I love my JBL Creature speakers:
http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.as...

Or if you want to go a bit more high end without getting too crazy, get an audio mixer and some nice monitors:
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MultiMix8US...
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DX4/

I was going to stay out of this since one of my hobbies is building speakers, and i tend to be a speaker snob, but every time i see the Bo$e word it makes my skin crawl.

IMO Bo$e you are paying for marketing not quality. Take apart any Bo$e and you will find about $5 worth a parts.

Just my two cents. Take the extra money that Bo$e charges and get a system with a sub so you get the low notes.

Here is what i listen to at work. It is a speaker project that took on a life of it's own one day when i got a lathe. There are like 5 pages of the build progress on my web site.

http://chadgray.info/projectdetail.cfm?ProjectID=4...

I just went through this myself when I bought a new laptop with the world's worst speakers (my old one had acceptable, but not great built-in Harmon Kardons). I didn't want to spend a ton but wanted quality sound. I landed on the Logitech Z-4 and really like them! I listen to music for about 8-10 hours a day while working, and so far so good. I got them at Circuit City for 60 bucks during a sale. From my research, I don't think you can get better speakers for the price.

You can not go wrong with anything from Polk Audio

http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/amr70/...

Jason

What did you end up going for, Ray?

I'll add another vote for the JBL Creature. Managed to get mine discounted a while back and love them.

Chad's gotten me back into my loudspeaker building mood! Always wanted to do it, made several attempts at reading up on how it's done but now bought a couple of books!

@george

Here is a great place to ask questions. A bunch of great guys that will answer any newbie question.
http://www.pesupport.com/cgi-bin/config.pl

Also this is the best book to get started. Written in very plain, easy to understand english.
http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&P...

Start with a proven design for your first build (lots of other designs out there. Here are two that come to mind).
http://www.zaphaudio.com/
http://www.partsexpress.com/projectshowcase/index....

Im not sure where you are located, but in the fall there is usually a get together in Dayton Ohio. Come hang out with speaker geeks and listen to their designs. Keep an eye on the parts express tech talk for when it will happen.

Maybe your first project will be a set of speakers for Ray.

:)

To keep this on topic; Ray, if i were to buy a computer speaker system i would look for a set with a subwoofer. No small speakers can make the low notes.

A 3", and smaller driver, is capable of reproducing the highs and mids, just not very loud. But since we are talking about computers speakers that will be used for near field listening they are perfect. I would never recommend small speakers for home theater use or any far field configuration. If you see a speaker with larger drivers you should see a tweeter thrown into the mix.

Look for speakers that seem heavy for their size and have a well built speaker box.

For features i would look for is a volume knob that is easy to get to when the phone rings and you have to turn the tunes down. A place to plug head phones in and if you have an iPod a place to plug that in. Ignore watts (remember we are listening to these near field), and pseudo sound field simulation effects.

If i were shopping by brand i have personal experience with JBL and Harman Kardon speakers and i can recommend them.

Have fun shopping!

I use JBL Creature speakers too and they are truly awesome!