Speakers?

[Cavalry]

Well, I am now ready to upgrade to a new set of speakers, the set that came with my PC have no bass at all.
I have a set of Creative Labs with a giant subwoofer, but the speakers aren't working (I only get static) so the bass is usable.
unfortunately, my current speaker cable wont fit into the bass, so, can anybody recommend me a new set of speakers?

 

[Eejit]

Price range?
Number of channels?

 

[Cavalry]

$0-600

Number of Channels-doesn't matter

 

[[Matt]]

You make no mention of what sort of speaker set you're after? 5.1? 2.1? if you were to ask me 5.1 speakers are nice but I've owned a few 5.1 speaker sets and not one of them has come close to matching my current speaker set of Acoustic Energy Aego 2.1 set.

http://www.acoustic-energy.co.uk/Product_range/Aego_series/Aego_M.asp

best speakers i've ever owned by a country mile...

 

[MRG]

I have the system linked to directly below & they are Woot! For the price.
1)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121121

High End Speaker system - GigaWorks™ S750
1)http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?product=9306&category=4&subcategory=113

Of course you'll want to have a top-notch sound card to send the best signal you can to those speakers & while there are quite a few options out there, I only advise The Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro. http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=209&subcategory=669&product=14064

-MRG

 

[Cavalry]

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/speakers_audio/home_pc_speakers/devices/231&cl=us,en

I have been looking at these from Logitech, but the color...the reflective looking/shiny silver speakers and bass don't match my PC's dulled silver look.

[Matt],I like those, how noticeable are they?

MRG, those first Logitech's are nice, but how do I know what sound card I have? (I never opened up my PC)

 

[WhiteZero]

The very best speakers for sub-$300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121120
Logitech Z-5500

These come highly recommended. 90% of people gave it 5/5, out of almost 1000 votes.

 

[Gray Fox]

I heard this one is really good:
http://www.klipsch.com/products/details/promedia-ultra-5-1.aspx

 

[Viperidae]

Am I the only one who just hasn't been convinced by 5.1? Two of these would be sub-600. Or if size is a problem, the rp6.

 

[MRG]

MRG, those first Logitech's are nice, but how do I know what sound card I have? (I never opened up my PC)

There are a few easy ways to check:

1)Look at the back of your PC. Where your speakers plug in, do they plug in to the motherboard itself? If so, you are using onboard sound. Onboard sound is for the most part, generic. while some are better than others, none can readily match the performance or quality of a dedicated sound card. See pic below.

Common Onboard Sound Location - Bottom of Pic. "Audio Out Jack"
http://www.techiwarehouse.com/i/Motherboard/Motherboard2.jpg

If your current speakers are plugged into a jack thats similar to the above pic, well then you are using onboard sound. This is the easiest way to check. If your speakers don't plug into a jack like the one in the pic above, check to see if your speakers plug into your motherboard via a USB cable. This is not so common anymore. If it's not, then you have a dedicated sound card.

Location of Dedicated Sound Card
http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/7179/pcicovers9lt.jpg

To find out the type of sound card you have is simple:

Click on START - Control Panel - Sounds & Audio Devices Icon

The very first screen to pop up after doing the above step should list out what you have. Another way to check is to:

Right click on "My Computer" & click on Properties.
Click on the Hardware Tab & then click on the Device Manager tab.
Scroll down to "Sound, Video & Game Controllers" Expand to view. This will tell you what type of audio device you are using.

Just to add to my earlier comment about the best Sound Card, you don't have to get the Elite version, it's just the best is all. Any X-Fi sound card is gonna kick all kinds of Arse.

The X-fi's EMU20K1 audio chip operates at 400 MHz and has 51 million transistors. The computational power of this processor, i.e. its performance, is estimated as 10,000 MIPS (million instructions per second), which is actually about 24 times higher than the estimated performance of its predecessor?the Audigy processor.

-MRG

 

[Vegeta897]

Am I the only one who just hasn't been convinced by 5.1? Two of these would be sub-600. Or if size is a problem, the rp6.

We have a winner.

Ditch the consumer speakers and go pro. If you don't care about having surround sound 5.1 or nonsense, and want the cleanest, most balanced signal possible, go for these.

 

[Eejit]

Value of surround sound depends on what you're doing.

It's great for FPS games and playing films which support it. Some types of music benefit more from it than others.