[DADDYDC650]

I'm thinking about buying some new speakers for my PC. The Corsair SP2500 looks great for the price and I'm reading great things about them. I was wondering if anyone knew any alternatives for under $300 that would beat out the Corsair SP2500 in clarity and loudness. Thinking maybe some passive speakers with a not so big stereo amp or maybe powered speakers? Also, I would like the speakers to be around the same size as the satellites from the SP2500's. Thanks good people of Head-Fi!
 
Forgot to mention that I'll be doing a lot of gaming (FPS, action/adventure/racing) as well as watching movies and listening to different types of music. I love bass but I don't want it to overwhelm mids and highs.  I've read that the Corsair SP2500 sounds great and can rock the house. 

 

[escobar090]

Not sure if you like 2.0 but i've read well about the Audioengine A2+, it has a built in DAC, so you woudnt need a receiver.
 
 
And they look really nice
 
http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Powered-Speaker-Systems/A2-plus-W-Powered-Desktop-Speakers
 
 
They're in the $250 range. of course you could to U$400 and get the A5+ 

 

[DADDYDC650]

  Not sure if you like 2.0 but i've read well about the Audioengine A2+, it has a built in DAC, so you woudnt need a receiver.
 
 
And they look really nice
 
http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Powered-Speaker-Systems/A2-plus-W-Powered-Desktop-Speakers
 
 
They're in the $250 range. of course you could to U$400 and get the A5+ 

They look nice. I'll have to look into those especially the A5+. 
 
Question, what about some passive speakers along with one of those small stereo amps?

 

[flailure]

I have the corsair, and my friend has the a2s. The corsair are pretty good but not as good as the a2. However, corsair has some really good bass, and their mids aren't too bad thanks to the separate amps, though really notice the crossover. The a2s are fairly bass anemic for a gaming computer, but will sound better when playing music

Usually I use the corsair to play games and watch movies and headphones for music

 

[DADDYDC650]

I have the corsair, and my friend has the a2s. The corsair are pretty good but not as good as the a2. However, corsair has some really good bass, and their mids aren't too bad thanks to the separate amps, though really notice the crossover. The a2s are fairly bass anemic for a gaming computer, but will sound better when playing music

Usually I use the corsair to play games and watch movies and headphones for music

Seems like I would be better off with the A2's or A5+. I'm wondering if the best choice financially would be to buy a set of passive speakers along with a nice small stereo amp? How would that compare to the A2/A5+? 

 

[flailure]

I don't have a lot of experience with good passives, although I know there are some great options and a lot of customization available. A lot of people have been buying a headphone amp that doubles as a speaker amp (I think schiit has one) to simplify their setup. Could start with one of those with some decent speakers, add a self powered sub, and then add some good headphones, maybe a decent dac at some point, but a 3.5mm to rca splitter to get started

 

[imeem]

I have the A2s (not the A2+) and IMO, they are not worth the full price. But they sound good for their size. 

 

[James neutron]

There are lots of great active monitors out there inside your 300$ budget.
I would bet all of them will have better performance and more extended bass response than A5+.
I haven't done straight comparisons A/B but I have personal experience with most of them.
The A5+ are a bit pricey, IMO, strictly from a sound quality point of view because there are many cheaper studio monitors offering substantially better performance across the board.
I don't consider them overpriced though, because they come with extra features the others don't have (remote control and usb chargeability, mainly).
 
My advice for you is to have a look at some monitors like KRK RP5G2 Rokit, Mackie MR5 mk3, or MR6 mk3, M-Audio BX5, ESI near05 Xperience (if they're still in production) and maybe others.
 
The reason I'm making this suggestion is because coming from a quite powerful 2.1 setup and doing lots of gaming and movies, I'm quite sure you will miss bass response badly.
A2 is a wonderful little speaker, but it's also a tiny speaker with very sharp limitations. Although I'm sure you'll appreciate some of its qualities (and there are many) you'll also get hampered by it's shortcomings.
A5+ are also great and will do all that A2 does, just better and with a lot more bass response.
My only reticence to it is based on the price, simply because you can do better (more bass and better overall sound) for quite a bit less.

 

[DADDYDC650]

Which of those monitors that you suggested would be the best one? Amazon has the KRK RP5G3-NA Rokit 5 Generation 3, Mackie MR5MK3 , Mackie MR mk3 and the M-Audio BX5 D2. I'm also interested in the 5 inch mono price powered speakers. So many options yet so little info.
 
The KRK RP8G3-NA Rokit 8 Generation 3  looks nice as well. Wonder if the price difference is worth it. I'll be hooking speakers up to my Creative ZXR sound card BTW. 

 

[James neutron]

Based on sound alone I'd say KRK.
I haven't listened to the new G3, but the G2 was in my view the best I've heard at the price. I also liked very much the ESI near05 xperience especially for it's midrange and imaging but I see they're no longer made.
Mind you I did not listen to all monitors in that price range, only the ones I mentioned and a few others not qualified (SQ wise) to mention.
 
Regarding the Monoprice monitors I assume they're OEM produced, and given the rock bottom price I don't think they can stand up to well established monitors.
They could be great but I don't think you can built something at half the price and make it sound as good.
Anyway, until you mentioned them I didn't even know Monoprice do studio monitors, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

 

[DADDYDC650]

  Based on sound alone I'd say KRK.
I haven't listened to the new G3, but the G2 was in my view the best I've heard at the price. I also liked very much the ESI near05 xperience especially for it's midrange and imaging but I see they're no longer made.
Mind you I did not listen to all monitors in that price range, only the ones I mentioned and a few others not qualified (SQ wise) to mention.
 
Regarding the Monoprice monitors I assume they're OEM produced, and given the rock bottom price I don't think they can stand up to well established monitors.
They could be great but I don't think you can built something at half the price and make it sound as good.
Anyway, until you mentioned them I didn't even know Monoprice do studio monitors, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I'm leaning towards the KRK RP8G3-NA Rokit 8 Generation 3. They look great. I'll have to do some more research before I spend that kind of money. Thanks for the input.

 

[James neutron]

I agree, it's best to read as much as you can about all the options you have available before pulling the trigger.
If you have the possibility to listen to a few of them, that would be even better and I'd highly recommend you do that.
 
Regarding RP8 I will only say this: make sure you don't go over board for the sake of bass extension alone.
Sound quality between RP8 and RP5 and 6 is largely identical. Only thing you have extra is more bass response, generally speaking.
And there is an inherent risk about getting too large a speaker - namely room placement and room acoustics. Larger monitors are more picky about this and often times the bass can become overpowering and not very nice sounding because of reflections and reinforcement from the room at certain frequencies.
They generally need solid stands and lots of room to breathe to sound best, which is not always doable and not cheap either.
You do have treble and bass filters on the back of most monitors, so you can cut away excess frequencies and help the monitor blend in better with the room.
But if you do that with an RP8 you'll be throwing away most of the reasons you'll be buying it for, compared to it's smaller siblings.
 
Now, even RP5 has absolutely top notch extension for it's size and it may be the most extended in the bass compared to the other 5" monitors in this price range. They will be perfectly adequate in that regard.
And RP6 adds even more extension and authority in the sound and, IMO, would be the best compromise between the two - a 5" and a 8" monitor.
So that's also worth considering.
 
At any rate you should go ahead and read as much as you can find about your options so you have the best overall perspective before making your final choice.