Advice desktop speaker

[AyePepito]

Hi everyone, I really need advice as I'm getting lost in this rabbit hole that is audio equipement.

I've never really had any good audio equipment, I usually listen to music through basic headphones et Logitech speakers. I recently got pretty decent headphones (AKG K72) and - already - the difference between listening my music via speakers or these headphones it's night and day ! So I want to step up my speakers game.

I'm not looking at studio quality but good quality desktop speakers. I use my speakers 95% of the time at my desk for : movies, gaming and music. The room is around 3.7m x 5.7m (12.1ft x 18.7ft).
I have a 300-400€ in budget. I already know this budget is gonna get me "crap" for audiophiles but I'm still trying to squeeze the most sound quality out of my money.

So I checked the web and the more I'm looking into it the more I'm lost on what I should get !
Should I get a 2.1 or not ? I really enjoy deep bass in my music and is also quite important in movies. But I'm thinking : are bass from 2 good speakers better than 2 basic ones + a subwoofer ?
Should I get entry level speakers (~150€) at first and then buy more expensive ones later on ? But this might be in 5 years so I won't be listenning crappy sound until then
Headphones are nice and all but it is not as confortable as being ears free, being able to walk into the room or share music with friends passing by.
Should I go with passive speakers and invest a bit on a DAC+AMP ?

Subs I'm considering :
- Edifier T5
- Presonus Eris Sub 8T
- Mackie CR8S BT (50% of my budget !!!)

Speakers models I'm considering :
- Logitec Z313 - Z533
- Some Peebles model in 2.0 or 2.1
- Edifier M60
- Edifier QR65
- Mackie CR4-X
- Behringer Truth 3.5
- Edifier R1700BTs (apparently R1855DB has issues with a very low volume through subout line)
- Edifier S360DB
- iLoud Micro Monitor
- JBL 305P MKII
- Kali LP6 2nd Wave

Obviously the last two are way better than the others but at the cost of not having budget for a sub ! Also they do not have bluetooth, which is not mandatory but is a nice to have especially to send digital signal to the speakers as my PC doesn't have a S/PDIF output.

I would really like to know what you guys think. What should be my priority, what models do you recommend ?

 

[Crook]

For me the Kali LP6 2nd Wave is the obvious choice here. No, there are no funds for a sub, but there will be the potential to add one later. Measured here and a good speaker for the money, especially with a bit of EQ. They'll get down to 50hz, no tweeter hiss. Perfect from half to 2m. Solid buy.

 

[lowkeyoperations]

I’d go Adam DV3.

 

[somebodyelse]

While looking at Erin's reviews check out the Edifier MR3 and Kali LP-UNF. Also keep in mind the cheap subs probably won't go all that deep anyway, so may not be much improvement over the LP6 in that respect. If you have the space for the LP6 it's probably the better choice, especially if you're going to listen from more than ~1m away. You can add a better sub in a few years to get a bit more bass extension, assuming you feel you need it.

 

[Smislov]

For 160-220 on sale by DAC (smsl dl200) or maybe wiim pro/plus, 320euro bye
m-audio bx 8 you are going to 40hz bass

 

[alankila]

I've Adam D3V on my desk, on top of microphone stands to gain some distance to that reflective surface. Calibrated with REW. Sounds almost exactly as good as about 30 times more expensive Genelec units, except there's no low bass from them. It feels to me like sound is 90 % just acoustics and calibration.

 

[khuntim]

I've Adam D3V on my desk, on top of microphone stands to gain some distance to that reflective surface. Calibrated with REW. Sounds almost exactly as good as about 30 times more expensive Genelec units, except there's no low bass from them. It feels to me like sound is 90 % just acoustics and calibration.

Do the D3V work well at lower volume? I seem to remember something about an issue with that, I heard them once and liked them, didn't listen at low volume.

 

[khuntim]

Hi everyone, I really need advice as I'm getting lost in this rabbit hole that is audio equipement.

I've never really had any good audio equipment, I usually listen to music through basic headphones et Logitech speakers. I recently got pretty decent headphones (AKG K72) and - already - the difference between listening my music via speakers or these headphones it's night and day ! So I want to step up my speakers game.

I'm not looking at studio quality but good quality desktop speakers. I use my speakers 95% of the time at my desk for : movies, gaming and music. The room is around 3.7m x 5.7m (12.1ft x 18.7ft).
I have a 300-400€ in budget. I already know this budget is gonna get me "crap" for audiophiles but I'm still trying to squeeze the most sound quality out of my money.

So I checked the web and the more I'm looking into it the more I'm lost on what I should get !
Should I get a 2.1 or not ? I really enjoy deep bass in my music and is also quite important in movies. But I'm thinking : are bass from 2 good speakers better than 2 basic ones + a subwoofer ?
Should I get entry level speakers (~150€) at first and then buy more expensive ones later on ? But this might be in 5 years so I won't be listenning crappy sound until then
Headphones are nice and all but it is not as confortable as being ears free, being able to walk into the room or share music with friends passing by.
Should I go with passive speakers and invest a bit on a DAC+AMP ?

Subs I'm considering :
- Edifier T5
- Presonus Eris Sub 8T
- Mackie CR8S BT (50% of my budget !!!)

Speakers models I'm considering :
- Logitec Z313 - Z533
- Some Peebles model in 2.0 or 2.1
- Edifier M60
- Edifier QR65
- Mackie CR4-X
- Behringer Truth 3.5
- Edifier R1700BTs (apparently R1855DB has issues with a very low volume through subout line)
- Edifier S360DB
- iLoud Micro Monitor
- JBL 305P MKII
- Kali LP6 2nd Wave

Obviously the last two are way better than the others but at the cost of not having budget for a sub ! Also they do not have bluetooth, which is not mandatory but is a nice to have especially to send digital signal to the speakers as my PC doesn't have a S/PDIF output.

I would really like to know what you guys think. What should be my priority, what models do you recommend ?

I like the Edifier E25HD for an inexpensive small powered speaker, has Optical for TV (I use analog input)

I am most likely going in another direction with passive speakers, could not find any powered ones I loved in the smaller size I need, about 150mm wide (6") or so.

 

[kemmler3D]

If you want to stretch budget, consider getting second hand speakers. You can get JBL 308p mkii (or similar quality) and a modest sub inside your budget if you find a good deal locally. Good overall performance and a lot of bass.

 

[alankila]

Do the D3V work well at lower volume? I seem to remember something about an issue with that, I heard them once and liked them, didn't listen at low volume.

Yes, I would say so. My possibly incorrect interpretation of the issue was that used to be a noise gate type of technology on these devices where they cut power to tweeter in case playback signal is at low enough level, in order to make the speakers silent. Apparently, the gate was initially set too high and speakers cut tweeters out even when music was actually playing. This was remedied by a firmware patch, though Adam didn't go into detail on how they changed it. It just said something along the lines that the engineers struck a more acceptable compromise to remedy the issue.

From what I can tell, I guess that they removed the noise gating entirely. Currently, pressing my ear to tweeter, I hear a hiss, regardless of volume setting or signal presence (I use digital input only). I would say that their present level of noise is not a great concern, and I can't make tweeter muted regardless of what I do.

 

[Gatordaddy]

@AyePepito if you're doing all your listening sitting at your desk a full sized monitor rather large *depending* on how loud you listen and how much trouble you're going to do making room for them. If you want a lot of headroom, then sure get something like the JBL or Kali (I haven't listened to the Kali, they are well regarded), or the Adam T5V which can occasionally be had for a very low price.

I'd (unpopular opinion) advise against getting a subwoofer because it takes a lot of effort to integrate and good ones are expensive. Larger speakers are able to produce more bass, but they usually aren't tuned to extend lower because the designer will want to increase SPL headroom rather than have a speaker dig deeper. They would, however, get louder in the lower octaves before puttering out.

The iloud sound great at low volumes, but I don't think they would hold up to louder nearfield listening. I think of them as portable monitors, although my partner uses them to mix. Begrudgingly these were the largest speakers she would put on her desk.

I'll chime in to say the D3V sound spectacular for the money, and at under a meter away they are loud enough to cause hearing damage with music content. I don't think this gets you "crap." Really, I doubt plenty of hobbyists, and most "audiophiles" have heard something as accurate as them in a super-nearfield setup. If you haven't listened to anything besides inexpensive computer speakers, the bass in these will blow your mind.

Anyways, are you still deciding or did you pull the trigger on something?