I recently bought an M-Audio Keystation 88es MIDI keyboard (I’ve wanted to learn to play piano for years, but strangely have always been drawn to strings – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, violin, and, for a short while, cello).
It works brilliantly with Garage Band, but the speakers in the Macbook are small and tinny. So I plugged it through the hi-fi. It sounds fantastic. However, I really wanted to leave the keyboard set up in the spare room, where there’s no hi-fi. So I started to think about getting some computer speakers…
It was a bit of an impulse purchase. I went into Curry’s and picked up a pair of Logitech V20 Notebook Speakers -the box made them sound great. USB powered, so no external PSU required. Blooming expensive though, for such little speakers – £50. Still I thought, they are small and neat and would be unobtrusive in the spare room next to the keyboard.
Well, imagine my surprise when I plugged them in and THEY WERE NO LOUDER than the Macbook’s speakers. OK, so the bass sounds better, but the volume is just completely weedy. What’s the point????
I’m going to put it all back in the box and see if I can get a refund. Caveat Emptor.
I got the refund (plus points to Currys – I was expecting to have to argue about it, but they refunded courteously and immediately)… and then I promptly ordered some Creative GigaWorks T20 speakers from www.scan.co.uk.
I am VERY pleased with these ones. They have a good bass tone, and are quite loud. The keyboard sounds great through them. Now I just have to learn how to play it well enough to do them justice :-)