Desktop OCD, the all white edition - Speakers and Keyboard left

Cliff_Forster

About a year ago I built my system in a white case just in front of it being kinda trendy. I needed a new monitor so I decided what the heck, I'd buy an Asus monitor with a white bezel, looks pretty nice next to my case. I have a white mouse and mouse pad on order, even white headphones. Yes, I'm a touch crazy, but now I'll stop at nothing to match my desktop.

So my good ole black Altec Lansing speakers have got to go, they served me well but they are not white. So I'm looking around online, I see these Audioengine A2 speakers, and that's where I'm leaning basic stereo pair without a sub. Thing is, I'd like to get a little closer to $100 than $200. I enjoy good audio quality but I don't need anything ultra high end for my desktop. The only other white speakers I can seem to find look pretty shoddy, $29 logitech Z200 and such. Anyone know of a nice compromise between that range and the audioengine in white?

The other issue is the keyboard. I think I'd like a tenkeyless white mechanical keyboard, perhaps something with a blue backlight on the keys, but I'm not sure that's necessary. Anyone have suggestions where I might be able to find something like that once again keeping a reasonable budget. $250 is out of range, but I'd probably spend a touch over $100 for something that meets my needs. Any suggestions?

Signal

Regarding the speakers, if you are just changing them because of the color, why not just paint them? Painting would be a lot cheaper. If you want new ones, the white color is severely limiting your choices. Here again painting speakers would be a lot cheaper and wouldn't limit your choices. Just an idea.

oni_dels

found a white keyboard.

BobbyDigi

Picking components by their color?

csimon

pics or it didn't happen.

GnomeWizardd

Ever Consider going with a White / silver Apple slim Keyboard?

Cliff_Forster

@signal - I appreciate the out of the box idea, but the speakers I have, the way they are shaped and molded, I just can't see myself doing a good job with it. Modding a new pair might not be out of the question, I even considered a small T amp and some passive speakers as an alternative, but to keep things simple I'm leaning towards white powered speakers.

@GnomeWizardd - I appreciate the suggestion. I prefer something heavier, mechanical. I'm a bit heavy handed when I type. My favorite's are actually the basic linear cherry black keys.

Snarkasm

There are Krylon (I believe) paints built specifically for plastic that'll bond to the plastic itself. I painted my 360's chatpad a while back using some of that stuff, and it's absolutely brilliant. So unless you're completely incapable of disassembling the components and throwing down a layer of spray paint, I think you're overestimating how difficult it'll be for you.

Try it with something small and see what you think - I bet it'll be great and you'll save a good bit of cash.

NiGHTS

Snarkasm said:

There are Krylon (I believe) paints built specifically for plastic that'll bond to the plastic itself. I painted my 360's chatpad a while back using some of that stuff, and it's absolutely brilliant. So unless you're completely incapable of disassembling the components and throwing down a layer of spray paint, I think you're overestimating how difficult it'll be for you.

Try it with something small and see what you think - I bet it'll be great and you'll save a good bit of cash.

I've found through personal experience that the use of white Krylon (you're correct) paint on heavily used objects (in my case, a mouse) yellowed and got sticky rather quickly. My palms don't sweat much and I keep my hands OCD-like clean when I use my stuff... just didn't quite work out for me.

They do make paints specifically for the purpose of immediate bond to plastic, though, as @Snarkasm suggests. I attempted to mod my mouse about ...6? years ago, so I'm unsure if their formula has changed any since then.

Signal

NiGHTS said:

Snarkasm said:

There are Krylon (I believe) paints built specifically for plastic that'll bond to the plastic itself. I painted my 360's chatpad a while back using some of that stuff, and it's absolutely brilliant. So unless you're completely incapable of disassembling the components and throwing down a layer of spray paint, I think you're overestimating how difficult it'll be for you.

Try it with something small and see what you think - I bet it'll be great and you'll save a good bit of cash.

I've found through personal experience that the use of white Krylon (you're correct) paint on heavily used objects (in my case, a mouse) yellowed and got sticky rather quickly. My palms don't sweat much and I keep my hands OCD-like clean when I use my stuff... just didn't quite work out for me.

They do make paints specifically for the purpose of immediate bond to plastic, though, as @Snarkasm suggests. I attempted to mod my mouse about ...6? years ago, so I'm unsure if their formula has changed any since then.

Even if you have the cleanest hands in all of Detroit, your hands still constantly produce oil (no matter how much you wash your hands, you still have fingerprints). Did you do a clear coat after painting? If not, that's probably why, the paint was breaking down.

Cliff_Forster

I'm tempted to try it on the speakers just for giggles, it's pretty low risk, I've had them fifteen years now. It's the old Altec Lansing ATP3. I suppose worst case, I mess up some fifteen year old speakers I was going to just try and sell on craigslist for about twenty bucks anyway? I suppose if I tape over the grills it might be a nice look? I'm not too concerned about the sub it's under the desk.

primesuspect

I highly enjoy my Ducky Channel keyboard, and they do have some options:

http://www.duckychannel.com.tw/en/Shine2_special.html

http://www.duckychannel.com.tw/en/Shine_3_DK9008_Snake.html

Etc.

NiGHTS

Signal said:

Even if you have the cleanest hands in all of Detroit, your hands still constantly produce oil (no matter how much you wash your hands, you still have fingerprints). Did you do a clear coat after painting? If not, that's probably why, the paint was breaking down.

Yes, clear coated the mouse as well. The point of the clean hands comment was to stress the fact that I don't make it a habit of eating cheetos while gaming.

Cliff_Forster

How does one game without processed cheese snacks?

Signal

You don't, he's lying. All NVidia and ATI GPUs have a Cheez-It/Cheese Whiz proximity sensor that limits processing power in absence of cheese like substance. Not sure about Intel.

Make sure to use the correct tape when taping. Use painters tape as it won't leave a residue or bleed through. Take apart the speakers as much as you can before taping and spraying. Take some before and after pics.

Cliff_Forster

For $26 I think I might roll the bones on these. Anyone ever heard them? I'm not looking to shake the windows, just want some respectable sounding stereo on my desktop. I've never purchased speakers sound unheard, but for $26 WTF I guess?

GHoosdum

The two five star reviews look like they're planted (and all they talk about is the looks) while the 3-star review appears legit. But for 26 bucks 3-star sound isn't bad, I suppose.

Cliff_Forster

That's what I figured, I'm in for $26, I'll let everyone know how they fare.

Speaking of Shill reviews.... - http://intreviews.com/technology/microlab-fc10-speakers-that-are-dapper/

I don't believe I've ever seen anything look more planted than that. For $26, I'll give it a shot.

troll

I was going to recommend the A5+ speakers in white. Very Nice!



But I see you've already axed the A2's...

troll

But Joey Roth Ceramic's...

Now those are a sweet pair of desktop speakers with a fine sub.

joeyroth.com/ceramic-speakers/

Cliff_Forster

I love the AudioEngine speakers, and some A5 speakers may very well be in my future, budget right now is to be reasonably stylish but keep the cost reasonable. I wish Polk would get back into the powered speakers business.

Cliff_Forster

@Troll - I was paying some consideration to a little T amp, possibly mounted under my desk leading up to some passive bookshelf speakers. May be in a future upgrade, for now I'm going to try out the cheap Microlab speakers and see if they get me by.

Signal

I have that amp along with this DAC. All I have our some bottom shelf surround sound speakers I found on my work's classifieds, planned to upgrade to some Polk Monitor40 or Monitor30s. However, these crappy passive speakers are leaps and bounds better than any active Logitech's I've had. That's not to say there aren't really nice actives, but you can't beat a pair of passive speakers with an amp.

Cliff_Forster

@Signal I think that's my future state. That looks like a pretty cool little amp, I have had my eye on it for awhile.

Polk does a nice promo if you buy direct they let you split it in six payments interest free on purchases $299 and up. I've been looking at the TSx220B for a stereo application in another room where I'd prefer not to augment with a sub-woofer. Probably efficient enough for that T Amp to drive well.

Cliff_Forster

I just got the Microlab white speakers. My first impression is that they definitely seem like a bargain at $26. I'll plug them in and see how they sound tonight, probably let them go a couple hours to loosen up.

Construction feels very solid, they have a nice weight to them, usually a good sign with speakers, and they have a really nice finish, it has a protective coating on it of some kind. They look and feel well made. I'm actually pretty excited to try these cheap little buggers. If they sound decent at all I'll feel like a bargain king.

troll

I'd personally pass on the little T-Amp if you looking to drive a pair of those Polk's or similar, I just don't think you would be happy with the quality of the T-Amp, and I really don't like power bricks on amplifiers.

I would recommend a nice little inexpensive 50W per channel Emotiva amp for your passive's. Get's high praises around Head-Fi as they use it there to drive some of the high end HiFiMan headphones right off speaker taps.

Give this little guy some consideration when you want to hook up your passive's.
http://shop.emotiva.com/collections/x-series/products/a100

Cliff_Forster

That little Amp looks sexy as hell. I could definitely see doing high end desktop audio with that.

Cliff_Forster

troll

Nice!

Cliff_Forster

It's coming together.

My initial impressions of the Microlab FC10 triangle speakers? A total steal at $26. Clarity is fantastic, very good tweeter for this type of speaker it moves fast, high hat sounds, tambourine shakes and the like are nice and crisp. The mid range is solid but I would not say it's open, it's definitely best utilized as a near-field speaker. As predicted guttural bass is lacking, I played with the EQ a bit to help fill out the bottom end a little but it's obviously limited by it's size. I've heard some small speakers that employ some neat tricks utilizing resonance in the cabinet or a port to get some extra low end but that does not seem to be the case here, this speaker touts a special DSP, but I'm not sure what it is or isn't contributing. If you use the standard bass boost function in the windows settings it actually flattens them out a bit, makes the mid range a little less aggressive and helps fill out the bottom end it's capable of producing. The specs say down the 80 Hz and I'd say that's probably their absolute bottom.

Will it completely stave off my desire for a more substantial desktop stereo? Not forever, but for $26 it's a damn fine pair of speakers, in fact the $70 or so you usually see them online for seems pretty fair. Stylish, well constructed and they sound pretty good for their size. I'm pleased.

Cliff_Forster

I ran some test tones, 70 Hz clearly audible without rolling off, 60 Hz rolls off barely audible, so it's a touch better than it's listed spec.