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Looking For Speakers Compatible with MBPro Retina

iRobby

iRobby

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Mar 22, 2011
994
6
Fort Myers, FL USA
Hey,

My MacBook Pro Retina is arriving next Monday. I'm curious to see if I can get advice on which speakers to get for it.

I'd prefer wireless or Bluetooth but open to wired.

I have the understanding there are Laptop speakers vs regular speakers.

If anyone can give me any suggestions or recommendations I'd appreciate it
 
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Get some bookshelfs/monitors and a ta2020/class t amp (usually between 20-100 bucks, models vary) and you'll have a killer setup. I've got MM1s at the office, but at home have a ta2020 powering a pair of JBL L830s in my home office/computer room.... f'n incredible sound. ta2020 only runs an accurate 15 watts per channel or so, but it's extremely clean power which can power even high end speakers w/o a prob.

I also have a ta2020 (Lepai) and two Sony Bookshelfs in the outdoor bar area, blows away the Maudio MV40s I tried. And was much cheaper, think the speakers and amp was like 80 or 90 dollars.

Obviously depends on what your budget is.
 
Built-in notebook speakers suck, but the sound quality from external speakers and earphones/headsets is exactly the same.

I have a mindset that speakers are for desktops, not mobile computers. If you add such speakers to your macbook, you will have great sound when grounded, but when go mobile, you cant bring your speakers with you.

Well, I love using my macbook anywhere but my desk. I use in my couch while watching TV, in my bed, at the streeets.....and the way to have great sound in your macbook and still keep it mobile, is to get headsets/earphones

So, get a good earphone or headset. The $10 from Sony or Philips are already great. Heck, even go for Monster headsets if you like their design.

with that combo, no matter where Im at, I always have great quality sound
 
I used to have a pair of AV 40's. They were great for the price. Make sure you get the newer model. The older ones had premature failure issues.
 
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LeandrodaFL said:
Built-in notebook speakers suck, but the sound quality from external speakers and earphones/headsets is exactly the same.

I have a mindset that speakers are for desktops, not mobile computers. If you add such speakers to your macbook, you will have great sound when grounded, but when go mobile, you cant bring your speakers with you.

Well, I love using my macbook anywhere but my desk. I use in my couch while watching TV, in my bed, at the streeets.....and the way to have great sound in your macbook and still keep it mobile, is to get headsets/earphones

So, get a good earphone or headset. The $10 from Sony or Philips are already great. Heck, even go for Monster headsets if you like their design.

with that combo, no matter where Im at, I always have great quality sound
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If you still want speakers, but also portability I can recommend the DBEST Bluetooth speakers. They push out some decent sound for such compact speakers that travel well (they magnetically interlock with each other into a lemon-sized pill shape.)
 
If sound quality is important, get THX certified speakers such as Logitech Z623 Speaker System or, Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX Certified Computer Speaker System.
 
MCAsan said:
If sound quality is important, get THX certified speakers such as Logitech Z623 Speaker System or, Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX Certified Computer Speaker System.
Click to expand...

lol

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Inopia-Vi said:
Bowers & Wilikins MN-1.

Sold at the apple store
Click to expand...

Just bought and returned these. These are great speakers, but not $500 great. the A2s or A5s with the AE D1 DAC outperforms these speakers for less money.

The MM1 lack a of mid-range imo and are overpriced. The MM1 arent worth more than $300 imo.
 
Tested these at the apple store. Pretty amazing sound for the size and it looks like it was made for Macs in mind.

http://www.amazon.com/Bose-Companion-Multimedia-Speaker-System/dp/B0053T4PHC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1345436786&sr=8-4&keywords=bose+speakers

Bose_Companion_20_powerful_sound.jpg
 
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Try the Bose Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System, amazing sound, deep bass and a very wide sound field. I've had mine for several years. I switch them between my IMac and rMBP and they sound identicle to me.
 
Scuba-EMT said:
Try the Bose Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System, amazing sound, deep bass and a very wide sound field. I've had mine for several years. I switch them between my IMac and rMBP and they sound identicle to me.
Click to expand...

+1

That's what I have. Three years old and still sounds great!
 
Scuba-EMT said:
Try the Bose Companion 5 Multimedia Speaker System, amazing sound, deep bass and a very wide sound field. I've had mine for several years. I switch them between my IMac and rMBP and they sound identicle to me.
Click to expand...

I see in your signature you have a Dell Quad Core Doorstop. I'm going from a single Core Dell to a MacBook Pro Retina.
 
Orlandoech.com said:
Overpriced BOSE whom never list their specs because they are so inferior. BOSE = BUY OTHER SOUND EQUIPMENT
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I agree but people seem to be very satisfied with them. I just bought the Audioengine A2's in white. After doing an hour and a half of research those seem to be the best speakers for the price. And they look good and aren't too big. Can't wait to receive this upgrade to my bose companion 2 lol
 
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Bose speakers have a higher cost than some THX certified speakers...and they are not THX certified. If you want speakers for movies, games, and even just listening to music...you want to consider THX speakers as they can deliver high quality reproduction of the source signal.
 
I went for a very different solution as i wanted a quality wireless set up; Samsung offer a Bluetooth headset (HS3000) with a standard "mini jack" the Rx is aptX compliant and you can connect it to pretty much any amplified speaker set up with a standard connection. The quality of aptX is significantly better than the standard SBC Bluetooth stream, being very close to wired. Works great with typical 2-1 systems.

Samsung%20HS3000%20(5).jpg


I also use a JawBone Jambox which is a great portable solution, however despite the punch it offers in such a small package is no match for larger dedicated speakers, nor does it have the aptX over Bluetooth protocol.

aptX speakers are still very thin on the ground and mostly portable solutions, the beauty of the HS3000 is that you can use it with any Bluetooth audio device, hooking it up to any amplified speaker setup when on the go.

One problem is OS X will disable aptX under set circumstances to conserve Bluetooth bandwidth:

- if you have a portable Mac and you have one or more Bluetooth devices connected.

- if you have a desktop machine and you have two or more Bluetooth devices connected.

I use both Apple Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad, a workaround is to disconnect the keyboard and trackpad, then connect to the aptX device, reconnect the other Bluetooth devices. The aptX device will continue to use the aptX codec. You just need a set of decent amplified speakers/monitors and your good to go.

i`ve lived and worked in some pretty isolated places so as the say "necessity is the mother of all inventions" :cool:
 
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