When you start to buy new speakers for your PC , many people simply go for the cheapest because normally when they play they will do so using headphones. This is true in many cases, but when you play alone -and more so in summer, when it is uncomfortable to wear headphones due to the heat- you surely want to enjoy a good sound system on your PC. So, in this article you will find our tips to get it right when buying the best speakers for your PC.
There are many users who, as we said before, choose a cheap model to get out of trouble , but then end up regretting when they get empty sounds, without nuances and with poor bass that do not exactly provide a good gaming experience. We already tell you that to buy speakers like this, you can almost settle for those integrated into your monitor, if it has any, because the result will be similar.
Here we are going to give you a series of tips to choose well , taking of course your limitations and preferences, and get the best audio experience with the speakers without spending more money and in a way that adapts to what you need. With that said, let’s go there.
Buy 2.0, 2.1 or 5.1 speakers, which is more suitable?
As you probably already know, the 2.0 speakers consist of precisely a pair of speakers simply in stereo configuration, while 2.1 speakers add a dedicated subwoofer to these to enhance bass sounds. For its part, a 5.1 sound system consists of 5 “satellite” speakers plus a subwoofer, and are designed to be placed around the user to create a surround sound environment.
Now what is the most suitable for you? As much as you want to mount a surround audio system with 5 speakers and a subwoofer, if you do not have adequate space to place them, it will do you little good. Therefore, the determining factor here is the room and the place where you intend to place all the speakers in the set. In this regard, the simplest thing would certainly be a 2.0 system, because just placing a speaker on each side of the monitor would be enough, followed by the 2.1 system as long as you have space to place the subwoofer, preferably centered and well under the table or behind the monitor.
If you intend to get a 5.1 speaker system, keep in mind that you will need a lot more space. These systems are designed to place one speaker on each side of the monitor, one above or below it and two more on each side of the rear, all pointing in a kind of circle towards the user. In this system we must also take into account the subwoofer, again as centered as possible and either on the floor or behind the monitor if possible.
It is not only its position, but also its size
Also related to space, you must take into account the size of the speakers. A large part of the speakers you can buy on the market are quite considerable in size, especially the subwoofer because the bass sounds are represented by passive speakers in a large soundboard.
Therefore, what we want to tell you with this is that you do not go for a high-end speaker system without knowing the dimensions of the devices and without having previously raised where you are going to place them, because you can find that they literally do not fit where you wanted to put them.
What characteristics should you look at in some speakers?
Once we have already given you the relevant advice regarding its configuration, layout and size, it is time to see what features you should look at, since they are undoubtedly the other crucial point to consider.
As a general rule, the thresholds of human hearing are between 20 Hz and 20 KHz (although the human ear is much more sensitive at frequencies between 2,000 and 5,000 Hz), and therefore you will notice that the vast majority of consumer-oriented sound products have precisely a frequency response of 20 to 20,000 Hz . This should be the minimum you should look at, and although many manufacturers will try to get your attention with much higher figures, do not be fooled by them because except in very high-end models you will not notice the difference (in Hi-Res headphones) the thing can change, but not in speakers unless they are professional range).
The other term with which the manufacturer will try to get your attention is with the power of the speakers . It is not strange to see 500 watts RMS values in 5.1 sound systems, but to be able to assess this we must first know what this RMS power is.
Explaining it in the crudest and most simplified way possible, RMS stands for “Root Mean Square”, and that is how the sustained average power that speakers are able to keep constant is defined. The problem is that many manufacturers give you a power that is not really RMS but the peak power or maximum power.
The recommendation here is that when you see too high figures, be suspicious because surely the manufacturer is giving you the maximum power and not the RMS. Likewise, be very careful because in a combined speaker system (2.1, 5.1, 7.1, etc.) the manufacturers will tell you the combined power of the entire system. In other words, it is likely that for example if 2.1 speakers have 100W RMS power, in reality each speaker has 12.5W and the subwoofer the remaining 75W.
Be very careful with these figures, which are sometimes very misleading. A subwoofer will always have much more power than satellites because it has bigger membranes and a box that doubles as an amplifier, but when the difference is too great, again, be wary.
Finally, in another aspect that you should look at is connectivity. Do not rush to buy speakers without checking this, because it can happen that you are going for a high-end model that has a Jack or RCA connection and that the sound card of your PC does not have such outputs. Make sure it’s compatible, always.