Decent Budget Speakers for a Teen

[superuser2]

Can you guys give me some recommendations of a decent (probably powered) speaker setup for my desk/room?

I have a pair of UE-5's and I absolutely love them. I also have a Macbook Pro which I can use in my room, so I'm a little less obligated to stick with headphones/earphones.

I have a decent ear and don't want something that sounds cheap; ideally it would get near the quality of my UE-5s. I will mostly be listening to Groove Salad while I work, or occasionally stuff from my collection, but it'd be fine if I just had to plug in my earphones for real quality.

Looking to spend no more than a few hundred bucks. Ideally in the $200 range. It'd be nice if I could have some suggestions from different price ranges.

 

[sabocat]

http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/104epos/

Epos speakers for $350 or so. Read the review above. Personally, speakers are about the only component I would buy new.

 

[Killyp]

Samson Resolv 50A - $199

I own a pair, and payed about £250 for them new (a few years ago). Very happy with them, although if you want something capable of playing at high volumes with lots of bass, you may want to look at something like the Resolv 65A instead.

 

[superuser2]

Looks like these would require an amp. Any reccomendations?

 

[Killyp]

Nope, they don't. They're completely active (two amplifiers built in to each speaker and an active crossover in each).


What you will need is a way of controlling the volume, the most obvious being a very very simple mixing desk such as the Behringer Xenyx 502 (they can be bought for $50 or less). Connect this in to your Mac and run the OS X volume near full volume to get the best sound. Using your Mac's built in volume control reduces the sound quality...

 

[Ptown Bopper]

I have a pair of Audioengine 5's for my bedroom. They sound great (all the reviews I've seen on them are very positive). Powered speakers, bookshelf size but a big clear sound. Designed for your iPod - has 2 USB plug-ins for charging, plus a place on the back to plug in an Airport Express for streaming.

http://audioengineusa.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=77&osCsid=37585acf442617d85dad6d653fccdd3a

 

[motulist]

Do you already have a decent stereo system in your room? Because then all you'd need is a $1 cable to go out of your headphone jack and into your stereo's aux input.

 

[superuser2]

I do not. That's what I'm planning to get.

 

[superuser2]

Okay hmm...

If I can't get a chance to listen to them, I need something with hundreds of completely positive reviews. Can anyone tell me how the Samson Resolvs or any other speakers would compare to my UE-5s?

 

[Killyp]

Speakers will in my experience always outperform earphones as long as your room sounds good.

Earphones/headphones aren't influenced at all by room acoustics, wheras this can be a big problem with speakers.

Earphones/headphones make things much more difficult to listen to IMO. They don't represent the sound 'correctly'. Engineers mix music on stereo speakers, not earphones.

 

[Tarkovsky]

Absolute BS. For the stereo mixing speakers are invaluable, but considering headphone listening is a large part of the market I'm sure any good engineer would check their mixes on a pair (for an example of something that isn't the beatles on phones? ew). Furthermore you'll hear details and be able to better shape and tweak tracks with the phones. Good headphones generally outperform speakers at a fraction of the RRP.
I'd go to richer sounds or the like and have a listen. For monitoring purposes listen for speakers that have the best sound field. Detail is better than vitality on monitors too. Really you can mix to an acceptable level on mid range gear as long as you cross check. Obviousely good monitors are a joy to have, but our ear canals respond differently across the frequency spectrum anyhow. If you don't believe me swap your earphones round.

 

[superuser2]

Okay,

At the time I do not produce music (though I would like to), and this is 7th grade. Nobody will listen on anything better than the bundled iPod headphones. I don't really want speakers for the purpose of monitoring (my headphones are marketed/sold as monitors, anyway.) Really, I need something for listening.

With sound-isolating headphones, the sound is right there, which is great, but can get uncomfortable after a while. I'd prefer to have speakers elsewhere in the room so it could sound a little less in-my-face and more laid back.

 

[Killyp]

Headphones are useless for monitoring and listening. They are unnecessarily uncomfortable over time, and sound 'wrong' because our brain is used to hearing sound with a small amount of 'room sound' which you just don't get with earphones. Sound without any reflections from surrounding walls etc... is very uncomfortable to listen to, as you would know if you've ever listened to a pair of speakers in an anechoic chamber. It's just not nice.

Speakers all the way.

 

[Joko]

Don't forget to match monitor size with room size, that's half the battle won..from my experience. Keep them small if working in a bedroom type setup especially if the room is not acoustically correct. Your mixes will be ALOT more accurate.