[SpaceMonkey]

The compact stereo that I had hooked up to my G4 tower to play music through seems like it's on its death legs, so I've been looking around for some new speakers. I don't have much experience with computer speakers though, since I've just been using my stereo for all this time, so I'm not really sure what I need. I at least want to get the same sound quality I used to have through my stereo, a Panasonic SA-AK25, but I don't know what tier of computer speaker quality I should aim at (though I at least know that I want a 2.1 setup). Also, I'd be using them primarily for music, but I'm finding mostly gaming-oriented reviews.

Suggestions?

[zigzag]

Speakers are highly subjective and are affected by the listening environment as well, so I don't put much stock in casual recommendations. For value I'd get Cambridge Soundworks, but I intend to keep it in the family and get some Soundstick2s. We're not talking about high-resolution, full-range systems here, so might as well get something that looks good. A lot of people seem to like the Klipsches but I wouldn't want to look at them.

I guess the Soundsticks aren't actually in the Apple family, but they're close.

[Axo1ot1]

My Klipsch speakers are very attractive. They have really good sound too.

I'd recommend taking the most intense piece of music in a CD player or MP3 player to a store that will let you plug into a number of different models and crank the volume. I decided the Klipch 2.1 setup was good fro me when I bumped Children's Story off the Black Star album in J&R and deafened everyone in there without distorting the bass.

[Talk2Angus]

Originally posted by SpaceMonkey:
The compact stereo that I had hooked up to my G4 tower to play music through seems like it's on its death legs, so I've been looking around for some new speakers. I don't have much experience with computer speakers though, since I've just been using my stereo for all this time, so I'm not really sure what I need. I at least want to get the same sound quality I used to have through my stereo, a Panasonic SA-AK25, but I don't know what tier of computer speaker quality I should aim at (though I at least know that I want a 2.1 setup). Also, I'd be using them primarily for music, but I'm finding mostly gaming-oriented reviews.

Suggestions?

Speakers are highly subjective and are affected by the listening environment as well, so I don't put much stock in casual recommendations. For value I'd get Cambridge Soundworks, but I intend to keep it in the family and get some Soundstick2s. We're not talking about high-resolution, full-range systems here, so might as well get something that looks good. A lot of people seem to like the Klipsches but I wouldn't want to look at them.

[tooki]

SoundSticks are wildly overrated if you ask me. They offer $40 sound for $200.

I highly suggest looking at Cambridge Soundworks, too. They're excellent value, and excellent quality for the price. I use their most basic $40 speakers on my TV. I used to have their now-$70 set (I paid a lot more for them back in 1997), which were awesome. My mom has that set now on her Mac.

I think Klipsch sets sound muddy.

I now use two pairs of Jamo CS5's, which are awesome but discontinued.

That said, if I were going to get new speakers, I wouldn't buy computer speakers at all: I'd buy tuned reference monitors (pro-audio speak for "speakers"). Tuned reference means they've been matched to provide even, reproducible output (even among different individual units of the same model). Monitors are the most accurate speakers you can get: they're what musicians use to mix the music we listen to at home*. They're also not horribly expensive: a couple of hundred bucks for a pair. My CS5s, as I have discovered, are basically built like studio monitors, which probably explains why I love them.

tooki

*Which makes it that much more hilarious when audiophiles spend $20,000 on a stereo to play music that was mixed on $600 speakers.