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[cerement]

A few years back I picked up a nice set of Altec Lansing computer speakers and currently have to wrap them in aluminum foil 'cause my wifi turns them into white noise generators if I don't. So I'm finally at the point that I want to upgrade to a new set (2 speakers plus sub at least) that are properly shielded for being used near computers. So looking for recommendations for a decent set of speakers to use with MP3s and WoW, doesn't need to be audiophile quality, but does need to not generated monstrous static around wifi or RF interference ...


[<grumble><grumble> remember when "computer speakers" meant they were shielded, nowadays stores have no idea what "shielded" means <grumble><grumble>]

[Melodic]

Logitech Z4 2.1.

[evilbobthebob]

This ^

I have those, set up with my laptop, and now I can hear the bass in songs  They have pretty good audio fidelity, and they're also pretty well priced.

[bicostp]

I've got an old Boston Acoustics BA635 2.1 set a friend in high school gave me (because he got new ones) running through a "WOW Thing" I found at Goodwill for a buck. (It applies the SRS WOW and TruBass effects you get in Media Player to all the audio coming out of your computer. It's GREAT.)

[Alex C]

Man, do you keep all your components crammed up on a fairly small desk or something? There's a difference between being magnetically shielded enough to keep from fuckin' up a monitor and being insulated enough from GSM to say, be powered by an iphone without having to resort to airplane mode. It's too bad because I'm afraid you'll find that a lot of the sweetest speakers out there can be ran on a desktop but can't handle being next door neighbors with every wireless gizmo in the house. Those Logitechs will probably manage to do the job because logitech products tend to rely more on features and being hassle free than sound quality, so it's probably your best bet, particularly if you're like most people and really just want speakers that don't distort super bad when they're set to a decent volume. I have a friend with some z4s, and for Joe Onboard Audio they're the sensible choice; they've got a sub, they don't completely suck and they can sometimes be found for under $100. That said, my Audioengine A2s kick the living shit out of them, albeit for twice the money. Too bad they probably wouldn't handle the GSM interference any better than your Altec Lansings.


[Edit]

Uh, sorry. That was more aggressive than it needed to be. Don't drink and post kids.

[cerement]

Man, do you keep all your components crammed up on a fairly small desk or something?

Subwoofer is under the desk, left and right speakers are about 15" to the left and right of the iMac ...

There's a difference between being magnetically shielded enough to keep from fuckin' up a monitor and being insulated enough from GSM to say, be powered by an iphone without having to resort to airplane mode.

Well, it's the iMac's built-in wifi that's causing the static (nice long bursts when downloading, short sequential bursts as it pulls in the pieces of a webpage) ...

It's too bad because I'm afraid you'll find that a lot of the sweetest speakers out there can be ran on a desktop but can't handle being next door neighbors with every wireless gizmo in the house.

So far I've managed to mitigate the problem somewhat by going old-school: wrapping the speakers in aluminum foil and popping ferrite chokes onto all the speaker cables 

Those Logitechs will probably manage to do the job because logitech products tend to rely more on features and being hassle free than sound quality, so it's probably your best bet, particularly if you're like most people and really just want speakers that don't distort super bad when they're set to a decent volume. I have a friend with some z4s, and for Joe Onboard Audio they're the sensible choice; they've got a sub, they don't completely suck and they can sometimes be found for under $100. That said, my Audioengine A2s kick the living shit out of them, albeit for twice the money. Too bad they probably wouldn't handle the GSM interference any better than your Altec Lansings.

There's the rub. Just for audio quality, the Altec Lansings generally get slightly higher reviews than the Logitechs. And the Logitechs don't sound like they fare any better, I've seen a few reviewers admit to dropping ratings because of iPhone/GSM buzzing ...

A few other complaints on the net seem to indicate that the speaker cables themselves act as improv wifi antennas, the solution is shell out for speaker sets where both the speakers and the cables are shielded (which makes for a more expensive product obviously). The problem being that the majority of online sites and manufacturers don't bother mentioning those aspects of their computer speakers, they're too busy trying to convince you that they really are audiophile quality, really, honest, cross our hearts, would we lie to you? 

[Alex C]

they're too busy trying to convince you that they really are audiophile quality, really, honest, cross our hearts, would we lie to you? 

I like how those guys  can't be dissuaded from making the audiophile claims despite the fact that their speakers are also usually cheap, tiny and light as a feather. If you can come up with a way to make a speaker have all three of those qualities and provide audiophile sound, than you should probably contact Krell and Oxford right away so they can cut you a check and give you an honorary doctorate respectively.

[Reed]

These are probably more than you are looking to spend, but my wifi card is sitting next to my right speaker and I have yet to pick up any signal from it.