[Dr Livor Mortis]

I'm looking for a pair to put on my computer desk.

Any standout items?
Any input appreciated.

 

[Dr Livor Mortis]

http://www.amazon.com/JBL-Control-Pe...3996675&sr=8-9

Anyone know anything about those?

 

[gotchaforce]

Those arent self powered im pretty sure.

If want monitors that are active (have an amp built in) get swan m200s

or these:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...t=pricegrabber

edit: looking at reviews i would highly recommend shelling out the extra $15 or so for the BX5as, everything about it is better than the swans.

 

[jinp6301]

there are rave reviews for the Onix x-ls

http://www.av123.com/products_produc...s&product=82.1

 

[Icarium]

http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-LX4-Mo...4020640&sr=8-1

M-Audio LX4 2.1 Monitoring Sound System <- I just bought these and I think
they are superb. I don't have much experience with amps.. but I do have W5000s and HD650 headphones and... when at home for the first 5 days of owning these I couldn't even be bothered to hook up headphones and listen through them or do comparisons. When I finally did... my HD650s, I leave my w5000s at work, the HD650s of course still sound better all around... but these speakers definitely aren't shabby.

I really did want a separate subwoofer unit which is why I fundamentally went with these over the swans which were also recommended to me. I wanted the subwoofer purely because that's what I had come to expect coming from the typical computer speaker market. The subwoofer is great and quite accurate without being boomy like most mass market speakers are. Very monitor-like.

Also if you ever want to go 5.1 they sell a 3 speaker expander kit that will let you go there.

The ONLY issue with these is that it is kind of annoying to hook these up to your computer (Though not really if you have any sort of amp/DAC with a good set of outputs). It doesn't come with cables to hook up to your source... but what it wants is two 1/4" to 1/4" cables. I hook it up luckily to my EMU 0404 USB which does have 2 balanced outputs of that source and the result is superbbbbbbbbbbbbb.

Look around for reviews.. there aren't many but all the ones I found are positive. The ones I gave the most weight were the ones on Amazon.com (Not the most reliable I know but most of the peeps sounded knowlegable) and this one:
http://www.audiomidi.com/aboutus/reviews/haynes_LX4.cfm

Uhm. Lastly.. that amazon.com price may not be the cheapest possible. I fully admit I didnt do much shopping around since I had just won a 100 dollar gift certificate that day for amazon.com plus with prime membership hooked up for free from a friend I get free 2 day shipping or 1 day 3.99 shipping which is what I went with... for a 39 pound package? Godly.

 

[gotchaforce]

the LX4 are $200 at samash
http://www.samash.com/catalog/showit...RCH&GroupCode=

I would still get the BX5A though, they wont reach as low, but i bet everything else they do will be much more impressive

 

[Icarium]

Oh really? They have better mids/highs? Damn, I wish you were around when I had bought my LX4s maybe I would have reconsidered. Ohwell, I'm satisfied.

 

[jimmy100]

I've just ordered a pair of these for $200:

Audioengine 5 on ebay

Reviews are excellent:
Audioengine website

 

[wnewport]

Infinity Primus 150 are the speakers I went with. They were about $130 shipped and sound great.

 

[Crow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jinp6301 /img/forum/go_quote.gif there are rave reviews for the Onix x-ls http://www.av123.com/products_produc...s&product=82.1

I second the x-ls. Sound is amazing--rather neutral and ridiculously detailed. Fit and finish couldn't be better.

$20 over your budget though... more if you don't have a good power amp!

 

[lini]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wnewport /img/forum/go_quote.gif Infinity Primus 150 are the speakers I went with. They were about $130 shipped and sound great.

Is that why you ask for upgrade suggestions in the other thread?

Dr.LM: JBL's Control 1 series models are indeed quite a good choice for compact desktop monitors. Unfortunately, the powered version Control Media isn't available anymore (and was somewhat overpriced to begin with), so you'd at least need a cheap amp solution like the T-Amp to go with the speakers (I'd recommend the 1 Pro as well as the 1 G(Universe) over the 1 X, btw).

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[wnewport]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lini /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is that why you ask for upgrade suggestions in the other thread? Dr.LM: JBL's Control 1 series models are indeed quite a good choice for compact desktop monitors. Unfortunately, the powered version Control Media isn't available anymore (and was somewhat overpriced to begin with), so you'd at least need a cheap amp solution like the T-Amp to go with the speakers (I'd recommend the 1 Pro as well as the 1 G(Universe) over the 1 X, btw). Greetings from Munich! Manfred / lini

I knew someone was going to point that out, and I almost wrote a disclaimer.

I researched the budget monitors a lot and decided on the 150's for their price and availability.

Upgrade bug bites at inopportune times.