Computer speakers: FAQs
Why can't I just use the speakers that came with my computer?
So much of what we do on our computers today involves music and sound, which is why it's important to invest in a good set of speakers. The speakers that came attached to your computer as new probably won't do this multimedia environment justice.
Should I go for stereo speakers or surround sound?
Surround speakers are great for games and movies
Your decision will depend on what you plan to use your speakers for.
- Stereo speakers – Will meet most people's needs and are pretty good for playing music, listening to podcasts and internet radio or watching YouTube videos.
- Surround sound speakers – Enthusiastic gamers or those who watch a lot of movies on their computer should invest in a set of surround sound speakers. The idea of these speakers is to surround you with sound. 5.1 surround sound systems like the ones we tested comprise 6 speakers: 3 satellite speakers are positioned in front of you, 2 behind and 1 the larger subwoofer - is placed out of sight.
How do they connect?
Setting up a 2.1 (2 satellites and 1 sub-woofer) speaker system is relatively straightforward. Simply position the speakers either side of your computer and the sub-woofer under or next to your desk.
Rear speakers need long cables
By their nature, surround sound speakers are harder to set up. There are many more cables to connect up and getting the smaller satellite speakers in the right position so that they all sound equally loud from your listening position can be tricky.
Ideally, the speakers should come with long cables for the rear speakers, allowing flexible positioning and tidy cable routing. With surround sound speakers, it's worth looking out for speakers that have their own surround sound decoders built in, which means you can connect them to your PC with a single, digital cable.
There's usually only one subwoofer. Why is this?
The theory is that the human ear finds lower frequency sounds much more difficult to locate than the higher frequencies reproduced by 'satellite speakers' and this means the stereo effect of a pair would be minimal.
Are computer speakers digital or analogue?
All speakers are analogue at some point. The mechanism used to create the sound waves that eventually reach your ears is by its very nature analogue. But some speakers do have digital inputs.
Some surround sound speaker sets have a surround sound decoder built in to the sub-woofer, which means that you can feed them with a digital signal (called S/PDIF) over a single cable. The surround sound decoder then turns the digital signal into analogue electrical signals, amplifies them and sends them to the 6 speakers via normal, analogue speaker cables.
This makes these speaker sets much easier to set up than those without digital inputs, which need more connections to be made at the rear of your computer.