Hi all

I figured I'd ask here because I'm not really sure where the best place to start with this is.

I want loud speakers and I need them to be reasonable quality but without getting into stupidly epensive audiophile ranges. I listen to 192kbs mp3s through a £15 sound card so there is no point in spending a thousand pounds on a high end speaker setup which I wouldn't be able to tell the difference on anyway. I'm not completely clueless, I can tell the difference in a double blind test between 128k and 192k mp3s but I'm not obsessive about perfect quality is what I am trying to say :-). I'm trying to be realistic here with my limited student budget.

I already have a great set of speakers, a 2.1 creative soundworks setup which to me sounds really good. I picked them up off ebay for £60 which I think was an absolute bargain and the have been brilliant. However, it isn't quite loud enough and i really like the idea of music from all sides so I'd like to buy at least two more speakers to go with them so I can be surrounded by music.

My budget is sort of around the £150 mark but I could go as high as £250 if there was one particular option that was really worth the extra. It would be nice if whatever I got lasted for a little while as well.

I don't care one jot about what it looks like, I don't care if it's a second hand amp with no case and held together by electricians tape as long as it's durable and sounds good.


So where do you think I should start? Would it be better to get an integrated speaker/amp set, or buy an amp and run two speakers off that with the 2.1 setup seperate, or even buy an amp for four speakers and run my other creative speakers off that amp too? I'm up for buying second hand equipment if it's good.

Any ideas welcome.

Sam

Moin


How about this Teufel Concept G THX 7.1 ? You wrote something about a soundcard so I presume you listen to music via your computer so maybe this little speakersetup is something you should take into consideration. It's about 250€ so it should fit your budget as well.

Hope this will help. Clobon

Thanks Clobon

Seven speakers is a bit too many. I only need two more really and I'd rather spend the money on better speakers than more speakers.

Any other ideas?

Sam

Moin



I myself bought 2 pairs of Canton GL 260, they're ready (and designed) for Wallmounting.
Add 2 regular amps of taste (and maybe a sub) and voila.
The GL 260 are available at *bay for about 40€ (wait til someone sells them, it's worth it).
I really enjoy this little setup.

Have fun, Clobon

That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for!

Any other suggestiong along those sort of lines?

I'm looking more along the lines of second hand quality stuff rather than modern flashy expensive stuff.

Sam

I don't want to repeat myself so have a look at these posts:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=508915
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=500445
http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....st&p=495072

Some remarks to your post: You want loud speakers. Now loud is something different to every person, my speakers have an efficency of only 80db/m (and that's awfully low) and I have a 10W amp hooked up to them and I think that's fairly loud, other people might say everything below say 100db is not loud so it's not easy to recommend something.
Also listening position and room size have to be taken into accout. I'm listening in the near field not more than a meter away from the speakers. I'd sure need bigger speakers if I sat 10 feet away from them.
To make sure your speakers go loud you should have a look at their efficency rating, you can get away with an amp that has a low watts rating if your speakers have high efficency.

See here for explanaitions on Decibel:
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/dB.html
http://www.jimprice.com/prosound/db.htm

Hi Hodyr and thanks for commenting

I understand how decibels and power relate to the way people perceive loudness. When I say loud it's quite difficult to quantify but I would expect that two decent 50 watt speakers would be sufficient.

The 2.1 creative soundworks speakers I am currently using CLAIM to be 300 watts - 150 watt sub and 2x 75 watt speakers, but I suspect that decent equipment at half the wattage would probably still give them a run for their money.

To sum up, I will be listening to these in a college room most of the time, I want it to be loud enough so that if I get the urge to crank up the volume a bit, the person next door will sure as hell know about it :-). I know that's not really a quantified measure of loudness but it's the best I can offer.

I'm going to focus on what amp after I have chosen a pair of speakers. I want to get the right speakers, and then find a decent amp to drive them.

Any more ideas on good makes of second hand speakers?

Sam

(I did read those threads and the idea of making my own speakers certainly does appeal, however, I know my own limitations and I am neither meticulous or skilled enough to attempt a project like that. Thanks for the suggestion though.)

Does anybody have anything to say about the wharfedale diamond 9.1 speakers?

I am also considering Ascend CBM-170s.

Both seem to get good reviews.

Any other ideas along the lines of these speakers?

Sam

> Does anybody have anything to say about the wharfedale diamond 9.1 speakers?

A sensible choice for the price but they only have a 5" driver and will not do loud. Do you have an amplifier to power them?

> I am also considering Ascend CBM-170s.

Don't know.

> Both seem to get good reviews.

I would strongly suggest extracting only facts from the reviews and ignoring statements about sound quality. When you have an idea of what you after go to a shop and have a listen

> Any other ideas along the lines of these speakers?

If you want clear and loud I would recommend having a look/listen to studio monitors. For example, a Behringer B2031 has a 9" long throw driver and will do loud. The passive version is typically sold for GBP 100 per pair and the biamplified active version for GBP 200. Behringer hardware is aggressively priced with only one or two alternatives at their price point. To hear them and their competitors you would probably need to go to a music shop rather than a hi-fi shop.

The Behringer stuff looks pretty good, I would probably go for something like this: http://www.behringer.com/B3030A/index.cfm?lang=eng

I do not have an amplifier, I was planning on buying one to go with some decent bookshelf speakers. It's not really feasible at the moment for me to go to any hifi shops because I don't have a car.

A NAD amp and a pair of acsend CBM-170SEs would set me back about £150 + £200 so £350 which is pretty much the absolute limit of my budget.

Is it worth just getting speakers with an integrated amp at this price point (about $650)? Do the Behringer speakers compare in quality to the Ascends?

Sam

From your intial posting you wanted louder than your current speakers, good sound, do not mind ugly looks and on a very tight budget. To get good loud sound you need a large drive cone. This is what the Behringer offers.

> The Behringer stuff looks pretty good,

It depends what you are after. Behringer is in the game of offering a lot at a cheap price. Quality is usually sufficient but occasionally a product is the wrong side of the line.

> I would probably go for something like this: http://www.behringer.com/
> B3030A/index.cfm?lang=eng

Why? It is more expensive, will not play as loud and nobody (around here) has heard it yet. Ribbons of that type tend to be a bit fragile and have a characteristic sound that some like but it is not neutral. There is a good chance they will be "better" than the cheaper models but I would suggest waiting for confirmation if you are not going to hear them first.

Having gone up in price you now have more to choose from than just Behringer.

> Is it worth just getting speakers with an integrated amp at this price
> point (about $650)?

If accurate sound is relatively important then in general yes. You are not buying expensive amplifier cases and such and using the money to replace the passive crossover with an active crossover to increase sound quality and make a more compact package. You are approaching the price point where the advantages are most noticeable.

> Do the Behringer speakers compare in quality to the
> Ascends?

I am not familiar with the Ascends and quality can have a large subjective component. Behringer speakers will give you louder and in all likelihood clearer more accurate/neutral sound. In your case this may not be better since it might make the artifacts on your MP3 files more noticeable and intrusive.

Thanks that's pretty sound advice. Neutral, flat, exact reproduction of sound is what I am after. If I want anything different that is what an equalizer is for. I think the cheaper Behringer speakers will probable be sufficient and less likely to tax a student budget as much as more expensive separate amp/speaker combos would.

If they go loud and have a pretty flat response curve that's good enough for me.

Sam