External Speakers

[Eric]

Wondering what others are using for external speakers, the sound was just acceptable on my old iMac but is weak enough on the Mac Studio that I need speakers and I don't want to spend much on it, just have semi-decent sound.

I ordered these from Amazon but just got a message saying they're delayed, something that seems to be happening a lot right now and last time I said that I had to finally cancel so I may be looking for a comparable alternative.

https://www.amazon.com/Edifier-S880DB-Bluetooth-Bookshelf-Near-Field/dp/B07D41XN1F

 

[Andropov]

I bought Harman Kardon's SoundSticks III about a decade ago and I've been very happy with them. They were around the price of the ones you linked when I bought them, and I believe its newer versions still cost about the same.

 

[DT]

I have a set of Edifier speakers right here on my desk, R1280T, I was looking for something decent, inexpensive ($90 Amazon Warehouse deal), with the plans to go with something better and that just never happened. They're pretty stellar for the price, these are amp'ed, have pretty good bass, good crossover/tuning for complimenting mids, and really clean highs (and are great with spoken word like podcasts). The "near field" design gives them both good soundstaging and good center focus, I've got them on the corners on my 60x30" desk and they've run perfect (I pretty much set the volume up front, left the EQ neutral, and have never touched them again.

Since they have two inputs, I've got my Mac to one set, and output side of the DAC >> AMP to the other, so I can have audio from two devices (like system alerts, etc., while also listening to music/podcast from the iPad). FWIW, the amp also has a headphone out, that's where I connect my different ear gear

At some point I may go wireless, and I'll likely go with Sonos just to keep the same tech across the house.

 

[Eric]

I have a set of Edifier speakers right here on my desk, R1280T, I was looking for something decent, inexpensive ($90 Amazon Warehouse deal), with the plans to go with something better and that just never happened. They're pretty stellar for the price, these are amp'ed, have pretty good bass, good crossover/tuning for complimenting mids, and really clean highs (and are great with spoken word like podcasts). The "near field" design gives them both good soundstaging and good center focus, I've got them on the corners on my 60x30" desk and they've run perfect (I pretty much set the volume up front, left the EQ neutral, and have never touched them again.

Since they have two inputs, I've got my Mac to one set, and output side of the DAC >> AMP to the other, so I can have audio from two devices (like system alerts, etc., while also listening to music/podcast from the iPad). FWIW, the amp also has a headphone out, that's where I connect my different ear gear

At some point I may go wireless, and I'll likely go with Sonos just to keep the same tech across the house.

Funny, after getting a notification saying the shipment was delayed they arrived that same night (silly Amazon!). I hooked them up and have to say they do kick ass, more than adequate for my needs and works well with the default Mac sound volume controls while plugged in as USB.

 

[DT]

I was really surprised, I looked at Yamaha Studio monitors, Audio Engines, you know, way more expensive products, but for my desk, it seemed like a waste. Mine were 3 years old this past March:

I've been around a lot of audio gear and have a decent sense of build, etc., and these are just really well put together, the amp is clean, they look pretty good (I run mine without the grill), I'd say the cheapest part about mine is that they use cheapie spring clips for the speaker-to-speaker connection (I saw some guy hack some kind 5-way binding posts onto a pair, I almost busted about the Dremel and soldering tools )