Custom 2.1 setup for computer

[Lord Bobbymort]

Hi, everyone.

I have a budget (emphasis on the bad) 2.1 computer speaker set with a sub housing the amp and 2 L/R speakers that I want to replace with something custom, but I'd like to use a pair of bookshelf speakers or monitors that I choose myself without being locked into buying a company's full system.
I can find a pair of speakers I'd be satisfied with, and a sub, but does anyone know of a 2.1 amplifier that would be suited to sit on a desktop? I'd probably be running a Grace SDAC or something into so that's taken care of.

Thanks,
Bob

 

[andreasmaaan]

Hi Bob,

How much are looking at spending here?

And have you considered getting active speakers + sub? Likely to be better value for money overall IMHO.

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Ditto on the active speakers – saves desk real-estate. I’m running a pair of Swans M200 with a Velodyne SPL10 sub. Sounds great. They practically give the M200s away used on ebay.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[cequalspid]

For a desktop setup I'd go with active speakers. I went from Swans, to Adam A5X's and later added the Adam Sub8.

For nearfield/desktop, active monitors would be worth investigating. Is your source a PC?

 

[Lord Bobbymort]

Hi Bob,

How much are looking at spending here?

And have you considered getting active speakers + sub? Likely to be better value for money overall IMHO.

A few hundred at the most. It wouldn't be my main listening setup but it's going to be where I listen to things for a lot of time still.

For a desktop setup I'd go with active speakers. I went from Swans, to Adam A5X's and later added the Adam Sub8.

For nearfield/desktop, active monitors would be worth investigating. Is your source a PC?

Yeah, PC.

Thanks, everyone. A friend of mine had good results from a pair of active monitors so maybe I'll just go that route, I just have a thing for passive speakers.

 

[Lord Bobbymort]

Anyone have any luck with something like the Klipsch R15-PM, or RP-160M? I've had a rough go with Klipsch being pretty sterile in someone else's setup.

 

[andreasmaaan]

I can't find any measurements of any of those Klipsch models. In general, Klipsch makes high-quality, competitively-priced speakers, which tend to trade off bass extension in favour of SPL/sensitivity in comparison to others in their prize/size class.

In the price range you're looking at, I think you'd find it hard to beat JBL LS30x in terms of all-round performance. Not sure whether I'd recommend 305, 306 or 308; depends mostly on room size and listening levels.

 

[hitek]

I spend nearly all my listening time at my desks but they are large and I have some spare room so I'm using HDMI out from my Computers video card to an old Yamaha RX-V863 that I picked up used and still new enough that it is able to run modern enough 5.1/7.1 lossless surround formats through HDMI.

At the moment I have a pair of B&W CDM1NT bookshelves and a Paradigm DSP3100 V1 10" subwoofer connected to it and have put the center and surrounds away for now.

The JBL LSR300 series are a good buy if you want a pair of active monitors, the tricky thing with a setup like this and adding a sub is fiddling with crossovers and getting the sub to integrate with the setup.

I know JBL makes the LSR310s subwoofer that can match the setup but myself I would want to get more sound value out of the price of that and go for sheer bass performance!

What I like about my setup is it's great for 2 channel stereo whilst also being great for watching movies and playing my video games in surround.
I get the big plus of bass management for the subwoofer and am able to play around with some other settings.

I really wish we could get some compact sized devices on the market that are able to act like an AVR and provide a lot of that EQ, DSP and integrate with a setup like mine with no real hassle or work.

 

[somebodyelse]

Kali LP6 and LP8 are in the same ballpark as the JBLs and have similarly good measurements. I just wish any of them had a digital input.

An oddball option would be the HifiBerry BeoCreate if they ever come back into stock, and if you don't mind a bit of DIY. 2x30W + 2x60W, DSP, optical in and out. Not seen any measurements, but HifiBerry are usually at least competent. IIRC it's using tpa3128 amps so a similar performance level to in the JBL internals.