Suggestion for a new Sound System for my PC

Hello. So my old Altec Lansing 2.1 speaker seems to be starting to have problems now so am wondering what is a good speaker to buy nowadays. Is there a speaker now that does not need a subwoofer to sound good?

My speaker is still working at the moment but getting errors like windows saying there is no audio device plugged in even though I have Realtek audio driver installed (Reinstalled already) and there are still sounds coming out of my speakers.

Thank to everyone for you suggestions.

I would just use gaming headphones.

Thanks. But I also use my pc to watch shows etc haha.

if you are getting Windows messages that would tell me it might be more of a Windows issue than a speaker problem.

easy way to check is, especially if its consistent, plug in a set of headphones and see if you keep getting the messages. if you do, its a hardware/software issue on the pc

It could be a software issue, try to check that first.

And I use the Razer Leviathan and I love it, sometimes I even mistake sounds from the game for sounds in my room:
https://www.razer.com/gaming-speaker...-01260100-R3U1

That said, it does come with a subwoofer, if you're not interested cause of that then maybe you could try the Razer Nommo? I researched it well when I had to choose between the two and it also has good reviews.

It comes as both a Razer Nommo:
https://www.razer.com/gaming-speaker...-02450100-R3U1

And a Razer Nommo Pro (with a subwoofer):
https://www.razer.com/eu-en/gaming-s...-02470100-R371

Do not buy anything with "Gaming" in it. They charge you extra for no reason. I would go with nice Edifier speakers that sound much much better. These are what I use and they are amazing for sound quality and they are cheaper.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product...ystem/12319434

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vonleo

Do not buy anything with "Gaming" in it. They charge you extra for no reason. I would go with nice Edifier speakers that sound much much better. These are what I use and they are amazing for sound quality and they are cheaper.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product...ystem/12319434

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Are you saying all those pre-built "gaming" PCs aren't the best deals??

/ponder

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Conundrum

Are you saying all those pre-built "gaming" PCs aren't the best deals??

/ponder

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You can build your own PC or have someone else do it for cheaper before the pandemic anyways. Pre builts are terrible because most parts are OEM and the first thing you need to do is actually replace the case because the air flow is terrible again raising the price of your pre built. Gaming headphones/chairs/speakers can all be bought for cheaper and have better quality to them. Gaming chairs you can get a nice ergonomic chair for half the price. Gaming headphones again you can buy a nice pair that has a mic attachment for it. Gaming speakers I just listed above which is cheaper and has better sound quality.

I use headphones to watch movies and shows too, so ymmv.

I have a set of hd560s's and a Schiit MagnIE and Modi3+ stack.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vonleo

You can build your own PC or have someone else do it for cheaper before the pandemic anyways. Pre builts are terrible because most parts are OEM and the first thing you need to do is actually replace the case because the air flow is terrible again raising the price of your pre built. Gaming headphones/chairs/speakers can all be bought for cheaper and have better quality to them. Gaming chairs you can get a nice ergonomic chair for half the price. Gaming headphones again you can buy a nice pair that has a mic attachment for it. Gaming speakers I just listed above which is cheaper and has better sound quality.

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I guess I should have actually added the implied "/sarcasm" tag.

Have you managed to find a solution, Garet?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vonleo

Do not buy anything with "Gaming" in it. They charge you extra for no reason. I would go with nice Edifier speakers that sound much much better. These are what I use and they are amazing for sound quality and they are cheaper.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product...ystem/12319434

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I saw it as an option before getting the Leviathan but I ended up paying the $50 more for the sake of the subwoofer.

And the Razer Nommo is $50 cheaper than that Edifier, has the same frequency response, is lighter and more compact but doesn't come with bluetooth so I'd say the choice is if he cares about bluetooth or not, if he had to make a choice between the two.

To conclude this, Garet, from the suggestions we gave:

If you'd like the cheapest, lighest and most compact and don't care about bluetooth, research the Razer Nommo at $130.
If you don't care about size and care about bluetooth, research that Edifier at $180.
If you change your mind about the subwoofer, research the all-in-one Razer Leviathan surround soundbar that comes with a subwoofer and bluetooth.

I hope more suggestions are coming for you and you can make a choice soon.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheVigilant

Have you managed to find a solution, Garet?



I saw it as an option before getting the Leviathan but I ended up paying the $50 more for the sake of the subwoofer.

And the Razer Nommo is $50 cheaper than that Edifier, has the same frequency response, is lighter and more compact but doesn't come with bluetooth so I'd say the choice is if he cares about bluetooth or not, if he had to make a choice between the two.

To conclude this, Garet, from the suggestions we gave:

If you'd like the cheapest, lighest and most compact and don't care about bluetooth, research the Razer Nommo at $130.
If you don't care about size and care about bluetooth, research that Edifier at $180.
If you change your mind about the subwoofer, research the all-in-one Razer Leviathan surround soundbar that comes with a subwoofer and bluetooth.

I hope more suggestions are coming for you and you can make a choice soon.

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Thanks. I was also looking at the Razer Nommo since I prefer no subwoofers nowadays to save space and I heard that speakers nowadays don't need a subwoofer as much as it did waaay back 8 years ago to sound good.

off topic: Am currently using an onboard sound card which seems to be breaking slowly now I think. I was looking at the Audioquest Dragonfly external DaC to go with the Razer Nommo if ever I buy one so that I can easily use it on another pc if ever I build a new one in the future. Is Audioquest Dragonfly good for desktop speakers or only for laptops and headphones?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheVigilant

Have you managed to find a solution, Garet?



I saw it as an option before getting the Leviathan but I ended up paying the $50 more for the sake of the subwoofer.

And the Razer Nommo is $50 cheaper than that Edifier, has the same frequency response, is lighter and more compact but doesn't come with bluetooth so I'd say the choice is if he cares about bluetooth or not, if he had to make a choice between the two.

To conclude this, Garet, from the suggestions we gave:

If you'd like the cheapest, lighest and most compact and don't care about bluetooth, research the Razer Nommo at $130.
If you don't care about size and care about bluetooth, research that Edifier at $180.
If you change your mind about the subwoofer, research the all-in-one Razer Leviathan surround soundbar that comes with a subwoofer and bluetooth.

I hope more suggestions are coming for you and you can make a choice soon.

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Sorry the link I posted was in Canada so it should be cheaper in us dollars

I use Razer Nari Ultimate and a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50XBT (there is a non BT version if you want wired).
Razer generally for gaming due to the haptic feedback for immersion and Audio Tehnica for music.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Garet

Hello. So my old Altec Lansing 2.1 speaker seems to be starting to have problems now so am wondering what is a good speaker to buy nowadays. Is there a speaker now that does not need a subwoofer to sound good?

My speaker is still working at the moment but getting errors like windows saying there is no audio device plugged in even though I have Realtek audio driver installed (Reinstalled already) and there are still sounds coming out of my speakers.

Thank to everyone for you suggestions.

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I used a Yamaha receiver hooked up to a stereo system. The sort you might ordinarily find hooked up to a TV as a poor man's home theater, or way back in the day, separate CD players, turntables, etc. In short, it's meant to play high quality audio from a variety of sources. You can hook them up to a PC too.

When I was in college I was stuck using headphones because I wasn't willing to annoy my roommates - and let me say moving up to even an entry 5.1 stereo system has been godly.

The only annoying thing is the only decent way to connect them to a PC is via HDMI. So you have to mess with your display settings. Mine's an older one that only supports 1080p passthrough and I don't have any 1080p monitors, so I basically have a dummy display that doesn't really exist, but it's annoying when a window is "lost" on it. On new models they should support 2k, 4k, etc, so you can just tell windows to duplicate your main screen even without any display hooked up to the passthrough - and then you won't have my particular problem.

I know you said you don't want a subwoofer but I'd consider it as an option. It's pretty great if you don't want/dislike headphones.

And to echo what others are saying, even if you must go for 2.0 speakers, don't buy any speaker system with "gaming" in the name.

So for speakers and sound system in general.

For speakers theres 2 I recommend and to which 1 I personally use actually and really rate highly

M-Audio BX3
https://m-audio.com/bx3

Theres a 4 incher as well if you want to get a bigger unit.
These are great and tend to be used as a poor mans studio monitors and come with everything you need, you can even tune bass and treble with dials with these.

The other option but I have never used it but rated well
https://www.presonus.com/products/Eris-E35

I think these also have different size variations.

For Audio device, I will suggest audio interfaces
I personally use https://m-audio.com/air-192-4

These come with speaker outs and headphone outputs, its a bigger unit then the dragonfly by far but you can connect a XLR mic if you so wished but you don't have to.

A good alternative to this is https://evo.audio/products/evo-4/overview/

Search them where ever you are based for prices and availability.

You don't need the audio interfaces for the speakers I mentioned, just a stereo 3.5mm out is enough for the speakers alone, if you wanted to speakers from the audio interfaces to the speakers, you may need to buy additional cables such as;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Thanks everyone for the replies :)

I use my gaming headphones when I watch movies to. Movies sound amazing with them. You just don't get a cheap pair of them.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This is what I got recently since my monitor's speaker decided to die about a year ago. lol Got tired of using headphones. It's cheap, effective and you can just plug it in and go. The sound quality is also pretty good in my opinion.