Which of these speakers are better?

[Rhombuss]

Either the Microsoft DSS-80 speakers, or the Altec Lansing ATP3.

I have a deal pending with the DSS80 speakers, but just curious about how good the ATP3 speaker set is, since the price is somewhat the same.

Thanks!

 

[Rhombuss]

bump

 

[Yoshi]

Don't know what you are spending but nothing beats Klipsch Pro Media

 

[Rhombuss]

I'm not exactly on a budget, but I mainly want value - both these speakers are relatively cheap, under $100. I would need to unload upwards $200 to get a pair of Klipsch speakers. I mainly just want to know the pros and cons of these 2 pairs

 

[Rhombuss]

I'm not exactly on a budget, but I mainly want value - both these speakers are relatively cheap, under $100. I would need to unload upwards $200 to get a pair of Klipsch speakers. I mainly just want to know the pros and cons of these 2 pairs

 

[Rhombuss]

I'm not exactly on a budget, but I mainly want value - both these speakers are relatively cheap, under $100. I would need to unload upwards $200 to get a pair of Klipsch speakers. I mainly just want to know the pros and cons of these 2 pairs

 

[Rhombuss]

I'm not exactly on a budget, but I mainly want value - both these speakers are relatively cheap, under $100. I would need to unload upwards $200 to get a pair of Klipsch speakers. I mainly just want to know the pros and cons of these 2 pairs

 

[AncientPC]

I'd go for the ATP5's for better sound for movies and games, but that's just me.

I haven't had the experience of listening to ATP5's or the Microsoft DSS-80 speakers, but I'd go with the Altec Lansing's based upon personal preference, company background, and the AL's more established in the sound field.

I don't buy any Microsoft hardware products at all, just stick to OS's and MS Office for me . . .

 

[Wingznut]

Boston Acoustics BA-4800's are easily the "best value". You should easily be able to find them for less than $150. Imho, they are better than the Klipsch.

(NOTE: "Imho" means just that... IMHO, as speakers are very subjective.)

 

[Zucchini]

yes, very subjective since most arguements against klipsch are now obsolete The things basically get perfect scores on reviews. 4.1/ 2.1 are great values, search for them in the hotdeals forums. I think a 4.2(2 2.1's) are 299, 4.1's are 229? ah well, have fun

 

[Wingznut]

$299? Crap, that's like twice the price of the BA's. And if they've fixed the mid-range and shrilly highs, then basically they are just as good as the BA's with overstated/muddy bass.

I'll have to listen to the new and improved Klipsch. As lacking as the mid-range was on the old ones, I'm still skeptical regarding how much it's improved.

Of course, it's all IMHO.

 

[Zucchini]

ok, now your on crack. They fixed the midrange, the highs on the klipsch will always beat out the tweeterless ba's. The ba's were good, a year ago 299 is the price of a dual subwoofer system, each sub easily beating out the ba's. I don't think klipsch paid off all the reviewers. You could say the tweeterless ba's are just plain muddy

 

[divinemartyr]

<< Don't know what you are spending but nothing beats Klipsch Pro Media >>



I also prefer the warmer clean sound of the BA-4800's. At $139 I'd easily pick these over the Klipsch. Hell, even without cost being a factor, Boston would STILL get my pick over the Klipsch.

If you want the best speakers under $100 however, the Altec Lansing ACS56's are the ones to buy.

If you can spend another $40, buy the Boston 4800's you will NOT be disappointed.



<< ok, now your on crack. They fixed the midrange, the highs on the klipsch will always beat out the tweeterless ba's. The ba's were good, a year ago 299 is the price of a dual subwoofer system, each sub easily beating out the ba's. I don't think klipsch paid off all the reviewers. You could say the tweeterless ba's are just plain muddy >>



Obviously you have never listened to a 'real' subwoofer, because the Klipsch sub in the Pro Medias is absolutely TERRIBLE in terms of punchiness or clean bass. Why don't you make it a point to go check out a Velodyne sub, a REAL Klipsch subwoofer, or even a Sunfire. You'll realize what we mean when we say the Klipsch sub is muddy and overall unpleasant.

Sure the sub in the Boston set isn't perfect, but it's definitely got a lot more kick to it and a hell of a lot cleaner than Klipsch's &quot;speaker in a big huge box&quot; crap. Please! YOU are the one on crack.

As far as the Klipsch having a separate tweeter and the Boston's not? Well a lot of people simply don't LIKE horn-loaded tweeters, I happen to be one and so does Wingznut obviously. Horn loaded tweeters are 'fatiguing' but I bet you've never heard that word either have you? Try listening to them at 3/4 volume for 3-4 hours at a time and you'll understand speaker fatigue if you're listening to the Klipsch ProMedias.

It's also extremely unfortunate they had to 'correct' their speakers and build a totally new crossover because they realized what a piece of crap their frequency response was on this speaker. If they had no complaints, do you really think they would have just spent the R&amp;D money to make another set? Of course not! They got enough complaints about this system they had to find a way to get midrange out of it.

That's a lot of problems with one speaker set. Shrilly highs, lack of midrange, and muddy bass, what else is left? Oh that's right, that includes pretty much every frequency in the spectrum. Face it, the Klipsch simply aren't $300 speakers, any way you look at it. You just HATE to admit you wasted $249 though, I understand. Now go crawl back in your little hole and take a trip to a hifi audio store this weekend.

dm

 

[Zucchini]

yes i know what clean tight bass is. The klipsch have a trade off, more bass, slightly less accuracy. Its a decent trade off considering the amount of bass you get, and works well in games, music and movies.

Shrilly highs, lack of midrange, and muddy bass,

What are you talking about. If you would have bothered to read any reviews, these problems have been fixed. Lack of midrange? Fixed.. shrilly highs? well thats lack of midrange again, and again fixed. I have the 4.1's, so i know what i'm talking about. I upgraded from the 4.0's, and b4 that i had dtt2500(sucked), and microworks(had tight bass).

go to gamersdepot.com firingsquad.com 3dsoundsurge.com ...and many others, the reviewers aren't all on crack.

and as for their fixes, when you tout your system to be the best computer speakers out, you'd better fix any problems/improve your product. The ba's don't have to because they don't have to setup such a high standard, they are budget speakers.. and thats what you get. Once you get the level of bass/sound possible on the klipsch you can't go back to lesser systems.

 

[divinemartyr]

<< What are you talking about. If you would have bothered to read any reviews, these problems have been fixed. Lack of midrange? Fixed.. shrilly highs? well thats lack of midrange again, and again fixed. I have the 4.1's, so i know what i'm talking about. I upgraded from the 4.0's, and b4 that i had dtt2500(sucked), and microworks(had tight bass). >>



Actually I've read all the reviews on those sites, and sure they fixed it, but only after multitudes of complaints. The reason Boston has not 'fixed' any problems is not because it's a budget speaker system, it's because they're good accurate speakers. I don't own either system so I'm less biased than someone who does, but I've listened to both extensively.

Also as far as a 'trade-off' for louder bass, that isn't as clean, I'll stick with good clean bass myself. These are plenty of 16 year olds who would disagree with that, but once you get older, you learn to appreciate what sounds accurate, not what has the most bass.

Oh and I guess one last thing to point out, just because those reviewers 'aren't on crack' if you think Klipsch didn't send them a few complimentary speaker sets to 'demo', then you're also out of your mind. There are incentives for reviewers and websites like that.

dm

 

[Zucchini]

From what i remember, you &quot;extensively&quot; listened to the 4.0's.. which doesn't say much. The trade off in bass accuracy is worth it, especially in dvds, its not like we're talking extreme bass distortion. As for owning the speakers making me biased, well yes it probably does. The thing is i don't have much loyality to speakers, i replace as better ones come out, or about a year.

As for the complementary speakers these reviewers get.. well yes they have to review something. These sites also recieved ba's, but you don't see them screaming that the ba's are better then the klipsch do you? Generally the reviews also say that the klipsch end up being their reference system, or the ones they would most likely use themselves.. not the ba's.

 

[Wingznut]

Wait a minute, Zucchini... Have you really listened to the BA's? I mean, if all you have are the DTT's to compare the Klipsch to, then you have no basis in saying things like &quot;the highs on the klipsch will always beat out the tweeterless ba's&quot;.

I'll buy that you like the powerful bass. I prefer the more accurate sound. I'll buy that the Klipsch mid-range is improved. But I have a hard time buying that you honestly think the Klipsch horn tweeters are better, unless you've never given the BA's a fair shake.

 

[Zucchini]

I've never owned the ba's, no point since they came out after i went for bigger systems. My friend does own them, so i have had experience iwth them. He's upgraded to klipsch too. I went with cambridge for quite a while though, soundworks, microsoundworks, dtt2500

 

[Phunktion]

Stop it already..
Labtec Pulse = $40 = Good damn deal for how they sound
Klipsch 5.1's = Very Good = up to around $300 depending
BA 5.1's + AL 5.1's = Also Very Good = Less than K's
However you cannot beat a Dolby Digital Home Theatre system which can be had for around $400 or less with some great speakers if you buy the right one also it isn't limited to just the computer as the TV, VCR, and everything else can be hooked up to it..

Just pick your price range and buy one of them..

 

[Phunktion]

BTW I'd say amongst the two choices you gave I'd say go with the Altec's.. they've never failed me..

 

[Thump553]

Phunktion:

I'm interested in going the home theater method and would be interested in specifically what you would reccommend in the $400 price range. This seems kinda low for a receiver plus speakers.

 

[Rhombuss]

LMAO, you guys crack me up . I initially asked about the 2 speakers in my post, and it turns out to be a verbal deathmatch of 2 speakers I had absolutely no interest in buying . Remember people, this isn't for my main system - I have Monsoon 1000's for those, and personally they have the cleanest sound of any speakers that still come out now. But my main interest lies in the two speakers above, I mainly just want to know the USB digital sound quality of the DSS80's.

Shall we try this again?
BTW - thank you to those who did give me their opinions on the MS or the Altec's, but I'm mainly looking for an opinion based on a really experienced usage of these sets hehe!

Thanks again!

 

[divinemartyr]

<< I initially asked about the 2 speakers in my post, and it turns out to be a verbal deathmatch of 2 speakers I had absolutely no interest in buying >>



Nah wasn't a deathmatch, just expressing my opinions on Zucchini's biased post.

I've listened extensively to the ATP3's and can honest say they sound pretty bad. I gave you my opinion on sub $100 speakers, the Altec ACS56's are absolutely the best value.

My roommate has the DSS-80 speakers so I've also gotten a good chance to listen to them, and they sound pretty good, and have plenty of bass. I'd recommend them over the ATP3's which are absolutely horrid.

dm

 

[Rhombuss]

Ahh, cool divine - I kind of thought the same. Didn't think the first generation micro-tweeters could perform as well as Altec advertised them. But the fact that a local store is selling them for $99 CDN ($66 US), they're still quite a bargain. Will stick with the DSS 80's though .

 

[Noriaki]

Wow yet another speaker thread that has turned into a BA4800 vs Klipsch flamewar. I know I'm surprised I've never heard the ProMedia 4.1s so I won't comment on them. The v.2-400s had major problems, and I think Klipsch recognized that, hopefully the 4.1s will be nicer. I still think that Hornloaded tweaters are the worst invention in the history of speakers, but that's a personal opinion, maybe some people like them. Wingz, DM; be happy you have better speakers for half the price and stop tryying to convince people that don't really understand speakers that the ProMedia's aren't god's gift to speakers (Edit: Zucchini: that wasn't a shot at you, I've just seen this argument many many times with people that have heard $25 speakers, promedias and nothing else). You'll just get finger cramps Zucchini, Wingz stated clearly that it was his opinion, and perhaps his arguments are obselete to you, but that is your opinion and he has his, so why tell him he is wrong? Opinions can't be wrong.

Rhombuss: Sorry about that...

I've never been overly fond of the DSS80s...they are pretty basic really, I've never tried the ATP3 set speciifcaly. I've been quite happy with everything else from Altec I've used though, so I'd favour them over the dSS80s.