Best Compact PC Speakers? (this is driving me crazy)

I’m looking for a gift for someone who needs speakers for their PC. I know they don’t want them to take up a ton of space but I’m also trying to make sure the sound is good and the upgrade feels significant. Talk about conflicting goals! Bigger is generally better when it comes to speaker enclosures.

I use an Edifier R1700BT for my setup, and they have been solid but I think that is too large at 6” W x 10” H x 8.4” D. I’m looking for something that is 3-4 inches wide and maybe 5-7 inches deep. The height doesn’t matter. Sets with separate subwoofers are out.

Current short list:

  • Kanto YU2
  • Creative T60

If anyone has some compact PC speakers they really like, please tell me about them!

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I am looking for something with a per-speaker RMS of 20W or greater if possible. Even now the T40 is only 16W RMS per speaker :(. This requirement is so my brother can turn up these speakers to listen from another room.

EDIT2: Budget is $200ish with a little flexibility

I have two pairs of Creative Inspire T12 speakers, but they may have been discontinued.

They're pretty small, but sound amazing, and they have plenty of bass.

Depending on what you're looking for, Creative does make some pretty good speakers.

When I was doing research on speakers, I was looking at the T10, T12, T20, and T40 speakers.

(I don't specifically know about the T60 speakers.)

If you want Bluetooth speakers, I think the Creative T15 speakers are most similar to the T12 speakers, and they're still available on Amazon.

But since you're looking at the T60 speakers, I'm guessing you want something way better than my humble T12 speakers.

Wow, those Kanto YU2 are pricey!

(Way above my budget.)

Have you checked out the Creative T20 Series II?

They have better feedback on Amazon than the T60 speakers.

I was going to suggest a Tivoli Audio model two as I have been using that as my computer speakers for many years and it still sounds fantastic. As a bonus the speakers include an AM/FM radio. Unfortunately it appears that they quit making this.

The Logitech Z200 would meet your size requirements and gets really good reviews.

Also interested in some options.

Are we talking about 3.5mm plug wired speakers? I use a MIDI piano keyboard with a laptop, and I need some speakers to plug into the laptop’s headphone jack, not Bluetooth (due to latency) and also not USB (due to some quirks of how the MIDI input/output works). And the speakers need to have clear midrange without distortion, which is usually quite a challenge for most speakers due to the sympathetic resonance frequencies in piano music.

Do these wired computer speakers have their own power supply for amplification? I haven’t used them for quite a few years so I have no idea what’s available on the market.

Yes, if they're not powered by USB.

I don't know if they have their own power supply if they are powered by USB.

Yes.

That sounds tough to find.

I have no idea if the Creative speakers are like that.

By the way, I was looking at Creative because I was looking for several specific things, and Creative checked all of the boxes.

Because everyone is looking for something different, there may be better choices than Creative for other people.

I was looking for a low price, good sound quality, plenty of bass, a headphone jack, no subwoofer, and maybe something else that I cannot remember right now.

I’ve tried tons of options, especially portable Bluetooth speakers that also have a 3.5mm direct input jack (thus bypassing the Bluetooth protocol). I’ve only found one model that has both low/no latency and also has clean audio. Almost all the speakers I’ve tried end up buzzing or breaking up at certain frequency ranges. Another model has great audio but for some reason even in direct aux input mode it still digitally processes the signal and has bad latency. And since they’re portable single-unit speakers they’re not stereo, or at least the physical separation between the two sides is almost nothing.

Can you order from any Amazon stores (with reasonable shipping) from "The Light" or do you have to order directly from China?

(I usually do research on Amazon, and then try to find a better deal anywhere else, but my location is not "The Light.")

Yep, I can order from Amazon. This is another good source in general for audio equipment:

Nice!

Bookmarked.

1 Thank

Thanks everyone for brainstorming.

@Racoon City I had not noticed the T15 before. Looking at the title, I was hoping the speakers were paired wirelessly so that no wire needed to be run between them. Unfortunately, this has the standard number of wires, it just also has bluetooth as a connection option. (gotta love marketing) With a per-speaker RMS of 10W this falls a little short in power—I anticipate my brother turning these up so he can hear them in another room. I didn’t mention any power requirements so that is my bad. I’ll add it to the initial post.

Indeed, the Kanto Yu2 is overpriced for it’s size. It’s incredibly compact for having a 3” driver which is what led me to consider it. The plan was to pool money with some other people also shopping for b-day gifts if I did choose this one. But on closer inspection I’ve realized the frequency response is a bit lacking in the Yu2. (only down to 80Hz)

I had not considered the Creative T20 just because it is less powerful than the 16W/speaker RMS T40. Again, my bad for not mentioning anything about wattage.

Can’t quite swing the budget on that one, but definitely a solid recommendation sp5it. These are quite impressive for their size. Updated the OP with a budget figure.

My Creative T12 speakers are only 9 watts per speaker, but I've never turned them up over 60% volume, and even then that is way too loud.

I usually turn them up to about 50% when I'm taking a shower.

The speakers are in my bedroom, and my shower is in the next room.

My point is, you may not need a lot of wattage to get extremely high volume.

Philips Woox are pretty good.

I liked them so much I bought 2 pairs.

Any reason why you wouldn’t get “studio monitor” speakers? Those are designed with your use-case in mind—they aren’t designed to be exciting to listen to but rather to present sound accurately so mixing is easier. You can find them at various budgets. I know Monoprice makes some, Edifier has one, etc. JBL seems to be well respected. Your 3.5mm can convert to RCA if necessary with a simple cable.

Alternatively, a pair of Sennheiser headphones might be a good idea. Like the HD6XX for example. These are very detailed and have a flat response curve in the midrange. Drop x Sennheiser HD 6XX review: Basically an HD 650 - SoundGuys There might be better mixing headphones, those just immediately came to mind.

Two HomePod mini or something like these, they sounds incredible for that dimension.
I’m loving HomePod mini and bigger homepod 2.

I’m hoping that by introducing a little overkill I can bridge the gap between speakers that are audible from a distance and speakers that sound great at a distance. What sounds great is subjective of course. I’m biased towards larger drivers because I got some Cambridge Audio SX-60 speakers a couple of years ago and they convinced me that size/power matters.