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Computer/Desktop Speakers and such...

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ultrabike:
Would like to start this thread to share some computer/desktop speaker impressions and experiences. Among the best known and highly regarded are the Mackie HR824 and HR624... But I don't have them, so I'll start it off with my discontinued, el-cheapo, and bought at bargain price:

Boston Acoustics MM220s



Bought these some time ago to enhance my bedroom TV movie experience. Sound quality needed to be better than my Vizio TV... which kind of narrows it down to almost everything. Form factor and foot print was a priority and had to be a 2.0 system though.

Before buying I gave it a listen at Fry's and liked what I heard. Bought them from Amazon at ~$44.97 (including shipping).

Sound

I was surprised at how well these sound. The highs are very crisp. The lows are very surprising for such a small set of speakers. The soundstage was very good as well. There is a particular song with drums that my Mirage Crapo Sats are unable to reproduce and these do it effortlessly and clearly! TV and movie gun fire is fairly "Oh Shit!" realistic with these.

The downside of things is that FR low end extension, surprisingly good as it may be, does not dig into the subwoofer territory, and they can distort on certain FR ranges. Note however that  we are talking two 2" woofers with a small passive radiator covering roughly the same area + 1/2" tweeter. The cabinet is as cheap as they come and rattles quite a bit. It is also possible that these may be somewhat inefficient (considering the size of the amp that comes with it). Some people complained about hum or interference, but I had no problems with that.

Looking at the 2" woofers reminds me a lot of the Aurasound drivers though these seem made out of paper. I know Donald North worked for Boston Acoustics and I wonder if he was involved in the design of these little guys. I really like these. IMO they destroy some of the few home-theater mini satellites that I've heard.

Features

The have an aux input that bypasses the main input should one wish to plug in a player. The right speaker  comes with a headphone output. I haven't tried it that much but from memory I think it works well with easy to drive cans... It doesn't come with a remote either, but I didn't mind that given the price.

Measurements

Below are some measurements I took of these also in my bedroom in their current spot a little less than 1 meter away @ ~84 dB, ~78 dB and ~68 dB (not anechoic). As seen in the FR/distortion plots, at higher volumes ~450 Hz starts to show considerable distortion. However, the FR is relatively flat from 100 Hz to 20 kHz, and there is still something there at around 90 Hz.

~ 68 dB


~78 dB


~ 84 dB


Conclusion:

These really surprised me given their size and price... may need a sub, which is why there used to be an mm226 package (with monitors similar to the mm220s minus the passive radiator). Possible that these would be comparable to the Audyssey Lower East Sides reviewed HERE. No crapy "power safe" mode in this one though.

It also got me interested in what could come out of an Aurasound and Dayton Audio ND90/91 full range drivers for home theater applications.

AstralStorm:
What do you use for this measurement? Looks spiffy, aside from too little magnification. (I prefer to see 18 dB range vertically.)
Is that expensive and can it do CSDs?

ultrabike:
I used REW which can do CSDs and it's free. I'll magnify the plots later today :)p5.

Hroðulf:
I really like Microlab Solo series of desktop speakers. I think they are the cheapest non-plastic speakers you can get.

DaveBSC:
I'm curious about these guys. Active wide-banders with built in filtering to compensate for the driver, so they are accurate to +/- 3dB throughout their useful range, very unusual for a single driver without external correction. Expensive, but interesting.

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