i got a new computer and i really need speakers for it

rufus just kept turning it on and off every day for months over and over again until it finally popped!

? Can't imacs cope with being turned on and off? I turn mine off every day.

It's not so much the "off" as the "on". Each time you turn any computer on -- Mac or no -- you send a jolt of juice through it that's stronger than the normal operating current. Think of it this way: What's more likely to drive a nail into a board: Repeatedly striking it with a 5lb weight or striking it once and leaving the weight on it?

Now, granted, Macs have one part which is especially vulnerable to powercycling: The PRAM battery. These are about $7 + shipping, and most folks have no idea that they can resuscitate a "dead" Mac with a simple procedure. But other shit can break due to powercycling. For instance, today I killed a disk by powercycling its computer about 30 times.

The moral of the story is that you should leave yr computer on 24/7 and tune the energy saver settings so that it chews up minimal juice when idle.

i just blamed rufus because he was two and couldn't defend himself. he did turn it on and off A LOT. mostly off. then one day it did actually make a popping noise and i couldn't turn it on after that. i think it exploded. i was a little sad. that was the first computer i ever had. i bought it so that i could singlehandedly save the world of popular music criticism. mission accomplished. you did a heck of a job, greenie.

Microsoft should sign you up for a reverse Ellen Feiss.

I will never understand electronics. Most guidance for electrical items, including Macs, say that you should leave them on unless you're away for a few days or more.

Could they be more specific about the reasons? What are they telling me here? Is it because I wont be around to spot a fire beginning? That in fact their product needs careful watching in case it starts to go up in smoke?

I leave my computer on all the time, even if I go away for a few weeks. I suppose that if you live in an area that has thunderstorms, you might not want to take needless chances with yr computer when going away for an extended period of time. In that case, though, you'd want to unplug all the cables, not just the power cable. There's also a minimal energy savings, I suppose. Once, I came home from vacation to find my computer off and my UPS beeping like mad, which probably annoyed the cats all to hell.

anyone used creative gigaworks t20s? or any other creative speakers, for that matter? ta.

ay dudes

as you might have read on the "how awesome is opeth" thread, opeth blew out my came-with-the-box speakers. i'm treating this an as opportunity to buy some new ones. I don't need studio monitors or anything that serious, just looking for the best lay listener quality at the best price. I use Polks on my main setup, something along those lines would rock my socks.

<$75 is ideal, aesthetics a minor consideration. What do you guys have/love/loathe/suggest?

bueller

if $75 is your top range and you don't care about looks then why are you asking for advice?

"I need some paint for my house, moderately priced; off-white would be cool"

There's a lot of variety in the low range. I'm just asking if anybody has anything they'd recommend.

I usually hear good things about klipsch and altec lansing

Spherex satelites ala Mirage Omnipolar -- discontinued, yes, but available at Parts Express for $40/pair. Mate these with a sub and you'll be solid!

I blew my Klipsch's very quickly

thx dudes

What I'm using these days;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/njsouthall/Headphones%20and%20hi-fi/IMG_9749.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/njsouthall/Headphones%20and%20hi-fi/IMG_9747.jpg

"altec lansing" sounds like something out of a william gibson novel

So does Tracer Hand

I'm not sure what El Tomboto sounds like.

Scik Mouth your speakers appear to be getting higher and higher off the ground! Are they at ear height yet?

after reading your stuff on mastering and compression i kinda pictured you like this:

http://martion.de/english/orgonpics/org07.jpg

That's only the little hi-fi in the backroom. These are my headphones;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/njsouthall/Headphones%20and%20hi-fi/IMG_6580.jpg

This is the main stereo;

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/njsouthall/Headphones%20and%20hi-fi/IMG_6245.jpg

Although it's in a different house now.

Is that oxygen free cable?

It's Chord Company silver biwire stuff, now stripped out to two sets of single wire and running the backroom hi-fi and the bedroom stereo, while I got new stuff for the main hi-fi in the bigger room cos the speakers are further apart (single wire; biwire I now think of as snake-oil). Is it (and the new stuff) oxygen free? Fuck knows? Probably?

I got a new pair of Altec Lansings for the birthday. I hate to look a gifthorse in the subwoofer, but these things have obnoxiously low bass and tinny highs and nothing in between

I recommend the Cambridge soundworks computer 2.1 speakers.

They also bring out weird frequencies -- on a lot of old 78 era folky stuff, for example, they really bring out the scratchiness.

Would it improve the sound at all to get some kind of USB-to-8th-inch adapter instead of going straight out of the headphone jack or would that basically be redundant?

I have these at home: http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/StudioPro3.html

and some logitech thing at work. the logitechs go really loud but sound terrible. The m-audio's are no use at parties but sound good.

So does anyone have any experience with/opinions of Audioengine A2s? http://www.audioengineusa.com/a2_home.php

I'm willing to shell out the $200 if they'll fill the audio void in my life right now (stemming from lack of space for a proper stereo).

Also, worth shelling out a little more for a craigslist pair of A5s instead?

Also any opinions on the Soundsticks in comparison to the A2s?

Nothing? I'm a little disappointed in ILM today.

bump

If you love something, set it free.
If it comes back to you, it's yours.
If it doesn't, it never was.

ha.

the first step in good computer audio is getting an external USB dac

I hate how you can spend a lot of money on computer speakers and just not get the flava you want. Then you use some cheap old boombox speakers and get more "atmosphere".

Wait till February and get these - http://www.bowers-wilkins.co.uk/display.aspx?langid=2&infid=4503

Those aren't going to be cheap, are they? Hmm.

I'm in the same kind of boat here: I need something good that's not bank-breaking. Any advice gratefully received.

you need a good external USB dac because computers come with the absolute shittiest 5 cent onboard sound chips which operate in an extremely noisy (electronically) environment

No, I don't imagine they'll be cheap.

I've used these at work, they're alright - http://www.dv247.com/studio-equipment/edirol-ma-15d-digital-stereo-micro-active-monitors--27074

At home I run an optical out into an offboard DAC, and run that into a NAD amp and a pair of Q Acoustics speakers.

DACS are the dark side (^_^) I'd recommend investing in a good external audio interface over a DAC.

whatever you do move the signal outside of the noisy polluted inside of the computer. then you can run the signal to your regular setup

Agreed!

What exactly would constitute an "external audio interface"?

Hurting, do you ever read the Jazz D-bag thread anymore?

What do you guys make of this:

http://www.trustedreviews.com/mp3/review/2009/11/18/Sounds-Good-To-Me/p1

Best part was this:

The only person to get all four tracks right is someone who listens to their headphones at pitifully low volumes and hasn't attended any rock concerts. We can think of two explanations. One, the subject has particularly sensitive ears, so doesn't need to turn the volume up high. Two, the subject hasn't wrecked their hearing through years of listening to a walkman/MP3 player at high volumes and/or seeing Motorhead at the Hammersmith Odeon. Arguably, both apply.

So is it possible to just use a cheap USB sound adapter to eliminate the noise problem?

link?

yes, plugging a m-audio breakout box to my mbp gets much better sound.

hmmm, that's not a bad idea when i get some spare $$$. for those on a budget i've had 2 v different altec lansing setups in the past, and both of them had an insane bang-to-buck ratio. i mean, they weren't $5000 b&w's but for 150 bucks they sounded way better than you'd expect, and were well beyond passable.

you'd want to try a few in the store before choosing i'd imagine, i'm sure you could find a crappy one somewhere in their huge lineup of models if you looked hard enough

...altec lansing setups in the past, and both of them had an insane bang-to-buck ratio...for 150 bucks they sounded way better than you'd expect...

At the moment you can get the M-Audio Studiophile CX5 for $129. No offense but compared to those, any Altec Lansings will indeed sound like...Smurfwicks.

http://www.fastnbulbous.com/smurfwicks.jpg

btw, that price on the m-audio is PER SPEAKER. i'm returning the one I ordered because 400 bucks for a pair of speakers for a computer is ridiculous.

That's too bad. Too good to be true price for a pair. But they are pro studio monitors after all, not mass market computer speakers. What's ridiculous depends on what you mean by "for a computer." If your entire collection of music is in lossless or high quality compressed files on your computer, and you want music to sound good in your room, it's for your enjoyment. No reason for it to sound worse than an inexpensive stereo system.

These are priced lower, and are per pair - M-Audio Studiophile AV 40, http://www.amazon.com/M-Audio-Studiophile-130-watt-Bi-amplified-Reference/dp/B0014ID03Q/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_440. Over twice as much but still good value used are the BX8a Deluxe 130-watt Bi-amplified Studio Reference for $29393.

i already have studio monitors for my turntables/Traktor setup. I just want something to replace my Soundsticks that now rattle when i turn them up too loud. The room with the computer that needs the speakers is fairly small. I've got 4 JBLs in the living room where I run a 1/8" to RCA into a Yamaha receiver and use Airplay to stream my library from the main iTunes library upstairs. I should have looked at the item description a little closer. I was excpecting those monitors to be bookshelf sized but they're fairly large. I'm sure they sound amazing but it's overkill for my needs.

My links got mangled. $293 for that last one. The AV 40 are 20 watts each, and AV 30 are 15 each, at $98.

I updated my article to correct the M-Audio prices. You can get an idea of the sizes of their line here - http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=studiomonitors. It goes all the way down to the AV 20.

Actually, at the moment you can get a used CX 5 for $86. Not bad for a $469 list price.

an ilxor tipped me off to these on facebook.

http://minirigs.co.uk/

really really loud computer speakers. perfect for sitting in starbucks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqhSA_FCTQM

TS: al-oo-MIN-ee-um vs al-OO-min-um

Think I'll stick to my $22.00 Koss portaPro headphones

but i like that its really loud and portable. take over the public parks with miami bass.

True!

help

so, my current listening set-up =

speakers plugged into stereo system plugged into laptop

the stereo is very old and today has started turning itself off when knocked against. maybe the beginning of the end. it was always quite a fiddly set-up anyway - would i be able to acquire decent speakers that could plug directly into the laptop and bypass the stereo? if so could anyone recommend me some please?

THANKS ILM

I have an older model of these for my work computer, v inexpensive, plug & play - good sound quality.

This model has a usb connection that goes straight into your laptop, so it might be a good option?
http://www.amazon.com/Altec-Lansing-USB-Powered-Netbooks-BXR1320/dp/B004TMTRT0/ref=sr_1_15?ie=UTF8&qid=1351704786&sr=8-15&keywords=altec+lansing+computer+speakers

ooh thanks for that

i think my budget might go further up though - this'll be my primary listening set-up, not just a "speakers for convenience" thing. not after (and can't afford) the high-end audiophile stuff but could aim for £50-£100 i guess?

ah well then that's as far as my expertise goes, lol :)

yeah, i want a good quality 2.1 system for the new system i'm building. willing to spend like $300. any suggestions?

http://www.musicdirect.com/p-93815-focal-xs-21-multimedia-system-demo.aspx

Unsolicited: If you need speakers and are anywhere near a Fry's Electronics, this is a great deal on some YU2s http://www.frys.com/product/8575109

I'm pretty happy with my Edifier Exclaim chumpies.

https://www.amazon.com/Edifier-Exclaim-Bi-Amped-Speaker-e10/dp/B009XGH2HG

On rare occasions the left one will get a buzz in it but gently banging it usually fixes that. Or unplugging it and plugging it back in.

Might be somewhat lighter on bass than many of you would prefer.

Unsolicited.