What computer speakers to get?

[justhavingfun]

Yes, I am very satisfied with Airmotiv 4 like you. Ever since I installed these speakers, my head and headphones get lots of rest.

 

[Cry Havoc]

Just picked up the JBL SLR305's for $220. Not bad.jpg. Looking forward to the upgrade, will report back here with impressions afterward.

 

[xivlia]

i can never seem to enjoy pc audio, so i use my wharfedale diamond 10 series

 

[Cry Havoc]

i can never seem to enjoy pc audio, so i use my wharfedale diamond 10 series

I'm anxious to see how the JBL's stack up to my home theater (Mirage OM-12 Omnipolars).

 

[UntilThen]

I love my free Bose Companion 5

 

[helian]

I'm thinking about getting a pair of Pioneer S-DJ50X, but I have no way of listening before buying. Anyone heard these speakers ? How they compare with the Yamaha HS5 ?
They will be used with a Fiio E07K, until I can get a better DAC.


Thanks,

 

[drtebi]

Not sure if that has been mentioned yet but...
The reason why your system sounds different (apart from a rattling problem) is simply the different room.

If your new room has nothing but blank walls, ceiling, and hardwood floors, your room acoustics are just bad. Put a carpet in there, and sound will be better. A big bookshelf filled with books, again better. Thick curtains, better again. Of course there is much more science to that than these simple suggestions, but room acoustics make a huge difference with your sound. $20.000 speakers are not gonna give you audio nirvana if your room is an echo chamber.

Just something to think about...

 

[nuraman00]

For some reason I stopped getting notifications of this thread in March.

I just got a notification yesterday of a new response.

I caught up and read pages 14 - 20 today.

I'm the OP, I ended up sampling the JBL 308 and the Airmotiv 6s. I couldn't tell either apart on most tracks I tested, so I kept the Airmotiv 6s.

At some point, I might add a subwoofer or wireless adapter or wireless receiver. But it's a "nice to have". For 95% of things, this is pretty good.

https://www.wired.com/2014/08/bluetooth-audio-adapters/

 

[Pharmaboy]

For some reason I stopped getting notifications of this thread in March.

I just got a notification yesterday of a new response.

I caught up and read pages 14 - 20 today.

I'm the OP, I ended up sampling the JBL 308 and the Airmotiv 6s. I couldn't tell either apart on most tracks I tested, so I kept the Airmotiv 6s.

At some point, I might add a subwoofer or wireless adapter or wireless receiver. But it's a "nice to have". For 95% of things, this is pretty good.

https://www.wired.com/2014/08/bluetooth-audio-adapters/

Welcome back! The Airmotiv 6s were 1 of 2 Heil tweeter designs that really interested me (the other was the Hedd Type 07). Both were a little large for my desk, and the Hedd is kind of expensive. I ended up going w/the ZenPro modded Yamaha HS7s, which have some outstanding pluses & a couple minuses.

If you want to add a really good sub for cheap, try the SVS SB1000 (sealed 12" sub). It's plenty for my 13 X 14 office. It also has a crossover arrangement allowing you to run RCA interconnects to it, then back out to your monitors (which reproduce everything above 80 Hz). It sounds more than good enough to keep me going.

I have a Marchand 2-way crossover here w/adjustable crossover point. One of these days I'll wire that in and see if the SVS sub's crossover was costing me anything sonically. But I've really felt no compulsion to do that...not yet, anyway.

 

[nuraman00]

Welcome back! The Airmotiv 6s were 1 of 2 Heil tweeter designs that really interested me (the other was the Hedd Type 07). Both were a little large for my desk, and the Hedd is kind of expensive. I ended up going w/the ZenPro modded Yamaha HS7s, which have some outstanding pluses & a couple minuses.

If you want to add a really good sub for cheap, try the SVS SB1000 (sealed 12" sub). It's plenty for my 13 X 14 office. It also has a crossover arrangement allowing you to run RCA interconnects to it, then back out to your monitors (which reproduce everything above 80 Hz). It sounds more than good enough to keep me going.

I have a Marchand 2-way crossover here w/adjustable crossover point. One of these days I'll wire that in and see if the SVS sub's crossover was costing me anything sonically. But I've really felt no compulsion to do that...not yet, anyway.

Thanks for the recommendation. That subwoofer looks great. I just don't know if I want to spend $1000 combined on monitors + subwoofer.

Also, when demoing the JBL and the Airmotivs, I started to regret comparing two similar systems.

I wished I had tried one 2.1 system instead, especially because I was coming from a 2.1 system.

This was what was on my radar, at that time.

https://www.chanemusiccinema.com/m50w

Why did Heil tweeter design, and Hedd Type 07 interest you? I don't know anything about those types, but am interested in why you liked those the best.

 

[George Taylor]

You folks are making me feel inadequate. I've never really felt the need to go to heavily into my sound system on my pc. Well, beyond the amp/headphone thing, that is. I did recently get a pair of Kanto YU2 speakers from Amazon on a warehouse deal for around $150 USD, and I really like them. I did do the subwoofer thing a few years back, but I usually am tight room wise with my desk. I'd rather use the space for a nice monitor.

 

[theveterans]

I invested mine on speakers as they provide a engaging sound than headphones for less

 

[nuraman00]

You folks are making me feel inadequate. I've never really felt the need to go to heavily into my sound system on my pc. Well, beyond the amp/headphone thing, that is. I did recently get a pair of Kanto YU2 speakers from Amazon on a warehouse deal for around $150 USD, and I really like them. I did do the subwoofer thing a few years back, but I usually am tight room wise with my desk. I'd rather use the space for a nice monitor.

If you like them, then that's all that matters.

I'm glad you found something you're happy with.

 

[Pharmaboy]

Thanks for the recommendation. That subwoofer looks great. I just don't know if I want to spend $1000 combined on monitors + subwoofer.

Also, when demoing the JBL and the Airmotivs, I started to regret comparing two similar systems.

I wished I had tried one 2.1 system instead, especially because I was coming from a 2.1 system.

This was what was on my radar, at that time.

https://www.chanemusiccinema.com/m50w

Why did Heil tweeter design, and Hedd Type 07 interest you? I don't know anything about those types, but am interested in why you liked those the best.

I know all about HIVI speakers. The powered monitors I had (still have/stored in boxes now) were HIVI/Swan Audio M200 MKIIIs. Very nice sound.

I wasn't specifically interested in Heil tweeters. Nevertheless, an entire sub-genre of powered studio monitors have been built around these tweeters, now variously called ART tweeters and other things (ie, ADAM Audio, Hedd Audio, Emotiva, etc). In seeking replacements for the Swans, I looked for 3 things:

1. Monitor dimensions that would fit my desk
2. Minimum 6" bass/mid-bass unit
3. And most important, that somewhere in the many user comments (and a few reviews), that actual owners of whatever monitors I chose would describe them as sounding good for music appreciation (as distinguished from the music mixing & mastering these monitors are usually used for).

I read thousands of user comments for dozens & dozens of monitors that interested me. And of all the Heil/ART tweeter-included designs, the Emotiva and Hedd models were more often described as actually sounding good.

By contrast, many other models with those tweeters were fairly often described as being extremely "detailed," "accurate," having "razor-sharp transients," and all the other code-words for BRIGHT.

I ended up w/monitors having trad silk dome tweeters, which all things considered, are lot less likely to make monitors into treble cannons (though it's not impossible--so many studio monitors are described as peaky in upper midrange & treble, kind of merciless).

As for comparing 2 similar systems (JBL 308 and Airmotivs), I kind of admire that you were able to do that. Where I live such a thing is not possible.

 

[nuraman00]

I know all about HIVI speakers. The powered monitors I had (still have/stored in boxes now) were HIVI/Swan Audio M200 MKIIIs. Very nice sound.

I wasn't specifically interested in Heil tweeters. Nevertheless, an entire sub-genre of powered studio monitors have been built around these tweeters, now variously called ART tweeters and other things (ie, ADAM Audio, Hedd Audio, Emotiva, etc). In seeking replacements for the Swans, I looked for 3 things:

1. Monitor dimensions that would fit my desk
2. Minimum 6" bass/mid-bass unit
3. And most important, that somewhere in the many user comments (and a few reviews), that actual owners of whatever monitors I chose would describe them as sounding good for music appreciation (as distinguished from the music mixing & mastering these monitors are usually used for).

I read thousands of user comments for dozens & dozens of monitors that interested me. And of all the Heil/ART tweeter-included designs, the Emotiva and Hedd models were more often described as actually sounding good.

By contrast, many other models with those tweeters were fairly often described as being extremely "detailed," "accurate," having "razor-sharp transients," and all the other code-words for BRIGHT.

I ended up w/monitors having trad silk dome tweeters, which all things considered, are lot less likely to make monitors into treble cannons (though it's not impossible--so many studio monitors are described as peaky in upper midrange & treble, kind of merciless).

As for comparing 2 similar systems (JBL 308 and Airmotivs), I kind of admire that you were able to do that. Where I live such a thing is not possible.

Thanks for sharing.

I had those systems shipped. Then after trying them out, I returned the ones I didn't want.

I had both side by side (so all I would have to do is just switch the 3.5mm cable going into my PC sound card). They took up a lot of desk space, haha. But it's what I had to do if I wanted to compare 2 things.

If I'm reading this post correctly below, you have the Yamaha HS7?

Your budget barely cover either option you describe: 2 X Yamaha HS8 or HS5 + HS8S sub; or 2 X JBL305s + JBL sub. My vote would be Yamaha, as the monitors seem to have zero, or very low self-noise when driven by XLR cables, and I've heard otherwise about the JBLs, which a lot of people love (but still).

If it were me, I'd get stock HS7s ($699) + a better sub, the SVS SB-1000 (12" driver; $499). You could save a little $$ by buying the HS7s used (they're out there); and buying the sub at the SVS outlet. The Yamaha sub has a different I/O design than the SVS: the Yamaha has unbalanced + balanced input pairs; and 1 balanced output pair. There's no crossover, so you could connect your monitors via XLR cables from the sub, the only drawback being that the monitors are full range + sub. By contrast, the SVS sub has only unbalanced inputs & outputs--but the output pair comes off a 12 dB/octave crossover that cuts out bass frequencies below 80Hz. It works well, but you're limited to unbalanced cables...

I have these monitors + sub, and it's a LOT of good sound for not a lot of money