No matter what kind of activity you are doing at your computer (whether if you are watching a movie, playing a video game or listening to some music) you will definitely need to have some sound too. And in order to have sound, you need some speakers or a set of headphones.



For today we are going to focus just on the speakers. There are all sorts of speakers that you can use, with different shapes, sizes and features. Usually any new PC comes with some default computer stereo speakers. These are small, and most of the times have a rectangular shape but they don’t sound that good and they are not powerful either.

And that’s why many people choose to buy some new speakers for their computer. and here there are many possibilities. Depending on the number of speakers they have there are three types of audio systems: the 2.0 systems (which are the classical stereo speakers – 2 devices), the 2.1 systems (which have 2 stereo speakers and a subwoofer) and the surround sound systems (which can be 5.1 systems – 6 components, or 7.1 systems – 8 components). A 5.1 system is made of 4 satellite speakers, a center channel and also a subwoofer, while the 7.1 system has 2 more extra satellites.

Depending on their type of power source we can have regular speakers (that are connecting in an audio port from the sound card and which are getting their power from an AC outlet) and USB speakers (that are connecting into an USB port and getting their energy directly from the computer). Depending on the type of connectivity there are wired speakers and also wireless speakers. And depending on the environment you can place them there are indoor or outdoor speakers.

But for today we’ll just discuss about a model of computer stereo speakers. And you can find many other articles, about all the types of speakers we mentioned, in other articles from our site. For today we’ll choose some powerful and also expensive stereo speakers, the M-Audio Studiophile AV 30 Professional Reference Speakers. They come at a price of around 100 dollars, and this may depend on the store where you buy them from. We said they are expensive…but compared to other stereo speakers, which can cost much less than this. They are not very big, but they are not tiny either, with dimensions of 15 x 8.5 x 10 inches and a weight of 11.7 pounds.

Each of the two speakers has  3 inch composite woofers and ¾ ferrofluid cooled silk dome tweeters to bring a full and rich sound, through all of the sound ranges. The power is 15 watt per channel, meaning that the total power is 30 watts RMS. And this is quite ok for some stereo speakers that will sit on the desk in front of you. They are also magnetically shielded so that you can place them close to the monitor without interfering with it. They come from a famous audio producer (M Audio) so you can definitely trust the brand and be sure that they will sound good.

Each speaker will offer you a nice and rich sound for music, video games or movies. And these speakers even have a special “bass boost” function allowing you to enhance the low frequency response. So if you like your music with a more powerful bass, you can turn on this function and enjoy the sound. This was just one example of computer stereo speakers but of course there are so many more others on the market. If you don’t know which one to choose just look at the technical details and search for a good frequency response and a good power in watts RMS. And try to choose some speakers from a famous audio producer, to make sure you will have a good quality. Some examples are: Altec Lansing, Klipsch, Harman Kardon, JBL, Creative, Logitech, Bose, Boston Acoustics, M Audio or others.

The computer technologies really advanced in the last decades, and today we can find very small and light computers  (the notebooks ) that are also very powerful and capable of doing advanced tasks. Along with the evolution of the computer, all of its components advanced too. For example the monitors got thinner and thinner, the video cards got more and more advanced, the hard drives became bigger, the mice and keyboards can be wireless and so on.



And it’s the same with the computer speakers. Not only that some models are really small, and also powerful and capable of giving a good sound but some speakers are now wireless. So you don’t have to worry anymore about the length of the audio cable, and you can place the speakers anywhere you want in the room and be sure that you have the best sound possible. But you can go even further and place the speakers in other rooms of your house.

When buying some wireless speakers they will come with a transmitter, which has to stay near the computer. Every transmitter has a specific range (for example 100 feet) and you will have to keep the speakers into that range. So this means that you can even take the speakers outside the house, and they will still work.

There are many advantages for the wireless speakers but there are also negative aspects. Since they are quite new on the market, the wireless technology is not perfect yet. So it may happen that some wireless speakers may interfere with other devices from your home, and the sound won’t be crystal clear. Also specified maximum range of the speakers may vary depending on the environment.

For example if you have thick walls or many other obstacles in the house, it will be more difficult for the sound waves to travel, and they won’t reach as far as they should. But anyway…if you don’t want to be restrained by the wires and you wish to have total freedom when choosing where to place your speakers, then you can buy some wireless ones.

Now let’s discuss about a specific model of wireless speakers, and we’ll choose the mimi Wireless USB Speaker System. This is quite an interesting product but it is a wireless speaker but can also be considered an USB speaker. And this is because the transmitter is actually a very small device that needs to be plugged into an USB port. It looks just like a USB stick. So you can connect this device to your computer or notebook and then take the very small speaker anywhere you want. So you can enjoy your favorite music in the bedroom, living room, kitchen and even in the bathroom.

Simply connect the USB stick and then play your favorite music files. The speaker can last for up to 6 hours so you will have a lot of time to relax and enjoy your favorite music anywhere in the house. And once the battery runs out, you can simply recharge it via USB. The range for the transmitter is 50 m, so if you have it in this range you can even take the speaker outside the house.

As you can notice the speaker is quite really small, and also good looking and the sound offered will be good too. The price for this device is 52 dollars, which is not that much compared to other wireless speakers. So enjoy it, and if you bough a mini Wireless USB Speaker System just share all your opinions with us, no matter if they are positive or negative.

There are many big audio producers on the market and here are some examples: Harman Kardon, Altec Lansing, JBL, Bose, Boston Acoustics, Creative, Logitech, Genius, Klipsch and others. Today we’ll discuss about a smaller company, which is not so famous, but which has quite a lot of experience in this domain and which is today a part of a big audio corporation.



And we’ll chose the Infinity audio producer, which is a manufacturer of speakers founded many years ago in 1968. Back then it was founded by Arnie Nudell, John Ulrick and Cary Christie and in 1983 it became a part of the Harman International Industries group. The company was some of the bests in the world at that time, producing very good speakers, some of them really expensive.

There are still today some Infinity computer speakers on the market, and one of these models is the Infinity Cascade Three C speaker. This is a center channel speaker that has quite an expensive price of 800 dollars. With these kind of money you can easily buy a surround sound system or some floorstanding speakers.

This speaker features two patent-pending Maximum Radiating Surface (MRS) flat-panel drivers with Ceramic Metal Matrix Diaphragms (CMMD®) and a 1" CMMD tweeter mounted in Infinity's proprietary Constant Acoustic Impedance™ (CAI™). This way you will enjoy a great audio experience and you will also have some nice looking speakers. they are available in three colors: real wood cherry venner, high gloss black or high gloss silver.

One speaker of this kind has dimensions of 5-1/2 " x 30-3/4 " x 6 " (140 mm x 781 mm x 152 mm) H x W x D and a weight of 18 lb (8.2 kg). If it seems to big for your desk then you can place it somewhere on the wall thanks to the wall mount brackets that are included. Since it is a center channel it must stay in front of the listener. You can use this speaker just by itself but it would sound much better in combination with a subwoofer and 4 satellite speakers. so this way you will have a good and powerful surround sound system (5.1 system).

And now here are the technical details for the Infinity Cascade Three C speaker : - Frequency Response (± 3 dB): 80 Hz – 20 kHz; 72 Hz – 40 kHz (– 6 dB) - Recommended Power Amplifier Range: 10 – 150 Watts - Sensitivity (2.83 V @ 1 m): 87 dB - Nominal Impedance:8 Ohms - Crossover Frequency:1,500 Hz; 24 dB/ Octave - Low-Frequency Drivers:Dual 7-3/4 " x 3-3/8 " (197 mm x 85 mm) CMMD®, magnetically shielded - High-Frequency Driver:1 " (25 mm) CMMD®

So in case you are not an audio specialist and these figures don’t say anything to you, you should know that in this case they are good numbers. The frequency response that begins from as low as 80 Hz shows that this speaker (even though it is just a center channel) will offer a full and rich sound, with all the sound ranges. So you will even have a good bass, and as we said earlier you can use this speaker all by itself.

The recommended power amplifier range that goes all the way to 150 watts RMS means that this speaker is quite really powerful and can wake up your neighbors in the middle of the night if you play it loud J. This was just one example of Infinity computer speakers, but of course there are others too. So if you used (or at least heard about) some other speakers made by this producer that sound really good, tell us all about them! Have a nice day!

The trend in technology these days is to have smaller and smaller devices but with the same characteristics as the bigger ones. In the computers area the engineers managed to accomplish this by creating really advanced laptops. Some of them are really small, thin and lightweight, but with good technical details and features so that they can do all of the tasks that a desktop computer does.



There are few negative aspects about a laptop and one of them is the sound. Because it is so small it has integrated speakers, that of course are also very small and they don’t sound that good. Of course you can connect a 2.1 system or even a surround sound system to the laptop, but you can use it only when you are at home. Let’s not forget that the biggest advantage of a notebook is its portability, and if you can’t take the audio system with you, that means you are still left with the bad sound of the integrated speakers when traveling.

But engineers came up with a solution for this problem too: the USB speakers. They are small and light (so highly portable) and they also sound quite good (not as good as a surround sound system, but anyway much better than the integrated speakers of the laptop). So this way you can enjoy a great sound on your laptop, even when traveling. As you might know the laptop has an included battery which allows it to work for several hours without needing an AC adapter. But the USB speakers don’t have any batteries, and they don’t need an AC adapter either.

So you might wonder where do they get their power from? Well the answer is simple: from the laptop. They are connecting with it through a single USB cable, which is both for the audio signal and for the power. This also means that the sound will stay digital all the way, so there won’t be any conversion into analog. So the overall sound quality will be better.

If you want to buy a laptop computer with USB speakers there are many options available for you. You can choose a notebook from one of these producers, because they are the best in the world: Hewlett Packard, Acer, Dell, Asus, Toshiba, Apple,  Lenovo, MSI and Fujitsu and in the case of the USB speakers you can choose a model from Altec Lansing, Logitech, Sony, Bose or other good audio producers.

Now let’s discuss more about a model of portable speakers, and for today we’ll choose the Altec Lansing XT2 USB speakers. They have quite a simple but also elegant design meaning that they can be used by a student that is traveling with his laptop and listening to music, or by a business man who is also traveling with his laptop, and he might use these speakers for a Power Point presentation at a business meeting.

These speakers even have a built in microphone so they can be used for Voice over IP (VoIP) communications. When buying them they will also come with a carrying case. They will deliver quite a good sound, with a good quality through all of the sound ranges. And they are even compatible with the BB2001 subwoofer, in case you want some more bass for your music. They have conveniently placed controls to turn them on or off, to change the volume or to mute them. They also have an aux input jack so that you can connect them to other music sources as well (CD, DVD or MP3 players).

The dimensions for one speaker are: 2.2 inch W x 1.4 inch D x 7.4 inch H. The frequency response indicated by the producer is 20 – 20000 Hz, but we are not sure if 20 is the correct number. If they would had such a good low frequency response that would mean that these speakers would have a great bass, just like the one offered by a good subwoofer. The signal to noise ratio is 65 dB and the audio amplifier is integrated. They are USB powered and they have built in microphone.

But anyway, here are the complete technical details offered by the producer: *   Product Type - Portable speakers * Width 2.2 in * Depth 1.4 in * Height 7.4 in * Speaker Type - Active * -3 dB Frequency Response -  20 - 20000 Hz * Signal-To-Noise Ratio - 65 dB * Audio Amplifier - Integrated

* Connectivity Technology - Wired * Interface Type -  USB * Built-in Devices -  Microphone * Additional Features - USB powered; Speaker System Details: * Speakers Included 2 x Right/ left channel speaker - 8 Ohm - Wired * Driver Details Right/left channel speaker : 2 x Full-range driver - 28 mm; Connections * Connector Type 1 x Audio line-in ( Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm ) , 1 x USB; Miscellaneous: * Cables Included Audio cable , USB cable * Included Accessories Carrying case; Power * Power Device Power adapter - External

Lenovo is a big Chinese multinational company that is producing all sorts of electronic devices such as: computers, notebooks, servers, netbooks, peripherals, printers, TV-s, scanners, storage devices and others.  It has the headquarters in Beijing China, but since it is a multinational company it has other subsidiaries all over the world. The company was founded in 1984 and since then it continued to develop more and more.

Lenovo is the largest seller of  PC-s in China, and the fourth largest producer of computers in the world. In 2009 it had a great revenue of 14.901 billion dollars.

Besides all the products we mentioned before, Lenovo is also producing some computer speakers, and this is what we are going to discuss about today. We’ll first discuss about the Lenovo ThinkVision USB Soundbar PC multimedia speakers. It is quite a cool looking sound bar that has 2 speakers in each end, each one with 1 watt RMS of power. So you might wonder why it looks like this, and not like a normal set of stereo speakers.

Well, the answer is because this is a special soundbar made to be attached on your monitor. So this means that it will stay there and it won’t take any space at all on your desk. Even though the power is not so big, so it won’t offer a very powerful audio experience, this device is a great alternative for the classic small stereo speakers. You will get pretty much the same power and sound quality, only that you won’t have any speakers on your desk.

Another advantage is that it has just a single cable. Most of the stereo speakers have two wires, one which is for the audio signal and connects with the computer and the other that is for power and connects to an AC adapter. But this speaker has just one, which is both for audio and power and which connects into the USB port. So we can place this soundbar into the “USB portable speakers” category.

So if you want you can take it with you when traveling and connect it to your laptop. It has quite an accessible price of 32 dollars but in some places you can find it even cheaper, so that’s why it is always best to search for the best deal before buying something.

Now let’s discuss about another speaker produced by Lenovo, and we’ll choose the M 220 mini speakers. As the name says, these are really small speakers. They are also from the USB category  of speakers, so it means that they are highly portable, and can be used anywhere with your laptop or computer. There is not much to say about these speakers, except that they have a price varying from 15-30 dollars, a small and pretty cool design and an acceptable sound quality, specific to most of the small stereo speakers.

There are probably some others speakers produced by Lenovo, but if you are looking for a really good audio experience we don’t recommend buying some speakers from this company, because speakers are not its strong area. What you can do is buy some speakers from a professional audio producer (such as Harman Kardon, Altec Lansing, JBL, Bose, Boston Acoustics etc.) and combine these speakers with Lenovo computers or notebooks.