[pulsar]

My old speakers are buzzing as hell, which is annoying as only the limitor of my Korg headphones allows me to enjoy music these days. So I'd like to get a new pair of speakers, even though I'm not a tech-geek. Could some shed a bit of light into the jungle of this stuff. May I say that I don't want to spend a fortune, so maybe it would be good to know a few points I should pay attention to, you know

[TroutFishingUSA]

Does your stereo still work fine? I assume that if you're using headphones, it must. If that's the case you'll just need some new speakers. I'm just making a blind guess, but I bet you have a pretty simple stereo from Best Buy or something. What I mean is, it's a big box that plays 5 CDs, has a radio, maybe tapes, maybe a phono, right? You don't have a separate mixer, preamps and amplifier running to powered or unpowered speakers, right? (if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you probably have a simple stereo)

I'll assume you have a simple stereo, so now you need to see how the speakers hook up. It's usually one of two ways: 1) a wire that splits and is stripped is inserted into two clamps on the back of the stereo (red and black, usually) or 2) the speakers connect via common red/white RCA Audio cables. Once you know what kind of connection you need, I suggest keeping your eye open for a scrapped stereo that's either being thrown out, or in a garage sale, or from a friend, since almost everybody replaces these kind of stereos completely, throwing out 2 perfectly good speakers. The only piece left is to copy down the amp "wattage" and the "ohms" on the back of your stereo and make sure the speakers you use have the same numbers. There's no need to understand, just make sure all the numbers are the same. Since it's an industry standard that's used, almost every speaker you find will match. And honestly, damn near ANY speaker will work, but it just won't sound nice. (Maybe blow up... but...)

Now, if you've got a more high end system, or are looking to move up, that's another deal. Maybe I can help there, too. (I'm no JBL technician or anything, though) I hope this helps you get started. Oh yeah, what brand of speakers did you bust?
--
Patrik

[against_the_grain]

I had Boston's....now I have Paradigm. They're fantastic !

Smallish bookshelfs and they were $250 for the pair....discounted from $350 !

Good music systems are a WISE investment. Just don't compromise it by playing Mp3's on them. I laugh when I see all the adds for 'high quality' sound systems for Ipods.....what a compromise !!! hahahahahaaaaaaaa......

Unless of course you're playing lossless files.

[terminal pharmacy]

Originally Posted by pulsar

My old speakers are buzzing as hell, which is annoying as only the limitor of my Korg headphones allows me to enjoy music these days. So I'd like to get a new pair of speakers, even though I'm not a tech-geek. Could some shed a bit of light into the jungle of this stuff. May I say that I don't want to spend a fortune, so maybe it would be good to know a few points I should pay attention to, you know

before you do anything about buying new speakers, try plugging your stereo into a different powerpoint that is on a different circuit than the one you are currently using. do you have any new lamps or things like that in your house / apartment. it could just be an earth issue

[next step]

Hi Pulsar
B&W makes good audio spkes and they have products for every pockets. I bought a couple of passive spkes some years ago and they are very good.I use them to mix/edit my music too cause they play kinda like monitor spkes: dry and with details.