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Recommend 2.1 speaker set (wired, AC powered)?

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  • 08-06-2017 11:49am
    #1
    Fogmatic
    Registered Users Posts: 985 ✭✭✭


    Please excuse the lack of proper technical terms!

    I'm looking for one of a similar type to my finally defunct 15-year-old budget set from Lidl. It has about a 200mm cube woofer & 100mm tweeters, and a separate control unit I can place conveniently, all wired, connected to audio out and a power socket. It was about the cheapest of its kind around at the time, but I don't mind going more upmarket to get good sound and reliability (I haven't been able to figure out what the going rates are these days). For several reasons, I don't want a soundbar, or wireless connections (and I don't fit Bose's customer profile at all).

    Our home layout dictates that everything has to go on/in front of the one (spacious) wall (the old woofer worked very well under the lowest shelf; no worries re neighbours here).

    Looks-wise (should all other things be equal), I prefer minimalist (and find pretend-technical curves & bulges quite annoying, though I could always wield a paintbrush!).

    Online is my only option, so I can't listen to them for myself before buying. The only physical electrical shop I can reach at all easily has just one wired 2.1 model, Valeo by Otone, 13w with 'active subwoofer' (about €50 if memory serves), and I can't find any reviews of it (only that it's discontinued, and Tesco sold it at some point). So that's out for me (unless some audiophile suggests otherwise!).

    I bought the old set for my desktop computer originally, borrowed it for a new small TV we got last year, and it did a good job (even with 1 tweeter no longer working), but the woofer's now finally expired. The TV's the priority at the moment, but assuming the new set sounds good to us, I'll probably get another of the same model for the computer(s).


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    #2
    Fogmatic
    Registered Users Posts: 985 ✭✭✭Fogmatic


    Just to tie things up, for better or worse I managed to decide on a set, and have ordered it. (A pair of bookshelf-sized ones, not 2.1). I happened on a promising-looking set by a make I hadn't heard of, Mackie (US-based I think), followed them up and found they're basically a studio equipment supplier, with speakers intended as studio monitors. But the model I'd seen, the CR3, is (I gather) more suited to multimedia entertainment than to studio monitoring. Gear4music stocks them and ships to Ireland; while there, I saw they had a slightly used CR4 (which reviews say is worth the bit extra), and went for it. (It still has a 2-year warranty and 30-day money back guarantee).

    It'll be midweek before it arrives and I can hear it, but I'm sure it'll be fine for our purposes, and a better investment than budget computer speakers. (I hate false economies, and though no hi-fi buffs, we do enjoy our music). (The expert reviews I read re the set found some faults with it re classical orchestral music, but it's jazz, rock, blues, world and some pop that we're into). Anyway, even the single tweeter that's all that remains of the old budget set is making a surprisingly good job of the TV sound (it even seems to come from in front of us, rather than from where the speaker is, 1.5m away), so I expect the new set will be more than adequate for our sound sources!


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