Hello Forumosans!
I’m building a new computer which I’m going to use for home-entertainment (see: movies, games) and also some basic home-recording. For this reason, I want to buy a pair of DECENT Speakers! I’m NOT looking for Professional Studio-Monitors such as Rockit KRK (which cost over NT$20K), but I’m hoping I can get something in-between.
A friend suggested the ALTEC Expressionist ULTRA MX6021 but I was wandering whether I could find Audioengine 2 Speakers or M-Audio Studiophile AV 40 in Taiwan (Taipei). Apparently ATB Music doesn’t sell these. Can anybody help me out? Much appreciated!!! 
PS - My budget is up to NT$8K
I looked for those audioengines a2’s quite a bit, there’s a dealer aceaudio.com.tw/products_lis … tle_seq=10, but last I checked for $16,000! I think I saw m-audios for a similar kind of price, in the guanghua market maybe. there’s the razer mako close to your price point here, but opinions about it are mixed. around your budget i’d look at a t-amp and some bookshelves, that’s what i wound up doing.
enter the computer market (guanghua bla bla) from the West end (Jinshan) and on your left will be a little walk in mall type place (near the Apple store) with a few shops. At the back (on the left) is an audio shop. They hooked me up with what you were looking for 3 years ago for under 5K. All parts still work perfectly and quality is still there.
tell them what you want and they will hook you up…but…they no speaka English.
To Tempo Gain: Thanx for the tip! I contacted the company. They don’t sell Audioengine 2 anymore - only 5 (which is twice as expensive and way over my budget) 
To Deuce Dropper: I’ll try to locate that shop this weekend… Language shouldn’t be a problem. Cheers! 
[quote=“Socrates”]To Tempo Gain: Thanx for the tip! I contacted the company. They don’t sell Audioengine 2 anymore - only 5 (which is twice as expensive and way over my budget)
To Deuce Dropper: I’ll try to locate that shop this weekend… Language shouldn’t be a problem. Cheers! [/quote]
the place I described is on the right when you walk in, not the left.
my oops!
you might want to consider the speakers recommended at the end (page 4) of this thread.
http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=73145&hilit=speakers
bit below your budget tho
Thanx troubadour! I’ll see if I can test them out…
Right!
So, I went to Guang Hua computer market and found the little shop that Deuce Dropper recommended. (They could speak a little English by the way). Unfortunately, they didn’t have what I was looking for, but the boss suggested I go for a pair of AMC iM05 speakers which sounded allright for NT$7K. Has anyone ever heard of this brand? I mean, I don’t know whether I can trust it or not (in terms of reliability and long-term performance)… here’s a link I found:
http://www.amchome.com/node/60
Any ideas? 
I also went to the Usher Audio dealer in Taipei to inquire about the S-520 Speakers which Trubadour kindly suggested. They were quite impressive at a price of NT$5K a pair BUT they are not active speakers, which means that I will have to purchase an amplifier to be able to use them & the smallest Usher amp actually costs something like NT$7K! Adding it up to a NT$12K for the whole package :no-no:
[quote=“Socrates”]Right!
So, I went to Guang Hua computer market and found the little shop that Deuce Dropper recommended. (They could speak a little English by the way). Unfortunately, they didn’t have what I was looking for, but the boss suggested I go for a pair of AMC iM05 speakers which sounded allright for NT$7K. Has anyone ever heard of this brand? I mean, I don’t know whether I can trust it or not (in terms of reliability and long-term performance)… here’s a link I found:
http://www.amchome.com/node/60
Any ideas?
I also went to the Usher Audio dealer in Taipei to inquire about the S-520 Speakers which Trubadour kindly suggested. They were quite impressive at a price of NT$5K a pair BUT they are not active speakers, which means that I will have to purchase an amplifier to be able to use them & the smallest Usher amp actually costs something like NT$7K! Adding it up to a NT$12K for the whole package :no-no:[/quote]
Don’t dismiss those ushers, mate! As I understand it, active speakers do have a kind of limited bang per buck as you get into the price range you are talking of. I like those audio engines you mentioned in the OP, but I’m not convinced by the AMC’s prima facie…
If you re-examine the tread I recommended, you will see that the talk there is about getting the (external) t-amp (e.g. Topping TP-40). That is what I would do if I was to upgrade. Check page 3 of that same thread.
I got my eye on some Bose speakers for 6K. I saw them at FNAC (or the store that used to be FNAC). I saw them online for about 200USD. I have a little equalizing Amplifier and a pair of small Infinity speakers, but I don’t like the way it sounds.
[quote=“Socrates”]Right!
So, I went to Guang Hua computer market and found the little shop that Deuce Dropper recommended. (They could speak a little English by the way). Unfortunately, they didn’t have what I was looking for, but the boss suggested I go for a pair of AMC iM05 speakers which sounded allright for NT$7K. Has anyone ever heard of this brand? I mean, I don’t know whether I can trust it or not (in terms of reliability and long-term performance)… here’s a link I found:
[/quote]
AMC is well known for it’s decent budget amps. If they sound good, I might take the plunge.
I’m an enthusiastic T-amp user, very happy with the Topping TP40 trubadour mentions for my computer setup. But as it’s low powered, you need to pair it with speakers carefully, a minimum 90db sensitivity is recommended if I remember right. Those Ushers come in at 86db only, a recipe for clipping they say.
Fair enough - glad you know what you are talking about…
But one wouldn’t have to drop 7k on an amp though, really?
any chance of a URL for a quick ganders?
any chance of a URL for a quick ganders?[/quote]
I must be wrong on the price, it’s more like 100 USD.
bose.com/controller?url=/sho … /index.jsp
I’ll have to go double-check the price. It can’t be 6000NT. That would be a rip off. But they did sound nice.
Bose is really expensive here, 6K was probably right.
I looked into it quite a bit, and it seems to me the short answer is Yes. Options are limited. I didn’t find any good outlets for cheap used stuff. The best bet might be hoping for a foreigner’s moving sale or other such sale. Then again not everyone wants a full sized amp in their computer setup.
except that it is likely to be the OP’s only setup… thats part of what makes active speakers such a good deal…
First of all a big Thanx to all the posters for their time and advice! 
I HAVE FOUND WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR!
Yes! It’s been right under my nose all along… 
A pair of brand new M-Audio AV 40 Speakers - right here in Taipei!
That’s right! After checking well over a dozen audio stores to no avail, I decided to run a quick Internet search at TW Yahoo Auction and… There they were!
Apparently it’s a store in Taipei that sells the stuff at a price just under $NT8K.
So I ordered them and now I’m waiting for them to be delivered (any day now…) To anyone interested, here’s the link: http://tw.search.bid.yahoo.com/search/ac?p=Studiophile&ei=UTF-8
I still don’t like the fact that you’re getting your sound from that little RCA jack on the back of the computer. (Or I am at least.) I guess I need a computer with an HDMI output or a fancy sound card or something.
