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Which Speakers?

ibookin'

ibookin'

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 7, 2002
1,164
0
Los Angeles, CA
As my iMac will be departing soon (going back to its owner :(), and I cannot use its Pro Speakers (which I bought for it on clearance for $20) with my PowerBook, I need to buy some new speakers.

I would like some small, good sounding speakers with a standard 1/4" plug, hopefully something that matches my PowerBook.

Any ideas? Thanks.
 
I'm really happy with my set of JBL Duet 2.0's. A stylish 2-piece set with good sound over all, and decent bass response. Certainly not audiophile quality, but more than enough for my desk. $49 from the Apple store... and they come in silver or white.
 
I bought a set of Altec Lansing 621 speakers last year. Their sound quality is excellent with a great sub-woofer system. I don't believe that this particular model is still in production, but I'm sure the newer high-end altec lansing speakers perform equally well. I think the price was around $150 for the 621 system!
 
JBL

Get the new Creature II Speakers. I'm not sure what the difference is between the first revision, except a lower price. I have the first revision, and love the sound quality. It just imerses you into the sound, and fills the room. Also, when you have no signal going through the line, and have the speaker volume way up, you hear no noise that is common on so many other systems. AND THEY DONT RATTLE AT HIGH VOLUME EITHER!!! :D The L/R tweeters are very small, so they don't hog your desk either. Good cord length allows you to place 'em to your liking.

One downside is the subwoofer can't be turned low enough during the evenings, and the neighbors notice. Too bad they speak 911 instead of english. I'm not sure if they fixed this in the second revision, but you can always do it in iTunes anyway.

For the style, quality, and the way you can stick a nice Apple sticker on the sub and it still looks cool, it totally justifies the $100 price tag. Although if you look online, you can find em for only $75.
 
You will be happy with anything Altec Lansing. Had great luck with thier stuff.. don't know what you could get that was small or matched.
 
i back up everything assasin said. the JBL creatures are amazing and they look very nice also especially if you get the silver ones!
 
My first choice would have been the creature speakers. But on a budget i choose these: (They were $50 w/$20 rebate = @$30)

Cyber Acoustics

They sound pretty good once you get past the fact that there are def. not my home system and just computer speakers (which I would have to get used to regardless of the brand of speakers). I've got them turned all the way up and use the system volume to control them. They came with an 8" subwoofer. The subwoofer is on the floor, which makes a big difference, it doesn't sound as good when sitting on the desk. The can be turned up pretty loud, and overall i've been pretty pleased with this purchase.

A cheaper alternative would be the harman karden speakers that came w/pc's, their beige but they sound good. While at I was at worked last weekend with my powerbook a borrowed a pair from a PC and hooked them up. And I was pleasantly surprised by how they sound. On ebay they go for around 7-10 and tack on shipping and you've spent @ $20 bucks. Because of them I had to buy a set of speakers, but I was too anxious and couldn't wait so I bought the ones above.
 
SoundSticks

Awesome sound, very mobile, and use a USB port.

Also... Check out GriffinTech they have a converter called the iFire, to allow you to use Apple Pro Speakers on machines with out the Pro speaker port (Powerbooks, eMacs, G5). That may be better/cheaper for the time being.

TEG
 
TEG said:
SoundSticks

Awesome sound, very mobile, and use a USB port.

Also... Check out GriffinTech they have a converter called the iFire, to allow you to use Apple Pro Speakers on machines with out the Pro speaker port (Powerbooks, eMacs, G5). That may be better/cheaper for the time being.

TEG
Click to expand...

The iFire is $40. For a little more than that I could probably get another, better set of speakers. Plus, it takes up my one precious FireWire port, meaning I'd have to get a FW hub at extra cost.

I'm liking what I'm hearing about the Creature speakers, but these Altec Lansings sound intriguing as well. I'll have to go take a listen.
 
I have tried the SoundSticks in person, but one thing i didn't like about them as well as the price tag is the positioning... If they are positioned slightly different, you can tell. Badly. When they are lined up right they sound great! Otherwise... ehhh. Also, due to their light weight, height, and small footprint they can be knocked over easily, an issue when they share the same space as the cord from your mouse if you use one.

One thing you should know about the SoundSticks II is that it no longer has the USB port, favoring the standard minijack.
 
I'll post my obligatory "check out Klipsch" reply...;)

They're a little pricier (150-180 for 2.1 setups) but are very high quality. I had the 4.1 set with my old PC and it was great. They consistently get good reviews, too.

http://www.klipsch.com/ (multimedia audio section)
 
Monsoon

ibookin' said:
As my iMac will be departing soon (going back to its owner :(), and I cannot use its Pro Speakers (which I bought for it on clearance for $20) with my PowerBook, I need to buy some new speakers.

I would like some small, good sounding speakers with a standard 1/4" plug, hopefully something that matches my PowerBook.

Any ideas? Thanks.
Click to expand...

I'm really happy with my Monsoon PlanarMedia 14 speakers. They are 3 piece, with a tight subwoofer and unique bipolar transducer speakers. They sound great, and received pretty good reviews. One complaint i have read is because of the design they are very directional, 99.5% of the time this isn't an issue for me since I listen in front of the computer. I think they are still in production, don't know but they were around $100.
 
For a little higher-end, you might want to check out Cambridge Soundworks. They have several packages using small satellites (2.1 and 5.1, for example) that sound pretty amazing, though budget wise you're looking higher than anything the Apple store carries, probably. But just give them a listen, you'll be impressed (I think Fry's carries some stuff by them for a reasonable price, probably).

Can check out here: http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/store/category.cgi?category=spk_multimedia

I went with the Megaworks 210 -- very happy, though the satellites sound SLIGHTLY tinny for my liking -- mid frequencies don't come out quite as lush as I would have wanted. Compare to Bose Lifestyles to see how you like them (use the same CD on both, see which you prefer). But I pretty much just use these for basic computer, non-music, stuff.

CS also has some lower-end systems that might surprise.

Hope this helps!
 
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