Help and advice on a new setup for PC

[Blatherskite]

Hello!

First of all, sorry for my english, I'm from Spain and my english is quite bad and rusty, but I can read and hear english perfectly, just that I'm very bad at writing, thanks for bearing with me.

Recently, my Logitech Z506 5.1 just broke out of nowhere after 10+ years of use, the sound doesn't come out, and there is always a buzzing and noise on the speakers.

I'm thinking of buying a new setup, maybe a 2.1 system even, because I realize that on my computer I don't really use the 5.1 and most of the time the sound didn't come out from all the speakers, just subwoofer and the left and right, so maybe I just set the speakers wrong or bad, because I was only able to listen and have full use of the system 5.1 was when using VLC or videogames.

The problem is that, as of right now, 10 years later, I don't follow or know which brands are good or bad in terms of sound, or which ones have good speakers for PC at a budget price, I'm quite lost on this matter and is very frustrating for me because I don't know where to start or how to search for good equipment.

So far I have the opportunity to get a Logitech Z906 5.1 system for the equivalent of 150$ but I'm not sure if those Logitech and speakers are good, if the upgrade is going to be noticeable and so...

My room is very small, I don't have much space to put speaker on my rear or behind, just in front, and the subwoofer is always on the front, near the case of my PC.

The speaker is going to be of use of everything, listening to music of Rock, Prog, Metal, Punk and Techno, to watch movies and series, to podcast, and for editing videos.

I have a budget of 250$ but I don't know where to start or which brand to see.

Any kind of help, configuration, recommendation will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much.

 

[lini]

Depending on how much space you actually have, you could for example consider a pair of decent, entry-level prosumer range active monitors (like for example JBL 305P MkII) - or a pair of used, similarly sized passive 2-way hifi loudspeakers plus something like for example the Fosi V3 amp to drive these. For half-decent bass extension without an additional subwoofer I'd suggest you to not go below a woofer size of roundabout 5 "/13 cm, though.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[Blatherskite]

Depending on how much space you actually have, you could for example consider a pair of decent, entry-level prosumer range active monitors (like for example JBL 305P MkII) - or a pair of used, similarly sized passive 2-way hifi loudspeakers plus something like for example the Fosi V3 amp to drive these. For half-decent bass extension without an additional subwoofer I'd suggest you to not go below a woofer size of roundabout 5 "/13 cm, though.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

Hello Lini!

I don't have really much space, my room is of 3,5 meters x 3.5 meters of espace with little to no room to move or add new things, doesn't help the kind of desk I have.

Good to hear about the JBL305p, got recommended those before on others places and seems like is the most common speakers for my kind of budget and build.

Seems like there is a chance to get a pair of those JBL305 for 180 - 200 € second hand, but I'm afraid of not knowing how to connect them or not taking real advantage of them for bad setup and cable.

Do I need something more with them? Right now I only have the audio ports from my MOBO, nothing exclusive for audio.

Been reading about the Adams T5-T7 too, but I'm not sure which ones are better, if JBL or Adams.

Regarding the Logitech Z906 5.1 I guess is not worth it the investment of 150 € and I'm going to lose quality on sound and volume.

Allow me to share a poor drawn made of my room and a photo of my desk setup.

Thanks so much for all your help and advice

 

[lini]

(...) Do I need something more with them? Right now I only have the audio ports from my MOBO, nothing exclusive for audio. (...)

Yup, you'd need a matching cable from 3.5 mm miniTRS to 2x 6.35 mm TS - like for example these pretty priceworthy ones offered by Thomann: https://www.thomann.de/es/search_di...2UiOjh9&reload=1&sw=tpy kpp&smcs=2c7309_10182

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

P.S.: I hope, that the link works for you. If not, simply go to Thomann.de, switch the language to Spanish and enter "TPY KPP" into the search. Then you should get three results for basically the same cable, just in three different lengths.

 

[Blatherskite]

Yup, you'd need a matching cable from 3.5 mm miniTRS to 2x 6.35 mm TS - like for example these pretty priceworthy ones offered by Thomann: https://www.thomann.de/es/search_dir.html?shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZXMiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6MiwibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjh9&reload=1&sw=tpy kpp&smcs=2c7309_10182

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

P.S.: I hope, that the link works for you. If not, simply go to Thomann.de, switch the language to Spanish and enter "TPY KPP" into the search. Then you should get three results for basically the same cable, just in three different lengths.

Hello Lini once again!

I managed to buy 1 of the 2 JBL 305 for 90 € second hand.

Seems like the links are working for me, thanks.

My doubts are... I get I should be a pair of cables right? Each for a monitor.

And another thing is that I found out the volume knob is always on the back and I imagibe that is going to be tedious on the long run and on the process of adaption...

Should I buy an interface or controller to connect the monitors there and then have control of them from the interface?

I imagine I should connect the new cables jack to the green and pink port right?

Thanks so much for your help and patience and sorry for my newbie questions.

 

[kyuu]

Hello Lini once again!

I'm not Lini, but welcome to ASR!

My doubts are... I get I should be a pair of cables right? Each for a monitor.

No, you only need one of the cables that Lini recommended. The TRS on the 3.5mm end will get two channels, and then the 6.3mm end each has a TS with one of the channels on it. So you connect one of each of the 6.3mm TS leads to each of your speakers.

And another thing is that I found out the volume knob is always on the back and I imagibe that is going to be tedious on the long run and on the process of adaption...

Yes that is kind of an annoyance. However, you can likely use the volume control on your PC. I would do this:

1) Turn the speaker's volume to minimum.
2) Turn the PC's volume to maximum.
3) Turn the speaker's volume up until you get to the maximum volume you would use.
4) From then on, use the PC's volume control only.

I imagine I should connect the new cables jack to the green and pink port right?

Again, you're connecting the single 3.5mm TRS end to the computer, not the two 6.3mm TS ends. The green is typically the line out and what you should connect to.

 

[AnalogSteph]

1. The cabling recommended so far is GUARANTEED to result in ground loop issues. You can add 1x Behringer HD400 "Hum Destroyer" and some cables TRS --> XLR male or TRS --> TRS to the list. (C'mon folks, it's 2025, we can do better than that!)
2. I can see some chance of placing the left speaker on a stand, no idea where the right one could go though, it's all quite cramped. The OP previously had a sub-sat system for good reason. Kali IN-UNF or something?
3. Looks like the radiator may be a bit overdue for some new paint.

 

[kyuu]

1. The cabling recommended so far is GUARANTEED to result in ground loop issues. You can add 1x Behringer HD400 "Hum Destroyer" and some cables TRS --> XLR male or TRS --> TRS to the list. (C'mon folks, it's 2025, we can do better than that!)

Can you explain why breaking out from a 3.5mm TRS to two 6.3mm TS is guaranteed to result in a ground loop? Is there a better way to go from the PC's onboard audio to the monitors (that only have XLR/TS jacks) without introducing an expensive USB audio interface in the middle?

 

[lini]

(...) My doubts are... I get I should be a pair of cables right? Each for a monitor.

And another thing is that I found out the volume knob is always on the back and I imagibe that is going to be tedious on the long run and on the process of adaption...

Should I buy an interface or controller to connect the monitors there and then have control of them from the interface? (...)

No, as already explained by kyuu, that cable splits from 3.5 mm miniTRS stereo to two times 6.35 mm TS - so for plain 2.0 stereo you only need one.

And as also already answered by kyuu, you'd use the volume control on the PC as your main volume control in this case.

And well, a decent prosumer USB audio interface (or a decent USB DAC or USB DAC/headphone amp combo, in case you wouldn't be interested in recording anyway) would be an optional extra - but it's hard to tell, whether one of those would be worth the expense for you. Shall mean: Generally speaking modern HDA onboard sound implementations often enough already are pretty decent, foremost on the playback side, so the improvement you yould expect by adding one of those would pretty likely be quite a bit more subtle/less obvious than the improvement provided by decent speakers compared to your Logitech speaker set.

Greetings from Munich!

Manfred / lini

 

[Blatherskite]

Hello @lini and @AnalogSteph I'm still having doubts regarding all this...

Bought the JBL305 like 2 weeks ago but shipping just lost my package and know they are investigating the case, so I still have to wait like 21 days more.

I'm thinking if maybe is better to go for some Kali LP6-LP8, I can get two Kali LP8 for 240 €, nearly the same amount I'm going to pay for the JBL 305 MKII.

Apart from this, I can get 2 JBL 305 but not MK2 for lower price... I'm missing something or getting a worse product if I go for the non MKII?

Regarding the ground loop... not sure what should I do... Maybe thats the current problem I have with my old Logitech Z506? Need the Behringer yes or yes?

Thanks so much for all your help.

 

[gwing]

Does your PC have an optical (Toslink) audio output? If it does and you are not already committed to active speakers it may be worth considering an integrated DAC/Amplifier and a pair of simple passive speakers. Having an optical connection the amp will eliminate ground loops and electrical noise from the PC completely and provide a nice flexible solution. Something like the Aiyima A80 recently reviewed here might be worth considering.

 

[Blatherskite]

Does your PC have an optical (Toslink) audio output? If it does and you are not already committed to active speakers it may be worth considering an integrated DAC/Amplifier and a pair of simple passive speakers. Having an optical connection the amp will eliminate ground loops and electrical noise from the PC completely and provide a nice flexible solution. Something like the Aiyima A80 recently reviewed here might be worth considering.

Hello Gwing!

Just some hours ago I got confirmed that my package with the JBL 305 has been lost so I have to start again.

Regarding the optical audio output, it seems my MOBO doesn't have that port and option.