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

Off-topic Chatter
21

surprised that Bose has not been mentioned yet. How about Bose Companion series? We have three pairs through the years and they are solid computer speakers and sound good.

22

Audioengine A1?

Klipsch R-41PM?

23

My impression of Bose is that their largest asset is name recognition.

If you look up the Bose Companion 2 Series III specs on their own website, all you get is:

  • the physical dimensions
  • a list of the box contents
  • a list of the connection options

Conspicuously missing are:

  • frequency response range
  • driver size and type
  • wattage (peak, RMS, or standby)

The lack of these important specs makes me think that Bose isn’t too proud of the actual components in these speakers and would prefer it if no questions were asked.

24

Don’t know anything personally as they have not shipped yet but they look pretty impressive in design.

HTH

25

Good suggestions. That Audioengine A1 looks perfect spec-wise. Good lord they built it ugly though, didn’t they? Still considering it on the strength of the general requirements.

You seeing those Klipsch for ~$200 somewhere? They are a bit bigger than I’d like though

26

I use older Audioengine A2+ speakers for the kitchen, I used them for the living room until I got the Audioengine A5+ Plus, with my music system in storage, I use laptops for all music currently.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07P5PTP32/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

27

Computer speakers are tough. The best ones are not made anymore. The good ones still in production are big. The small ones are crap.

Edifier are one of the best. They are not discounted but they do go on sale periodically.

Bose are good speakers but they want to sell you expensive speakers so anything in the 100 range again is crap.

For a small speaker you may want to consider blue tooth speakers. There is a lot more to choose from.

28

Ah, thanks, so that’s probably what I should be looking for.

Yes I tried a friend’s Sennheiser headphones, they are fantastic. Actually for playing with headphones I can even get very good results with some cheap Xiaomi earbuds. It’s the ambient speakers that I’m having trouble finding.

29

I’ve had the Creative T20 for many years and they’re really pretty good. More is better, though, if you want to push your budget limit. I think mine are probably 10 years old or a little more. Last I looked, it didn’t seem like they’d changed anything about them besides the grille/cover, but I don’t know what today’s version sounds like. I’d buy another pair. I’m not an audiophile and generally have some other background noise around me with these speakers but I do think they sound very good. They handle celtic fiddle beautifully, if that says anything. And punk, if that says anything worse.

30

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GP56OYA/ref=emc_b_5_t

This one has a 4.5 inch woofer. They have one that has a 3.5 inch woofer if you need the speaker to be smaller.
You could also order a matching subwoofer for it one day if you want to step up

Edit: Forgot to mention, the 3.5 and the 4.5 speakers have optional Bluetooth models

31

These i have.

THE

BEST

EVER

32

I see only an open box on amazon for $209.

33

Have had a set of Creative T40’s for years.
Good bit of kit for a 2 speaker setup.
Would be within your dimensions. They are tall though.
Power output is 2 x 16W. Certainly loud enough for cranking music.
Enough of me shilling…

34

I look also for small speakers.
Has anyone an opinion about the
CREATIVE Pebble V3 ?

The idea was I can use line in, USB or BT.

35

Logitech Z2300. I’ve had them for about 15 years and still use them. They sound better than a high end home theater system my parents had, sounds better than a Bose Wave, and have truly ground shaking bass when you want it. Hard wired 3.5 mm plug no BT nonsense and a wired remote. Downside is they’re b9g and heavy due to the SW.

1 Thank
36

I still have my Logitech Z-2300 system and they still rock.

37

I created a spreadsheet with width, height, depth, and calculated footprint (width*depth). The spreadsheet also included frequency response and per-speaker RMS.

After a lot of deliberation I decided to go with the Micca OoO speakers and the AIYIMA A07 amp.

Reasoning:

  • 3.9” wide is quite slim for having two 3” drivers per unit
  • the depth is still less than almost half of the other speakers on my list
  • the amp should be more powerful than any of the built-in options (fyi, not 300Wpc, 65Wpc with included power supply)

Total cost after tax and including speaker cables was $212.36 on Amazon. I’ll show him the spreadsheet and we will return them posthaste if he would rather have one of the even more compact prebuilt options.

1 Thank
38

Huge fan of Ascend Acoustics - even their entry offerings sound amazing

39

A classic for sure. They can’t make speakers like the Z2300 anymore as they would cost $1000.

40

I never liked the shiite quality of typical “computer speakers”, so would just, umm, “repurpose” stereo speakers from a dead stereo, with a small power-amp.

Real speakers are frighteningly efficient vs small craptastic speakers, so even a dinky wall-wart-powered amp has plenty of oomf to drive them to room-filling volume. You can even get the small postage-stamp-sized boards and wire ’em up in minutes if you have parts and a soldering iron.

Sumpin’ like this:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WSN9S4Q/

Just a thought…