20 Best Desktop Speakers Under 50 (2023 Updated)

I have been involved hi-fi audio since I was a teenager… I am now 74 years old and have designed and constructed dozens of “audiophile” systems. A short time ago a friend asked me to specify a near audiophile system at the lowest possible cost.

After a great deal of research I came up with a system, and then eventually purchased it for my own purposes. It is designed as a near-field desktop system. The amplifier that I have mated with it is a fossae audio BT 300 – 2 and a passive subwoofer of my own design was used for the low end.

Although I have heard audiophile systems costing five times more I have to say that the performance of the Sony course speakers is excellent! This is due to the response of the speakers particularly in the mid-to high range.

The nuances that are brought out from streaming applications such as spotify are excellent! Even at very low volumes the music is nuanced and contains information that is not usually heard on playback.

Imaging and soundstage are more than acceptable. However, if you wish to play at louder volumes you may do so. The volume is adequate for small to midsize rooms. Truly an amazing system that can be purchased for less than $400.

1st and foremost is the price. can’t beat it for what these little babies put out. I think they sound great BUT I have them crossed over at 80hz thru my Denon receiver. I never have even tried them in “full range” mode because I already know a speaker like this isn’t going to have any low end (Bass) response.

So if you want to get the best out of these speakers I encourage you to add a subwoofer to your system. I find the mids and highs of these speakers give great clarity and image. With the bass cut off by my receiver and the added subwoofer, these suckers rock out.

I got these for like 85 bucks pre tax during the holidays, which is absolutely ridiculous for how they sound. an easy recommendation for an under $200 speaker pair. I feel that they really shine at high volumes.

Audessey calibration will have them sounding superb. Decent crossover components inside the speaker enclosure, better bracing or even no-rez would have brought this speaker up another notch, but what more could we expect from a speaker at this price point??.

Great speaker for the price. Even better when on sale. My primary use has been for left and right mains in 5. 1 entry level hometheater setup. I used without a subwoofer for about a little over month and bass was surprisingly good when placed about 1ft from wall.

Pretty clear imaging as well. Crisp highs and decent mids. Once paired with a subwoofer and sony’s center speaker and properly calibrated this speaker offers impressive performance for its price. I handled reference level really well.

My speakers are approx 14ft away from viewing position. Using a denon x1700 at 80 watts per channel at 8ohm with avr set to 6 ohms for these speakers.

These speakers do way better than they should at this price. I noticed in the lows what seemed to be a noticeable resonance (maybe 80hz?) that coloured the lower range, not unpleasantly, in fact probably how they got it to sound rich and beefy.

But for the way I listen clarity is everything, and for me I was hearing too much of the speaker, distracting from the music. I consider these to be great for background music (a concept I don’t get at all) but don’t cut it for critical listening although that ribbon tweeter is really nice and does make these sound fantastic for what they are.

The cab construction is cheap, looks really nice, but take care, easy to ding. A single cap to the tweeter seems to be the crossover. I would call these impressive for non audiophile use. At this price you probably won’t find better.

Hope this helps.

Overall, you just can’t beat the value. Here are some details about what you’ll get. A clean, well put together box with all the basics: Clean, removeable grill cloth; spring terminals in the back; pre-mounted hanger on the top in the back, and basic but usable speaker cable (really don’t need bigger gauge, but if you have it, use it).

Took the woofer out to take a closer look an here’s what I found: No crossover to speak of, just a cap for the tweeter. This is not really an issue at this price point, IMHO. The tweeter has it’s protection/filter, and woofers generally have a natural roll-off.

A really well design cross-over would be better, and if you’re a geek like me, it can always be added later. There is also a thin run of dampening material along the back of the cabinet to handle internal reflections and weirdness.

Again, basic but I suspect effective. Finally, the cabinet itself is made with thin, but dense particle board. Sorry that I didn’t measure it, but I would say also “effective”. I would trust this construction for life give that it’s a 6.

5″ woofer and moderate listening levels (occasionally cranking it up). The woofer itself is basic, but sounds good. I don’t know if anyone is really building foam surround woofers anymore, but this one has the requisite poly cone & surround for me, but also an undersized magnate.

However, this is also not an issue for me at this price point. Going from mid to large sized magnates is in the realm of the “law of diminishing returns”. Nice to have but not necessary. Another item for potential upgrade, that for me will also likely never happen.

Tweeters are clear, balanced and imaging is good. Not quite the audio snob i used to be, so i didn’t go through this with a fine toothed comb. I compared to low end speakers I had lying around and these were superior.

I should (and may) compare to higher end speaks and possibly come back to update my review. Still, all the voiced (including instruments) were in the spots i expected them (in the sound field) with reasonably good articulation.

No smearing to speak of, but again. didn’t compare to higher end speaks. Overall, also quite “pleasant” and “smooth”. I would upgrade these in the future, like the woofer, for the sake of experimentation.

I would likely get a 2nd pair of these (wish they had them in white) for said experiments, so I could do A/B comparisons. Fun stuff for an audio geek like me. ;o) Finally, I’d like to point out what I used to drive it.

Writing this up quick, don’t want to go chase down part numbers. First I drove them with a modern Denon A/V receiver, bottom of the line relatively modern 5. 2 unit with little audio control. Frankly, nothing I drove with this guy sounded very good.

So i switched to an old solid state Akai receiver that i’ve had forever. my all-time favorite. Without equalization, it sounded better than the Denon, and B652’s sounded fine. This is where an “up” comparison to known great speakers would have been a good use of time.

something I simply ran out of. Now again, this is cheating to some, but then activated the magic “loudness” button. Note that not all loudness buttons are created equal, and also note that this is essential a complex EQ (bass/mid/treble) circuit.

Yes, this is a very biased/colored listening setting now, but the B652’s sounded absolutely delicious at this point. Conclusion is to play around with amps (if you have them) and eq settings, and don’t worry about getting it “right”.

Trust your ears and go with what sounds good to you.

This is a repeat purchase. They came out with the ‘giant killer’ and Stereophile recommend reviews about the same time I bought a big wall mount tv. I bought and hung them just below, powered by an $60 Ebay integrated.

Going on 5 years they’ve made movies and even YouTube orchestral performances very listenable. The second pair went into duty yesterday in the kitchen, powered by a Dayton 30 Watt amp (3003812) and fed from the laptop through a Modi DAC.

Just the thing for background music while reading, surfing and cooking. Compared to my main rig: VPI Traveler, DIY Allen Wright phono stage,DIY JE Labs Line STage, Diy 4-60 KT-88 mono blocks based on the Mullard 5-20 circuit, and 4 Pi speakers, they fall well short but for $50 Bucks and in an appropriate setting, they have to be the best value in audio.

motocommando’s review is spot on, very clean and smooth sounding overall. They are missing the lowest bass frequencies, but they are punchy and will play loud if you ask them to. Build quality is very high, you can tell they are a well engineered product with overall high QC.

I’m using them as my A/V “soundbar”, feeding the optical input of the speakers from my TV, which has the usual cable, Apple TV 4K streamer, and Bluray hookup via HDMI. Playing lossless music from the Apple TV (Music app) sounds pretty excellent, I’m quite pleased with the speakers.

A couple of things to be aware of: the warranty is only 30 day Drop, as they are not an authorized dealer. So that kinda sucks. Also, mine were missing 1 speaker grill, and Drop offered me a small refund or the option of returning them, but they had no more available.

So I took the refund, and Audioengine support kindly sent me a replacement grill when I explained the situation to them. So kudos to their support, my hope is that they would help out if I ever need additional warranty support.

Buy direct from them and you get the full 3 years. We’ll see, so far no problems after almost 6 months since purchase.

So I ordered these in late July and there was a shipping delay. No big deal as I’ve been dealing with this same thing at work(shipping delays, back ordered parts, etc. ). They arrived yesterday and I set them up.

And they are pretty much what I expected, as I own a set of HDP6’s in Walnut. These are in the Cherry finish. Not disappointed one bit in anything so far. Packaging was great, speakers are perfect. I’ve been running them since yesterday to burn them in, so far so good.

I’m not expecting any drama with these, just good sound. And yes, for those who are a bit skeptical, they really do need a good 20 to 50 hours of use before they are at their best. So, some have made comments on a lack of bass.

Folks, these have 5 and half inch woofers and smallish, ported box. There is a sub out for a reason. In a small room, on a desktop, they are great. I’ve got mine in a roughly 11 x 12 room with a small 8 inch sub(Polk) and they are just a bigger better version of my HD3’s.

I’m probably a bit biased here(this is my fourth pair of Audioengine speakers), so, there’s that. But, nice bass, detailed mids, smooth highs. These remind me so much of the “East Coast” sounds, KLH, Cambridge Soundworks, Advent, etc.

Not fatiguing at all, just nice sound. And the Cherry is gorgeous, as much as the Walnut is. The bluetooth set up is a breeze and works and sound great. I tried all the inputs and they pretty much do exactly what the HD3’s do, work well.

The DAC is just as good as the other DAC’s I’ve got, both in receivers, speakers and my separate DAC’s. The magnetic grill is a nice touch and the little remote is built like a tank. It’s solid aluminum, has a simple and useful design.

The touch pad is held on by magnets, much like the grills, and pops off via a small hole on the back. Use a paper clip, punch it out, and change your battery. The internal switching is really quite simple and works well.

So there you have it. Get some, you won’t be disappointed.

There is very little on the market which is as versatile as these active speakers. Whether you just need a top quality audio system for your PC, tablet, or laptop or possibly have a vast collection of digital music that you want to access with a system that can be moved from room to room with minimal number of boxes to shift and wires to connect.

Both in my case! The speakers are small but they are no lightweights and sonically I find them pretty good at the pricepoint. Of course they can’t perform miracles compared to top end systems but they are a lot better sounding than the expensive all in one units such as the Tecnics Ottava and similar.

The built in DAC is of high quality and will play up to 192KHz sample rate sources directly. It also has the benefit that it can process input from lower quality sources, for example I-Pad via bluetooth, to upsample with very crisp and tuneful results.

The digital optical input can be used to hook up everything from CD players to televisions, so provided you prefer 2 channel stereo everything is covered. Finally about support. Being in the UK I was a bit apprehensive when I broke the remote control ( be very careful when pulling out the battery keeper tab it is tightly gripped and will pull out the entire innards).

But an email to the USA was very promptly acted upon and I received a replacement in no more than 7 days.

So, I bought this sound bar only a few months ago and the setup was easy AND it worked gr8. Then all of a sudden the sound was not loud enough. Boy was I upset and tried everything on YT to no avail.

I finally rang Polk and spoke with a lady with a foreign Indian accent. She was AMAZING. ! I wish I took her name! She helped me fix it without confusion. If the sound goes out or is not loud enough, check to see if there are two lights on the bar when using the little tiny wire and one light when using HDMI cord.

Thanks!.

I bought the T50s after praise by an excellent audio reviewer on youtube (ZF). This is a very well balanced, well rounded pair of towers which do not require a lot of amplifier power, as they are quite sensitive at 90db.

No shrillness in the treble area, gentle and neutral, no overly sweet sound or coloration. Some of the reviews mention the bass which they find excellent. I agree that they have a nice bass level, but if you are a bass head you will want to consider options or add a subwoofer.

If you like your music neutral, with some sweetness but nothing that colors unduly the whole audio spectrum, you will like them. Now, it all also depends on what you have them hooked on. I have a very modest, lo-fi set up consisting of a Kinter 2020a+ digital amp which has a tube-like sound that I affectionate.

It can power way hungrier speakers than these and they work very well in tandem with them. Returning to the subject of the bass, one thing I did notice is that the mighty little Kinter did not generate a lot of bass with them; that is: until I switched the tone controls on and boosted the bass by about two thirds.

Until then, with all other speakers I have associated the Kinter with (and some were excellent speakers like the Triangle Antal EX), I always bypassed the tone controls. In this case, upping the bass as indicated works wonders.

Even with the bass boosted, though, the sound remains balanced, not boombastic (which I would not like at all). So, with this tweak, I have a pair of dedicated speakers that are able rivals to some much more expensive hi-fi alternatives (they do not replace them but you’d get close to 90% of the more expensive alternatives against a much lesser expense).

I also like their form factor: they are quite small towers and do not take much space. I would also caution that you need to give these quite some time to warm up after the first use. It took about three days of constantly running the radio through them for the T50s to open up.

The difference was dramatic when that happened. I do not remember hearing such a marked difference with other speakers before, and I have had a few. All of a sudden after these few days, the music will stop you in your tracks, whatever it is that you were doing, and you will understand the praise.

Two areas of improvement I would suggest to Polk are: one, the binding posts in the back do their job but are quite flimsy. No impact on the sound there, but nonetheless. Secondly, the reviewer suggested to put the T50s on solid wood plates to improve their sound further (and also bring the tweeters in line with the listener’s ears when seated).

I have not tried the trick yet, but I did notice upon unboxing and setting them up that the T50s stand on a larger base that does not feel very solid. I would improve the base, make it sturdier and add a few inches of height at the same time.

These will affect (and likely improve) the sound. Altogether an excellent pair of speakers, natural sounding, and a serious option for audiophiles on a budget!.

I was so dumbfounded by just how light these speakers were. The sound does not disappoint, however. Make sure you have a sufficient amp to drive these bad boys with a good EQ. I also have some Polk flush mount speakers in a different room.

They sound great. Complete the ensemble with a Polk subwoofer. It packs a serious punch and will make its own speaker rattle before it will rattle the walls, just be careful when you have it upstairs because the people downstairs may not appreciate a sub that powerful.

You can always change the volume and frequency though. I figured that the sub works best on a single line level input. In terms of the floor speakers, they work great and have adequate bass enough to not disappoint.

Having the Sub makes them that much more awesome though. When you unbox the speakers lay them on the side unless youre like 7 tall. Be careful when you take them out of the box since there is plastic wrapping that comes right off the speakers and make sure you have the grill side up to protect it.

I hope this review helps!.

Let me start out by asking the question, why on Earth are these called 6x9s? The enclosure is only 5″x3″ and it has a 2″ or maybe 2. 5″ at best and a little 1. 5″ or so horn above it and a couple small things on the side.

Nothing about it says 6×9. For their small size they do sound pretty good though they can’t handle any bass at higher volumes. They’re definitely a vast improvement over any laptop speakers I’ve ever heard but still, putting 6×9 in the title is VERY misleading.

I did state the problem but I got no response so I’ll just keep them, for the price they’re not worth the trouble to send back.

My notebook has tiny speakers, the smallest I’ve ever seen, so I was using headphones. The sound was good, but I couldn’t share it, and I have a lot of music in my library. I wanted simple, portable speakers that could fit my minuscule budget.

These exceeded my expectations! I recommend them as an exceptional value!.

The little speakers are awesome.Great sound for their size.I’m very pleased.

The sound quality is appropriate for the price. It’s not incredible loud and it doesn’t have powerful base, but I find that it gets the job done and I am completely satisfied with that. My main goal was to get speakers that complimented my set-up.

I find that the lighting and the style for these are incredible and the set-up was really easy. I just plugged it in and went for it and it’s been great ever since. I’ve had no problems.

If you’re in the market for budget friendly speakers, that actually sound and look great, then these are it. Coming into I thought the speaker would either lack bass or the sound quality would be terribly as if it was all just for looks, but that’s not the case, blew away my expectations, great bass and quality.

Big Bang for your buck.

I LOVE the design of these. LED rainbow light strips, cool dragon logo, and they function as expected for the price. They weren’t too expensive either. The quality of the actual speaker isn’t too bad but it can sound a tad.

muffled at times. I don’t mind though, barely notice to be honest. I love the way they look and they fit on my desk easily, easy to power on and off, not too many cords, and the quality is pretty equal to the price!.

When I went to microcenter, I asked an employee which speakers they recommended that wouldn’t break the bank. When he pulled out these I was a little hesitant but he said that these speakers outdo all the $120 price range, and I don’t have those speakers to compare it to, but yeah these are solid speakers! They give great sound and I never have to turn them all the way up.

I do video production so audio is pretty important, and I don’t always want to use my headphones. They aren’t the most aesthetic but they definitely get the job done! If you need budget speakers, these absolutely are the way to go!.

I purchases these speakers because the price looked reasonable and the speakers looked compact. I thought it would be a good way to use with my ZOOM conferences, to avoid the need to wear a headset. The speakers were bigger than I thought and somewhat clunky.

They are not “compact” in my opinion. If you think you are buying two little speakers that won’t take up “valuable desk space” as the ad claims, then don’t buy this pair. The speakers did not come with ANY ENGLISH user manual or installation instructions.

There was a multi-language World-Wide warranty, and that was all. This is the second time in 2 weeks I picked up an order from Cambridge Micro center where NO USER docs were provided. The single PC audio cable was also not correctly color coded at all.

It should have been pink to help me figure out which audio port to plug it in, since the product did NOT come with a user guide. Now here’s the secondary problem. My PC does not recognize the existence of these speakers as an additional audio device.

I use Windows 10 on HP Slimline which I bought from Microcenter. I am not sure what the issue is, or whether I need to download a driver. Since there are no instructions, I lost faith in my ability to work around this.

Downloading drivers by oneself is risky without the appropriate instructions to check the right version of software to use. At first, the speakers did nothing and no sound came out. (Yes folks! I did remember to turn them on and to max the volume control!).

After plugging it in and out several times, the sound finally came out, but my PC still doesn’t know these speakers exist then they are attached to it, so I cant use Control Panel to manage or control or configure additional features or options.

Once the sound was coming through, the sound was good. Music coming out of Youtube was clear and in good, nice stereo. The music remained well balanced in low and high volume settings. But here was the other gotcha.

My previous headset was also my microphone. Guess what? When the Creative Labs Pebble V2 Stereo USB Speakers are plugged in, my mike doesn’t work (Yes, folks, I did remember to plug my headset/mike combo into the GREEN port so the mike function was connected! Now, the mike won’t work with the Creative Labs Pebble V2 Stereo USB Speakers.

When I unplug the speakers, my headset and mike work, when I plug the speakers back in, my headset is entirely non functional. So here we have a audio product that won’t let me share my PC with other audio products.

So, I cannot use my existing reliable mike unless I abandon the use of the Creative Labs Pebble V2 Stereo USB Speakers. Therefore, I am sorry, I will have to return this product. Maybe others will have better luck, or are able to read the Chinese (or Japanese, or Korean) instruction sheet.

I didn’t bother to look for the user manual on line, because that’s a waste of my printer ink and paper. I was expecting Microcenter to check the integrity of this speaker set together with its appropriate packaging.

As I said, this is second time this has happened. Maybei should have gone to Amazon. Here, I wanted a change and to give my local Cambridge, MA Micro Center some business instead of to Amazon. But maybe I made a mistake.

This was bought as a quick fix to hold me over till I get a better sound system. So these are good, sound really great for the cost and size, there is some level of bass on these despite the sound, but its not earth shaking or solid.

Bass sounds a bit shallow. The cables are long and are hard wired to the speakers, bare that in mind if you expect something super clean and more manageable with your set up. Otherwise I think for anyone who wants cheap easy to plug into a computer setup with no frills or thrills, these will work just fine.

If you want crystal clear audio, that makes Youtube videos and music sound great, these will do that. I upgraded from the Creative Pebble to these and they sound significantly better. I don’t want to sacrifice a lot of desk space and didn’t want the extra cables and space of a 2.

1 system. There are no miracles of physics here – without a dedicated subwoofer the deep base is missing, and I miss it sometimes, but I have an Andrew Jones speaker system for times I want amazing audio.

These are exactly what you should expect to get from a $100, 2. 0 system. They sound clearly better, with a warmer, more full sound, than the Pebbles they replaced. They have a much wider soundstage, so if my head moves I’m not annoyed by the shift in sound, and tracks like Eagles’ Hotel California (Live) are immersive compared to the Pebble.

I’m not criticizing the Pebble speakers these replaced, just noting you are getting something for moving from a $20 speaker to a $100 set. They are loud enough that I’ve never pushed them to max volume.

I bought them hoping they’d make music and video from the computer sound more rich and full – basically sound good, not just ok, without demanding a lot of space. They do that. With a subwoofer they might even sound really good, but you will the miss the deep bass so keep that in mind before purchasing.

If space were not a concern at all I’d opt for a 2. 1 system, but I wouldn’t knock these down for not being able to produce deep bass, it’s a given for a smaller sized 2. 0 system. I think you’ll like these a lot.

They’re a great upgrade.

These speakers blew me away for their size & price. They have great bass response, and are crystal clear the way I have them connected over optical to my PC. The remote is a bit cheap, but I can easily turn on the speakers and adjust the volume on the speakers themselves since they’re an arms length away.

Def would recommend them if you’re looking for something that is well rounded with digital inputs. I have the Bose Companion 2’s and these sound identical, but with more input options for the same price.

These are my 2nd pair. I love these things. I’ve used on them on via USB DAC on Windows, Roku, Android, Chromebook. and through optical they sound great. That’s the only way I would recommend utilizing these bad boys.

They’re clear and they project well and their bass hits harder than you might think. A bomb went off in a movie that I wasn’t expecting and it recoiled me back in my chair. Had to turn the sound down after that as I’m sure it scared the neighbors too.

I got 3 of them back in December 2019 and a Bose Revolve Sound Link II. The Bluetooth on them is way better then my Bose, it’s a shame, because the distance is at least triple of that on my Bose, and I get no interference, but my Bose, if anyone get to use the microwave, it does interfere in the sound.

The Bose has an annoying 10٪ battery protection, which if you don’t see is coming, it screws up everything, you have to reset to whole thing to work again, it just refuse to charge, etc. The sound on this little guys is strong/loud, impressive loud for its size and its crispy clear.

I find it better then my Bose, it just lack that booming bass of my Bose, but never the less is really good. I got 1 for each of my kids and 1 for me to bring to work, I work in construction. I did work for almost 2 years in Vancouver, under constant all day rain, it never bothered my speaker.

Once I dropped, back in January 2020, about 30ft, nothing happened. When I connect 2 of them, man,it’s powerful and so pleasant stereo sound. If I would give one negative aspect, is that you can only connect max 2 of them, this is a shame, I would buy more to put them together if I could connect more, it would awesome.

I highly recommend them.

These speakers sound amazing for the price and size. I purchased two so I could pair them, set them at opposite ends of the room, and experience immersive sound. I love the experience. until I pause the music for a few minutes and hit play and only one speaker plays.

In order to correct this I must retrieve the silent speaker, power it off, power it on, and re-pair the two together. The “magic button” on top, when pressed without powering off, tells me the speakers are still paired even though no sound is coming out the second speaker.

So basically, I cannot pause music for any significant time while using these speakers. I will probably return them because of this problem alone. There are no software or firmware updates per Ultimate Ears website: “Your WONDERBOOM 2 was created with the best possible features and will not need any updates to make it better.

“.

Ever since I heard the Altec 604 way back in the ’70s, I knew coaxial speakers had incredible imaging. I have a pair of 604s even now. The KEFs produce even better imaging in that you can be well off-axis and still experience the well-defined sound stage.

That you need ten times the power to drive the KEFs to comparable levels is not a problem given the available power from today’s amps. The perceived frequency response of the Q150 is very smooth. The mids sound slightly veiled to me, but I have been listening to horn speakers.

The KEFs are probably more accurate. There is no “listener fatigue” that I experience with many speakers. I can listen to the KEFs for hours and they still sound great. I can’t comment on how low the Q150s reach as I’m only using them with a subwoofer.

In this configuration they are probably a better choice than the next level up Q350. The smaller diameter woofer in the Q150 should yield better dispersion and smoother transition to the tweeter. If I were using them without a subwoofer, I would go for a larger model.

As others have noted, I would not have been as eager to get the Q150s had they not been on sale at half-price.

I bought these for listening to music and for the TV sound when watching movies; these KEF speakers have very good sound and the bass is much stronger than I would have expected for a smaller size bookshelf speaker.

I have them installed on a recessed shelf below the TV and the bass is strong enough that you can feel it in the floor structure; I was originally planning on adding a subwoofer to my system, but that may not be necessary now.

When watching movings, the sound is much clearer than my previous Yamaha speakers. When playing CD’s or streaming music the fidelity is much improved over my old speakers as well. I took off one star from the rating because the walnut veneer laminate had a number of raw edges that I had to carefully color with a brown marker to make them blend in with the rest of the cabinet; KEF’s quality control should have caught that in the factory.

Definitely worth the sale price, although the regular price does seem a bit steep.

As most consumers do, I spent a great deal of time reading reviews about these and other bookshelf speakers. The true audiophiles who conduct multiple tests, have had some negative things to say about these speakers.

I am not an audiophile and so I decided the only way to judge the speakers was to listen to them in store. I did and was impressed. This pair is a slight upgrade from the previous Polk speakers I owned and so far, the sound quality is discernibly better overall.

Judge these speakers by listening to them and then consider what kind of environment they are suited for. In my space, they work extremely well. I would likely not have paid the MSRP for this set, but have no regrets about the purchase based on the sale price.

The KEF set that is extremely well reviewed is much more expensive. The price and quality of this set, meets my needs.

The Creative Labs Pebble 2 Computer Stereo Speakers require two ports on one’s laptop for connectivity: an audio-out headphone jack for the sound AND a spare USB port to enable the laptop to power the speakers because they do not have a separate power supply.

Since these speakers are not separately powered they have a limited volume level that may not be as loud in some circumstances as one would prefer. An On/Off / Volume knob controls the volume that, more often than not, is kept at the max level for sufficient sound.

For the low price and limited power these speakers are surprisingly accurate sounding and have a fuller-than-expected sound. It may be possible to obtain louder volumes if the USB connector is plugged into a separately powered USB router.

All said, these speakers are a great value.

I needed a new speaker for my computer. The old one had started humming all day long. Turns out some wires were broken. And I found a good deal at Amazon. Amazon gave me many choices, from $20 to over $50 and the best one was around $39 with Bluetooth and “HEAR EVERY WORD WITH CLEAR DIALOG AUDIO PROCESSING.

” WOW. What a great deal from Amazon. But how about Walmart? Could they be even less expensive? And I go to Walmart and since I need another grocery order soon I buy there. And the price is around $29.

But they do not have all the choices Amazon did. I think this has got to be the Amazon $39 speaker. And I ordered it. And it arrived. But the package said AMAZON! How can that be? It be. It came from “Creative Labs Creative Pebble Modern 2.

0 USB Speaker. ” It is the “$20 that was a choice on Amazon. I think. Not many markings on the speakers to let me know which version they are. Shopped Amazon, bought from Walmart and delivered saying “Amazon” on the package.

Like different fingers of the same hand.

I rarely buy two of a thing, but I’ll be coming back for another of these! My partner and I don’t need more than 2. 0 for our home office spaces, and we don’t want speakers that take up a lot of space.

These fit nicely on our desks and are not a distraction. The wires aren’t a problem for us. We tested these with The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby” (the recording with vocals on the right channel and string octet mixed on another separate channel), overlapping dialog scenes from MASH, and some shows with scenes where dialog, action SFX, and epic orchestral score are present.

The speakers performed well on all of these. We could clearly hear vocals/dialog and still enjoy the depth of the music. The sound travels well, so there’s little need to blast at high volume. Obviously, if you’re looking for an immersive surround sound experience, or the Perfect Hi-Fidelity Audio, then these aren’t the speakers to give you that.

What these give you is a significant improvement in sound over laptop or monitor speakers, without take up a lot of space.

Sounds great for speakers on the smaller side! I usually use headphones (beyers) and these speakers have been great for when I don’t want to wear headphones. The speakers and cables came well packaged and the product itself was undamaged.

Kind of costly, but I think if you want speakers that are aesthetically pleasing and also sound good, these would fit the bill. Pros: -clear and detailed sound -compact size -easy to set up -smooth bamboo finish (less orange than stock photo) Cons: -bright blue LED light on front of one speaker (and it’s not flush, juts out about 2mm) -currently much more overpriced than normal -same brand stands are moderately expensive as well Pro or con: -minimal/no bass, which I prefer as that is less fatiguing and I have neighbors below.

I’ve been looking for a good pair of desktop monitors for a while now. My primary use is video editing with Premiere Pro. I also use them for listening to the audio from an SDR (Software Defined Radio) and general purpose use ie: streaming video.

These fit my needs perfectly. The are the perfect size for my limited desk space. Best of all the sound quality is awesome! They totally blow away the built in speakers in my laptop. The detail is amazing compared to what I was used to.

I have no need for a sub with my setup.

I’m no audiophile, I don’t know anything about the science of speakers. But I do know that I’ve had these speakers on my desk, playing music all day every day since the day they arrived at my house. And they sound pretty fantastic at all volumes I use.

The built-in DAC is great, and they are straightfoward to use. Physically, the bamboo looks beautiful and matches my bamboo desk surface. I would purchase these again.

This small single speaker has clearer sound and better volume than many dual speakers. It is,something I hoped for,but not expecting. I am happy,and grateful for this technology at this price. I can now hear dialogue,and clearly,on my PC,that,s what I needed.

However,believe it or not,the music sounds GOOD. Gracias Logitech. I have found you to be a superior company,but this puts you over the top for me.

I bought these for my daughter’s computer. I have used Monoprice cables in my recording studio. They are better quality than other brands and yet cost about 1/4 the price. So I suspected these speakers would be excellent.

I was spot on. They sound great! Mids and highs are crystal clear. As soon as we hooked it up to the computer and did a speaker check, I knew they were good. For fun, we put on the opening scene of Star Wars and we could hear R2-D2’s digital blips very clearly.

No noise on standby. These speakers are fairly heavy and feel professional. I actually think they do not color the sound much. I am a professional music producer in Los Angeles. Now that I have heard these, I am going to buy a 2nd pair for my recording studio to test my masters (in addition to using my professional near-field reference monitors).

I like the small size and mono-amp configuration, which makes them perfect for testing – as most people these days listen to music on mono-amp small speakers (on their smart phones).

I put these speakers through a few different tests, and they were great for all of them. These would work great for a turntable setup. Vinyl records sound rich and warm just like you’d want them too.

This is originally what I bought the speakers for, so I am satisfied with my purchase. Hooked up to a computer, music and movies sound great. They are pretty well balanced, so dialogue is clear amongst loud action.

These speakers stood out to me though for gaming. They provide a wide enough sound stage to immerse you in games without having to wear headphones for hours at a time. I tested them specifically in Star Wars: Battlefront 2, and the experience was great.

Overall, I would recommend these speakers to anyone that needs a great set of speakers for under $100 that pack quite the punch for the money.

These have an extremely noticeable peak at around 126Hz. If I’m listening to something at normal volume, it can suddenly get uncomfortably loud when this resonance is excited. It’s like listening to a neighbor watching TV through a thin wall.

Fiddling around with a software equalizer, attenuating a 10Hz wide band around 126Hz by 9dB makes a swept tone sound correct to my ear (that is, loudness monotonically decreases as the sweep approaches 75Hz).

Another small issue I’ve noticed is that there is a barely audible 60hz hum that gets worse when the volume knob is turned down. With the volume knob at max, the hum goes away. It also goes away if I disconnect the secondary speaker from the primary one.

These are part of a mini stereo system my son put together for his dorm room. It basically consists of a relatively high-end turntable and these speakers. So far the sound is impressive from a small set of speakers.

There is plenty of power to fill a small room and the bass was suprisingly strong. One thing that impressed me was the number of connection options – Bluetooth, traditional speaker wire, RCA plugs, amd TRS.

Great clarity and should serve his needs well for years to come.

I’d been using the same old speakers for many years even after one of them would only function when it seemed to be in the mood and I finally got around to replacing them. I had been a customer of Logitech products in the past and so when I saw these I felt I could count on the brand.

Remarkably, though half the size of my old speakers, they have better clarity, sound quality and bass than even when the old ones were working properly. Furthermore the flared base makes it so that they aren’t easily knocked over despite being very lightweight.

It was simple to hook them up, just plug and play, so that was a welcome relief. There were only two real detractors to this product. First is that the cord to plug it into your tower is rather short but for laptops or tablets it’d be more than enough.

Second is that I can’t see myself blaring music on these, so I’ll simply enjoy the “luxury” of hearing music in stereo again. Unlike the Logitech products I obtained in years past these were manufactured in China thus it’s a reasonable guess that were I to press them hard their lifespan would be considerably shortened.

Still, for the price paid, it should’ve been fairly obvious in retrospect. If there was one thing I would like to see implemented by Walmart’s online store in the future it would be a notation that indicates where products are manufactured.

I purchased these LOGITECH Z130 speakers for a portable playback of recordings taken with my new Olympus on camera audio recorder. The results were outstanding so I tried loading MP3 Christmas music into the recorder for music playback.

The music playback exceeded my expectations. Voices are crisp. Instruments are clear. Overall tone is mellow with enough bass. Volume, with the source volume at it’s mid point and the speaker also at mid point is perfect for background music in a 900 sq ft office / workshop.

Finally, the build quality, fit finish, appear to be excellent. These are much better than the older computer speakers that I have used over the years.

If you are looking for 4. 1 Dolby surround for a home theatre or extreme gaming, keep looking; this is not what you are looking for. However, if you are looking for a good pair of amplified speakers at a budget price these may be just what you want.

10 watts, volume control and headphone jack on the front, long enough cables that you can probably put then where you like. They are set up in a master / slave configuration; that is to say that one speaker has the cable to the computer (or whatever sound source you have), this unit also has the power jack (for the included wall wart), the volume control, headphone jack and internal ampifier.

The other speaker is the slave; it looks the same but only has a speaker in it. Yes it distorts at high volume, no it’s not high fideliity, but for that price, what do you expect? It is what it is, and for what I wanted to do, for the price I wanted to pay, they are an excellent value and I am very happy with this! If you want to upgrade from the standard non-powered speakers that are included with most computers, this is a great first step.

They are a great value for the price and I am happy with them.

Snagged this when it was still on Amazon near the start of the year, and honestly it’s been a great addition to my desktop! Pretty easy to set up out of the box, and nothing will throw you for a loop when considering the connections.

It comes with a built-in Mic, which I haven’t used since I prefer a standalone device for that sort of stuff, but purely as a compact sound bar on an already cramped desk, it works a real treat for the price! If you’re getting a faint buzzing sound when turning up the volume, I recommend plugging the USB power cord into a standalone power brick instead of your computer.

5Volt /1Amp little cellphone brick is all it needs, and they’re easy enough to come by. It’s a common issue with PC-powered audio equipment that pulls from USB power, so I’m not knocking any points off here for that!.

Excellent. I like that it can resolve any format of sound. Taotronics must be an expert of dispersing the sound spectrum. It would a wonderful tool to enhance some people’s voice.

Plugs right in to your laptop with USB and headphone jack. A little longer than what I expected (16″). Much better sound than the laptop’s tiny speakers. The volume knob works smoothly.

Excellent quality for the price. Good build. Sound is loud and good. Don’t be put off by any comments saying could be louder, it’s perfectly loud for pc or laptop speakers with little distortion at full volume.

Obviously it’s not an expensive hi fi speaker so don’t expect luxury. Only minor criticism was I had to stick a little bit of black card over the blue display light as it’s eye explodingly bright.

I bought these speakers for using with my Mac, particularly for when I’m sitting in our garden Summerhouse. Much better quality than just listening through the Mac speakers. I think they are excellent value for money – I like the quality of the build and quality of the sound – I also like having the on/off switch and volume control on these speakers – the controls themselves seem sturdy and should last well.

There is also a headphone socket on the speakers, which can be used for private listening. I have not included any photos to this review – the speakers are exactly as advertised.

Good value and arrived quickly. Quite robust and reasonable weight and size so are not going to get knocked off the desk when a piece of paper is moved. For their size and cost they look quite stylish and have quite a good sound but also have Realtek high definition audio on the desktop so can configure what sound is transferred via the speakers which they easily cope with.

Given the price they are not going to compete with surround sound with sub-woofer quality but if you want a good set of speakers for computer or other small item use then I would recommend these.

I recently purchased this speaker and I must say it is really worth for the price paid. It is light weight. This speaker is very easy to setup and did not take much time for me. The sound is clear. I use it with my desktop and it works great.

The lights are very stylish and you can choose the light you like. It needs wired connection. The gaming is even more fun now! I loved it.

Cool speakers. It was easy to set it up without an effort. However did not receive an instruction booklet with the product. The lights look cool and you can choose the color of light you want. It’s wired and you can coordinate it with your laptop.

I don’t think it’s compatible with phones though. However I needed a cool speaker for my kids laptop when they were gaming so this works well for me.

Bought these speakers for my Lenovo Desktop. They are compatible for all laptops and desktops. They’re great to watch videos and produce high sound quality. The speakers produce great sound for its size.

It’s pretty decent for bass sounds, but surely there’re other speakers out there that can produce better sounds. The wires are a bit messy for me. I recommend putting the speakers next to your screen and wires behind your desktop or laptop.

Great addition that there’s a headphone jack that you can plug in with your headphones without take the cords out to insert your jack for private listening. Fairly cheap as well for their quality. You can adjust the volume to your liking, muting them fully as well.

Would recommend for people who don’t want to spend quite a lot of money for speakers but give a decent amount of sound.

I love Best Buy’s Insignia brand. Then, I saw the reviews for this product. “Great reviews, perfect price” I thought to myself. The one I bought must have slipped past quality control. Such a weird defect.

When the speakers were operating properly, the volume seemed a little low. For no reason, the volume would jump up, remove all bass, and play only through the right speaker. Jiggling and turning the volume knob would return it to its low volume operation.

Couldn’t have been more than a minute before it would malfunction again. I know it’s possible for products to get past quality control. But it seems like the speakers could have been tested for more than 45 seconds.

I can’t imagine the speakers I bought being tested properly.

I rate these speaker Good only because I believe some improvement be considered concerning the volume control. My headphones are plugged into the speaker. I have no volume control for the headphones.

I have the volume control for the speakers turned all the way up. I use both the headphones and speakers to watch and listen to video content on media platforms such as YouTube. I even have the volume all the way up on the videos on there because sometimes the uploaded videos are not loud enough to hear otherwise.

I am hard of hearing which does not help. Other than the minor issue I have mentioned, so far I have been pleased with these Insignia Speaker I recently purchased. Thank you for the chance to do this review.