Dai the Socket Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 I was wondering whether anyone could shed a bit of light into what set-up everyone uses or did use at University in terms of Speakers for music.I'm looking at buying some new speakers that are smaller than my current floor standing Mission M33i's (linked to Sony Hifi and CD seperates) due to the obvious lack of space and need at University. I'm hoping to get a Laptop, and thus meaning any speakers will need to work from a 3.5mm stereo input jack thing.Also, I'm guessing they have to be self-powering / have an amp in them, so that you don't have to have a huge seperate amp, which I really don't have space for. I value my music and enjoy quality, bass and tone, meaning I'd rather pay a little bit more than having your cheapo £12.99 speakers which just play music and die at the word 'bass' let alone tone of it.My budget is pretty relaxed to be honest, I'm open to ideas and will happily stretch to something more expensive (~£200) if I feel they're worth it, as no doubt I'll keep them for the next few years until I move into somewhere bigger.I was looking at the JBL Monitors but find it difficult to find out whether they're powered or actually require phono wires from an Amp?Thanks for any help you can give!!Nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walleee Posted June 4, 2007 Report Share Posted June 4, 2007 Remember it's possible to get 3.5 to phono or pretty much anything else you'd need on ebay so on't let that limit you. I run a 3.5 to phono into my amp, which powers two floor standers, will probobly bring it with me to uni cos I can hook up so much to the amp, cd player, all our games consoles, i pod, tv, etc etc. I'll be living in a flat though rather than a halls. Wouldn't bring it if i was in halls.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun H Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 I've always found Creative systems are pretty good. Using a 2.1 system now which was ~£60. I'm very pleased with it, only bad thing is, it won't go to ear drum splitting volume levels. Which obviously isn't going to be needed in Uni halls. Could end up with a few complaints HAHA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonMack Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 (edited) I just took my amp & speakers to uni halls with me.It meant when someone turned on shit music, my good music always went louder than their shit stuff.If you just picked up some decent mid size speakers and a normal size amp, you'd be sorted.Check out http://www.richersounds.com/productlist.ph...&sort=price and http://www.richersounds.com/productlist.ph...&sort=price and whack something together within your budget, and you'll be sorted.I use http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.ph...CONCEPT-MINI-BC those, and have done for the last... 5 years or more, and have never had a problem with them, and they go plenty loud enough. http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.ph...=WHAR-8.1SE-BLK They look pretty nice, for £80, then pick up something like http://www.richersounds.com/showproduct.ph...;pid=CAMB-A5BLK and you've got yourself a decent setup which will last you a while, for under £200.The amp I'm using is over 20 years old and it still works fine, just to let you know. Edited June 5, 2007 by MonsterJ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBProductions Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 Maximum Recommended Amplifier Power 125 Wattsthe jbl's need powering.If you search or look by the term active or powered speakers and also remember the watts arent the loudness of the speaker.3way powered are probanly best but im not the best to advise due to me being in a different realm of speaker use at home.hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTM Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 the harman kardon 2.1 setup is pretty damn excellent and pretty compact, and looks funky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai the Socket Posted June 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 I'm tempted to get Sound Sticks actually.My graphics room as school used to have them and I remember them being good, small, punchy bass and look really nice.Anyone know of anything a little bigger / better but not moving on to floor standers?I really value the replies, cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janson Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 i have been using soundsticks for about 10 months now i think.excellent sound, lots of bass if wanted. design is really nice. lacks real punch at higher levels, doesn't cut through ambient noise (like a loud party) as well as bigger speakers, but for anything less than a big party they're really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Quigley Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 I've got theseLogitechFor the money they are fudging awesome. Plenty powerful for uni. I've never really needed to have the volume up more than 25% on them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigjames Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 ive got some jbl encounters, look good, great power, good clarity and awesome bass. god my flat mates didnt appreciate them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.Wood Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 I got the £42.30 ones HERE when i got my laptop, have them at half volume/half bass most of the time, seem pretty good and are certainly nice and compact Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mat hudson Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 (edited) if you want 2 absolutely brilliantly sounding, loud, tough as f**k speakers the jbl control 1's are what you want. pretty cheap too.http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/JBL-PRO-Control-1-Bl...1QQcmdZViewItemyou wont find anything better, trust.you can get them cheaper, especially second hand.. you shouldnt need to worry about them being ragged as much as other speakers as they're just so stupidly toughif you want surround i've had really good experiances with the logitech systems, creative stuff is always good too though. Edited June 5, 2007 by mat hudson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted June 5, 2007 Report Share Posted June 5, 2007 I vote soundsticks.... they really are awesome mate!Stunning looks & sound! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai the Socket Posted September 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 I vote soundsticks.... they really are awesome mate!Stunning looks & sound!Just like a bit of an update. I've got my sound sticks and to be honest I'm not all that impressed. They're very, average. Bass isn't as punchy as I expected and they don't go deafeningly loud which is something I was looking for too I'm going to send 'em back and get some M-Audio Studiophile BX5a's which have a spec of:70 watts of distributed power (30w HF amp, 40w LF amp)5” low-frequency drivers with: • curved Kevlar cones• high-temperature voice coils• damped rubber surround1” natural silk high-frequency driversrequency response: 56Hz-22kHzcrossover frequency: 3kHzlow-frequency amplifier power: 40 wattshigh-frequency amplifier power: 30 wattssignal-to-noise: > 100dB (typical A-weighted)They're RRP £189 but my local computer shop can get them for £165 inc. VAT. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krisboats Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Just like a bit of an update. I've got my sound sticks and to be honest I'm not all that impressed. They're very, average. Bass isn't as punchy as I expected and they don't go deafeningly loud which is something I was looking for too I'm going to send 'em back and get some M-Audio Studiophile BX5a's which have a spec of:70 watts of distributed power (30w HF amp, 40w LF amp)5” low-frequency drivers with: • curved Kevlar cones• high-temperature voice coils• damped rubber surround1” natural silk high-frequency driversrequency response: 56Hz-22kHzcrossover frequency: 3kHzlow-frequency amplifier power: 40 wattshigh-frequency amplifier power: 30 wattssignal-to-noise: > 100dB (typical A-weighted)They're RRP £189 but my local computer shop can get them for £165 inc. VAT.Sorry i didn't see this topic earlier. The design department at uni has these fitted as standard and they are pretty bad. The tutor showed us that the only way to get a decent sound from them was to play the same song through numerous pairs at the same time. He did a direct comparison between these and some logitech cheapy's and the logitechs beat them by so much it was unreal. His words "another classic case of fashion over function". The M-Audio ones look good, and M-Audio are renound for making good audio components, their sound cards are supposed to be amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Clark Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Get some good headphones, they will sound miiiiiiles better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai the Socket Posted September 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Get some good headphones, they will sound miiiiiiles better.Not much use for entertaining friends is it I'm already planning on buying some Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Si-man Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 I've got theseLogitechFor the money they are fudging awesome. Plenty powerful for uni. I've never really needed to have the volume up more than 25% on them.I have them beasts, blaring out some hardcore bass now lol.Brilliant they are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Clark Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Not much use for entertaining friends is it I'm already planning on buying some Sennheiser HD 280 Pro's f**k friendsMy FLAC > M-Audio Firewire Audiophile soundcard > Grado SR80's sounds way better than any speakers I've heard, including the high end stuff at the music college I go to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 http://www.creative.com/products/product.a...amp;product=240 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai the Socket Posted September 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 Think I'm gonna go to Richer Sounds and then Sound Control in leeds to get some speakers at the weekend.It's pissing me off not being able to get any. If I can't find any I'm gonna take my floor standing ones and my Amp and just put it somewhere like under my laptop on my desk or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
future orange 660 Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 not trying to invade or anything.. but has anyone experienced the jbl creature 2 speakers?cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dai the Socket Posted September 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 not trying to invade or anything.. but has anyone experienced the jbl creature 2 speakers?cheersMy sister's got some. They're okay but not particularly loud, also one of the little creature things (not the sub) has broke and she's only had them 2 years with little use.Grr I'm getting annoyed now Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadManMike Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 The only way you're gonna get what you're after Nick is to go the Speakers & Amp route.Everyone suggested small Uni like speakers - by nature they can only take so much pressure If you want loud and "ok" sound quality, try a big pair of Acoustic Solutions speakers and a cheap stereo amp - if you want quality then look at things like Q Acoustics, Wharfedale, Mission etc... Not cheap though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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