cheap active speakers

[shep1968]

Hi all. A friend wants to better the sound from her TV and play her phone through the device . A Sound bar or Sound base would be ok but is there anything better and cheaper? Is there a good set of active speakers for around £200 or less that would do the job? I presume a TV would work fine with active speakers, as would a mobile phone.

 

[davedotco]

You need to work out the connectivity requirements that is needed, ie is the tv output digital? How are you going to connect the phone, wired, bluetooth etc.

How are you going to handle the control of volume etc, none of this is difficult but it does require a bit of thought.

 

[Pedro2]

Hi Shep1968,
Just listening to a pair of cheap active speakers and the sound is great.In the middle of a major house refurbishment at the moment and the main system is all boxed up and packed away. So now listening to a pair of active Audioengine 2 bought off a well known auction site for just under £100. The source is an oldish Sony Bravia TV as well as an incredible little device called a Gramofon which streams Spotify connect, Internet radio and even music from my NAS (flac up to Hi Res). All this for £50 and controlled from an iPhone. So for £150, I'm getting some serious value for money sound and I'm well impressed. It's not as good as the main system but costs £1000s less!

 

[davedotco]

Hi Shep1968,

Just listening to a pair of cheap active speakers and the sound is great. In the middle of a major house refurbishment at the moment and the main system is all boxed up and packed away. So now listening to a pair of active Audioengine 2 bought off a well known auction site for just under £100. The source is an oldish Sony Bravia TV as well as an incredible little device called a Gramofon which streams Spotify connect, Internet radio and even music from my NAS (flac up to Hi Res). All this for £50 and controlled from an iPhone. So for £150, I'm getting some serious value for money sound and I'm well impressed. It's not as good as the main system but costs £1000s less!

Sounds good, how do you control volume and switch between inputs?

Being pedantic I know, bat the A2s are powered speakers not active, some consider that important.

 

[knaithrover]

Hi Shep1968,

Just listening to a pair of cheap active speakers and the sound is great. In the middle of a major house refurbishment at the moment and the main system is all boxed up and packed away. So now listening to a pair of active Audioengine 2 bought off a well known auction site for just under £100. The source is an oldish Sony Bravia TV as well as an incredible little device called a Gramofon which streams Spotify connect, Internet radio and even music from my NAS (flac up to Hi Res). All this for £50 and controlled from an iPhone. So for £150, I'm getting some serious value for money sound and I'm well impressed. It's not as good as the main system but costs £1000s less!

Fully agree with you on the Audioengine A2's, mine were under £100 nearly new and sound quite frankly stunning with music or tv. I had them as my kitchen speakers originally with my phone/tablet as a source and an Arcam miniblink inbetween - so good and so much like 'real' hifi I often did a double take... Just put them with my tv (brand new Sony Bravia) and again brilliant sound only issue is the lack of volume control other than twiddling the knob (oo-er) at the back.....

 

[davedotco]

Hi Shep1968,

Just listening to a pair of cheap active speakers and the sound is great. In the middle of a major house refurbishment at the moment and the main system is all boxed up and packed away. So now listening to a pair of active Audioengine 2 bought off a well known auction site for just under £100. The source is an oldish Sony Bravia TV as well as an incredible little device called a Gramofon which streams Spotify connect, Internet radio and even music from my NAS (flac up to Hi Res). All this for £50 and controlled from an iPhone. So for £150, I'm getting some serious value for money sound and I'm well impressed. It's not as good as the main system but costs £1000s less!

Fully agree with you on the Audioengine A2's, mine were under £100 nearly new and sound quite frankly stunning with music or tv. I had them as my kitchen speakers originally with my phone/tablet as a source and an Arcam miniblink inbetween - so good and so much like 'real' hifi I often did a double take... Just put them with my tv (brand new Sony Bravia) and again brilliant sound only issue is the lack of volume control other than twiddling the knob (oo-er) at the back.....

This is often the issue with speakers of this type, which is where more expensive models with effective pre-amp and remote control come in useful.

Thinking Ruark M1 or Audioengine A5+ here, but out of budget.

Any single source setup that has volume control can be used straight into a pair of real active speakers rather than the powered ones discussed so far. Big step up in quality but the moment you introduce multiple sources, you need some sort of a dac/pre which lifts the price significantly, particularly if you want digital and analogue inputs and remote control.

 

[Pedro2]

My apologies; they're powered and not active. Still sound great, mind. Only a slight inconvenience with the volume. I set it at about 50% and then use the TV remote or the Gramofon phone app to fine control. As for input selection, I stop the Gramofon using the phone app and turn the tv on and it just seems to work ok.

When the house is back to normal, I'll move this system into the dining room and mount the speakers on the wall. I'll then just use the Gramofon and may even buy more units as you can link them together with the phone app. Very smart and very cheap!

 

[SonofSun]

I've had a pair of these in the kitchen for a few years now and they are one of the best purchases I have made. Recently added an Oppo HA-2 dac/amplifier (source is mylaptop), it takes these little speakers to another level, great sound for an inexpensive speaker.

Enjoy.

 

[Dave_]

It's worth double checking it the headphone output actually has a variable volume first though as no all do.

I've never encountered one that doesn't. How volume control of the headphone out is implemented can be dumb and inconvenient though.

 

[steve_1979]

It's worth double checking it the headphone output actually has a variable volume first though as no all do.

I've never encountered one that doesn't. How volume control of the headphone out is implemented can be dumb and inconvenient though.

I've never encountered one with fixed volume myself and expect that they're very rare but I have read on another forum that some are fixed.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

What type of tv is it?

Is it 'smart' with blue tooth - with YouTube etc?

And can she 'throw' from her phone?

Pc world do some decent sub-Sat systems out side of that it's worth visiting the likes of richersounds and seeing what AVamp/2.1 bargains they have on offer

 

[DannyB]

How about Q Acoustic BT3s ?

£209 from Peter tysons for vinyl colors, Bluetooth connectivity great size, Subwoofer output if needed, not to big but pack a hell of a sound

 

[steve_1979]

I presume a TV would work fine with active speakers

You could plug them straight into the headphone output from the TV. That way you can still adjust the volume using the TV remote control which is handy. It's worth double checking that the headphone output actually has a variable volume first though as no all do.

 

[davedotco]

How about Q Acoustic BT3s ?

£209 from Peter tysons for vinyl colors, Bluetooth connectivity great size, Subwoofer output if needed, not to big but pack a hell of a sound

That's a very good call.

Normally at £350 they would be well out of budget, but around £200 is great value, primarily because of the functionality, which is very good.

Good find, they are spot on for this application, right on budget too.....*good*

 

[ID.]

It's worth double checking it the headphone output actually has a variable volume first though as no all do.

I've never encountered one that doesn't. How volume control of the headphone out is implemented can be dumb and inconvenient though.

I've never encountered one with fixed volume myself and expect that they're very rare but I have read on another forum that some are fixed.

I have a TV with fixed headphone volume.

The one time I tried it I was very surprised. I wondered why on earth you'd implement it that way (well, to save money I guess).

 

[shep1968]

Hi Shep1968,

Just listening to a pair of cheap active speakers and the sound is great. In the middle of a major house refurbishment at the moment and the main system is all boxed up and packed away. So now listening to a pair of active Audioengine 2 bought off a well known auction site for just under £100. The source is an oldish Sony Bravia TV as well as an incredible little device called a Gramofon which streams Spotify connect, Internet radio and even music from my NAS (flac up to Hi Res). All this for £50 and controlled from an iPhone. So for £150, I'm getting some serious value for money sound and I'm well impressed. It's not as good as the main system but costs £1000s less!

Fully agree with you on the Audioengine A2's, mine were under £100 nearly new and sound quite frankly stunning with music or tv. I had them as my kitchen speakers originally with my phone/tablet as a source and an Arcam miniblink inbetween - so good and so much like 'real' hifi I often did a double take... Just put them with my tv (brand new Sony Bravia) and again brilliant sound only issue is the lack of volume control other than twiddling the knob (oo-er) at the back.....

Sorry i hadnt appreciated the difference between active and powered speakers. She wants something that she can plug into her TV, presumably from the audio out, and can also plug her mobile phone into. Hadnt considered volume changing, assumed there was a knob on the speaker. Would said Q Acoustic or Audio Engine fulfill her needs?

 

[davedotco]

You need to work out what your needs are, particularly with regard to connectivity.

Sadly nothing is universal in these matters, what are the connections on the TV? How are you going to connect the phone?

That said, the Q Acoustics will cover most of your needs, Bluetooth for the phone, analogue or toslink for the tv. Input selection and volume on the remote.