This thread might be a place to start:

What speaker setup are you using on your vintage machine?

what's your budget?

flecom wrote:

what's your budget?

Effectively infinite.

in that case if you want to look at current speakers look at studio monitors, most are still magnetically shielded and will give you way better sound than 99% of the computer speakers out there... here are some to check out (note most of these are sold individually)

KRK Rokit series
https://s3.amazonaws.com/gibson-pro-audio/krk … it_cutsheet.pdf

Yamaha MSP5
https://usa.yamaha.com/products/proaudio/spea … ries/index.html

JBL-SL305
http://www.jblpro.com/www/products/recording- … 3-series/lsr305

Tascam VL-S5
https://tascam.com/us/product/vl-s5/top

flecom wrote:

in that case if you want to look at current speakers look at studio monitors, most are still magnetically shielded and will give you way better sound than 99% of the computer speakers out there...

I strongly disagree with this. Studio Monitors are designed primarily for accuracy when recording/mixing/etc and not casual listening. Consequently a lot of them don't sound as good as regular computer speakers (even the Yamaha site you linked says as much).

I have a couple different pairs in my home studio and much prefer ordinary computer speakers when it comes to gaming, music, etc.

If anyone is looking for bookshelf-style speakers with built-in amps (similar to studio monitors), I'd recommend checking out AudioEngine's line of speakers. I have the A5+ and they are great for computer use.

aquishix wrote:

Does anyone know of a good specific make and model for desktop speakers that have GOOD magnetic shielding?

I'd recommend Klipsch Promedia's. My first pair were snuggled up next to a 19" CRT monitor and I had no issues when it came to magnetic shielding and effects on the monitor.

They produce good sound for PC speakers, too. Probably why they are still being made and sold after a couple decades.

Shponglefan wrote:

aquishix wrote:

Does anyone know of a good specific make and model for desktop speakers that have GOOD magnetic shielding?

I'd recommend Klipsch Promedia's. My first pair were snuggled up next to a 19" CRT monitor and I had no issues when it came to magnetic shielding and effects on the monitor.

They produce good sound for PC speakers, too. Probably why they are still being made and sold after a couple decades.

Thank you! I have a nice Klipsch powered sub that I use for my media area / modern gaming rig in my house, so it's a brand I respect. And yes, it's a 21" CRT on my primary DOS gaming rig that I need these speakers for. The other rigs will have 19", 14", 12", etc, CRTs ranging from CGA to Super VGA, and space is tight.

This is exactly the kind of use case and recommendation I'm looking for. Thanks again!

Shponglefan wrote:

aquishix wrote:

Does anyone know of a good specific make and model for desktop speakers that have GOOD magnetic shielding?

I'd recommend Klipsch Promedia's. My first pair were snuggled up next to a 19" CRT monitor and I had no issues when it came to magnetic shielding and effects on the monitor.

They produce good sound for PC speakers, too. Probably why they are still being made and sold after a couple decades.

There are a couple of different results that come up on Amazon for Klipsch Promedia:

* https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMedia-Compu … lipsch+promedia
* https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMedia-Certi … lipsch+promedia

...but neither of them mention magnetic shielding anywhere in the product descriptions. If they had that feature, why wouldn't they brag on it?

Which one(if either) did you own and use next to that 19" CRT?

Shponglefan wrote:

I strongly disagree with this. Studio Monitors are designed primarily for accuracy when recording/mixing/etc and not casual listening.

so good speakers sound worse than crappy speakers, got it

aquishix wrote:

...but neither of them mention magnetic shielding anywhere in the product descriptions. If they had that feature, why wouldn't they brag on it?

because it's not really relevant anymore for a modern home computer... unless something has changed the satellites are shielded the sub is not... they have been making the same speakers for like 20 years

Let me comment something about studio monitors: Because they don't colorize the sound and play the source with accuracy, they have both haters and lovers.
Some people are used to the stupidly huge amounts of extra bass from some popular "pc speakers", like logitech's, and consider monitors poor.
Other like me swear to monitors and can't stand greatly changed/overloaded/basically distorted sound.
A fact: studio monitors are better, common pc speakers are impressive in movies and game sound effects.
Another fact: It's not wrong to have a preference in either of them, many factors play a role, mostly what your ears are used to. Hey, if speakers X sound better to you, you should go for them. Why get something you like less?

PS: The JBLs posted above are awesome, add to the list the Eris from PreSonus
https://www.presonus.com/products/Eris-Studio-Monitors

flecom wrote:

Shponglefan wrote:

I strongly disagree with this. Studio Monitors are designed primarily for accuracy when recording/mixing/etc and not casual listening.

so good speakers sound worse than crappy speakers, got it

It's not about good vs crappy. It's about what the speakers are designed for. Good studio monitors will emphasize accuracy of the recording versus trying to make it 'sound good'. The idea is that they will make it easier to hear the flaws in something so that it can be addressed in recording/mixing/mastering.

I primarily use Yamaha's and in my experience they make poor casual listening speakers. They just don't sound as a good as other types of speakers for that purpose. Yamaha's own marketing speaks to this: "Emphasis is on reference-quality reproduction precision that lets you hear sonic details, rather than flattering sound. "

I can't speak for all brands; perhaps there are other studio monitors that 'sound better'. But in my experience I would go for regular computer speakers over studio monitors. The latter are designed for and primarily useful for music production, mixing or mastering.

aquishix wrote:

There are a couple of different results that come up on Amazon for Klipsch Promedia: […]
Show full quote

There are a couple of different results that come up on Amazon for Klipsch Promedia:

* https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMedia-Compu … lipsch+promedia
* https://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMedia-Certi … lipsch+promedia

...but neither of them mention magnetic shielding anywhere in the product descriptions. If they had that feature, why wouldn't they brag on it?

Which one(if either) did you own and use next to that 19" CRT?

The ones I originally used with the 19" CRT were their original 4.1 series (which is no longer produced). I also have a newer 2.1 model (the second link you posted). Near as I can tell, the satellites hadn't changed, just the subwoofer design (they went from dual drivers to a single driver).

It looks like their most recent versions they just dropped the THX certification (also the amazon link says 35 Hz - 20kHz response, but Klipsch's own website lists 31Hz to 20 kHz, same as the prior THX model).

I'm surprised they don't mention magnetic shielding, although I would be surprised if that had changed. If you want, I can test my newer 2.1's with a CRT and see if there is any effect.

Shponglefan wrote:

I'm surprised they don't mention magnetic shielding, although I would be surprised if that had changed. If you want, I can test my newer 2.1's with a CRT and see if there is any effect.

I would appreciate it if you would, actually. I've already been burned once(arguably twice, since I purchased 2 sets of the same model), and I don't want to get burned again.

aquishix wrote:

I would appreciate it if you would, actually. I've already been burned once(arguably twice, since I purchased 2 sets of the same model), and I don't want to get burned again.

I tested out my newer 2.1 Promedia's (for the record, they are a few years old at this point) with an older Samsung 17" CRT.

If I put the speakers right next to the monitor, there was a little bit of color distortion. Moving the speakers away about a couple inches and distortion completely disappeared. I also tried lying one of the speakers on top of the monitor and that created visible color distortion:

Something you can include in your searches, in instances like this, are speakers which use drivers with neodymium motor assemblies as they have very low stray. You don't need to limit yourself to computer speakers; you could use bookshelf speakers with an external power amp/integrated amp/reciever.

Logistics wrote:

You don't need to limit yourself to computer speakers; you could use bookshelf speakers with an external power amp/integrated amp/reciever.

I started using an integrated amp/receiver with bookshelf speakers with my computer in 1995 and I have friends who did this even earlier . Either way, searching for "Video Shielding" instead of only "magnetic shielding" (different words for the same thing) should help you get some more results .

Good point! Another obscure option is the simple mention of a "bucking magnet" which accomplishes a measure of shielding (sometimes, more than enough).

I recently had to replace my very satisfactory Edifier speakers after the connector for the second speaker came loose internally, and there was no way to open the first up non-destructively (EVERYTHING was glued 🙁 ) to fix that. After briefly considering studio monitors I settled on a pair of Microlab B73 speakers. They are very affordable (EUR 44 for the set), have dual IEC inputs (so you can have both sound card and MIDI module sound over same speakers without needing a mixer) and produce far better sound than I'm used to in this price category. Oh, and perfectly shielded: I have them on either side of my Iiyama 17" Diamondtron CRT, with no distortion whatsoever. Highly recommended.

I've been using Behringer B2030A studio monitors as computer speakers for over 10 years. Absolutely no issues if placed right next to CRTs (although I gave up CRTs a few years ago). The speakers have served me well, but the amplifiers have degraded somewhat - I can hear some buzz/whine. If you have money to spend - how about Genelecs?

If you buy studio monitors, you should also buy a decent (DJ) mixer for volume control and source switching (+ DAC with optical s/pdif to get rid of ground loops). I have Behringer NOX101 and some random cheap DAC.