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Cohenista · Jul 18, 2004, 09:13 AM

I've just made the switch from PC, and while the PowerBook's speakers are pretty good given that it's a laptop, I was wondering about getting something a little better in quality. Does anyone know of good (and not too expensive!) speakers which go well with the PB?

Are there any wireless speakers out there which are PB-compatible?

Thanks!

X-Ray · Jul 18, 2004, 11:23 AM

After looking around quite a bit, I went ahead and bought the Altec Lansing inMotion speakers. They're not cheap. However, they're quite portable, sound decent, run off a/c plus d/c and work with my iPod! I'm quite happy with them. In the end, you get what you pay for.

mdc · Jul 18, 2004, 12:00 PM

i have heard good things about the jbl creature speakers. i saw them at best buy a few days ago and i think they were $99.

tooki · Jul 18, 2004, 02:01 PM

The only good thing about the Creatures is their looks. They have the sound quality of $30 speakers. (Same is true for the SoundSticks...)

tooki

mdc · Jul 18, 2004, 02:20 PM

well i'm glad i did not buy them then. thanks for that tooki

wuzup101 · Jul 19, 2004, 12:04 AM

Just wondering but how much is too expensive? Also are you looking for 2 desktop speakers, a 2.1 system, a 4.1, 5.1, etc...

As for brands, I tend to favor logitech but have had good luck with altec in the past. Let us know what you're looking for and looking to spend...

tooki · Jul 19, 2004, 12:28 AM

Originally posted by mdc:
well i'm glad i did not buy them then. thanks for that tooki

I mean, don't get me wrong. They don't sound bad. But you can get the same sound quality for a lot less money, or spend the same amount of money and get more rounded sound.

tooki

angelmb · Jul 19, 2004, 04:16 AM

Originally posted by tooki:
The only good thing about the Creatures is their looks. They have the sound quality of $30 speakers. (Same is true for the SoundSticks...)

tooki

I have no tried the Creatures, but to be honest, the Sound Sticks are really good, another different thing are the Apple Pro Speakers.

Cohenista · Jul 19, 2004, 10:14 AM

Originally posted by wuzup101:
Just wondering but how much is too expensive? Also are you looking for 2 desktop speakers, a 2.1 system, a 4.1, 5.1, etc...

As for brands, I tend to favor logitech but have had good luck with altec in the past. Let us know what you're looking for and looking to spend...

Well, I'm a student, so in a sense, the cheaper the better. Certainly no more than �100 (which comes to around $190, I think.) Preferably half of that. I liked the look of the Creature II ones, but wouldn't want to fork out for substandard kit in a pretty case.

Are wireless speakers not a possibility? I gather Bluetooth is no good for speakers, but aren't there any on the market which would be Airport-compatible?

wuzup101 · Jul 19, 2004, 10:32 AM

As for bluetooth/airport speakers I'm not sure myself. Tooki might have some insight into this; however, I haven't really been looking for such things lately. I remember hearing a while back on another forum that bluetooth was too slow to provide adaquate bandwidth for high quality sound; however, this might just have been someone blowing smoke I'm not really sure (again tooki could clear this up most likely).

As for airport, the easiest option would be to get an airport express and hook it into your choice of speakers.

My personal choice for speakers in your price range would be:

Low cost 2.1:
Altec 2100 2.1 system
Altec ATP3 2.1 system (personally own a pair of these... gave them to my bro when I got a set of logitech Z560s... sound pretty damn good for the price)

More expensive 2.1
Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 system (THX cert)

5.1 system
Logitech Z5300 (THX cert)

As a college student I personally would go for the Z5300s myself. The offer a great value and sound really nice and can be had for $140 now here in the states. They are a 280watt RMS system with enough punch to more than fill a dorm room/small apartment. Now you won't reap the benifit of having true 5.1 sound from your powerbook; however, it's always nice to have the extra speakers to fill the room with sound evenly. Also, down the road you can get a 5.1 sound card and then enjoy your movies and such in full 5.1 surround.

STAT · Jul 19, 2004, 10:51 AM

Originally posted by wuzup101:
Now you won't reap the benifit of having true 5.1 sound from your powerbook; however, it's always nice to have the extra speakers to fill the room with sound evenly. Also, down the road you can get a 5.1 sound card and then enjoy your movies and such in full 5.1 surround.

Great reply, Wuzup101. But I have a couple questions if you'd allow me to ask...

Can a PowerBook owner get some kind of external 5.1 sound card and enjoy true surround sound? Also, wouldn't hooking up an Airport Express to a set of speakers not be all that great of an idea since all the sound would be coming through the little 3.5mm minijack or whatever (as opposed to RCA cables, optical cables, coax, etc.)? Thanks so much!

tooki · Jul 19, 2004, 11:31 AM

Originally posted by angelmb:
I have no tried the Creatures, but to be honest, the Sound Sticks are really good

No, they're not. I have friends who own those speakers, and the sound from them is very disappointing considering the price. They sound -- at best -- like the $40 Cambridge Soundworks speakers (which I am quick to praise) that I have on my TV, not like $200 speakers. Do they look cool? Sure. Do they sound bad? No. But do they sound like $200 speakers? Not even close.

I guess I just don't think the looks are worth sacrificing sound quality for. If you get "traditional" looking speakers, you can get a LOT better sound for your money than Creatures or SoundSticks, and frankly, speakers are there to be heard, not looked at.

I don't think Bluetooth is fast enough for CD-quality audio, even compressed. It would be cool, though! AirPort Express would sorta do the trick, but it's pricey. All the other wireless speakers I know of just connect to the audio output and have their own dedicated transmitter.

I think that using a USB audio interface can provide 5.1 or even 7.1 audio, but I've never tried it, and I don't know if DVD Player knows what to do with them.

tooki

STAT · Jul 19, 2004, 12:02 PM

Originally posted by tooki:
NI think that using a USB audio interface can provide 5.1 or even 7.1 audio, but I've never tried it, and I don't know if DVD Player knows what to do with them.

Yeah, good point. I'd like to know though, so let's get it figured out, alright?

wuzup101 · Jul 20, 2004, 12:24 AM

Okay here's the thing. I'm fairly new to mac. I KNOW for a FACT that you can run a 5.1 system of a PC laptop (and I think there are also 6.1 and 7.1) via a remote usb interface. Basically it's a 5.1 sound card that plugs into your laptop and then you plug your speakers into it. As for the airport express I'm not sure. I have heard that they have an optical connection (this is the only way I'd personally buy one). However, maybe someone who actually owns one could comment. I'd assume that if there is an optical digital out on the express then there is a decent sound processor in there. Again, not too fimilar with the product. I am however in a similar boat. I really would like to get a 5.1 external sound card for my new mac. I'm going to go browsing for one right now. If/When I find anything I'll be sure to write back!

STAT · Jul 20, 2004, 12:32 AM

Originally posted by wuzup101:
I'm going to go browsing for one right now. If/When I find anything I'll be sure to write back!

Please do! Thanks!

wuzup101 · 12:47 AM

Wow that was a FAST reply!

Here is one that I found which looks pretty nice. Works on OSX 10.1.5 or later and also with XP and other win OSes. Here is a link to a review, says they go for about $80 and can do 7.1! Also, street price is $80.

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=465

If you can't afford this at first, I would recomend getting the speakers you want (maybe like a nice 5.1 system) and then just picking this up later when you have the $$$. It's not really all that expensive and it does have OSX support which is great. I'm actually thinking about picking up one as it would sorta match my PB.

http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=465

Product is the M Audio Sonica

EDIT: I was looking at the airport express on the apple site and I noticed that the 3.5mm jack is one of those that is found on many MD recorders. Not only is it an analoge 3.5mm but it also has the digital optical 3.5mm beam at the bottom of it. So you easily could attach it to your high end optical speakers. The only part I'm still confused about is if the AE has it's own processor (which I don't think it does). Apple doesn't list any specs, so I'm guessing it just uses your notebook's processor and sends the signals via that. I'm not really sure how you could get around this. Someone's gotta know if it's possible.

STAT · Jul 20, 2004, 12:53 AM

Yeah, thank God for email notification. ;-)

Hmmmmm...I don't like the way that page is put together. But the product looks good. But how do you utilize the digital out from it or whatever? Like, where would that go to?

STAT · Jul 20, 2004, 12:56 AM

Optical on Airport Express? This I'm not aware of. Surely it isn't split up into multiple channels though, is it? Or does optical not work that way (meaning that it's split after the fact)?

wuzup101 · Jul 20, 2004, 01:32 AM

Okay... if you have optical speakers there is only one jack (as opposed to having say 3 3.5mm jacks for a 5.1 system. An optical 5.1 system like the Logitech Z680s only will have one optical cable running between the sound card and the speaker setup. Here is a close up diagram of the back of that external sound card (from their page). You can see the jacks it features (including the optical/digital jack)

Diagram

wuzup101 · Jul 20, 2004, 01:36 AM

Originally posted by STAT:
Optical on Airport Express? This I'm not aware of. Surely it isn't split up into multiple channels though, is it? Or does optical not work that way (meaning that it's split after the fact)?

This is what I'm not really sure of. Usually when you run optical speakers the actual reciever/speakers have a decoder. So in theory I'm now thinking it should pass through all the information and then your reciever should be able to split it up. I'm still a bit confused on this issue, so please don't take my world for it. However, I can tell you that there definitely is an OPTICAL/DIGITAL out on the AE as it states it on apple's site (on the tech specs).

STAT · Jul 20, 2004, 01:53 AM

Well, I guess it's all somewhat moot to me because if I want to watch a 5.1 DVD, I'm gonna do it on my $1000 Sony DAV-C990 HTS and a television, not on my xx" PowerBook Gx. If I'm listening to something on my computer, it's either going to be system sounds of some sort, low-quality QT movies, or 2-channel audio files. Right? I mean...even the highest quality AIFF recording isn't going to benefit much from 5.1 speakers because it just has left and right channels (right?). So...maybe I should just get a good set of conventional computer speakers. Like maybe that Klipsch set. I just don't think a "movie system" is what I'd want on my computer.

wuzup101 · Jul 20, 2004, 03:03 AM

The only benifit you get from playing stereo music through a larger speaker system is more output/coverage. If you already have a high end DVD entertainment system then you mise well just use that then! I know I would!