Cheap speakers for PC (and possibly TV)

[joft]

I'm looking to upgrade my current 2.0 speakers to probably 2.1. What I'm really looking for is sound quality roughly equivalent to having decent speakers with a decent subwoofer. I'm looking to spend little but have nice sound quality. I do NOT need very high volume since I live in an apartment and turning it up too high would bother the neighbors. So far I've found these:

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-S220-...dp/B000RQSGYO/

http://www.amazon.com/Cyber-Acoustic...dp/B0027VT6V4/

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...p?EdpNo=322399

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=3832359

I don't know how to read the specs to compare these. Does higher wattage just mean higher maximum volume? Could I use any of these for both my PC and TV (unplugging and moving it back and forth)? Are there any really cheap (but decent quality) 4.1 sets that would be significantly better than these?

[Isiolia]

I don't know how to read the specs to compare these. Does higher wattage just mean higher maximum volume? Could I use any of these for both my PC and TV (unplugging and moving it back and forth)? Are there any really cheap (but decent quality) 4.1 sets that would be significantly better than these?

Higher wattage in products like you linked to doesn't necessarily indicate very much since it's pretty much just exaggerated for marketing use anyway.

In a more general sense, higher wattage indicates greater power handling or greater power output (depending on if you're talking about the speakers or the amp). Exactly how much volume that translates to will depend on the speaker, as efficiency varies.

I would assume you could move the speakers between PC and TV if you desired to, or you could try to find a set that had multiple inputs, as some do.

A trick with 4.1 might be finding something that has processing, at least coming from the TV. Multi-channel PC audio typically has separate plugs unless using digital out, so most powered PC speakers will just have that.


If you really have very little to spend, but want a bit better quality, you might look into a T-Amp n' some secondhand or very cheap bookshelf speakers. At least then you have something you can build on.
Example:
Amp http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=300-380
Speakers http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=300-652

[arus2001]

Probably out of your price range, but I recently got this for my PC for about $70 from Wally World.

Far as wattage goes, I wanna say the higher the number on the speaker, the higher you can crank the volume before you start to hear crackle, but other aspects of the speaker config might affect this.

Having used a number of logitech products over the years, I'd probably say whatever you get from them would be satisfactory. Only problem I ever had was with a wireless mouse and a battery melting inside of it, but that might've been the battery's fault.

[isladar]

Moved from General.

[Meyor]

In my experience you can't go wrong with logitech, even their lower end stuff seems to work really well.