Funny you should mention this topic; I just spent the better part of 2 months scouring the internet trying to find the same thing. Seems you can get 100 different crappy sets of computer speakers, but quality ones are very rare indeed. Here's some info about the systems you mentioned...
Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 - The grandfather of the "high end" 2.1 speaker systems. They've been around for close to a decade now it seems. Decent bass, mostly clear and the subwoofer is not all that large. Mid's and high's leave a lot to be desired though.
Edifier S330D - Certainly looks sharp, but I've never heard them myself. I did find a alarming number of posts in other places that mentioned quality issues.
Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 - AE makes some very highly regarded speakers, and for me this system was in the top 3 of the ones I was going to buy, but at $300 I had a hard time justifying the price. It might have been better if I had bought these, as you'll see when I discuss the Swans M20W's I ultimately purchased.
> If it helps, I will primarily be playing first person shooter
> games, and music is all over the place. I need something that can
> give me *acceptable* (bumpin is desireable) bass for techno and
> rap, but can still make me happy listening to classical music.
That's a tall order; games, techno/rap and classical are so vastly different that I seriously doubt you'll find anything that can do all that well.
> I understand that speakers like this are usually harder to find in
> my pricerange but I'd like to get as close as I can.
What exactly is your price range?
> ALSO: From what I can tell Swan(s) speaker systems are usually
> bass shy, but the particular models that I was looking at have
> separate subwoofers (legit ones for the floor, not the M10 desktop
> sub...)
The M10 is definitely bass "shy". AAMOF, the subwoofer -- if you can even call it that -- is specifically designed to be placed on the desktop with the satellites, so I can pretty much say with certainty that the M10 is not for you.
> but I cannot find these anywhere! I can't even figure out if they
> are in my price range so if any of you know either the prices of or
> even better where to buy the: Swan M20W, Swan M50W. I would really
> appreciate it...they are so beautiful.
The Swans definitely look and sound beautiful, and are VERY hard to find in this country. theaudioinsider.com is one of there US distributors, but they don't carry either of those. trax-audio.com is another one of Swans 5 distributors -- yup, that's right, Swans has only 5 authorized distributors for all of North America -- and is the place I bought my M20W's from. They were $150. The guy I dealt with is named Jeff Ostler (
jefftrax@gmail.com). Based upon what you need I don't know if the M20W is going to do it for you though. I suspect the M50W, which is $250 I think, might be the wiser choice.
The M20W does have much better bass then the M10, once they're broken in of course. However, the amp overheats if pushed hard for too long. I'm not certain your gaming would do it, but the rap/techno almost certainly would. I don't listen to my music at ear-bleeding levels, because it's just not my thing, but I will listen to it at an "aggressive" volume on occasion.
One of my favorite albums of all time is Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon. If you're a fan of the album you know that in order to fully enjoy it the volume must be turned up some. The M20W's sub can't get through the entire CD if I'm pushing them; it overheats. When that happens the speaker begins to sound like it's "blown", and if you don't lower the volume the sub starts to cut out. If you turn it down, and allow the amp to cool, then the sound comes back. Since rap/techno is often quite bass heavy you might encounter the same thing.
Truth be told, this problem is terribly disappointing for me. Swans is known for some very expensive high-end speakers, so for them to have a problem like that is surprising. And given the fact the M20W is like 6 model years old it's even more perplexing; you would assume they had fixed this problem a long time ago. I also have a set of Swans M12's, which are an earlier version of 2.1 speakers from them. That amp gets warm too, but it's never overheated on me once (which is why I bought the M20W's in the first place, because I loved the M12's and figured it would be an upgrade).
The M50W's subwoofer is bigger in all respects, so it might not suffer from the same problem when driven hard (like your music probably will) but I can't say for sure because I don't have the M50W. In spite of the overheating flaw I still like the sound of the M20W's. The clarity and precision is amazing. Because the satellites have no tweeter the very highest notes lack a little bit of "sparkle" but I often find myself still quite impressed with the detail I hear, something you just don't get from most other 2.1 systems.
If you opt to go in another direction, and don't want to buy anything mentioned above, I have maybe another half dozen high end 2.1 systems I can give you links for. All of them are from companies with reputations for good sounding systems.
) bass for techno and rap, but can still make me happy listening to classical music. I understand that speakers like this are usually harder to find in my pricerange but I'd like to get as close as I can.
)
What I agree with more, however, is that Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon NEEDS TO BE CRANKED! Unfortunately my unreasonably diverse music taste makes speakers hard to find, but I really appreciate your suggestions. As of this point I am probably trying to keep the speakers under $350.
Oh well. Thanks again so much for all of the help!
