New studio quality speakers for PC

[beanbag]

After 7 years of use, my VideoLogic Sirocco speakers have finally kicked the bucket. The connection on one of the speakers is broken after my gf's little sister yanked the connecting cable, and the amp is crackling loads.

So I was thinking of the Bose Companion 3 or 5, but I was wondering if there were any first hand reviews of it here. Plus, are the Bose systems really worth the money? It's about €399 for the Companion 5 over here in Europe.....I think the Companion 3 is about €250, but can't find a price yet!

Also, can recommend anything else that would compete with this quality (if the Bose is as good as it says it is!!!). My Sirocco were amazing speakers. Just sad they're beginning to slowly die

[rich1231]

beanbag said:

After 7 years of use, my VideoLogic Sirocco speakers have finally kicked the bucket. The connection on one of the speakers is broken after my gf's little sister yanked the connecting cable, and the amp is crackling loads.

So I was thinking of the Bose Companion 3 or 5, but I was wondering if there were any first hand reviews of it here. Plus, are the Bose systems really worth the money? It's about €399 for the Companion 5 over here in Europe.....I think the Companion 3 is about €250, but can't find a price yet!

Also, can recommend anything else that would compete with this quality (if the Bose is as good as it says it is!!!). My Sirocco were amazing speakers. Just sad they're beginning to slowly die

Yes very sad, I can hardly contain my grief.

[thehawk]

Get some Mackie, JBL or Behringer active studio monitors - I assume you were joking when you mentioned Bose.

[Mikey G]

I was in Comet yesterday and they had a 3 piece Bose system (2 satellites and a sub) and my word it sounded fantastic! Sorry i cant remember the model but it came with a nice little rotating control. Was £199 iirc.

[beanbag]

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

After 7 years of use, my VideoLogic Sirocco speakers have finally kicked the bucket. The connection on one of the speakers is broken after my gf's little sister yanked the connecting cable, and the amp is crackling loads.

So I was thinking of the Bose Companion 3 or 5, but I was wondering if there were any first hand reviews of it here. Plus, are the Bose systems really worth the money? It's about €399 for the Companion 5 over here in Europe.....I think the Companion 3 is about €250, but can't find a price yet!

Also, can recommend anything else that would compete with this quality (if the Bose is as good as it says it is!!!). My Sirocco were amazing speakers. Just sad they're beginning to slowly die

Yes very sad, I can hardly contain my grief.

Go cry to your mum then. Perhaps you can ask her for a little "bitty" at the same time. Might cheer you up.

[beanbag]

Mikey G said:

I was in Comet yesterday and they had a 3 piece Bose system (2 satellites and a sub) and my word it sounded fantastic! Sorry i cant remember the model but it came with a nice little rotating control. Was £199 iirc.

Sounds like the Companion 3 for that price. The 5 is a "virtual" 5.1 surround system.

[rich1231]

beanbag said:

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

After 7 years of use, my VideoLogic Sirocco speakers have finally kicked the bucket. The connection on one of the speakers is broken after my gf's little sister yanked the connecting cable, and the amp is crackling loads.

So I was thinking of the Bose Companion 3 or 5, but I was wondering if there were any first hand reviews of it here. Plus, are the Bose systems really worth the money? It's about €399 for the Companion 5 over here in Europe.....I think the Companion 3 is about €250, but can't find a price yet!

Also, can recommend anything else that would compete with this quality (if the Bose is as good as it says it is!!!). My Sirocco were amazing speakers. Just sad they're beginning to slowly die

Yes very sad, I can hardly contain my grief.

Go cry to your mum then. Perhaps you can ask her for a little "bitty" at the same time. Might cheer you up.

Im suckling from your mothers titty right now, even she says go make a decision on your own for once.

[beanbag]

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

After 7 years of use, my VideoLogic Sirocco speakers have finally kicked the bucket. The connection on one of the speakers is broken after my gf's little sister yanked the connecting cable, and the amp is crackling loads.

So I was thinking of the Bose Companion 3 or 5, but I was wondering if there were any first hand reviews of it here. Plus, are the Bose systems really worth the money? It's about €399 for the Companion 5 over here in Europe.....I think the Companion 3 is about €250, but can't find a price yet!

Also, can recommend anything else that would compete with this quality (if the Bose is as good as it says it is!!!). My Sirocco were amazing speakers. Just sad they're beginning to slowly die

Yes very sad, I can hardly contain my grief.

Go cry to your mum then. Perhaps you can ask her for a little "bitty" at the same time. Might cheer you up.

Im suckling from your mothers titty right now, even she says go make a decision on your own for once.

fk off and die.

[Mikey G]

beanbag said:

Mikey G said:

I was in Comet yesterday and they had a 3 piece Bose system (2 satellites and a sub) and my word it sounded fantastic! Sorry i cant remember the model but it came with a nice little rotating control. Was £199 iirc.

Sounds like the Companion 3 for that price. The 5 is a "virtual" 5.1 surround system.

Yes, just checked the Bose website, looks like the Companion 3.
I was very impressed, it was in a larger store and the sound was great for such a small package, wouldnt be out of place in a living room and would certainly be good enough for a computer room.

[beanbag]

Mikey G said:

beanbag said:

Mikey G said:

I was in Comet yesterday and they had a 3 piece Bose system (2 satellites and a sub) and my word it sounded fantastic! Sorry i cant remember the model but it came with a nice little rotating control. Was £199 iirc.

Sounds like the Companion 3 for that price. The 5 is a "virtual" 5.1 surround system.

Yes, just checked the Bose website, looks like the Companion 3.
I was very impressed, it was in a larger store and the sound was great for such a small package, wouldnt be out of place in a living room and would certainly be good enough for a computer room.

That's the thing. But what I'm worried about is how it stacks up to others. All I can find for comparison are cheapy Logitech and generic brands. Not sure apart from JBL now what options I have....

[TheMighty]

If you want real "studio quality" monitoring you're going to pay a LOT more than that. But there are some good Active (ie: built in amp) "project studio" monitors available very reasonably.

I've had experience of:

Mackie HR626's - THX approved, really very accurate and give an amazingly transparent image... maybe too transparent for my liking and to be honest would be out of your price range at £621 + VAT but they do also do the Mackie Tapco S5 which is their budget level version at about £190 + VAT

Alesis M1's - I bought these in for one of the college studios on a recommendation, something which I should have known better than to do really. They seemed pretty rugged and the kids did give them some grief (probably more than usual as I avoided going near them, even to quieten them down!)but I just never really liked how they sounded. There was always a boxy, quite messy low mid, which at first I put down to the room, but after adding more and more acoustic tiling to try and get rid of any standing waves, it only confirmed that I just didn't get on with them. They're £219 + VAT and maybe if they are solely to reproduce others work rather than mix with, you might want to listen to them and make your own mind up.

Tannoy Reveal 6D Active's - These would set you back £309 + VAT but I absolutely love them. They have a reputation for blowing HF drivers in much the same way that some of the Yamaha stuff does, but I've never had a problem even when teaching 16 year-old metal freaks using them. They're a little light on the bottom end but unless you're the type of person who thinks a graphic equaliser is something which you set up to look like a "SMILEY FACE" then you shouldn't have any complaints.... OR buy the passive versions at about £115 + VAT per pair and an Alesis RA150 Amp (£80 + VAT) to power them if you want to do the same thing cheaper and have room for a 19" rackmount amp

Mighty

Edited by TheMighty on Saturday 12th July 15:01

Edited by TheMighty on Saturday 12th July 15:02

[anonymous-user]

Mackie HR624's for me. Awesome!

[hifihigh]

I have my puter sound card plugged into the aux connection on my hifi and it sounds good. I don't recommed this if you have a crt monitor though as they can interfere with the speakers.

[Freddie von Rost]

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

After 7 years of use, my VideoLogic Sirocco speakers have finally kicked the bucket. The connection on one of the speakers is broken after my gf's little sister yanked the connecting cable, and the amp is crackling loads.

So I was thinking of the Bose Companion 3 or 5, but I was wondering if there were any first hand reviews of it here. Plus, are the Bose systems really worth the money? It's about €399 for the Companion 5 over here in Europe.....I think the Companion 3 is about €250, but can't find a price yet!

Also, can recommend anything else that would compete with this quality (if the Bose is as good as it says it is!!!). My Sirocco were amazing speakers. Just sad they're beginning to slowly die

Yes very sad, I can hardly contain my grief.

Go cry to your mum then. Perhaps you can ask her for a little "bitty" at the same time. Might cheer you up.

Im suckling from your mothers titty right now, even she says go make a decision on your own for once.

Rich, this does not surprise me. Particularly as you act like a little child on this forum for most of the time.

[PJR]

Bose gets a lot of stick, usually by forum bandwagoners with little to no actual experience of them. But I think they make some pretty good stuff. At the end of the day, its all about what 'you' like. If you like them, by all means buy them.
While im here.. You may want to add 'Blue Sky' monitors to your short list.. Fairly compact desk mounted studio grade monitor speakers that come quite highly regarded these days. Look at either the Exo 2.1's or the media desk systems. The Mackies are also well worth a look too though.

P,

[R1 GTR]

PJR said:

Bose gets a lot of stick, usually by forum bandwagoners with little to no actual experience of them. But I think they make some pretty good stuff. At the end of the day, its all about what 'you' like. If you like them, by all means buy them.

I agree with this, I think that if you don't want to pay throught the roof (and lets face it, you can pay a lot more than Bose asks) for a set of speakers, then there's not much you can knock about them.

You can tell I've bought from them can't you

[rich1231]

Freddie von Rost said:

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

After 7 years of use, my VideoLogic Sirocco speakers have finally kicked the bucket. The connection on one of the speakers is broken after my gf's little sister yanked the connecting cable, and the amp is crackling loads.

So I was thinking of the Bose Companion 3 or 5, but I was wondering if there were any first hand reviews of it here. Plus, are the Bose systems really worth the money? It's about €399 for the Companion 5 over here in Europe.....I think the Companion 3 is about €250, but can't find a price yet!

Also, can recommend anything else that would compete with this quality (if the Bose is as good as it says it is!!!). My Sirocco were amazing speakers. Just sad they're beginning to slowly die

Yes very sad, I can hardly contain my grief.

Go cry to your mum then. Perhaps you can ask her for a little "bitty" at the same time. Might cheer you up.

Im suckling from your mothers titty right now, even she says go make a decision on your own for once.

Rich, this does not surprise me. Particularly as you act like a little child on this forum for most of the time.

At least I have been weened properly, only recently finding enjoyment in the breasts of my enemies mothers.

[Freddie von Rost]

rich1231 said:

Freddie von Rost said:

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

rich1231 said:

beanbag said:

After 7 years of use, my VideoLogic Sirocco speakers have finally kicked the bucket. The connection on one of the speakers is broken after my gf's little sister yanked the connecting cable, and the amp is crackling loads.

So I was thinking of the Bose Companion 3 or 5, but I was wondering if there were any first hand reviews of it here. Plus, are the Bose systems really worth the money? It's about €399 for the Companion 5 over here in Europe.....I think the Companion 3 is about €250, but can't find a price yet!

Also, can recommend anything else that would compete with this quality (if the Bose is as good as it says it is!!!). My Sirocco were amazing speakers. Just sad they're beginning to slowly die

Yes very sad, I can hardly contain my grief.

Go cry to your mum then. Perhaps you can ask her for a little "bitty" at the same time. Might cheer you up.

Im suckling from your mothers titty right now, even she says go make a decision on your own for once.

Rich, this does not surprise me. Particularly as you act like a little child on this forum for most of the time.

At least I have been weened properly, only recently finding enjoyment in the breasts of my enemies mothers.

You wish.

[SJobson]

Well, they're not going to be studio quality despite costing £1000 or so, but the AVI ADM9s would be a good choice if you want quality direct from your PC. http://www.avihifi.co.uk/index.html

[GetCarter]

It depends what you mean by 'studio quality'

A decent set of studio speakers (with amps) will cost about £5k. A good set, twice that. A great set, six times that.

I recommend Robsons http://www.robsonacoustics.co.uk/products.htm

Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 12th July 18:54