Good value speakers please help?

[crishy]

Ok i am looking at upgrading my current (very old) speakers, I have been looking around and a set of 2.1 speakers seem good to me, I like the idea of the sub woofer and have taken a liking to the logitech X-230. I listen to songs with some hard bass, and find when i use high quality headphones the quality is far superior to my speakers, i was wondering if i can egt that kind of sound from my speakers? are the X-230's a good pair of speakers for gaming and hard bass or do you have any other suggestions? Bare in mind I would only be paying 29.99 delivered for the X-230's tyvm for any help.

 

 

[Audio_ELF]

What headphones are you comparing the speakers too?

 

If you have a pro-audio shop I'd take a visit and see what small monitors they have ... likely to be superior to the Logitech speakers. These are likely to be higher priced than the Logitech you mentioned...

 

Eloise

[runnin17]

I personally cannot recommend logitechs. It sounds like you are are wanting to use powered speakers and are not using an amp with your current speakers. Frankly, if you are using decent headphones then no budget speakers in the 29.99 range are going to compare with your headphones.

 

However, if you are willing to pay some extra money I would recommend the M-Audio BX5a or the M-Audio AV40's if you don't want to spend $200. Other options would be the Audioengine A2+, but I do not think they are worth the price compared to the much better A5.

 

The AV40's are very good speakers for the price, but the BX5a's are in a completely different league for only an extra $100 or so.

[Jud]

Don't know where you live, but in the US at least, Pioneer have non-powered speakers for around $99-$129 at Best Buy, designed by Andrew Jones of TAD. They're terrific (have 'em in my desktop system). But if you like things heavy on the bass you'll need a subwoofer, and because they're not active speakers you'll need some kind of amp (Audioengine has one for less than $200), so there goes your price for the system up to $300 or more. Sorry, guess that's not what you were looking for.

[bluesman]

a good pair of speakers for gaming and hard bass

Check out the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1. I bought this system for our bedroom when they first came out, and it's still making me happy. It can get a little bass-happy if you don't keep the sub volume down (it's like having a low rider in the room if you crank it up). But the overall sound quality is much better than the cheapies. Today, I might go for the Emotiva Airmotiv4s or Audioengines because they're better for critical music listening and we're not gamers. But if you want hard bass and big gaming sound in addition to pretty good music, the Klipsch is a much better bet - it's got "brass bass"! And you get a total of 200W (or, at least, 200 "consumer" watts, although this thing does get really loud) for only $140 at Best Buy, Amazon and similar sources.

 

[eligeorgia]

Don't know where you live, but in the US at least, Pioneer have non-powered speakers for around $99-$129 at Best Buy, designed by Andrew Jones of TAD. They're terrific (have 'em in my desktop system). But if you like things heavy on the bass you'll need a subwoofer, and because they're not active speakers you'll need some kind of amp (Audioengine has one for less than $200), so there goes your price for the system up to $300 or more. Sorry, guess that's not what you were looking for.

 

+1. I was going to mention the Pioneers. I think they're the SB22 or BS22. Universally lauded, particularly for the price.

[kumakuma]

In my experience, Emotiva's speakers (and other products) provide great price performance.

[runnin17]

Yes, those are both very good speakers for the price. Even the FS52 (floor standing speakers are incredibly good). I actually use a pair of the FS52's as my surrounds. The FS52's and the BS22's are probably the best sub-$500 speakers you will find.

 

You could go with the Klipsch and be pretty happy if you are not terribly picky when it comes to audio I owned the Klipsch 2.1 system at one point and yes the desktop speakers were decent, but the bass was boomy and crappy in my opinion. Then again, I thought it was amazing bass until I heard what bass is supposed to sound like

 

Keep an eye out and you will find a good deal. Again, if you are strapped for cash then any cheap logitech speakers are going to be much better than you current speakers I suspect.

[bluesman]

I owned the Klipsch 2.1 system at one point and yes the desktop speakers were decent, but the bass was boomy and crappy in my opinion. Then again, I thought it was amazing bass until I heard what bass is supposed to sound like

I agree completely - but for gaming (and even for home theater), I suspect the Klipsch is fantastic, especially for its price. I only listen to music through it, so I keep the sub almost off (and I don't feel like I'm trapped in LL Cool J's Escalade).

[clearzero]

Don't know where you live, but in the US at least, Pioneer have non-powered speakers for around $99-$129 at Best Buy, designed by Andrew Jones of TAD. They're terrific (have 'em in my desktop system). But if you like things heavy on the bass you'll need a subwoofer, and because they're not active speakers you'll need some kind of amp (Audioengine has one for less than $200), so there goes your price for the system up to $300 or more. Sorry, guess that's not what you were looking for.

 

I just picked up a pair of the Pioneers today. They have only been in use for about 2 hours but I have to say... I can't imagine anything coming even close to these in this price range. I was skeptical but WOW. The only real issue is the ugly factor. They aren't that great to look at. The sound makes up for it.

[Mike Mcsweeney]

i don't know why those pioneers by andrew jones got such great reviews..i thought they were terrible... I bought a pair of polks rti-a3 and was quite happy with them, but i ran across a pair of some older infiniti's (RS-325)at a garage sale for $50 and they sounded better so i sold my polks on ebay Polk Audio RTI A3 Bookshelf Audiophile Speakers Cherry Nice 047192113026 | eBay. I am using a velodyne hgs-10 10" sub, and it rocks. I tried 4 different subs, 2 were 12" and this baby blew them all away, and it's very compact and has a very tight, powerful and accurate bass! The $50 infiniti's by themselves had nice bass though.

 

[Leonardo Piras]

What about Wharfedale Diamond Series?

Diamond 122 | Wharfedale Hi-Fi

[clearzero]

i don't know why those pioneers by andrew jones got such great reviews..i thought they were terrible... I bought a pair of polks rti-a3 and was quite happy with them, but i ran across a pair of some older infiniti's (RS-325)at a garage sale for $50 and they sounded better so i sold my polks on ebay Polk Audio RTI A3 Bookshelf Audiophile Speakers Cherry Nice 047192113026 | eBay. I am using a velodyne hgs-10 10" sub, and it rocks. I tried 4 different subs, 2 were 12" and this baby blew them all away, and it's very compact and has a very tight, powerful and accurate bass! The $50 infiniti's by themselves had nice bass though.

 

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Interesting. I just put those Polks in the closet for these Pioneers. I think they are more refined. I much prefer the sound. For $100 pr. they deserve every bit of the praise they receive.

[Mike Mcsweeney]

Interesting. I just put those Polks in the closet for these Pioneers. I think they are more refined. I much prefer the sound. For $100 pr. they deserve every bit of the praise they receive.

which polks did you put in the closet, same ones rti-a3?? Maybe i should try listening to the pioneers in a listening room instead of at frys electronics where i heard them on the big floor. I liked the rti-a3 except for every now and then some songs sounded a little to sharp, where they actually hurted my ears to hear. the infinitis softened that harshness up a little. in most cases though i prefered the rti-a3 to anything i heard and i litterally tried 20 different pairs from $100 to $600, before i finally settled on them. I never even gave the pioneer's a chance..they sounded like crap at frys, and even the sales person agreed. they had rti-a3 there also even though they are an older model and had a newer line up, but even in the store, the polks sounded 10 times better. I am certainly willing to give them a shot though if you think i should try...although i am pretty happy with these infinitis i have now.

[runnin17]

If you listened to the pioneers or any speakers at Fry's then that explains why they probably did not sound good

 

I don't think I have ever seen worse speaker setup than at big box stores. The pios are quality speakers. Personally I have not heard any sub $500 speakers that can best the floorstanders. That is of course, just my opinion.

[PorkChop]

If you listened to the pioneers or any speakers at Fry's then that explains why they probably did not sound good

 

[chuckle] I've never had a good listening experience in Fry's "high-end" listening room--even featuring speakers that *should* sound better. If I were them, I'd cut bait and just offer low and mid-fi.