From: William Park via Talk <talk@lists.gtalug.org>
I'm looking to replace my 30-year old PC speakers. I just need basic, nothing fancy. I know of Logitech and Creative brand, at the low end. Are there other brands that have come along in the last 30 years?
This isn't a direct answer to your question. It's a dump of what I think I know. I'd love other GTALUGers to post their thoughts or reactions. There's plenty to learn. There are lots of new brands. For example, Edifer. Many of the old brands have been licensed and applied to new junk by an unrelated manufacturer. Trusting a brand isn't optimal but it can save time. Why do you want to replace them? The answer might guide your search. Some answers that I can imagine: - the old ones were fine but no longer work - I want to save space (or wires) - I want better sound for games - I want better sound for music - I want better sound for movies - my hearing range no longer requires high frequency accuracy - I want something that I can use for video-conferencing For music, stereo speakers are expected. In the old days, two big speakers were standard. Now, two smaller speakers plus a sub-woofer might be a better choice. (Little source material has more than two channels.) For movies and games, you might find you want a bunch of speakers to give a more immersive effect, plus a sub-woofer. 5.1 (5 speakers plus a sub-woofer) and 7.1 are common. The placement of the speakers matters but the placement of a sub-woofer is much less critical. The low end for TV sound might apply to a computer too: a sound bar and a sub-woofer. Most speakers for TV or computers are "powered" or "active": they contain their own amplifier. If they are connected by USB, they even have their own DAC. If your speakers are unpowered or passive, you need an amplifier. Probably what we used to call an integrated amp: one that includes the pre-amp. One advantage of an amplifier (or receiver) is that they can support multiple inputs: computer, TV, DVD player, turntable (maybe). Some modern amps are very small. The traditional, old school Hi-Fi market cared about sound accuracy. A lot. That's my culture. The current culture prefers things that sound good. That means lots of base and lots of "sweetening". There's no question that games and movies are a lot more enjoyable with a lot of base. What's your culture? What do I do? My main computer uses a TV set as a monitor. The TV set includes not-great speakers but I actually use decent headphones connected to the TV set. Most of the time the headphones get the sound but they are not on my head! Our family TV sets have a sound bar and subwoofer. For video-conferencing, I just use a notebook. This does not put my/our best face forward but I don't care. Possibly a mistake.