PC Peripherals Definitive Audio Incline Deskop Speakers - Worth 21.5K?

S

sydras

Skilled
My Altec Lansing MX-5021 2.1 speakers purchased in mid 2006 for around Rs 8,500/- stopped working around mid 2014 due to what seemed to me like a control pod issue. I'd bought a JBL Micro laptop speaker as a stop-gap solution which unfortunately turned into a more permanent solution for the whole of 2015 (I will use the terms - married, kid on the way, job, etc. as an excuse :)) as I mulled on occasion on how to get an out of warranty and out of production item repaired.

This year, I had the opportunity to repair them but I'd grown tired of the sound. I finally gave away the speakers to an IT guy (who'd actually offered to repair them) for free. In retrospect, I should've offered them to DIYers within the TE community first (I will now use the terms - married, kid arrived, job, etc. as an excuse for not doing so :)).

My experience with the MX-5021 is keeping me away from 2.1 speakers. In my opinion, the bass on the MX-5021 was quite overpowering and I'm afraid that it only gets worse with other 2.1 speakers.

Therefore, I am now considering 2.0 desktop speakers as a replacement. In particular, I'm considering the following 2.0 speakers:
1> Bose Companion™ 2 Series III multimedia speaker system (8.4K)
2> Bose Companion™ 20 multimedia speaker system (19K).
3> Definitive Audio Incline Powered Desktop Stereo System (21.5K)

Has anyone had any experience with any of these speaker systems? I'm leaning towards the ones from Definitive Audio but they seem to be quite overpriced and sometimes I wonder if they are really worth the 21.5K investment.

Or rather, would you suggest some other speaker system altogether? Your thoughts/suggestions on this topic would be most helpful.
 
For 8500 your product lasted 8 years which is more than enough, I too owned an earlier model of the 5021 which I used for 2 years before selling here. Although bass was plentiful it wasn't anything that couldn't be managed by tweaking the EQ.

Now coming down to your options, I've heard the Companion 2 III, they sound good but like any Bose product they're way too overpriced. Can't really justify paying 8k for that when you can buy a Z623 for Rs.7500, at least you go to any mall and audition them if you're interested, just don't buy it blindly for the Bose tag.
Stay away from Definitive Audio, you should get something that can be easily serviced in case something goes wrong, Just last month my M-Audio studio monitors which are widely sold across India conked off and it was still a big hassle getting em repaired from the authorized center.
Problem these days is, a lot of the manufacturers have just stopped making quality pc speakers like back in the day. We don't have a MX-5021 or a Klipsch Promedia 2.1 alternative in the market or 2.0 speakers from the old Gigaworks range. As for the others, either the prices have gone up or the newer models aren't upto par.

Logitech Z200 2.0 - I'd say they are around 70% of what the Companion 2 III would provide, regularly goes for around 1k if you're patient.
Swans M10 2.1 - Great for the price and you won't find the bass to be overpowering either.
Logitech Z623 2.1 - Cheaper than any of the options you've listed, good for gaming and movies.
If you want powered speakers go for some cheaper studio monitors or have a look at the Swans D1080-IV or M200MKII.
 
psyph3r said:
For 8500 your product lasted 8 years which is more than enough, I too owned an earlier model of the 5021 which I used for 2 years before selling here. Although bass was plentiful it wasn't anything that couldn't be managed by tweaking the EQ.

Now coming down to your options, I've heard the Companion 2 III, they sound good but like any Bose product they're way too overpriced. Can't really justify paying 8k for that when you can buy a Z623 for Rs.7500, at least you go to any mall and audition them if you're interested, just don't buy it blindly for the Bose tag.
Stay away from Definitive Audio, you should get something that can be easily serviced in case something goes wrong, Just last month my M-Audio studio monitors which are widely sold across India conked off and it was still a big hassle getting em repaired from the authorized center.
Problem these days is, a lot of the manufacturers have just stopped making quality pc speakers like back in the day. We don't have a MX-5021 or a Klipsch Promedia 2.1 alternative in the market or 2.0 speakers from the old Gigaworks range. As for the others, either the prices have gone up or the newer models aren't upto par.

Logitech Z200 2.0 - I'd say they are around 70% of what the Companion 2 III would provide, regularly goes for around 1k if you're patient.
Swans M10 2.1 - Great for the price and you won't find the bass to be overpowering either.
Logitech Z623 2.1 - Cheaper than any of the options you've listed, good for gaming and movies.
If you want powered speakers go for some cheaper studio monitors or have a look at the Swans D1080-IV or M200MKII.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions. I share your concern about the Bose speakers. I've seen many positive reviews about their products and I think that they might be better that your standard 2.0 speakers but their sound probably isn't a whole lot better than that of a decent 2.1 midrange speaker system. Also, I wonder whether the difference in price between the Bose Companion™ 2 Series III multimedia speaker system (8.4K) and the Bose Companion™ 20 multimedia speaker system (19K) is justified. Is the latter twice as good than the former for more that double the price? I'm not sure.

I forgot to mention, I'm also looking to save space around my desktop and hence the interest in simple, high quality 2.0 speakers. I'm not sure of the quality of the Z200s if they retail at 1K. I did check out reviews of the Swans models that you mentioned and they seem promising.

delhiboy1 said:
I would suggest going for a Passive speaker +Amp combo this time around .
Try a Sonodyne 1501 / Polk TsX220b bookshelf + Sonodyne/Marantz Amp. Combo would be abt 30-35K, but vastly superior.
If you want Active: try this http://www.hifimart.com/speakers/active-powered/sonodyne-pqube-201.html
Click to expand...

Yes, I suppose that this setup would be much superior but I am afraid of the amount of space required for this setup. I've been itching to try Sonodyne. I just wish that they came out with a pair of 2.0 computer speakers.
 
Back
Top