Active Speakers For Desktop Use

[harveymt]

I currently have a 7.1 Creative speaker package that came with the computer. There's a lot of wires and I only really listen to music so only need 2 of them. I listen a lot late at night too so I'm thinking of getting something like a Fubar 4, a DAC and headphones amp in one box, and pairing it with some active speakers.
Any suggestions for speakers that could be used? I'm sitting quite close to the computer. I'm not looking to spend a fortune. Any sort of studio speakers that would fill that brief. I presume they be used with the listener sitting quite close.

 

[the record spot]

Roland DS7, £250 a pair, 75wpc, onboard DAC and Red Dog Music in Edinburgh have a bunch of ex-dem on sale. Sound quality is good too. See also Yamaha HS50s at about £250 a pair too. KRK Rokit 5 as well.

 

[professorhat]

Would be useful to know a budget - anything below a fortune leaves quite a lot of headroom...

 

[Anonymous]

I've got ESI nEar05 eXperience in the bedroom and Genelec 8020B in the kitchen. The ESIs are very ugly (IMHO) but sound great for the money (about £180). The Genelecs are about £500 and a big step up from the ESIs. The resolution and clarity of those baddies is astonishing. Space no consideration I would have gotten their larger siblings Genelec 8030A. They are not much bigger but I had very specific requirements (or call it instructions...). Those are about £1,000 I think. However for close field listening and modest volume they are probably overkill.

I also echo the above comment about KRK ROKIT. In fact I auditioned monitors at B&H in New York not long ago and I though they really stood out against the rest. In hindsight I should have gotten them instead of the ESIs... if not another pair or Genelecs.

What's your budget? You can get astonishing value in and around the £200 bracket - my recommendation in that case would be KRK. If you're prepared to pay a bit more you could look at Genelec, Focal, Dynadio, Adam, Mackie. In my experience / opinion diminishing returns really start to kick in once you go much about £1k. Do a bit of googling and visit a few pro audio shops online to get a sense of what's out there.

 

[Anonymous]

Look at Audioengine -- I preferred the sound of their smaller cheaper A2 over the A5.

I ended up with NHT pro S00 (s/h half price). I would have gone with the A2's otherwise.