Maximum PC

HI guys
i want to get new speakers for my PC but i don't know which to get. I was originally going get something like Logitech z523s or edifier e3350s but then after a post in the help me buy section i started thinking about studio speakers from m-audio or audioengine. At which point i realized that 200 dollar speakers on integrated audio isn't a great idea.

here's a list of what i want.
speakers (2.0 or 2.1)
to connect PS3, PC and iPod to speakers
less than $250
sound card if required

thank you very much

i guess not alot of people check out this section of the forum

How much do you want to spend on the sound card?

oh i meant if i do need a sound card both it and speakers are to be less than 250

I would recommend against a sound card then. It would leave too little for good speakers.

actually i was thinking of getting this leaving 150 for speakers

You'd get better quality by getting $250 speakers as opposed to a $100 sound card and $150 speakers. I hate to break it to you, but a $150 speaker set isn't high-end. If your budget was $500, then I would say investing in a $100 sound card is worth it. What priorities to you have? Is this mostly for music, movies, or gaming?

Games>music>movies

If games are your top priority, I hate to break it to you. But the golden era where sound cards mattered, and games were programmed to make use of them... that golden era ended over 10 years ago. When Creative sued the shit out of their only competitor, and despite losing in the end, left their competitor in a hole legal fees so deep they went bankrupt, and were forced to sell Creative every patent Creative was found guilty of infringing.

This is why today most gamers use onboard sound, or sound processing built into a usb headset dongle. Heck, Creative doesn't even bother trying to get game devs to use their EAX technology no more. No point, they have no competition, no incentive to innovate. I truly believe as far as PC gaming is concerned, soundcards today don't even compare to tech from 10+ years ago...

Your money is better spent on speakers

well if thats the case then the budget goes to $200
also the speaker has to be shorter than 7.5" without feet or 7.75" with feet

maybe start your research here

http://www.maximumpc.com/articles/revie ... e/speakers

why are you limiting your budget on speakers anyway? A good set of speakers would outlive every other PC component/accessory you own.

I run an original Klipsch 4.1 promedia set, its close to 10 years old and still sounds great, even compared to what's out now. In fact, I have one friend who's convinced my original promedias sound better than his klipsch promedia gmx. Originally I think I paid about $400.

Yeah a good set of speakers live on with new builds. Your old Klipsch are the good ones. Klipsch are no where as good as they once where. I think they have gone way down in quality. I wish I had bought them 9 years ago, but I got the high end creative set up (still have it today and they sound good I think they where around $300). But the Klipsch had a warmer deeper sound to them, just couldn't spend the extra dough. But here I am still using them 9 years later.

I would love to find an older set of Klipsch they sound great, I've listened to the new ones, and well I'll just keep my old set.

umm TBH i dont want full on professinal speakers the most i was looking at were m-audio av30s or logitech z2300 around the less than 150 price point but if it was massive leap for a bit extra then ok. but i'm no audiophile or anything but i want to learn what is crap set sounds like and what is good set sounds like

The first set are studio monitor speakers. They're more for people who create music, and they should be alot less than $150, since it has no sub.

For gaming, you definitely want a sub. The logitech z2300 are a very well reviewed set. But I've never heard a set in person. I would try to hear all the systems you're considering, though I understand that's usually difficult.

well i guess the biggest problem of all is that i dont know whats crap and whats good.
actually do speaker specs mean anything if they do could you explain them to me

specs tell you somethings, but not the whole story

like watts is a good measure of how loud the system can get, but it won't tell you how loud it can get without distorting. Response/Frequency Range, will tell you how low, and how high the system can play, but it won't tell you if there are any frequency gaps.