'Ello,

I'm looking for suggestions on the best computer speakers available
today. I'm not a gamer and don't watch movies on my computer, so the
whole surround sound thang probably isn't necessary. Mainly listening
to music and want some good bass response and good tonality. Sad, but
most of the music listening I do is while I'm workin' at the computer,
as opposed to sitting in front of my nice stereo system in my living
room. :/

If it matters, I'm on a Mac running Tiger.

-Fleemo

wrote:
'Ello,

I'm looking for suggestions on the best computer speakers available
today. I'm not a gamer and don't watch movies on my computer, so the
whole surround sound thang probably isn't necessary. Mainly listening
to music and want some good bass response and good tonality. Sad, but
most of the music listening I do is while I'm workin' at the computer,
as opposed to sitting in front of my nice stereo system in my living
room. :/

If it matters, I'm on a Mac running Tiger.

-Fleemo


I suggest you ignore the word "computer" and re-pose your question as
"which are the best speakers available"? Do you like the ones you have
on your stereo? If so, get some more of those. Otherwise go to your Hi
Fi shop and have a listen. Just don't buy stuff in cream plastic boxes -
it is universally crap.

Better still, just move your Hi Fi into the room where the computer is,
and plug in. If that is where you do your listening, that is where it
should be.

d

I'm sure you are going to get a lot of responses - well, here's my
suggestion:

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/s...em=c1swzzzz z

I've had the Cambridge Soundworks PC speakers for many years hooked up to
the soundcard in my PC. When I purchased them, they were the most "musical"
sounding of the speakers I listened to at the store, and I've been happy
with them. Very good sounding with decent bass. No, they won't replace the
high end system in my living room, but work well when I play music on my
computer. Like you, I'm not a gamer and don't watch movies on the Pee-Cee.

Haven't listened to the higher priced "Soundworks" speakers in the Cambridge
Soundworks line, but at $79.99, these work well for me.

Just my thoughts.
Bob.

fleemo17 wrote ...
I'm looking for suggestions on the best computer
speakers available today. I'm not a gamer and don't
watch movies on my computer, so the whole surround
sound thang probably isn't necessary. Mainly listening
to music and want some good bass response and good
tonality. Sad, but most of the music listening I do is
while I'm workin' at the computer, as opposed to sitting
in front of my nice stereo system in my living room. :/

The best computer speakers are NOT *COMPUTER*
speakers. There is nothing magic about computers that
require special speakers. If you really want decent music
reproduction, look at some of the compact, powered
monitors that are offered for the home-recording market.
For example, these kinds of things. Available many places...
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=rec/search?c=4901

If it matters, I'm on a Mac running Tiger.

Should make no difference as long as you have the
proper cable.

On 2005-09-10 14:37:25 +1000, said:

'Ello,

I'm looking for suggestions on the best computer speakers available
today. I'm not a gamer and don't watch movies on my computer, so the
whole surround sound thang probably isn't necessary. Mainly listening
to music and want some good bass response and good tonality. Sad, but
most of the music listening I do is while I'm workin' at the computer,
as opposed to sitting in front of my nice stereo system in my living
room. :/

If it matters, I'm on a Mac running Tiger.

-Fleemo

My advice would be to get an Apple Airport Express.
Plug this into the stereo and then transmit the music to it, either via
wired or wireless ethernet.
The transmission of the music from the Mac to the Airport Express is
100% lossless, so you don't lose any quality (over what you've arguably
lost with the MP3 compression)

Failing that, follow the advice of another poster and look for some
self-powered monitors. Edirol make some nice little monitors that are
self-powered and accept both digital and analogue inputs.

Kai

wrote in message
oups.com...
'Ello,

I'm looking for suggestions on the best computer speakers available
today.

I think "computer speakers" implied magnetic shielding so they could be used
close to a CRT.

Since home cinema became popular, there are lots more shielded speakers
available. However, you might do better by buying a used hi-fi system that
meets your quality requirements, and spending the money saved on a TFT
monitor if you don;t already have one.

Tim

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 09:20:20 GMT, "Tim Martin"
wrote:

I think "computer speakers" implied magnetic shielding so they could be used
close to a CRT.

Since home cinema became popular, there are lots more shielded speakers
available. However, you might do better by buying a used hi-fi system that
meets your quality requirements, and spending the money saved on a TFT
monitor if you don;t already have one.


Who says the speakers have to be mounted close to the computer screen
anyway?

If you want sound comparable with your hi-fi, get a comparable hi-fi.
Pay as much attention to speaker placement as you did with the one in
your lounge. It's a huge factor in achieving quality sound.

Bob wrote:
I'm sure you are going to get a lot of responses - well, here's my
suggestion:

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/s...em=c1swzzzz z

I've had the Cambridge Soundworks PC speakers for many years hooked up to
the soundcard in my PC. When I purchased them, they were the most "musical"
sounding of the speakers I listened to at the store, and I've been happy
with them. Very good sounding with decent bass. No, they won't replace the
high end system in my living room, but work well when I play music on my
computer. Like you, I'm not a gamer and don't watch movies on the Pee-Cee.

Haven't listened to the higher priced "Soundworks" speakers in the Cambridge
Soundworks line, but at $79.99, these work well for me.

Just my thoughts.
Bob.


I 2nd that! Cambridge Soundworks make some really good sounding computer
speakers. I have a pair myself.

As for the other posters who recommend spending as much money/time on
speakers for the the computer as you would your stereo, I ask you this:

considering that wehn you're at your computer, your primary source of
most if not all of your attention is the computer. The music is in the
background, or as some would say, elevator music. True, you do want good
sound quality, but if you're attention will most likely be on CoolEdit,
Word, Excel or Firefox, why go to the extreme of getting hifi audio
speakers? When you listen to your home stereo, you get to fully indulge
your ears, unlike when you listen at the computer.

CD

"Codifus" wrote in message
...
Bob wrote:
I'm sure you are going to get a lot of responses - well, here's my
suggestion:

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/s...em=c1swzzzz z

I've had the Cambridge Soundworks PC speakers for many years hooked
up to the soundcard in my PC. When I purchased them, they were the
most "musical" sounding of the speakers I listened to at the store,
and I've been happy with them. Very good sounding with decent bass.
No, they won't replace the high end system in my living room, but
work well when I play music on my computer. Like you, I'm not a
gamer and don't watch movies on the Pee-Cee.

Haven't listened to the higher priced "Soundworks" speakers in the
Cambridge Soundworks line, but at $79.99, these work well for me.

Just my thoughts.
Bob.


I 2nd that! Cambridge Soundworks make some really good sounding
computer speakers. I have a pair myself.

And I had a pair myself. I dumped them because they had
a huge hole in the middle of their frequency response.
Those plastic comsumer "computer speakers" are tuned
for maximum thump at the bottom and sizzle at the top to
make them sound "better" than the competition sitting on
the shelf at Frys. I was very disappointed when I brought
them home. I gave them to a friend who just needed any
old thing. YMMV.

On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 21:17:27 -0400, Codifus
wrote:

As for the other posters who recommend spending as much money/time on
speakers for the the computer as you would your stereo, I ask you this:

considering that wehn you're at your computer, your primary source of
most if not all of your attention is the computer. The music is in the
background, or as some would say, elevator music. True, you do want good
sound quality, but if you're attention will most likely be on CoolEdit,
Word, Excel or Firefox, why go to the extreme of getting hifi audio
speakers? When you listen to your home stereo, you get to fully indulge
your ears, unlike when you listen at the computer.

I'm intrigued why anyone working in Cool Edit, an audio editor, would
be listening to background music? :-)

But someone who DOES use Cool Edit will likely be interested in audio
quality even more than the average listener.

"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
I'm intrigued why anyone working in Cool Edit, an audio
editor, would be listening to background music? :-)

Well, when you're editing hours and hours of speech (or
even predictable music) where you are only trimming,
normalizing, applying some sort of regular processing
to many files, etc., you're not necessarily listening in
rapt attention to every second of what you're editing.
We can't all get paid for mixing down original tracks. :-)

Richard Crowley wrote:

"Codifus" wrote in message
...

Bob wrote:

I'm sure you are going to get a lot of responses - well, here's my
suggestion:

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/s...em=c1swzzzz z


I've had the Cambridge Soundworks PC speakers for many years hooked
up to the soundcard in my PC. When I purchased them, they were the
most "musical" sounding of the speakers I listened to at the store,
and I've been happy with them. Very good sounding with decent bass.
No, they won't replace the high end system in my living room, but
work well when I play music on my computer. Like you, I'm not a
gamer and don't watch movies on the Pee-Cee.

Haven't listened to the higher priced "Soundworks" speakers in the
Cambridge Soundworks line, but at $79.99, these work well for me.

Just my thoughts.
Bob.


I 2nd that! Cambridge Soundworks make some really good sounding
computer speakers. I have a pair myself.


And I had a pair myself. I dumped them because they had
a huge hole in the middle of their frequency response.
Those plastic comsumer "computer speakers" are tuned
for maximum thump at the bottom and sizzle at the top to
make them sound "better" than the competition sitting on
the shelf at Frys. I was very disappointed when I brought
them home. I gave them to a friend who just needed any
old thing. YMMV.
Yeah, I've noticed that some bass is missing along where the satellites
transition to the bass module, but it's casual listening for me, and
they sound a whole lot better than other computer speakers I've tried,
like Altec Lansing, Creative, etc.

CD

Laurence Payne wrote:
On Sun, 11 Sep 2005 21:17:27 -0400, Codifus
wrote:


As for the other posters who recommend spending as much money/time on
speakers for the the computer as you would your stereo, I ask you this:

considering that wehn you're at your computer, your primary source of
most if not all of your attention is the computer. The music is in the
background, or as some would say, elevator music. True, you do want good
sound quality, but if you're attention will most likely be on CoolEdit,
Word, Excel or Firefox, why go to the extreme of getting hifi audio
speakers? When you listen to your home stereo, you get to fully indulge
your ears, unlike when you listen at the computer.


I'm intrigued why anyone working in Cool Edit, an audio editor, would
be listening to background music? :-)

But someone who DOES use Cool Edit will likely be interested in audio
quality even more than the average listener.
Ahh, you got me there. Cooledit is on my DAW which is attached to my
hifi stereo My cambridge speakers are on my main "work" computer which
has iTunes and the other stuff I mentioned.

CD

On Mon, 12 Sep 2005 08:02:28 -0700, "Richard Crowley"
wrote:

I'm intrigued why anyone working in Cool Edit, an audio
editor, would be listening to background music? :-)

Well, when you're editing hours and hours of speech (or
even predictable music) where you are only trimming,
normalizing, applying some sort of regular processing
to many files, etc., you're not necessarily listening in
rapt attention to every second of what you're editing.
We can't all get paid for mixing down original tracks. :-)

Well wriggled! But not well enough :-)

When editing music or speech you will be listening to it, not to
something else. Surely?

"Laurence Payne" wrote ...
"Richard Crowley" wrote:

I'm intrigued why anyone working in Cool Edit, an audio
editor, would be listening to background music? :-)

Well, when you're editing hours and hours of speech (or
even predictable music) where you are only trimming,
normalizing, applying some sort of regular processing
to many files, etc., you're not necessarily listening in
rapt attention to every second of what you're editing.
We can't all get paid for mixing down original tracks. :-)

Well wriggled! But not well enough :-)

When editing music or speech you will be listening to it, not to
something else. Surely?

Sure in a few hours/days when all the grunt work is done.
But in the meantime, something coherent to listen to keeps
one within a working distance of sanity.

And, of course, you always have the option to break in
and *listen* to anything that looks questionable.

[Carver1200]

Originally Posted by Bob

I'm sure you are going to get a lot of responses - well, here's my
suggestion:

http://www.cambridgesoundworks.com/s...em=c1swzzzz z

I've had the Cambridge Soundworks PC speakers for many years hooked up to
the soundcard in my PC. When I purchased them, they were the most "musical"
sounding of the speakers I listened to at the store, and I've been happy
with them. Very good sounding with decent bass. No, they won't replace the
high end system in my living room, but work well when I play music on my
computer. Like you, I'm not a gamer and don't watch movies on the Pee-Cee.

Haven't listened to the higher priced "Soundworks" speakers in the Cambridge
Soundworks line, but at $79.99, these work well for me.

Just my thoughts.
Bob.

I've been using the big brother Micro Works version for years and am very satisfied with the accurate midrange. Don't think these are still availible. Were talking home office audio here, not to be confused with a dedicated high end system. Unfortunately for us audio folks, the trend in computer speakers is for more stylish thin designs than the 4" x 4" square cabinets in the Micro Works system. Good news is, with LCD monitors becoming common, shielded speakers aren't much an issue any more. This opens up many more speaker options.