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Macbook Pro external speakers recommendation

ViciousShadow21 said:
wow good for you. your know a little bit.

bryston is easily out performed by my mcintosh mc303. the B&W are nice but if you are talking about being over priced then B&W definitely wins that one flat out. i use a pair of AR9's towers. still today the best sounding stero speakers ever made. does the name Henry Kloss mean anything to you. he is the one that started not only AR but KLH, Advent Corporation, Cambridge SoundWorks, and Tivoli Audio. his pride and joy through his entire life was the AR9. when a studio audience was asked to pick the difference between an actual string quartet playing and an album of that string quartet being played through the AR's NO ONE could tell the difference. the marantz is good and Linn is ok. they dont really have anything to do with the audio quality. any decent digital source will suffice. KRK's....your right you should be humble about those.

oh and i played with Chris when he was here at NEC. great guy.
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Then why in the bloody world are you defending Bose bull-****?
 
Teej guy said:
It's not so much that, it's just as a music lover/listener/creator/mixer, I hate to see people given duff information.
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It's all opinions, and honestly he'll never know until he goes and listens to a variety of systems. What sounds good to you or me may not be what he likes. People are just mentioning options. Your young you think you have everything figured out and obviously our opinions are all "duff" because your a music lover/listenener/creator/mixer... umm ya I'm sure your the only one on the planet that loves music. :rolleyes:

Sound is way to subjective to everyones ear to even give this guy a recomendation, not to mention as xogg stated he's looking for a $100 set of speakers... It's not science, it's personal prefrence. I could easily discount everyone's opinion too and state some obscure BS line about being 150 years old and invented the first speaker. WTF does that have to do with anything this guy was asking? nothing... zero... nada! Get the picture?
 
bossxii said:
It's all opinions, and honestly he'll never know until he goes and listens to a variety of systems. What sounds good to you or me may not be what he likes. People are just mentioning options. Your young you think you have everything figured out and obviously our opinions are all "duff" because your a music lover/listenener/creator/mixer... umm ya I'm sure your the only one on the planet that loves music. :rolleyes:

Sound is way to subjective to everyones ear to even give this guy a recomendation, not to mention as xogg stated he's looking for a $100 set of speakers... It's not science, it's personal prefrence. I could easily discount everyone's opinion too and state some obscure BS line about being 150 years old and invented the first speaker. WTF does that have to do with anything this guy was asking? nothing... zero... nada! Get the picture?
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if you read the first page, i just brought them up as a suggestion. then started getting blasted by teej and xogg that i am a supporter of Bose. the OP even said that he really wants the Bose.
 
bossxii said:
It's all opinions, and honestly he'll never know until he goes and listens to a variety of systems. What sounds good to you or me may not be what he likes. People are just mentioning options. Your young you think you have everything figured out and obviously our opinions are all "duff" because your a music lover/listenener/creator/mixer... umm ya I'm sure your the only one on the planet that loves music. :rolleyes:
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If you read an article like the one I mentioned earlier in the thread, you'll see why I dismiss Bose entirely. I've also heard a bunch of their systems in several different rooms and situations. Obviously music and sound is subjective...that's why we don't all listen to the same music and that's what makes life interesting, but when there is empirical evidence of a certain company delivering a sub-standard product and charging way more than what it's worth, I've got to call them out on it.
 
ViciousShadow21 said:
if you read the first page, i just brought them up as a suggestion. then started getting blasted by teej and xogg that i am a supporter of Bose. the OP even said that he really wants the Bose.
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Yep, and that is the only reason I posted about the ones I purchased. They are great for computer speakers. To say they are overpriced is priceless considering were all talking about hooking up our $2500 to $3k+ Apple laptops lol :D
 
bossxii said:
Sound is way to subjective to everyones ear to even give this guy a recomendation, not to mention as xogg stated he's looking for a $100 set of speakers...
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...which makes it even more bizarre that ViciousShadow21 would suggest the Bose Companion 5 set as it's priced at $500 +tax.
 
Teej guy said:
If you read an article like the one I mentioned earlier in the thread, you'll see why I dismiss Bose entirely. I've also heard a bunch of their systems in a bunch of different rooms and situations. Obviously music and sound is subjective...that's why we don't all listen to the same music and that's what makes life interesting, but when there is empirical evidence of a certain company delivering a sub-standard product and charging way more than what it's worth, I've got to call them out on it.
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Well I would hate to even guess how many websites I could find bashing the hell out of Apple's products.

Most people know and or feel they are overpriced computers. Lord knows this message board is FULL of people pissed off because of defects (failing GPU's, screens, hinges etc...) That kind of nullifies any websites to the topic at hand. So while I did click on the link, wasn't about to waste my time reading... you guessed it.. someone else's opinion on the matter.

Your right in the fact it's all subjective, that I can agree 100% on. :)
 
breath999 said:
now vicious has me wanting the Bose... gotta do something nice for the wife and acquire points...
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i gave the OP the suggestion because as far as COMPUTER spekers for and office goes go the are the best. they look impressive and sound great. good for bragging about around the watercooler. im listening to them right now (i put on Mahler's Titan symphony thought it was appropriate for the mood im in haha).
 
bossxii said:
Well I would hate to even guess how many websites I could find bashing the hell out of Apple's products.

Most people know and or feel they are overpriced computers. Lord knows this message board is FULL of people pissed off because of defects (failing GPU's, screens, hinges etc...) That kind of nullifies any websites to the topic at hand. So while I did click on the link, wasn't about to waste my time reading... you guessed it.. someone else's opinion on the matter.

Your right in the fact it's all subjective, that I can agree 100% on. :)
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I understand what you're getting at, and having this discussion on Mac forum is pretty funny. The way I justify this is again by looking at the facts and what you get for paying the "apple tax"

Since PCs and Macs are made with the same hardware these days, the internals obviously aren't a selling point. In my point of view, I gain the slim form-factor, and the ability to use OS X with no fuss. Especially being in the music industry, being able to use Logic is great. Although Pro Tools is ubiquitous, Logic is gaining a foot-hold. Available software aside, OS X is based on Unix, and for the time being has less security threats than Windows does.

What do you get for paying the "Bose tax"? It seems to me that you get inferior build quality, inferior materials and components and ultimately inferior sound for the price.
 
Teej guy said:
I understand what you're getting at, and having this discussion on Mac forum is pretty funny. The way I justify this is again by looking at the facts and what you get for paying the "apple tax"

Since PCs and Macs are made with the same hardware these days, the internals obviously aren't a selling point. In my point of view, I gain the slim form-factor, and the ability to use OS X with no fuss. Especially being in the music industry, being able to use Logic is great. Although Pro Tools is ubiquitous, Logic is gaining a foot-hold. Available software aside, OS X is based on Unix, and for the time being has less security threats than Windows does.

What do you get for paying the "Bose tax"? It seems to me than you get inferior build quality, inferior materials and components and ultimately inferior sound for the price.
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OKOK this is getting a bit off topic isent it?:cool:
 
Teej guy said:
I understand what you're getting at, and having this discussion on Mac forum is pretty funny. The way I justify this is again by looking at the facts and what you get for paying the "apple tax"

Since PCs and Macs are made with the same hardware these days, the internals obviously aren't a selling point. In my point of view, I gain the slim form-factor, and the ability to use OS X with no fuss. Especially being in the music industry, being able to use Logic is great. Although Pro Tools is ubiquitous, Logic is gaining a foot-hold. Available software aside, OS X is based on Unix, and for the time being has less security threats than Windows does.

What do you get for paying the "Bose tax"? It seems to me that you get inferior build quality, inferior materials and components and ultimately inferior sound for the price.
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Fun stuff :) So.. to your logic your paying for "slim form factor" and hassle free operation. Funny thing I purchased the Bose because I like the "small form factor speakers" to keep my desk clean and tidy. I love the volume control and touch pad mute they have for easy operation as well.

Sound quality (while I do think they sound fine for the price and for a computer speaker) is not always on the top of everyone's list. Clearly the performance of internal parts on our Mac books is not top of the line, we know this when buying a Mac. Anyone can buy a faster, larger laptop for less etc... We purchased it for reasons just like you state.

To your last sentence, I could easily show you several hundred threads showing Apple's inferior build quality (hinges breaking, cracks in the iPhone cases, Plastic MB cracks, LED screens with lines, light bleeds etc..) the list goes on and on. Why do these problems occur? Poor QA, inferior materials used, poor build quality.

I get what your saying but it's all pointless when were all using a product with the "potential" for the same problems. My personal history with Bose products has been fine, nothing has fell apart, they served their purpose well. :)

In closing.. I may not know jack about sound science/quality, I do know what sounds good to me as I'm sure everyone here does. The one thing I do know is I have enough common sense to know for every negative there is a posiitve. That whole pesky Yin/Yang thing. :) The internet is full of biased opinions on every topic and for every site you may find to back your opinion someone else can find 10 to back theirs :) I've always found it best to look at all sides of a situation vs thinking I am 100% right as that is rarely true for anyone, the older you get the more sense that will make :)
 
bossxii said:
I've always found it best to look at all sides of a situation vs thinking I am 100% right as that is rarely true for anyone, the older you get the more sense that will make :)
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no im pretty sure i am always right haha.

but seriously tho well said. i just love talking to intelligent ppl about stuff. teej knew his stuff and i enjoyed arguing with him. ppl seem to forget that two ppl can have a heated argument and altho it may look malicious its not haha.
 
ViciousShadow21 said:
no im pretty sure i am always right haha.

but seriously tho well said. i just love talking to intelligent ppl about stuff. teej knew his stuff and i enjoyed arguing with him. ppl see to forget that two ppl can have a heated argument and altho it may look malicious its not haha.
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LOL the perfect come back! kudo's haha
 
well as you can see breath999 you missed a little bit. we kinda of got off topic. but the general consensus we came to is that you should make you own damn decision haha.

I like the Bose. I own a pair of companion 5 and i love them. and in my opinion the look and sound great. other memebers would disagreer with me tho;)

others like the Logitec. they can be a good bargain. have there own own thing going for them. dont know what but maybe you'll like it.

you said it best tho. go and check them out. you money. good luck.

but please let us know which ones you got!!:eek:
 
Thanks all - a couple of conclusions based on input here....

1) I think my initial idea of ~$100 is false economics

2) I'm gonna look at the better systems. I like the idea of no extensive wiring and will look at the Bose and alternatives posted here.

you guys are champs - thanks.
 
breath999 said:
Thanks all - a couple of conclusions based on input here....

1) I think my initial idea of ~$100 is false economics

2) I'm gonna look at the better systems. I like the idea of no extensive wiring and will look at the Bose and alternatives posted here.

you guys are champs - thanks.
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I do not think your initial ideas of ~$100 were "false economics" I just think we have mislead you to believe that if you do not spend $400 on a system it will be cr@p. Though usually the more expensive the better, most people would not find a worthy difference in more affordable system (at decent volume off course,)

Another thing I have not been able to understand is the trend of more speakers (e.g. 5.1 and 7.1 systems or 12/14/16/22 speakers in cars) since according to physics each speaker's wave will interfere with each other (destructive interference) unless the speakers are within certain distance (for instance for a 2.0 or 2.1 system [with a subwoofer in the middle of the 2 speakers] the only place where will not be interference is the central line straight forward from the woofer and equidistant to the two speakers, if you add 2 more satellites in the back, well that line reduces to 1 point in the center of the room) obviously there is a workaround this which is sending different audio signals to each speaker however for that to happen the audio (music/video) have to support the speaker configuration and the speakers have to be positioned very precisely and thats a pain in the back...
 
xoggyux said:
I do not think your initial ideas of ~$100 were "false economics" I just think we have mislead you to believe that if you do not spend $400 on a system it will be cr@p. Though usually the more expensive the better, most people would not find a worthy difference in more affordable system (at decent volume off course,)

Another thing I have not been able to understand is the trend of more speakers (e.g. 5.1 and 7.1 systems or 12/14/16/22 speakers in cars) since according to physics each speaker's wave will interfere with each other (destructive interference) unless the speakers are within certain distance (for instance for a 2.0 or 2.1 system [with a subwoofer in the middle of the 2 speakers] the only place where will not be interference is the central line straight forward from the woofer and equidistant to the two speakers, if you add 2 more satellites in the back, well that line reduces to 1 point in the center of the room) obviously there is a workaround this which is sending different audio signals to each speaker however for that to happen the audio (music/video) have to support the speaker configuration and the speakers have to be positioned very precisely and thats a pain in the back...
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in order for a sound waves to interfere with one another they have to be hitting at exactly the same time and be hitting eachother at the same height, direction ect ect. if all these different variables happen to come together you would need an incredibly good acoustic environment to hear the difference. it does make an audible difference in a place like the vienna opera house ie when a cymbal player hits the cymbals together he moves one up and one down for this reason. but in a car or other poor acoustic environments it will not make a difference.
 
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