I suppose my opinion doesn't count? lol.

I have the z5500 and 3 2 1 from Bose.
The Bose is better in everything except the subwoofer is a bit less. Most speakers I've heard are louder, and blah blah. But my Bose sounds more warm, crisper and better, but yeah, They're kinda pricey for most of the people here.
But I suggest buying some cheap thing.

My mum has a BOSE system, and when she got it I remember thinking how utterly awful it sounded. I did a little googling later and found this:

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

and a lot of negative comments backing this up. I wouldn't touch BOSE with a 10m cattle prod!

Me neither, after reading that I feel even more sorry for anyone that has bought them. I will definitely show that to my nan (lol) who swears by Bose, but has only seen them on 'QVC Shopping Channel', see what she says then!

Anyway I'm considering getting the Alesis Active MK2's, but I'd also consider the cheaper Alesis Monitor 1 MK2's...

One question, my dad has a pair of 100 watt Pioneer speakers lying around, if I get a power amp (?) could I connect the 100 watts and a pair of Alesis speakers (Actives or Monitors)? Then I could have a 4 surround speakers?

Edit: Also these: http://www.alesis.com/m1active520

Just a bit more money than the Monitors

Why not get a Surround sound Hifi instead?...

Ive got a 900w Aiwa Hifi wired to my Pc.. Gets much better fidelity and bass than any Pc speakers, Especially when playing films/music loud or surround sound games....

Get one off ebay for under £100...

Just dont put the speakers right next to ur monitor....

Hmm ill look into it, I'd prefer not to go through ebay though.

I wouldn't settle for anything less than THESE .

Quote from ted209 :

My mum has a BOSE system, and when she got it I remember thinking how utterly awful it sounded. I did a little googling later and found this:

http://www.intellexual.net/bose.html

and a lot of negative comments backing this up. I wouldn't touch BOSE with a 10m cattle prod!

Interesting. I've got a set of Companion 2s for my Xbox and they sound pretty good. Very clear, maybe a little tinny at the high end.

I actually thought they sounded a little weird at first, but then one day, after probably 20 hours of use, I just started it up and I thought "hey, actually, these sound pretty alright". I could hear a lot of things I couldn't before, with my Creatives.

I'm no audiophile, though. However, when it comes time to replace them, I probably won't buy Bose again. I thought they were a little overpriced. Take 15-20 bucks off and I'd say I got my money's worth (they were 80 dollars).

Quote from MadCat360 :

I'm no audiophile, though ... they were 80 dollars

Clearly. I don't think it's fair to judge a manufacturer from products that far down the budget product range.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Clearly. I don't think it's fair to judge a manufacturer from products that far down the budget product range.

Lets not judge my diet from the green crap that comes out, just the normal crap that comes out. That's the only way to judge if my diet is good, by forgetting the green crap.

My point was that for $80 it's going to be bad, it's just a question of how bad. Whether or not a company CAN make good stuff is why it earns a reputation (although not necassarily a good one, Bose being one such example).

Well since you know a lot more about it than I do, why is a cheap speaker a bad speaker?

Lower quality components and cheaper design, essentially. Same issues you get with any cheap hardware.

ive got boston acoustics for years

Every nerd i know says that even to this day they are a Good quality - by no means the best but if you spend enough they ( the speakers/components ) will last.

I'd recommend a set of good speakers and an amp. Nothing will ever beat that. Will cost a little bit more than some "sound system" tho... but it's worth it.

I've always been pleased with Yamaha amps (had two of them, 2nd one is still in use, and i'm fairly happy with the sound). As for the speakers, i have two ELAC speakers with 110Watt (EL 110 II). They were about 600 euro each, but they'll last forever... i got them about 15 years ago, and they still sound like new. You can get them used for 50-200 Euro.

Quote from Alex_Ward :

One question, my dad has a pair of 100 watt Pioneer speakers lying around, if I get a power amp (?) could I connect the 100 watts and a pair of Alesis speakers (Actives or Monitors)? Then I could have a 4 surround speakers?

Edit: Also these: http://www.alesis.com/m1active520

Just a bit more money than the Monitors

You could run monitors through an amp, but it'd be a waste of high-end speakers.

They're self-powered for a reason, so they deliver a nice sound all the way through the EQ range. Normal amps often distort somewhere on the EQ, producing more bass or more high-end. Monitors are built not to do that. Using an amp will make all the hard work the R&D guys put in useless

Same with cheap speakers. They don't kick out a flat sound. Hi-fi speakers are the same, they're usually overly bassy. Much cheaper to build them flawed.

Plus people (usually those who have no idea what makes a setup sound good) want a bassy system.

TBH, if you're after speakers which are just going to sit about for most of the time pushing out TV noises or Windows bleeps with the odd blasting of bangin' tunes, go with the amp+speaker setup. If you're going to use them for listening to lots of music or gaming and you really care about quality, go with the monitors.

Just remember to make sure that your volume dial jobbie will work, otherwise you'll be getting up to tweak the volume a lot

Quote from Bob Smith :

£300 for PC speakers? Could almost buy a proper amp and real speakers for that money.

Edit: for example...
Amp, £180
Speakers, £70
Leaves £50 for stands or brackets, cabling and interconnect

(no I don't work for Superfi, I just wanted quick figures)

you can't possibly be serious

less than half of the money spent on the amp... for speakers?

for a 300 budget, 200 on the speakers 100 on the amp

speakers are electromechanical devices, the worse offender in the chain of any audio system. wildly inaccurate.

even these beasts have a +/- 3db fluctuation in frequency response. (some frequencies will be heard at twice the perceived volume than others.)

it's much more expensive for the speakers to reproduce good sound than it is for an amp to deliver the proper signal.

Quote from george_tsiros :

less than half of the money spent on the amp... for speakers?

for a 300 budget, 200 on the speakers 100 on the amp

I've yet to hear a decent stereo amp under £150, all the cheap ones sound really bright and tinny, making them perceived worse by many than your typical hifi. So, given the budget, I opted for a decent amp with the rest of the money on speakers. Obviously large improvements to clarity and response will come with better speakers but a lack of low end is often the most disappointing.

Despite a much larger budget, my current amp costs 4x what my speakers cost, although in fairness only because I've upgraded the amp but ran out of money before I could upgrade the speakers.

Quote from george_tsiros :

a +/- 3db fluctuation in frequency response. (some frequencies will be heard at twice the perceived volume than others.)

Approximately twice the power but I've read from numerous sources it's 10dB change for twice the perceived volume.

Also, unless you're buying studio monitors, most home speakers have intentional subtle troughs and peaks in the curves to accentuate the music. I'm sure I've read that a perfectly flat frequency response sounds a bit dull, so is only used in recording studios in such where you near to hear exactly what's going on.

Ok thanks Syfoon, but would you recommend the cheaper Alesis Monitor or the more expensive Actives? Is the difference in quality enough for it to be worth paying extra, and I have music on whenever im using my PC, so does most of my family too. If I cant get my sub/dial thingy to work, where can I get a decent sound dial? I would search myself but Im using my phone atm.

70gbp speakers on 180gbp amp?

it's like getting a golf 2.0 and putting 40gbp dunlops on it.
and ok maybe i would accept it (not that it matters and yeah i know i might sound patronising and/or condescending but this is not what i am after, please believe me) but you suggested 50gbp for stands? for 70gbp speakers? maybe if it were 70gbp *per speaker* and 50gbp for *all* stands, ok...

ok get an entry level NAD for pre/power and the rest of the money on speakers.

with with 70 quid speakers are you sure you will hear the difference between a 100 150 and 200 quid amp? my guess is not.

maybe i'm behind the times, but 50% of the budget on speakers (2) 20% on source (1) 20% on amp (1) 9% on cables etc, 1% on chocolate (2).

every system sounds better when you're eating chocolate.

The M1 520s are rather tasty, I'd get them if your pockets are deep enough. If you're just after a cheap (and really, they ARE cheap. To get similar sound quality out of a regular setup, it'd cost you a hell of a lot more) solution but you want balanced sound still, the Mk2 is superb.

Position either of them properly at ear level, and you'll see why you just forked over a big wad of cash for 'em. As will your neighbours.

But, I state again, they're not that easy to live with. Turning them on every day does wind me up (Anyone know where I can buy longer arms? Mine are far too short) and the volume control would be an issue if it wasn't for my mixer, but it's worth it.

Much better then having an amp chew up my nice clean audio signal only for Joe Bloggs Special speakers to spit it out, freqs all wrong.

Oh, and monitors look far sexier

Ok seriously considering them now. What do you mean you have to turn them on everyday, can you not leave them on all the time? I also need to find a sound dial and a site which sells the speakers for a good price now, know any? :P

Quote from Alex_Ward :

Ok seriously considering them now. What do you mean you have to turn them on everyday, can you not leave them on all the time? I also need to find a sound dial and a site which sells the speakers for a good price now, know any? :P

I'm not entirely sure. I turn them off anyway, just in case

The little blue light, as lovely and pretty as it may be, can get rather annoying after a while if you're not using them.

Tried finding that dial thingy, how comes you can never find what you're after when you need it?! Curse you Google, I swear it does it on purpose.

Thinking about it, if you're going to have them connected to your computer, you could use that as a volume control, assuming you have volume controls on your keyboard, that is. Of course that's not as good as a nice dial, but hey, whatever works

... might get loud on startup though, not sure...

Anyway, not sure about sites, look on audio sites like Turnkey, Dolphin Music or DJDeals Google's shopping thing will probably find you a decent deal!

Quote from george_tsiros :

but you suggested 50gbp for stands?

Really cheap stands ruin whatever sound you have. With similarly priced speakers I found the difference between cheapo wall mounts and true stands very noticeable (mainly in the low frequencies, which started to resemble a rhythym rather than a bass wobble), and upper said stands again tightened things a bit further.

I agree the costs are unusually disproportionate but, from my experience, it's not worth even bothering with stands and a amp cheaper than (roughly speaking) those I listed. Speakers can then be upgraded later when more funds are available without having to throw away every other component. You don't get the benefits of seperates over a system if you have to replace everything to not have every part of the system holding every other part back.

The 520's are about £90 cheaper than the MK2's on Dolphin Music though? Are they self powered too and are they still good quality, as I may get them to save some money :P

Quote from Syfoon :

Depends on what you're going to be using them for, how loud you want them to go, and more importantly, how crisp you want the sound to be.

I've got a set of Alesis Active mk1's, and they're stunning. Amazing sound quality (best I've ever owned), but they aren't overly loud, so you can jack them up and not get in too much trouble

How what?? I bet you just love your peizo tweeters huh?

The term "crisp" has no meaning let alone place in real Hi-Fi.

Ahh Alesis.. that'll explain it then.. studio monitor "accuracy"