Monitor + speaker recommendations

[Obby]

So, through an apartment fire, I've lost my computer speakers (Logitech Z-5500) and my computer monitor no longer works due to lots of corrosion on the supply's PCB (Samsung 21.5" 1080P LED-backlit with touch-sensitive buttons, I think it's no longer in production because I can't find it on Samsung's site or newegg.com). So now I'm looking into replacements for both. Ideally I'd like to keep the monitor's price under $200. I really liked the Samsung I had a lot (great color depth and brightness and the blacks were actually black), so I think I'd like to stick with them as a brand unless someone has some other suggestion for a good monitor in my price range. So far, this Samsung seems to be a good choice for what I want, but I've found other monitors from other brands that I'm not sure are good or not for monitors (Asus, Acer, etc.).

For the speakers, I was looking into 5.1 systems like I used to have, but I was having a hard time finding a good system in a relatively reasonable price range and one that looked decent enough for me to want to put on my desk. So I started looking into powered bookshelf speakers, and found some options that I think look really good... The Audioengine 5's and the Audioengine 2's. Both are powered bookshelf speaker pairs. The A5's are basically just the A2's with more power behind them, more size, and some extra input options. The speakers are both kind of expensive and I wasn't going to order these right away, I was just curious whether these would be a good choice for desktop's sound system, as opposed to a full 5.1 system. Or, again, if anyone has any better options.

[savanik]

I picked up a Samsung 2233RZ for Christmas. It's a 120 Hz monitor, runs around $320 with shipping. (I picked it up for significantly less on sale.) It's very nice. 120 Hz makes things very smooth. Added bonus - if you want to pick up some 3D glasses with an NVidia card, it works quite well! Requires Windows 7 and DX10, though.

Speakers... you can do a lot better for a lot less. Cyber Acoustics Platinum Series CA-3618 12 Watts - $30. These have good frequency response and should be pretty good for a basic 2.1 setup. Honestly, I was still kicking around with the crappy $50 speakers I bought back in college 10 years ago until about last month, where I swapped out for headphones because I was tired of having huge bookends on my desk. Speakers haven't changed significantly since then. Mostly you're paying for the brand name.

If you get cheap speakers, that might give you extra money for a spiff monitor. IF you have a graphics card to run that resolution, it should be pretty good. What kinda graphics card are you running with?

[Obby]

The rest of my system is quite capable, an i5 overclocked to 3.4 GHz, 4 GB DDR3 1600 MHz, and a GTX 280 I got on sale about a year ago.

The speaker thing is quite interesting... I'll have to look into cheaper sets.

[psykx]

Completely ignoring everything you have said about what you want in a monitor, I'd go for (and I'm planning to soon) the dell ultrasharp 23 inch. It has the whole awesome IPS panel going on. although it's £260 is about £200 cheaper than the 24 inch version.

As for speakers, I'd go for a 2.1 system but then I normally listen to music rather than play games so... What sound card have you got? great speakers will sound crap coming out of a bad audio interface. I can't really recommend a set of computer speakers (so why am I writing at all...?) as I've not heard very many. I can recommend audio technica ath-m30 headphones though.

[Obby]

Sound card I have: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6829132013

Not the greatest, but it works well enough I think.

And I do play games, so response time in monitors is kind of important to me, so I don't think an 8ms response time on that 23" Dell would be too great for me (not to mention it's a gray-to-gray response time)... Plus it's slightly beyond my price range anyway.

[mosc]

In your pricerange, avoid surround sound setups. Surround sound seems awesome but the speakers you get often do not have decent low frequency response. As such, your bass is mono and you basically have 5 mid/tweeters around you. Also, rear speakers are rarely placed where they should be which can lead to crap audio quality and poor directional representation. FPS players may find some advantage hearing things more specifically behind them but for anything else beyond a "turn around!" signal, surround sound budget speakers are terrible. One thing I always hated was the gap between the speakers. If I was near a waterfall, as I turned, the sound would pulse loudly. If I lined it up with a speaker, it would be deafening. If i put it directly between a speaker, it was silent.

If you have any interest in music, you should really be looking at stereo setup without a sub. Near fields work extremely well and don't cost an exorbitant amount. M-audio makes a decent 40 watt set for <$200. Behringer makes one as well except it's not quite as nice but has a digital input and a decent headphone jack.

[Zamfir]

Completely ignoring everything you have said about what you want in a monitor, I'd go for (and I'm planning to soon) the dell ultrasharp 23 inch. It has the whole awesome IPS panel going on. although it's £260 is about £200 cheaper than the 24 inch version.

I just bought one of those, although I managed to find one for 230 euro. It's a great panel, screen looks good and the build is also sturdy and nice-looking. To the OP: go to a shop, see if you like the cheaper TN screens there. If not, you can buy this Dell unseen. You won't beat the price/quality ratio. It's $279 at dell.com

I have my doubts you would have much issue with the response time. The worries about response time are to a large extent leftovers from the days that some screens had 20 to 30 ms lags. But the difference between 5 and 8, or 2 and 8 is something you would have to pay very close attention to to notice.

[savanik]

great speakers will sound crap coming out of a bad audio interface..

I really haven't had any problems with the onboard audio on motherboard as for sound quality. Haven't had many problems at all, really, save for linux Pulseaudio drivers being incredibly frustrating to deal with.

Are my ears not acute enough? My roommate keeps ranting around things like 'crunch' and 'boom', but he's an audio engineer.

[Dream]

One thing I always hated was the gap between the speakers. If I was near a waterfall, as I turned, the sound would pulse loudly. If I lined it up with a speaker, it would be deafening. If i put it directly between a speaker, it was silent.

That's not the speakers, it's the programming. Most game sounds are point sources, and 5.1 assumes diffuse sources. So in a movie, something "behind" you could be as much as 60/40 front/back speakers, creating a very large "sweet spot" where the sound is balanced well. The game point source doesn't do that, and sounds very unnatural because all the sound, and reverb or ambience comes from the same place. It's too located, which is the polar opposite of what most surround mixing is trying to achieve.

Behringer makes one as well except it's not quite as nice but has a digital input and a decent headphone jack.

The only thing I'd say about Behringer stuff for this kind of thing is that it's bulkier than it needs to be for desktop work. Sonically it's fine, but many people would prioritise form factor in a desktop situation.

[Obby]

In your pricerange, avoid surround sound setups. Surround sound seems awesome but the speakers you get often do not have decent low frequency response. As such, your bass is mono and you basically have 5 mid/tweeters around you. Also, rear speakers are rarely placed where they should be which can lead to crap audio quality and poor directional representation. FPS players may find some advantage hearing things more specifically behind them but for anything else beyond a "turn around!" signal, surround sound budget speakers are terrible. One thing I always hated was the gap between the speakers. If I was near a waterfall, as I turned, the sound would pulse loudly. If I lined it up with a speaker, it would be deafening. If i put it directly between a speaker, it was silent.

If you have any interest in music, you should really be looking at stereo setup without a sub. Near fields work extremely well and don't cost an exorbitant amount. M-audio makes a decent 40 watt set for <$200. Behringer makes one as well except it's not quite as nice but has a digital input and a decent headphone jack.

I know what you mean about the waterfall stuff, I noticed a lot of that with my Logitech 5.1 set I used to have (luckily I didn't pay for it, it was a graduation gift). I was already looking at powered speakers from a few different companies. I was already looking at M-audio as a possibility, as well as other brands that I linked above. The stereo setup was probably what I was going to go with in the end.

I assume the set you were talking about is the AV-40's? Those do look nice indeed.

[mosc]

Yes, the AV-40s are very good. Best sound I've heard in that price range. The Event TR5's are even better but they stopped making those. That said, I bought the Behringer MS-40 due to the digital input and 1/4" headphone jack. They do not sound as good, but they're not bad either.

I agree with Dream but it doesn't change the fact that the only thing in 5.1 I was even listening to was crappy programmed game surround. When you listen to music on one of those setups, it just sounds like muddy mono with the rears and center on along with the single decent bass source. Even as a 2.1 setup, they start to sound very thin. I've never believed in the Bose audio bullshit that you can't hear direction on pitch <500hz. It's been refuted many times. I can't stand using a sub for anything about 50hz. Those little logitech speakers don't have near that kind of linear frequency response. Thus, unless we want to spend big bucks for 5 decent speakers AND a sub, we get to choose between a decent near field pair or a boomy sub focused 5.1/7.1 setup.

[Obby]

I ended up going with the AV 40's you recommended. Got them off ebay for $80, plus $13 shipping, so not too bad a price, all things considered.

[mosc]

Wow, that's like half price man! Were they used? That's a whole lot of value there.

Also, I love how honest m-audio is with it's stuff. Frequency response?:
85Hz - 20kHz

Now I can believe that. Unlike Logitech saying it's stupid satellite speakers sound fine at 20 friggin hz. I mean, neither really provide bass without a sub, but it's nice that one company actually tells you as much instead of outright lying.

[Obby]

Yeah, they were used, but the ebay condition said that it was "Like New", and from my experience people usually accurately describe the item's condition due to not wanting a bad rating, so I'm pretty hopeful they'll look really nice.