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A decent Desktop PC speaker setup. Anyone?


Mickyk

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Edifier (as designed by Phil Jones) make loads of active bookshelf sized speakers. If you can find a pair and have the space, the 1855rb are superb. I used to use them and upgraded to some bigger ones. Bluetooth them to your pc (sounds much better than using headphone out/ preamp in) and they work a treat. They turn up on Facebook/ eBay all the time for around £100 secondhand. 
 

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3 minutes ago, pineweasel said:

Presonus Eris 3.5 are pretty good for the money

My brother has those, whilst he now also has the matching sub they were great without. Superb little things. Gives my monitors a run for the money and mine were £300+.

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11 hours ago, itu said:

Buy an old 80's hifi amp or receiver (anything from 2x20 W is good enough) and two used small hifi speakers. There's your cheap, quality sound.

 

That's what I've got - Technics amp and a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 220 speakers for the downstairs PC, Marantz amp and a pair of Kefs for upstairs.

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If i was doing my PC set up again, I'd get another one of these:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255349193203?chn=ps&_ul=GB&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-166974-033325-9&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=255349193203&targetid=2315464899086&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9191485&poi=&campaignid=20577890846&mkgroupid=165388023833&rlsatarget=pla-2315464899086&abcId=9322158&merchantid=113745596&geoid=9191485&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwi5q3BhCiARIsAJCfuZkw7zgZWtO0o0M1Ih-0fcB-f-60K5twDhkebvt9JLqn315KTi3vTr0aAssfEALw_wcB

 

I've got one in my living room and its lovely and has multiple inputs including bluetooth so it can be used multiple ways. Connect it up by USB to get use of the DAC and It also gives you hands on EQ to tweak to the room and/or the tune. Pretty certain these get heavy discounts from time to time too.

 

I'd then pair it up with some 2nd hand passive hifi speaker, which can be had for less than £50 easily if you look about.

 

Ok, theres more cabling involved, but for me, this would sound infitely better with much more uses than just getting a couple of active speakers - I've got the mackie CR3s  currently which are in your budget and they just sound so lifeless.  In fact, I might look into upgrading after writing this!

 

 

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2 hours ago, pineweasel said:

Presonus Eris 3.5 are pretty good for the money

 

+1

 

Although I would go for the 4.5 if possible. They seemed a bit better sounding too me (and that's what I now use)

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I use a secondhand 1990's TEAC amp with some secondhand Technics speakers. Easy set up, sounds really good for my needs and the lot cost me 40 euros. You can go higher spec and spend tons of cash but it depends how far you want to go with it all?

 

Can have a laptop, a CD player, and a turntable all hooked up and ready to go. Have used the same setup to listen back to mixes, as I'm familiar enough with the amp + speakers combo to check for balance or phase issues. 
 

Worth thinking about, for sure. 👍 

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I've got a pair of M-Audio speakers that run off a Focusrite Scarlet.  They're delightfully loud.  You could easily find a pair close to your budget.

 

Going back in time somewhat, about 20 years ago, I bought a Dell PC from the Dell Outlet store.  Back then, Dell would make hundreds of PCs for deals in computing magazines; once the promotion was over, they'd discount the remainder and allow you to customise things when shipping.

 

The PC came with a frankly fantastic 2.1 set up...powered sub and two satellite speakers.  It sounded awesome, loud, totally great.  Stupidly dumped the whole setup when I bought our current computer as the connections were incompatible.  In hindsight, I'm certain I could have hotwired it somehow to work with our TV in the extension.

 

 

 

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i'm in the Hifi amp and small speakers camp, currently a Trends T-amp and a pair of JPW Minims.

there are lots of cheap T-class amps available now (the Trends isn't that cheap but i got mine secondhand) and small hifi speakers are easily available from facebook marketplace or ebay.

 

My setup will go fairly loud and the quality is very good. I like having a single easy to reach volume control, my last setup of active speakers had all the controls on the back of one speaker and it was annoying to adjust and switch on and off as i couldn't see any of the controls.

 

Matt

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2 minutes ago, Matt P said:

Hifi amp and small speakers

We have music at work from a large (1600+) playlist I've put together on Spotify. It plays through an early 90s Sansui amp I got off ebay for £20 and a pair of JBL control 1 speakers. The sound is excellent, it goes far louder than we need and it's been going for 12.5 years at 8 hours a day, 362 days per year without missing a beat.

The JBLs are still made and Richer Sounds are doing 'em for £79...

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3 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

We have music at work from a large (1600+) playlist I've put together on Spotify. It plays through an early 90s Sansui amp I got off ebay for £20 and a pair of JBL control 1 speakers. The sound is excellent, it goes far louder than we need and it's been going for 12.5 years at 8 hours a day, 362 days per year without missing a beat.

The JBLs are still made and Richer Sounds are doing 'em for £79...

i was originally looking for a pair of control 1's until i remembered the JPW's in the back of the cupboard.  (which i think i got free when a shop was having a refit)

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Buying a used hI fi amp and small speakers is a good shout. If you already have a hi-fi, you can just use that. ART make a cheap stereo transformer/isolator box with XLR, jack and RCA ins and outs that does the job.

 

The little Presonus speakers mentioned above are good for the money and there are plenty of other compact powered budget monitors from options from M Audio, Mackie, Yamaha et al. Active speakers are less bother because you don't have to worry about a lot of connections/wires - PC to amp, amp to speakers, etc - or finding a home for the amp.

Edited by Dan Dare
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A second vote for eris 3.5s phenomenal All around powered desktop speakers .. I've used them for everything from pc use to cinema speakers for my projector  to small event speakers ... 

 

Amazing value for money 

Edited by synthaside
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I recently bought a set of these, they're Edifier S351DB's.

They're a great sounding set, they have a choice connection options, inc 3.5 jack, Bluetooth or Optical.

They're a bit pricey at £249, but well worth it, besides what the other half doesn't know won't kill me will it?

Edifier.jpg

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I ended up getting the Presonus Eris 3.5 BT Gen 2s as others have said they really are great for the brass. I am in no way affiliated to Presonus so it's not a plug.

 

I must admit though i did consider going down the cheap second hand  HI FI Amp and cheap speakers but the only that did deter me was the lack of space i have i my little home Studio and the actual desk i have ,i would have needed a new one but couldn't afford one as i'm one of those rich pensioners that Kier keeps bangin on about.

 

Anyway a big thank you to all that posted with some excellent info on the subject. 

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I have a Bose companion 3 which was a nice set-up but using the PC today it seems to have packed up so plugged in my Meters cubes I've had connected to my work laptop when WFH.

Need to do a proper check on the Bose to see what the issue is.

If it's dead then the replacement plan will probably be something like the Douk valve amp mentioned above as I have a spare pair of Mission bookshelf speakers.

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