Best speakers for college student
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PatrickW Unregistered guest | Hi there, I'm big on music and short on money like most college students. I play my music through my computer sound card (internal, may upgrade to external) or Ipod, in mp3 format, so obviously I'm not even able to take advantage of high-fi gear. In the past I've simply used high end "computer" speakers to play my music - the Klipsch 2.1. I just lost those, and I need a new noise-making solution. I've of course heard that computer speakers (even the relatively high end ones) are pretty terrible compared to real mid-fi equipment. I need to create a system that can take a normal "headphone" line out turn it into sound for under 300 bucks. I've never built a component system before, so I really don't know what I'm doing. I'm thinking something like an amp or receiver and a couple of bookshelf speakers. I know that a lot of amp/speaker pricing is complete voodoo. I'd like some advice on how to get the best bang for my buck. Should I go with some kind of pre-assembled system, or buy an amp or receiver and speaker seperately? Most of the info on the web deals with either stuff out of my price range (mid or hi fi gear) or stuff below my price range (computer speakers, crappy audio systems). Thanks, Patrick |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 378 Registered: Oct-04 | Patrick, Consider this set-up, an Onkyo TXSR303S (factory refurb.) from ecost for $80 with these Athena Technology AS-B1 bookshelves for $120, or the AS-B2s (factory refub) for $150, and keep the rest of your $300 for coffee. http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?dpno=689139 http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=ATHASB1%2E2&product_name =Audition%20B1%2E2%20Speakers%20-%20Black,%20Pair http://www.audioadvisor.com/store/productdetail.asp?sku=ATHBASB2%2E2&product_nam e=Audition%20B2%2E2%20Speakers%20-%20Black,%20Pair%20--%20Factory-Refreshed |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3531 Registered: Mar-05 | I would agree with Christopher on the Athena speakers but instead of the $80 Onkyo I'd recommend trying out this $25 amp first: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009W44B Do a google search on this amp, it's built up quite a cult following. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 379 Registered: Oct-04 | You need to buy an indoor adaptor with that thing? I'm sorry Edster, I would still opt for the Onkyo, It's a quality, name brand, receiver for $80, what more can you ask for?. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3532 Registered: Mar-05 | I have the T-amp on loan from a friend who swears that it runs his Ascend 340s very well up to medium volumes (he has a Marantz 7200 for HT and some Audio Refinement separates for music) but have not had a chance to hook it up for myself yet. I think it has a single RCA input so that should work fine for a computer sound card, I don't see any need for an indoor adapter unless you mean AC adapter. The Onkyo would be more convenient and probably louder but not sure if the SQ would really be that much better. Patrick, btw they have some nice Wharfedale Diamond active monitors (self-powered) on eBay for around $300 or so I think, if you want less clutter that might be an option. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 380 Registered: Oct-04 | If you really want to go the power amp route, then I might opt for this AudioSource Amp 100 2-Channel Power Amplifier for $99 from etronics.com http://www.etronics.com/product.asp?stk_code=audamp100&store=&catid=4091 |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3533 Registered: Mar-05 | here's some reviews I found for it: http://www.tnt-audio.com/ampli/t-amp_e.html http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/sonicimpact/t.html and apparently they came out with a "deluxe" version of this amp, for an extra $115: http://www.si-technologies.com/frontEnd/cm_productDetail.jsp?productID=35 |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 381 Registered: Oct-04 | Edster, I read some of those reveiws, and I'm going to buy one of those Sonic Impact 5066 things to hear it for myself. I spend $25 on coffee some days. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3534 Registered: Mar-05 | I'd be curious to hear that AudioSource amp too. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3535 Registered: Mar-05 | > I spend $25 on coffee some days. LOL! $25 on coffee would keep me awake for a couple of days...$25 on beer I do sometimes. Be sure to post a detailed review, I'd love to read your thoughts on it. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 382 Registered: Oct-04 | I just picked up those Polk R15s for $40. I'd like to pair-up them with that SI T-Amp thing for $25, and for under $70, it should make for a cute little set-up. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3536 Registered: Mar-05 | I'm sure it'll sound better than most $200-300 ministereos. Did you get the R15s from outpost.com or from a Fry's? I might get a pair for surround duty myself. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 383 Registered: Oct-04 | outpost.com, but the sale is over, they're $120 now...ouch! http://shop1.outpost.com/product/3292811?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG They're really neat little speakers, I have NO idea what I'm going to do with them, but I could not resist them at $40. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 717 Registered: Dec-03 | T-amp?  |
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PatrickW Unregistered guest | Thanks for all the help! Looks like this T-Amp gets some (actually, hundreds of) amazing reviews all over the web... sounds like that might be the way to go. I was actually looking to spend more than that, but I've never seen hi-fi people speak highly of anything under half a grand before, so I don't think I can even afford the next step up! If no one who's heard it thinks I should do otherwise, I'll go for the T-Amp then. Then it comes to speakers - I assume I just go bookshelf... or would it be worth it to try a subwoofer too as I've seen some people have done with this amp? If so, i don't really understand where the crossover filters would go... do most woofers include their own low pass filter? I'm a physics major but I'm pretty shaky on audio tech. If somebody would recommend a good set of high-sensitivity bookshelf speakers to pair with this, that would be cool. Should I try to get 4 ohm speakers to exploit more than the 6 watts this amp can put out with an 8 ohm set? Apparently you can get 9 clean watts out of it with 4 ohm speakers. If 4 ohms is a bad idea for some reason, then the Auditron B2.2 that Christopher and Edster suggest look good to me if they are a good value - the price point is right on. I'm not even going to TRY to take the time looking at all the available options on the market as you two probably have. One concern if going with those is that the senstivity is 91 db/Wm (dunno if that unit is correct) which isn't much above the suggested lower-limit for use with the T-Amp of 90 db. It looks like it might be hard to find a pair with too much higher sensitivity, but would I maybe be better off looking for something 95-96 range in order to get all I can out of the relatively small T-Amp power? Thanks folks! I've also seen some people's ideas for stacking multiple T-Amps in various ways, seeing as they are so cheap... nifty |
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ererererer Unregistered guest | Would a used Nad L40 be an option? |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 718 Registered: Dec-03 | Are you planning on having a party with this setup or just listen to music while sitting at your PC? |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3540 Registered: Mar-05 | Patrick, I wouldn't worry about 91db sensitivity on those Athenas, that should be more than sufficient. 95-96db sensitivity would point you towards Klipsch horns, which are way beyond your budget. If you figure out how to bridge a pair of those T-amps that should help the power issue considerably. |
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PatrickW Unregistered guest | Tim- They'll primarily be used for sitting at my computer listening. That said, I throw a small party here and there, and I was hoping six watts per channel would be enough to decently fill an apartment living room. Is the T-Amp too weak even to allow modest rocking out? I have no idea what six watts sounds like. I guess if it turns out to be really too soft, all I've wasted is 23 bucks. Edster - Thanks, that's the sensitivity settled, then. I'm assuming they're something wrong also with going the 4 ohm route or you probably would have suggested that - price/quality/scarcity? I googled "sonic impact bridge" and it seems to me it may not be possible to combine two or more of these amps in any efficent way. They can't be traditionally bridged anyhow. Let me know if anybody knows of a good way of running two of them in parallel or something, my 20 min. search came up pretty dry. |
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Gold Member Username: T_bomb25Dayton, Ohio United States Post Number: 1370 Registered: Jun-05 | The T-Amp is a breakthru product at that price,we talked about it on the amp forum a couple of months ago.I know that know budget reciever has chance against one in fidelity,they may play louder,but thats it.The reviewer on 6 moons used it to drive his $20,000 Usher horn speakers and they did a remakable job,I bought one last month from Parts Express which is only 12 miles from my front door(im so lucky).Their are tons of reviews on it with high end gear on the net,just click on review on top of the ecoustics page click on 2 channel amps and you will find at least 7 or 8 reviews,pretty amazing.You do need highly efficient speakers that dont dip below 4 ohms for it to perform at its best. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 719 Registered: Dec-03 | For listening at your desk the sensitivity issue is less important. Anything above 80db will play very loud when you're only 1 meter (or less) away. If you're trying to play into a room you'll want 90+. Bi-amping is a possibility also. The speakers you see in the picture I posted have low sensitivity (under 80) but sitting at the desk they sound wonderful. |
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Bronze Member Username: MargieNapa, California Post Number: 73 Registered: Aug-05 | Tim Tell us about those speakers. They don't look like any on your web site or am I missing something? |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 721 Registered: Dec-03 | I was just experimenting with a little 3" driver. The manufacturer calls it a "mini-woofer" although it has very good response to 15kHz. In that cabinet it plays down to about 70Hz. That particular speak/amp combo has remarkable sound quality (synergy if you're so inclined) that's very enjoyable. The downside is the low sensitivity and small sweet spot, however, for music listening while working at the PC, it's wonderful. I have no plans to market this design and am currently experimenting with another 3" driver that looks to have even better performance. I'm happy to share the design if asked. It's very simple to build. |
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PatrickW Unregistered guest | Cool, so can anybody get me started finding some info about how to use two of these T-amps to boost the output a bit if need be? If what I'm reading on the web is correct, it seems like a difficult task for this particular amp for some technical reasons I don't really understand (something to do with the ground terminals already being bridged?) I seem to remember something from physics class about our ears hearing loudness as an exponential function, which is why they use the logarithmic decibel scale or something..?. maybe using two amps wouldn't even be a significant increase in audible volume. Thanks again for all of your help. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 723 Registered: Dec-03 | Theroetically, you should be able to use two T-amps, one for each speaker if the speaker has dual binding posts, one set for each driver. The thing is, by the time you get two of these amps and the AC adaptors to power them you're into the deal $100 and still only have about 10w/ch. For that much you may want to look around at used 2 ch amps first. |
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PatrickW Unregistered guest | Well, the Auditron B2.2's I was planning on going for on the above recommendations have a single set of binding posts. If I get a set with dual binding posts, will I always need to use a strange amp (or two amps) to power them? Or could I just shunt the two together if in the future I switched to one big amp instead of two little ones? Can you recommend a good pair of dual binding post speakers? Thanks! |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3560 Registered: Mar-05 | no, speakers that have 4 binding posts can be run either way since they have a metal jumper that can be removed or kept on. The cheapest bi-ampable speaker I know of is the Wharfedale Diamond 8.1 which buy.com has for about $110. However this is a more power-demanding speaker than the Athena B1/B2 so not sure if you'd get any power improvement by using one T-amp for each. I'd say stick with the T-amp and a pair of Athenas. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 384 Registered: Oct-04 | I second Edsters recommendation if frugality is the deciding factor, but if I wanted to skip the novelty of the SI Class T-Amp (it's a very tempting little piece of hardware, but it's very limited, not to mention "cheep" looking), I would opt for that Audiosource 100-W/Ch Amp for $99. It's a solid piece of hardware that you can, and I assume will, build around. Would anyone here consider the Wharfedale 8.1 and upgrade over the Athena Technology AS-B1? |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3563 Registered: Mar-05 | The B1 might have a bit more bass than the 8.1, but the Wharfedale would probably be smoother and warmer in the mids and highs. Don't know anything about that AudioSource amp, but if that's an honest 100wpc it might work very well with the Wharfedale 8.1 or the 8.2 which is slightly bigger and goes deeper. |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 385 Registered: Oct-04 | Of course this all depends on how much PatrickW would like to spend. The 8.2s are roughly $200 & the Audiosource is $100 (+s/h), which pretty much breaks the <$300 budget. The Audiosource + the $120 AS-B1s or $150 refurb AS-B2s, or the Diamond 8.1s for about $140, would seem to keep this recommendation on budget. Here's a review of the Audiosource http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_11_3/audio-source-amp-100-amplifier-7-2004 .html |
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Silver Member Username: ExerciseguyBrooklyn, NY USA Post Number: 386 Registered: Oct-04 | ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! The Audiosource AMP-100 is available from ubid.com for $59 (refurb). |
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PatrickW Unregistered guest | Tough choices indeed. I'm half inclined to go for the T-Amp, because for 95% of the listening I do (sitting in front of my computer) the fidelity will outclass the AMP-100, right? But then again, for those occasional parties, the T-Amp might really suck, and from ubid the AMP-100 is really about as expensive as the T-Amp after you figure in the missing AC adapter and all that. Then again the most enthusiastic thing that hometheaterhifi.com review can say about the AMP-100 is that it's probably a good buy for your second room at a party, provided you're not trying to play music I'd play at a party. As for the speakers, if I'm going for the T-Amp, bi-amping would seem out - the sensitivity on the Wharfedales is a 5db lower than the Athenas, negating much of the benefit of using two T-Amps. But hold up, correct me if I'm wrong but the Wharfedales are 4 ohm impedance, so if I bi-amped those I could get another 3 clean watts out of each T-Amp right? Then maybe that would be the way to go: Wharfedale 8.2's + Two T-amps + 3-5 amp Adapter = $270 ... getting sort of silly though, an 18 wpc system for 300 bucks? But it would probably sound pretty good, and even throw a small party... If I'm wrong about the reduced impedance = more power thing and bi-amping is just a bad idea, I'm really back to the Athenas either way, unless I go with the AMP-100 and in your opinion I should go for the Wharfedale 8.2s over the Athena B2.2s. (It's a difference of about forty bucks, no huge deal... the sensitivity is lower on the Wharfedales, but they come highly recommended apparently?) Wharfedale 8.2s + AMP-100 = $270 ... sort of sounds more reasonable, but for the same price the fidelity is questionably mediocre compared with the T-Amps. Or the KISS plans: Refurb. Athena B2.2s + One T-Amp + Adapter = $210 or Refurb. Athena B2.2s + AMP-100 = $210 Man, how did this get so complicated? Thoughts? Can someone answer that impedance/power question? |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3564 Registered: Mar-05 | Patrick, if you have a Tweeter in your town, go there and do a simple speaker comparison: Polk LSi4/5 against a Focal Cobalt 816. If you find that you prefer the Focal, get the Athena. If you like the LSi's more, get the Wharfedale. btw the Wharfedales are 6 not 4 ohms so it's mainly their lower sensitivity that's an issue with the T-amp. Something else you can do is hunt down a used NAD integrated amp on eBay which should give you a nice balance of power and fidelity with either speaker: http://cgi.ebay.com/NAD-302-Integrated-Amp-Pre-Amp-Like-New_W0QQitemZ5855565349Q QcategoryZ3280QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem |
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Gold Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 1043 Registered: Dec-04 | Tim, I would like to know a bit about those speakers there at the pc. Plans or specs? Gracias. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 1044 Registered: Dec-04 | Also, I know you have a cabinet guy for production runs, are you a bit of a woodsmith y'self, or were these made for you? |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 728 Registered: Dec-03 | http://www.timn8er.com/Aurasound%20NS3.htm |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3568 Registered: Mar-05 | interesting! any plans to get into computer speakers Tim? I'm curious, how many db can you get out of those speakers with the T-amp before distortion kicks in? |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 729 Registered: Dec-03 | I have ideas for PC speakers which is why I've been playing with 3" drivers. I have one in my hands right now that looks to be a winner. Of course, with that comes developing a complimentary bass unit. The T-amp with the Aurasound speakers doesn't push them into distortion even at full volume. Those same speakers on my home amp will get fairly loud but when you get into the upper 80's the cone excursion gets wacky and sounds like someone talking into a fan. Kinda funny really. For someone looking for an easy DIY project to use on a desk, the SI T-amp/Aurasound PC speaker combination is one of the best I've ever heard. |
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Gold Member Username: NuckParkhill, Ontario Canada Post Number: 1055 Registered: Dec-04 | Tim, I didn't see your site before for some reason. Well done! I still have the pioneer 4-1/2 coax from the birdhouses, would these be a decent start until I can get hold of the 3"? Looking forward to more on your site, I restocked on Reposado. |
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Silver Member Username: Timn8terSeattle, WA USA Post Number: 730 Registered: Dec-03 | Sure, why not? Beware the worm. |
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Gold Member Username: Edster922Abubala, Ababala The Occupation Post Number: 3570 Registered: Mar-05 | Tim, if that prototype really rolls off only at 50Hz as you FR seems to indicate, you might not need a sub after all. I'm sure you could maybe enlarge the port and bring it down to 40-45Hz? That would be very respectable for a computer speaker unless one were a big rap/techno fan. |
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