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Speakers...wanting to upgrade, curious for opinions...

N

nick128

Member
I have an older set of Logitech Z640s, 5.1, small speaks, small sub, decent, but the size of the 1" mids/highs becomes apparent when you crank the volume. I"m looking to ditch these in favor of soemthing else. I've been kinda outlining what i want out of the new ones in the back of my mind. what i need is: something that can be loud, but won't normally be so. Looking for something more of quality, but that will be able to hold that quality if i am home alone and need tunes to do programming by or something. It needs to be able to handle multiple inputs, this is why i'm leaning towards something of a receiver/amp setup. Not looking anywehre near 5.1 setups, i have a 5.1 in my living room that i watch movies on, i rarely watch them on my computer anymore unless there is a reason. It would be nice to have for gaming, but only if the room lent itself to it, and my domain is my bedroom, and doesn't lend itself to a proper 5.1 experience.

right now what i'm looking at is a simple 2 channel reciever from like Best Buy, and a set of medium-to-large bookshelf/floor speakers. In my living room i have a set of these http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp...roductCategoryId=cat03043&type=product and my roommate has a set of htese http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp...roductCategoryId=cat03044&type=product. He has one more year of school here then he moves back home to South America, so i may get the reciver and towers off of him for a good price, and use my bookshelf speaks on my computer and the floor speaks for my living room system. This would do a couple of things, a) give me my multiple inputs, though i wish i had something that woudl let me merge them together so i can have sound from two systems at the same time. b) give me remote volume control so if i'm on my bed studying and jamming to music i could still control the volume, even tho i couldn't change tracks 🙂(, i know, remote wonders, i've been looking...). c) would give me louder, cleaner sound than what many smaller systems would give.

I've listen to Klipsch systems, both in stores and installed, and i'm just not impressed. I always liked the sound of a large speaker system over the smaller systems. There are a few follies, one being the lack of a dedicated sub, which i coudl add, except that reciever doesn't have a sub output, so unless i got a different reciever i'd have to engineer something. another being what i mentioed above about not being able to merge sources. I could get around that by using a mixer board, which isn't that expensive, just oen more thing to deal with though.

I've just been bitten by the upgrade bug i think. I got two 17" Samsung 710Ts since the first of the year, upgrading my display. I'm soon to replace my aging L desk with an Apex series from OfficeMax, and i'm looking to revamp my 4 year old speakers sometime soon as well. Was just looking for opinions on what you guys use, if you have a similar setup and love it / hate it / etc.
 
Sony definitely doesn't make good speakers....but....they would be an upgrade...guess it depends on how much he is gonna give them to you for.
 
I know you said you dislike Klipsch, but I thought I'd just mention that the 2.1 ProMedia's are top-notch. They have a very warm sound to them, completely unlike all the other speakers I've used. The sub is pretty manageable in size, although that's compared to the other sets I've owned. I've also used the Altec Lansing ATP3, Logitech z-560 and Logitech z-680 sets. I decided to downgrade from 5.1 to 2.1, and i don't regret it.
 
Are you looking for suggestions on something to get, or just want to know how a bookshelf system would be?

If you're looking for a inexpensive sub, virtualgames0 is right on with the dayton. I had it for about 6 months before I got bitten by the upgrade bug yet again and got a nicer one. I really thought it was an excellent value for what I paid for it. It goes on sale for $99 or $109 once in a while so it might be worth it to pick it up next time it's on sale.

I haven't tried it myself (and I hope I understand it right) but I think you can use speaker wire to hook this sub up so you don't need an LFE or SUB out from the receiver. I think you just hook up the input of one of your front speakers to the sub and the sub plays all the low frequency stuff (it has an adjustable crossover) and then it passes the signal to output binding posts and you hook up another length of speaker wire and the full signal then goes to the speaker.

I had a newer receiver so I didn't need to do that, so I'm not really sure if I understand the concept correctly.


The swans are probably the highest quality mainstream computer speakers you can buy. I haven't heard them myself, but have never read anything bad about them... well, other than that they're big, but that's what you want 🙂
They're like self powered monitors pretty much. I think you can add a sub in by running one of the RCA cables from the 1/8" jack from the computer adapter and running it to a sub and then using the passthrough on the sub, going back to the speaker.


If want to buy some speakers, I'd have to agree with sony not being the best option. One option might be infinity primus bookshelves that have gotten favorable reviews. At $90 a pair here, it's quite the deal.

For an inexpensive receiver, I'd either do with
1. a refurbished onkyo from ecost.com ($85-ish)
2. a sherwood from circuit city ($70... dang... just checked, $90 now 🙁)
3. something off ebay


 
Originally posted by: virtualgames0
I'm pretty sure the Swans are higher end than the infinitys.
The build quality looks better at least.
Here's a pic of the swans on my setup
Click to expand...

I'll agree that the swans are of high quality and worth a close look, but I was thinking that his statement of:

"It needs to be able to handle multiple inputs, this is why i'm leaning towards something of a receiver/amp setup"

would make any computer system less than ideal for hooking up multiple sources. If he has the right soundcard though, he could have a couple 1/8" jack inputs to work with though. I think my Santa Cruz used to be able to assign a second line in.

 
I was pretty much trying to find something that would cost similar to the swan set but give the connectivity of a receiver.

How much to infinity alphas cost?

If the budget can be more than the swans would cost, I think these would be a good option too. This color is being phased out by onix so these normally $250/pair speakers are on sale for $125/pair. Very nice reviews at AVSforum.

I bought my receiver from the seller harmanaudio off ebay. This is how JBL/Infinity/HK sells their factory refurbished units with new warranties. You might be able to get a good deal on some intinity's there. alphas for ~$140 although I don't know if that's a good price on them 😛
 
Originally posted by: rleemhui
Alpha series inifinity's would be better than the swans
Click to expand...

hah well he was talking about the primus series.
And alpha series cost a lot more than the swans while being passive, so no doubt are they better.
 
If you're looking for multiple inputs capability, you could always get a set of computer speakers, like the Klipsch 2.1, and get the Creative DDTS-100.
 
I would highly suggest the speakers I use - see the ones in "My Rig".

The MC-300's paired with a Megaworks THX 550 subwoofer is what I use and they sound superb!
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
I was pretty much trying to find something that would cost similar to the swan set but give the connectivity of a receiver.

How much to infinity alphas cost?
Click to expand...

They were replaced by the infinity beta's. but they pick up where primus' leave off and go up to $500
 
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