I think Santa might be getting me some speakers for Christmas, so I'm looking for recommendations to send to him. I currently have Videologic Sirocco Crossfire's (4.1), which are slightly faulty. I've been out of the speaker buying loop for a couple of years now so I don't know what to look at any more. My priorities for sound quality are: music, music, music. Only then do games and DVDs come in.
Santa has a fairly open budget, probably in the £200 - £350 (at a stretch) range. My soundcard is a Creative Audigy 2 Plat Ex.
My requirements:
- Most important to me is sound quality! Gimmicks and huge RMS power ratings are nice, but not as important as sound quality.
- Significantly better sound quality than (non-faulty) Crossfires.
- Subtle bass - I used to have Altec Lansing ATP5's and I hated the bass from them, it distracted from music too much. That's not to say I don't want to feel the explosions when I watch a Bruckhiemer P.O.S. just that I don't want it to over power anything else.
- Handy volume/balance/etc controls
- Space is fairly limited and I've no room for rear channel speakers or any of that crap. However, I do want positional sound, so 4.1 or 5.1 sounds good.
I'd perfer:
- No stupidly bright LEDs! I can read by the LCD on my Crossfire's, I'm not kidding.
- A remote control for volume/etc.
- No propietory stuff like Creative only digital wiring or something (I don't know if this even exists). I might not have a Creative card for ever.
- Protected speakers. Most of the reason for my Crossfire's damage is that the speakers are totally unprotected. I'd guess all speakers are protected now anyway.
- I've heard of speakers and subwoofers interferring with monitor signals and the like - I assume all good PC speakers are shielded but I want to be sure.
Santa has a fairly open budget, probably in the £200 - £350 (at a stretch) range. My soundcard is a Creative Audigy 2 Plat Ex.
My requirements:
- Most important to me is sound quality! Gimmicks and huge RMS power ratings are nice, but not as important as sound quality.
- Significantly better sound quality than (non-faulty) Crossfires.
- Subtle bass - I used to have Altec Lansing ATP5's and I hated the bass from them, it distracted from music too much. That's not to say I don't want to feel the explosions when I watch a Bruckhiemer P.O.S. just that I don't want it to over power anything else.
- Handy volume/balance/etc controls
- Space is fairly limited and I've no room for rear channel speakers or any of that crap. However, I do want positional sound, so 4.1 or 5.1 sounds good.
I'd perfer:
- No stupidly bright LEDs! I can read by the LCD on my Crossfire's, I'm not kidding.
- A remote control for volume/etc.
- No propietory stuff like Creative only digital wiring or something (I don't know if this even exists). I might not have a Creative card for ever.
- Protected speakers. Most of the reason for my Crossfire's damage is that the speakers are totally unprotected. I'd guess all speakers are protected now anyway.
- I've heard of speakers and subwoofers interferring with monitor signals and the like - I assume all good PC speakers are shielded but I want to be sure.