Speakers for Powermac

Check out some of the harman kardon. Forgot the model, but I might be buying them in the near future.

For the price, nothing beats Altec Lansing...

http://www.alteclansing.com

Mrmac

good grief, try searching the forums. doesn't this get asked every other week around here?

seems to me there is a thread with *really* good reviews of products too

STAY AWAY FROM MASSMARKET MAINSTREAM SPEAKERS

Stay away from the street brands of speakers you see in your local computer stores, if you want real quality, with the minimal number of bogus words with good connotations tied to pieces of underlying crap, go with semi-professional grade. For 200, you can find something really, really good.

I'd recommend the Swan M200, according to The Audio Insider, these can be purchased through NewEgg now. And the Swan M200 is a hybrid between a set of studio monitors and a set of computer speakers, they used to be as cheap as 199.99 US, but I haven't checked on the pricing lately.

here is a review:
http://www.3dsoundsurge.com/reviews/SwanM200/M200-p7.html
I left the link at page 7, for musicality testings, feel free to roam around.

here is the website for swan M200's from the Swan Speakers:
http://www.swanspeaker.com/product/htm/view.asp?id=3

Attached is an image.

I personally auditioned these at a local speaker dealer, they are constructed with semi-audiophile grade materials, huge binding posts, and very good quality cabinetry. The built-in amp sounded clean and resourceful, the music was natural and smooth with beautiful imaging to the extent that any other computer speakers i have heard can not match these.

wow... is it me or does that last post look like an advert for those speakers?

anyway my recomendation is the JBL creatures. they look great and sond really good. i think that is all that needs to be said about them. oh they also dont cost $200 so you would have some money left over to buy something else!

I'm gonna say Cambridge SoundWorks*MicroWorks II ($150). Cambridge speakers (not creative), IMO, sounds the cleanest. But then again, you're talking about PC speakers nonetheless, so I wouldn't spend that much money on it.

russed said:

wow... is it me or does that last post look like an advert for those speakers?

anyway my recomendation is the JBL creatures. they look great and sond really good. i think that is all that needs to be said about them. oh they also dont cost $200 so you would have some money left over to buy something else!

Click to expand...

Hey, I'm just making some decent suggestions, as for alternatives, I'd go with anthony gallo's A'Diva spherical aluminum speakers and a Onkyo integrated amplifier R1 A-807. I don't work for any of those companies. I just use the A'diva's along with A-807 for my own musical tastes.

Attached is a picture of the A'divas.

For the last time, the OP is talking about PC computers here, not HT, so suggesting high end speakers is like telling people to buy super exotic sport coupes when all they need is a Honda Civic.

FuzzyBallz said:

For the last time, the OP is talking about PC computers here, not HT, so suggesting high end speakers is like telling people to buy super exotic sport coupes when all they need is a Honda Civic.

Click to expand...

Well, OP mentioned he will be doing home audio recording, for that, you'll need something nearfield and clean. And for his quote of 200 dollars, the Swan's i suggested to him fits his bill nicely as well as it is aimed at multimedia markets with the technologies watered down from the studio monitor market.

unfortuantely, these threads get you no where ...
How many times do we get peoples' 2 cents spilled out in a progression like this:

JBL Creatures
Harmon Kardon Sound Sticks
Klipsch THX 2.1's
Logitech Z200's
Bose Mediamates
Altec Lansing F6021
Klipsch GMX 5.1's

and on we go. You're just gonna have to listen and decide for yourself. Nobody is right and everybody is right.
Or as William Goldman, famed screenwriter, wrote: "no one knows anything."

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

djkny is so right on about that...

If you have some serious cash to drop ($995), there have been many great reviews of the Xhifi system:

http://www.xhifi.com/

I like the logitech ones i forgot the model but the ones that u can order through apple, i heard those things at a compusa and they are amazing. I might get a pair for my pb. only prob they are expensive but worth it., if not i like the altec lansi

as an alternative, i will suggest a headphone solution that, for $200, will sound like a $2000 system...perfect for audio recording. it will sound better than any of the computer speaker alternatives suggested so far:

run a connection from the line out into a headphone amplifier like the inexpensive Pimeta: $100-150

open headphones like the grado sr-60 or sr-80: $60-80

music will sound much better...and if you really want to go all out, get a dedicated sound card and kick-a$$ headphones. just my humble opinion...

The Swan or other "real" HiFi speakers are way better than any computer speaker and thats that. M-Audio and other makes active speakers but also things like a 80 dollar NAD amplifer and a pair of 120 dollar speaker will sound far better than those computer speaker brands.

If you buy ordinary HiFi speakers do note that they are made for far field listening that is a couple of meters between you and the speakers with the classical computer speaker setup you have them less than a meter from you, so this is the way you have to test them

Wow, I was going to recommend the Swan M200's, but I see someone has already beat me to it. If you are looking for quality 2.0 speakers, then the M200 is some of the best you can get for the money. It doesn't have a sub, so you won't have any boomy bass coming from under your desk, but music generally isn't made to listen to with a sub. If you must have a sub, then i'd recommend the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 set. Both sound excellent.

Jigglelicious said:

Wow, I was going to recommend the Swan M200's, but I see someone has already beat me to it. If you are looking for quality 2.0 speakers, then the M200 is some of the best you can get for the money. It doesn't have a sub, so you won't have any boomy bass coming from under your desk, but music generally isn't made to listen to with a sub. If you must have a sub, then i'd recommend the Klipsch Promedia 2.1 set. Both sound excellent.

Click to expand...

NewEgg sold out of the swan's. Where else can you get them? 'been looking everywhere ...

djkny said:

NewEgg sold out of the swan's. Where else can you get them? 'been looking everywhere ...

Click to expand...

http://www.theaudioinsider.com used to carry them, but now they also refer to NewEgg for purchasing, that's rather sad.

I'd recommend contacting Swan directly to find out dealers in your area:
http://www.swanspeaker.com/contactus.html

-Hope this helps

djkny said:

NewEgg sold out of the swan's. Where else can you get them? 'been looking everywhere ...

Click to expand...

Just noticed you can get it off their website directly...

Maxx Power said:

Just noticed you can get it off their website directly...

Click to expand...

really? I only see that for the Swan M-120's (which are grotesque looking) not for the M200's ...

Is there anyone using the Klipsch GMX 5.1's? I would like to hear someone's opinion.

does bose have anything good for use with the computer?

Bose and Good in the same sentence? Doesn't compute... System Error...

Another suggestion would be using audiophile headphones instead of cheap computer speakers. Check out Audio Technica ATH-A900. Reviews at head-fi.org. Best $195 you can spend on a pair of headphones w/o buying addition headphone amp, cable upgrade, ear pad switching. Excellent sound, very very comfortable, and better built-quality than even Senns HD6xx cans.