Starter setup - <= $200

K

Kaos

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Oct 14, 2003
Messages
1,328
Hello there!

I'm rather uninitiated when it comes to audio. I'm just starting to put together a christmas list at my wife's request and started looking at my setup at home for things I'm missing.

I've got a great chair, a great desk, decent enough monitors, a keyboard/mouse I like. Where I'm lacking is a nice audio setup. I've got some sub $50 logitech setup now and it isn't anything spectacular at all.

I'm looking for a sub $200 setup. I'm looking for a speaker setup, not headphones (though if it would help there, great).

I use a thinkpad with a dock, so can't add expansion card (unless something USB is doable). I've been doing a little research on amps, dacs, speakers...just a little lost. I've read some posts in other places that say that a DAC and powered monitors (m-audio about $100) are a good way to go...some folks like a DAC + AMP + speakers.

I listen to a lot of different types of music, so something that works well for a lot would be great.

I'm just a little lost. All I'd really like is a good sound for when I'm working from home.
 
You can pair any of those powered speakers with a Fiio DAC if your laptop'saudio is lacking, tho in some cases (particularly looking at the A2) you'll get better mileage for your money out of passive speakers and a small amp. Several of those Swans are also over budget tho, unless they've dropped prices. How much space you got?

Passives vs powered is personal preference, specially if it's for a laptop setup... Passives might give you more variety of choices and it's more flexible if you ever wanna add a sub or whatever, powered means less crap on your desk (though t-amps can be fairly small).

If you don't have a lot of room there's several budget powered speakers that'll be smaller and cheaper than most passive bookshelves tho. (AV40, Samson MediaOne 3a/4a, etc).
 
I've got an IKEA jerker, which is a fairly large desk, and I have some side table type things, so space really isn't an issue. I'd probably end up with stands for any speakers I got or maybe mount them to the wall somehow. Right now my cheap speakers are clamped to the vertical rails of the desk to keep them out of the way.

I kind of like the idea of the AMP + Passive speaker option for some reason and I guess it could move well from laptop to laptop or any other kind of source for that matter.
 
I hear the Audiogene A2's sound heavenly, great bang for buck. I like the angles stand too.

P.S: This is what I think of when I hear "IKEA Jerker desk":

spiderman-desk.png
 
I disagree about the A2, I think they sound great (awesome even) for their size but not for the price. You can get a similar sound for half as much in a slightly larger package (or much better sound for the same kind of money). If you have very little room they're a great buy tho.

I like Audioengine's little rubber angle stands too, if those are the ones you're referring to, I've used the larger ones (A5) with my Samsons and they isolate them from the desk very well, a little pricey at $30 but at least you're getting a bit more for the money than the popular foam mopads.

If you're going for larger bookshelf speakers, stands (or whatever side furniture the OP mentioned) will work much better than wall mounting, specially with rear ported speakers. Some passive speakers to consider within the budget (leaving some money leftover for a t-amp) would be Polk Monitor 30 ($100-ish), Pioneer BS41 ($100 when on sale), and Infinity P153 ($120-130) or P163 ($150-ish).

The Infinity Primus have the advantage of being front ported so they don't have to be as far from the wall to sound their best (P153 even has wall mounting brackets, though I dunno that I'd ever use those). I'm pretty happy with my P163, got them at Crutchfield with free shipping using one of the $20 off codes floating around. Newegg usually has the best price on the other two when they're on sale.
 
Man I get free speakers all of the time. The old 70s, 80s bigguns. DO a little refoam work. Maybe run new wiring and internals, voila! Bitching stereo for next to nothing. Currently refurbing a pair of EPI 1200s. Nothing fantastic but damn they are dynamic and can play loud as shit. They were $149 each back in 1983 lol.
 
SPACEMAN!!! I haven't seen you post in forever!!! Then again, I haven't been in Computer Audio forums in forever... Lol. Still around, I see.

Anyhow, pwusr's reccs are solid. I currently own the Swan M200MKII and Swan D1080IV and they sound beautiful. They look decent too.

On the other hand, spaceman's recc is my preferred route, now that I have a handle on audio equipment. (I started my speaker adventure with the Swans.) My favorite budget vintage speakers to hunt for are the Polk Audio Monitor series.If space is no issue, these are awesome. If you don't want to get too big, the Monitor 5 or 5JR are perfect.

Now, you can't get them for "next to nothing" unless you are purchasing from a seller who doesn't know any better because they are popular vintage speakers. (But you can often find these speakers randomly at an antique store, flea market, craigslist, etc.) However, here are some postungs you can start looking:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-Audio-...53?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item337cf65601
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Polk-Audio-...pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item416c348f30

I don't know how much shipping will be for you, but hopefully it's less than it is for me. Please note that an amp will probably ring you about $75-$125.

Additionally, I recommend you look in craigslist. Great place to look for vintage Polk speakers.
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I like the A2's. Maybe they're a little pricey (I did have a much higher budget), but I don't want massive speakers on my desk. They're well made and sound great (a different beast to the shit that Logitech and Creative poop out). Plus you get a 30 day trial to see what you think...
 
Nht superzero and paradigm atoms are my two favorite small budget speakers. The a2s are fine and an easy fix but not in the same league as the aforementioned with an amp.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top