Best Computer Speakers

November 15, 2010 By Greg Mombert

Not sure which PC speakers work best with your computer? Here is a list of our favorites, covering every price range.

If you’re using your computer for gaming, movies, or music than a quality speaker system is essential. While desktops may come with some basic speakers and laptops feature chinsy built-ins neither is going to give you quality sound when you start to crank it up. Below we’ve gathered a list of our favorite computer speakers at a range of prices so there’s something for every budget. These systems should provide huge upgrade in sound quality over most any stock speakers.

Altec Lansing Expressionist Ultra MX6021$199.95

If you love floor rumbling bass for your movies and games than give Altec Lansing’s Expressionist Ultra MX6021 speakers a long look. They offer the most bass on our list with a 6 ½” front firing, long throw woofer. This system offers 200-watts of power and retains a clean output at any volume. If there is one downside to this system it’s the size, the woofer is pretty large so if you have space concerns then you should probably look elsewhere.

Check out our full Altec Lansing Expressionist Ultra MX6021 Review.

Logitech Z523$99.99

These are the most inexpensive speakers on our list, but don’t let the price tag fool you these offer great sound that should satisfy most non-audiophiles. The 2.1 system offers surprisingly rich bass and performs great with music and games alike. All three speakers are driven by a 40-watt amplifier that fills most medium sized rooms easily with sound. These speakers may not satisfy everyone’s appetite but if you’re on a budget than their outstanding choice.

Check out our full Logitech Z523 Review.

M-Audio Studiophile AV 40$229.00

The Studiophile AV 40s from M-Audio offer nothing flashy, just outstanding sound and surprising bass for a system lacking a dedicated subwoofer. The monitors feature a combination of 4-inch polypropylene-coated drivers and ¾-inch silk dome tweeters for balanced professional-grade fidelity. An integrated bass boost switch along with MDF wooden cabinets provide the Studiophile AV 40 speakers with plenty of low end power and saves users from trying to find a place to put those large dedicated subwoofers.

Joey Roth Ceramic Speakers$495.00

Industrial designer Joey Roth’s Ceramic Speakers are the most expensive system on our list and won’t suit everyone. For the price they aren’t going to be the best bang for your buck as you can probably get better sound from the Audioengine or M-Audio systems, but the Ceramic Speakers are about making a statement with a unique style that deviates from traditional plastic computer speakers. The speakers are made from simple materials including porcelain, cork, and Baltic birch and the T-Amp is made from stainless steel and cast iron which emphasizes the systems minimalistic and natural qualities.

Check out our full Joey Roth Ceramic Speakers Review.

Klipsch ProMedia 2.1$149.99

The ProMedia 2.1 system offers no frills just great sound plan and simple. The three piece system offers two 35-watt satellite speakers and a booming 130-watt subwoofer which reaches down to 31 Hz. The two satellites feature Kipsch’s MicroTactrix horn which maximizes clarity in digital sources and the system’s high output digital hybrid amp features a headphone jack and dual stereo analog inputs so you can connect two sources at once.

Audioengine A5$349.00

The A5s are similar in design to M-Audio’s AV 40s with a slightly larger tweeter and woofer to offer a little more punch. They offer phenomenal sound, two audio inputs, and two integrated charging options. With a 5-inch driver and 50 watts per channel the A5s pump out a lot of sound for their size. At close to $350 MSRP they are a bit pricey but since they’re powered there’s no need for a separate amplifier which depending on your needs can save you money, space and allows you to hook up any audio source.

Creative GigaWorks T40 Series I/II≈$130.00

If your desktop space is limited then Creative’s GigaWorks T40 series may be worth a look. This system goes up rather than out saving you space but retaining great sound and bass response for their slender size. Each speaker features a pair of 2.5-inch full range drivers, a 1-inch tweeter, and bass reflex port on top. The right speaker offers convenient controls on the front for bass, treble and volume along with a 3.5-mm headphone jack. The T40s won’t give you quite the bang for your buck as M-Audio’s M40 system but they’ll fit better beside a monitor on your desktop.

Check out our full Creative GigaWorks T40 Series I Review.

Showing 47 comments

Zaza at 6:10pm 5th January 2011 You guys are crazy...
1. bear at 1:37am 12th May 2011 im surprised the Logitech Z-5500D isn't in the list.
____ at 10:14am 19th December 2010 Bose, no highs and no lows
geno at 2:34pm 12th December 2010 sorry for shouting
geno at 2:32pm 12th December 2010 I MADE MY OWN STUDIO QUALITY SPEAKERS WITH THE USED BAGS FROM MY HOOVER VACUUM CLEANER AND THEY SOUND BETTER THAN ALL OF THESE LISTED HERE. AND, I AGREE THE SPELLING AND TYPING SKILLS HERE ARE SHOCKING--zzzzzz
beetruex at 8:00pm 3rd November 2010 WAKE up people! I recently listened to most of the speakers being talked about and advertised as the so-called best... what a joke!!! 99% of them are made in China and the quality of manufacturing and sound quality??? is $hit! The majority of the attention given these products is because you're led to believe that's all you have to choose from. You have to really dig to find quality sound that's also manufactured well... and yet affordable. I highly recommend you check out HiVi Swan... Canadian and California partnership that makes AMAZING desktop monitors that blow any of these systems being talked about out of the water! Good luck.
1. kelly at 3:05pm 21st December 2010 Just what I need is a speaker that cost 110 g's for my computer you moron!
guest at 5:24pm 23rd October 2010 The Altec Lanshit is #1? You must be friggin kidding me. Have you heard of the Logitech Z-2300 by any chance? It's better in every way possible. It's cheaper. It's more powerful. It has better frequency response. It has less distortion. The subwoofer is almost twice as powerful (68 vs 120), the satellites are 80 watts which makes them more powerful than the subwoofer of the Lanshit system. I really can't believe you guys missed Klipsch and Logitech over this piece of shit, over-priced system. They really are awful.
Psychocandy at 4:03pm 12th October 2010 Anyone advocating a BOSE speaker setup has lost credibility in my book. Read djdanlib's post above for empirical evidence of their inherent flaws and subpar sound. Those that recommend Bose must have gotten suckered in by their aggressive marketing efforts and wasted a good deal of cash on a terrible product. I guess the only way to make yourself feel better in this scenario is to recommend their awesome sound to others' and feel better as misery loves company. Check out DYNAUDIO for some of the best audio drivers on the planet. Danes don't lie.
moop at 9:11am 28th August 2010 wait how has no one said this is up to opinion and yah bose suck they dont sound horrible for like 100 bucks but their alot more. i like the sounds sticks but for sheap decent speakers ( i mean cheap) go logitechs. I have polk and logitechs. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION
Uncle Sam at 8:33pm 19th August 2010 Logitech Z-5500 digitals
Michael at 11:19am 19th August 2010 Not a single one of these should be on the list as not one of them is surround. People like to watch movies, even Blu-rays on computers. What good is a speaker if it can't produce the full sound required of it? I've also noticed that the best audio cards, especially when it comes to blu-ray audio (only one card can do this), have HDMI or digital outs only. The best speakers should therefor have an input for such.
jojo at 9:56am 19th August 2010 wow these comments are pathetic. i see Bose in them. i see people talking about wireless speakers. i see logitech and H&K. what about HiVi m200mkIII? what about the swan brand? they are by far the best speakers for the buck. m-audio is crap compared. if you want to save money and get good speakers. go out and use google for your own drivers and equipment to build your own. took me $60 and 2 hours to build my speakers. i have no experience with it otherwise. i have audiophiles over all the time. another one is remove the regular headphone(3.5mm) male connector and get a banana clip to replace it with. wires soldered into both speakers will increase the quality by about 8-14%. it also depends on what chip your pc uses. many are really low grade. especially if you use realtek. all i can say is take your time if you want quality And google is your friend.
ComputerDave at 9:33am 19th August 2010 I've got a Logitech Z5400 with wireless rear speakers on my PC, and a Logitech Z680 for movies in the family room. Both sound amazing, even at high volumes. Great bass response!
Sandy C at 6:59am 19th August 2010 I have the M-Audio Studiophile speakers, and the sound quality sounds great. These speakers would be great to use if you produce or record music. http://www.houstonwindshieldrepair.com
GibCat at 6:16am 19th August 2010 The Audioengine speakers are WAY overrated. Granted, I have the A2's, but they don't even come *close* to producing enough bass, and the treble sounds harsh. They were a complete let-down considering the reviews others gave them. Save your money and go with something else on this list, or some HK's.
AudioBut at 12:25am 19th August 2010 Useless article - no Bose, seriously? ... Just get the Bose Companion 5 ... But you have these Little Kitty speakers?
Flop at 11:01pm 18th August 2010 Did NOBODY notice the typos in every paragraph? I don't mean to be a prick, but this looks like a professional site and there needs to be some sort of editor or grammar and spelling checker put on the payroll. It's just distracting and unnecessary for us to have to read about the " Sutdiophile AV 40 speakers" when spell check should have caught something like that. Thank you for your time.
excogitationist at 10:59pm 18th August 2010 If you can find them, the Monsoon MM-1000 Speakers are the best sounding computer speaker I've ever heard.
djdanlib at 9:13pm 18th August 2010 I enjoy a pair of Yamaha HS80M powered monitors for my home studio work, which I picked up new for about $600 total. But, I'm a studio engineer at night. When I'm not mixing and don't require brutally honest audio, I will often turn on a BBE 482i between my computer and the speakers for some good music listening. I have had some really nice 2.1 Z-series systems from Logitech before, too. Choose a better sounding 2.1 set over a surround set in the same price range if you care about the quality of your music. Don't buy speakers unless you can listen to an un-mangled set of them at the store!
tm meah at 9:09pm 18th August 2010 Any of you ever hear a 30 year old 100 watt stereo system? Probably 125 bucks back then and will fill your soul with the real thing.
1. whodat1 at 5:24pm 2nd October 2010 I still have an amp from back then, (actually 35 years old) they sound fantastic also. Sounds great, but you had to get LARGE speakers back then (still got those too). Best part is in 35 years the only problem is that one of the lights on the front panel has burned out. The don't make them like they used to. And you're just about right on the I've gone through 2 sets of Klipsch 5.1 computer speakers so far. The amps seem to last about 3 years.price I paid for the speakers. $110 each.
Gob Bluth at 8:51pm 18th August 2010 Learn the usage of there, their and they're.
franee at 8:51pm 18th August 2010 They forgot H&K Soundsticks II, probably better than most listed here.
lawrence at 8:47pm 18th August 2010 all those speakers are terrible Logitech Z-5500 digitals are the only computer speakers that anyone should own (Other than the 700RMS beast of s750 gigaworks)
van tobythanisky at 8:32pm 18th August 2010 They're talking about sound quality, which leaves class T anything out.
Eric at 8:19pm 18th August 2010 Just to add. I went with the B-3s instead of the B-2s for my first set of speakers for the Trends TA 10.1. You just need high sensitivity (89dB minimum, ~92dB and up preferred, low-impedence speakers (4ohm or 8ohm).
volatileant at 8:18pm 18th August 2010 I'm surprised there are no 4.1 or 5.1 systems on here... Personally I have a set of Logitech Z-5500's and they sound pretty good (though not the best, if I really need to hear something there is a set of Sennheiser HMD280's nearby). Would prefer an Infinity system, but that is a tad out of my price range currently.
Eric at 8:14pm 18th August 2010 Why not just buy a Class-T amp and adequate stereo speakers? That should run under $400 and put out something leagues better than anything on this list. http://www.trendsaudio.com/ + http://www.klipsch.com/na-en/products/b-2-overvie... = better than everything on this list (and you can do better than the Klipsch...)
Bill Muraay at 2:31pm 18th August 2010 Harman/Kardon soundsticks II is excellent and tops the list on other computer speakers review sites. Surprised that it didn't make your list.
1. Misha at 10:13pm 18th August 2010 Dude you're so right. I just bought myself some soundsticks a week ago and they are by far the best speakers i've ever had. The subwoofer creates an insane bass feeling. Interesting speaker design too.
2. Allan at 2:37pm 7th September 2010 HK Sound Sticks have the best small subwoofer I've ever heard. The actual sticks leave something to be desired compared to bigger speakers. The frequency response is not even and the soundstage is small. I had the first version. I would get these again over any bose product though. Why we even talkin about bose? What is this 1992?
Jared Sirilo at 2:50am 7th August 2010 Damn im sure Harmon/Kardon makes some better speakers
BlackDeath at 10:45pm 5th August 2010 I think they forgot that Bose exist.... Or maybe it's because there speakers are so good that it goes without saying that they're on the list ;~)
Blah at 10:15pm 5th August 2010 That's insane. You are saying that Logitech has better quality speakers than Bose? Bose is by far one of the greatest sounding speaker companies around today.
1. Goat at 7:26am 9th August 2010 UMMMM...NO. Let me rephrase that for you. Bose is by far one of the best speaker marketing companys around today. You obvioulsly have not heard what good speakers sound like.
2. AJH at 8:54pm 18th August 2010 Bose is good at making small speakers that simply work, but not at making good speakers. You can find much higher quality spearkers than Bose makes for less than 1/3 the price if you know what to get and how to set it up. I got a nice JBL set of speakers for my surround sound system with a Sony reciever for a total of $800 for 7.1. The comparible setup from bose would have run over 2 grand and would not have sounded nearly as good.
3. djdanlib at 9:07pm 18th August 2010 Bose uses psychoacoustics combined with adequate speakers to trick your brain into thinking it heard things that those speakers didn't actually produce. The trouble is, it's not a perfect illusion, especially when you compare it to something better. Go ahead and do an A/B/C comparison with some speakers in the same price range, if you can find any! There's a reason they don't put other comparable systems next to the Bose ones at the store...
Sameer Khandelwal at 7:17pm 5th August 2010 Great review. I am wondering how the new B&W MM1 computer speakers stack up against this lot? Could you please compare these bad boys to the pack leaders.
ironmikez at 10:06pm 4th August 2010 Wondering how Bose didn't make this list! I have a Bose Companion 5 and I have yet to hear anything that can reproduce sound the way this system does!
1. Legend at 11:12am 5th August 2010 Did you hook it up with Monster Cable too? Seriously, all these speakers have better sound than Bose... Bose quit being impressive for most people 15 years ago. My father has that same set you that have, was given to him by his brother. It got put in the closet after a few weeks, and he went back to his Klipsch.
2. Caebron at 9:43am 9th August 2010 Bose sucks. I owned a pair of Bose companion and I was apalled. Even the Bose I listened to in the store weren't all the great. I guess sound quality is not an absolute, but a matter of personal preference.
3. Jeff at 8:12pm 18th August 2010 I like my Bose Companion 2 speakers. (paid $70) I don't think this post hits every price range. $100 is pretty expensive for the average person to spend on speakers. I don't notice the difference much myself unless the speakers are really crappy. I am perfectly happy with the ones in my MBP 95% of the time.
4. Jim Clark at 10:25pm 18th August 2010 I own them too, and I agree. Effortless, crisp, and great soundstage. Expensive though.
5. @yanofl at 8:18pm 19th August 2010 you are 100% right
6. tom at 7:15pm 15th January 2011 I also have companion 5 they are the best
7. mike at 10:37pm 6th July 2011 bose are horrible, you think they sound good because you probaly never heard anything else in computer speakers. klipsch promedia 2.1 destroys bose as does all klipsch speakers.