since everyone seems to like them and then will go from there if they do not work for me. Thanks everyone.

I would consider it a must have to buy some flavor of USB/DAC...The A5's really will show your sources weaknesses...Huge differences in sound quality depending on what you are feeding them.

If you want to add some bare knuckles, teeth rattling sound quality to an already stellar sounding set of speakers.

For about 150 duckies get yourself a Velodyne VX-10.

Jaw dropping considering the price...Especially if you like the sound of upright bass's, funky stuff, jazz, hip-hop or rock.