Reddit reviews SMSL SA-50 2x50W D-AMP TDA7492 Hi-Fi Stereo Amplifier + Power Adapter - Sliver

All in ones with speakers built in are terrible.

Lowest budget decent to start with entry level turntable is Audio Technica LP60XUSB £119. Or look for a better used vintage turntable for possibly less.

Low budget speakers: Mordaunt Short M10 £59 with low budget amp IMG Stageline SA-50 £59 or SMSL SA-50 £63 mini amp. Add speaker wire: AmazonBasics 14-Gauge or similar, then 4 Ways to Strip Wire - wikiHow.

Or powered speakers: Tibo PLUS 2.1 £149.

Or look for a used integrated amp, stereo or AV receiver and a pair of used bookshelf speakers for less.

This one is actually quite popular for people who want a mini amp.
Also it sounds good, which is really one thing you should look out for.
I guess the price in pound will be 65 pounds or something. Maybe it's cheaper in the UK.

Edit: 50 GBP

Yeah I'm pretty sure $300 for a new amp and speakers would get you better sound than using a $300 amp and the old speakers. These little amps are very good for the price if you are only going to be using it with your PC https://www.amazon.co.uk/SA-50-TDA7492-Stereo-Amplifier-Adapter/dp/B008Y7S198/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1501368949&sr=8-18&keywords=stereo+amplifier I suggested that amp because the Yamaha has many inputs and functionality that you may never use if you are only playing music from your computer. Regardless I'd suggest getting an amplifier and trying the old speakers first, they'd probably sound pretty good and you might be pleasantly surprised. Then when you upgrade you will be able to appreciate the difference! Otherwise you could also spend the €300 on some nice studio monitors which have built in amplifiers such as these: http://www.audiorumble.com/best-studio-monitors/under-300/

I prefer passive speakers, especially for my PC, no worry about hum/brumm from amp when nothing plays...

• Monitor Audio Bronze BX2
  
• Wharfedale Diamond 9.1
  
  but you would need some amp, like this smsl sa-50 for 50£
  

Easy:

SMSL SA 50 (£56) + Wharfedale Diamond 9.0 (£40!) + Speaker cable (£6) + 3.5mm to RCA cable (£8.5) = £110.5

PS: Those speakers usually sell for more than twice the sum. That is a great deal (probably clearing out sale).

Ive never in my life heard anyone refer to Yamaha HS5's as not clear. Theyre a very forward sounding speaker on the bright side of neutral.

Presonus are decent to good for the price. Mackie MR series and Adam T5V's are my picks for powered monitors. CR series Mackies are junk and not even worth considering.


Now, on to your actual question. $200 Euros is tight for anything much better. The main benefit of going passives + amp is ease of upgrade. There is no upgrade path for powered speakers.

I would look at something from Q Acoustics QA3010's, 3010's, etc or the Klipsch R14M's if you like clear, bright sound with a good soundstage. Plus these will play loud with ease.

For an amp you could go with a cheap SMSL SA-50 for now.

I've been looking for something similar for three weeks, asking about it on reddit and other places.

It seems the most popular brands mentioned on this subreddit aren't easily available in the UK, and it's easy to think that £100 will get you a good set of speakers (in PC terms, £100 would let you pick among the best keyboards or mice), but for speakers it seems that 95% of the options under £100 are bad.

Speakers are either active (power supply built into them) or passive (needs a separate amp). Cheap / normal PC speakers are active, so I'm assuming you don't already have an amp.

In the UK the most highly recommended speakers under £100 are Whafedale Diamonds.

Best for under £100:

• Amp: LEPY 2024A Plus (£24)
  
  
• Speakers: Wharfedale Diamond 9.0 (£60)
  
  The best for under £200:
  
  
• Amp: SMSL SA-50 (£53)
  
• Speakers: Wharfedale Diamond 9.1 (£100), these speakers are quite big for a desk.
  
  Also needed:
  
  
• 3.5mm to RCA (£4) or something similar of whatever length to reach from your computer to the amp
  
• 2.5mm multi-strand 432 (2x216 strand), 14 AWG (£6), or any 14 or 16 gauge speaker wire, to go from the amp to each speaker.
  
  The £24 amp isn't great, but should do fine for sitting in front of a computer.
  
  You don't normally need banana plugs or anything fancy, unless you plan on swapping speakers regularly. If you use the £53 amp, check the plug that comes with it, some aren't fused / safe for UK.
  
  Hope this helps, and if anyone has any improvements, please reply, I'll probably be reposting this reply to any other similar UK questions.

Check out the SMSL SA-50 (50 Watts per channel). It pushes 50W to each channel so it should have plenty of volume for speakers on your desk and be able to fill a small room as well. It is just above your price range. If you must stay in your price range, SMSL also has a 20W version. Also check out the Muse M50 (50WPC).

Someone recommended me this one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B008Y7S198/ref=s9u_simh_gw_i18?ie=UTF8&fpl=fresh&pd_rd_i=B008Y7S198&pd_rd_r=5ZYA6V3103GMC2DFGZJ1&pd_rd_w=Zo9Sn&pd_rd_wg=9qtZe&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=&pf_rd_r=ASVFAJDBDRKXZ7MKBK41&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=26de8ef0-2ad7-412c-8634-6cd03b7b73e2&pf_rd_i=desktop

But it's a little too pricey. I did say my budget was £50 but i'd just rather not spend that if I can get similar for less

Thanks for the links. At the moment those are a bit out of my budget. But you have given me something to think about to try and decide what I want to set up.


For now I've just ordered an SMSL M3 because the interference I'm getting through the headphones is driving me crazy. I might at some point pair that with something like the SMSL SA-50 to power my speakers, but I need to think about that, do I want to have something to run a sub-woofer?

 

Happy to ditch the Z3's just looking for a budget start option for now, unfortunately doesn't look like that sub is available in the UK.

 

Thanks again.

Hi again, I have been doing some research, but I haven't reached a conclusion so I decided to wait and buy after christmas.

I have a new contender :
http://www.amazon.es/Magnat-Monitor-Supreme-100-reflector/dp/B001GNC0JY/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1450343392&sr=8-5&keywords=magnat

I have found a lot of nice reviews about them in spanish audio forums. They are from germany and available in amazon spain. The problem is than I haven't been able to find measurements about them. Where do you usually search measurements?

These are pasive so I suppose I would need an amp. I have been seeing cheap amps, what amp do you recommend?

I have 2 amps in mind :

• Lepy LP_ 2020A for 27 euros : http://www.amazon.es/dp/B00O0QUH94/ref=twister_B00QA2QZJ2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
  
  
• SMSL SA-50 for 70 euros : http://www.amazon.es/SA-50-TDA7492-Stereo-Amplifier-Adapter/dp/B008Y7S198/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450343659&sr=8-1&keywords=SMSL+SA+50
  
  

Monitor Audio MR1s, they're quite a bit better than the Miccas too. There's also a larger 6.5" model (MR2) for £40 more. They're not powered thus not "plug and play" but you just need a small amp and a bit of copper wire. They're really pretty good.

If you must have something powered you can get these but don't expect the same sound quality.

I bought 2 of these for £23 each at the time (on offer) :

https://www.conrad-electronic.co.uk/ce/en/product/378284/Car-subwoofer-passive-130-mm-80-W-Sinuslive-Bass-Pump-III-8-

As an alternative, these seem to get good reviews on Amazon for much less £££'s :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unknown-Bodyshaker/dp/B002LQAHPE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1538384751&sr=8-2&keywords=bass+shaker

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Along with this SMSL 2x50W amp :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SA-50-TDA7492-Stereo-Amplifier-Adapter/dp/B008Y7S198/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1538383831&sr=8-3&keywords=smsl+sa-50

These connectors :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00169BIF0/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And 2m of audio cable (only available inn 1m atm) :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-S-Flex-Studio-Grade-Speaker-Black/dp/B01L2EK7EG?th=1

​

I have the 2 shakers mounted underneath my Ikea chair on the left & right sides.

They are just screwed into the wood base with some rubber washers on there too for dampening.

I've read that it's better with the shakers mounted on some metal brackets / bars to allow them to vibrate more, but I haven't tried this yet.

​

Currently use a SoundBlaster Z for the main pc sound, and my motherboards' onboard audio to drive the amp/shakers.

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Works well as far as I can tell - don't have anything to compare it against - and I never need to have the amp above 50% volume, with the onboard audio at 90% volume in windows.

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For software I use SimVibe, but both Simhub & SimShaker Wheels also work well too. I'd say SimhHub is easier to tweak to taste due to not needing to mess around with .wav files in Audacity.

​

Plus if you want rumble from other games / movies output through the shakers for some added immersion, then use Voicemeter Banana and enable the eq on the secondary output channel assigned to the onboard audio.

Then set the low pass filter @75-90Hz.

​

There's a big thread on RaceDepartment with plenty of more info on setups much more advanced than mine :

https://www.racedepartment.com/threads/tactile-immersion-general-discussion-hardware-software.137631/

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Amazon Link - SMSL SA-50

Has a few colour options

I've had mine for a year now - replaced an old amp sitting under my desk. Sound quality is good, and it's tiny - the size of your hand.

It has RCA for stereo input, and 4 binding posts for stereo output.
This pic from another reddit thread shows just how small it is compared to a monitor (its the little box on the right).

It's loud enough for a small house party (lent it to my sister for a birthday party, worked fine) and stays ice cool when in use (thanks to a class D amplifier circuit) 10/10 would recommend.