In my never ending quest to end my time on this mortal coil with as many electronic toys as possible I'm looking to buy some active speakers and was just wondering if any of you good people have any recommendations?

The rather wide jack of all trades, master of none brief is as below. Basically they need to quadruple up as computer speakers, home studio speakers, turntable based Hi-Fi speakers and streaming audio server speakers.

To be permanently connected to my PC with extra inputs that will be connected to either a mixing desk or a turntable (via already purchased head amp) as and when because these devices don't live next to the PC. Ideally there should also be a LAN connection so I can stream from my audio server. WiFi could also do this but LAN preferred. I can get round this however with an extra input to those above that I'd connect a RaspberryPi in order to achieve this purpose. This means that I need either 2 audio inputs and LAN/WiFi or 3 audio inputs for the RaspberryPi no LAN option. It should be bookshelf sized (not bigger) and I'm not bothered about subs/5.1/7.1 systems as I prefer to be clutter free. I have no desire for Bluetooth or USB connectivity although the latter wouldn't hurt.

My first search came up with either KEF X300A or Yamaha NXN500 and the eye watering price tags led me to look at the RaspberryPi option. Currently the favourite (which would use the RaspberryPi) are the Roth Oli POWA5 Mk2 despite the bloody stupid name.

Your thoughts on a postcard please.

What is your budget? For around £300 you should be able to pick up a used pair of Genelec 1029A, which were a broadcast monitor. They do all you want & have a very natural midrange. I had some for a decade & just recently replaced them with Avi DM5s which are even better but in the same price bracket as the KEFs unless you can find any secondhand. I've heard lots of recommendations for Dynaudio BM5As as well but no personal experience.

The budget isn't that fixed so £300 would be fine. I'll have a look at your suggestions thanks. The main reason for not wanting to spend more is that I think it would be overkill as my turntable is probably equivalent to a £300 one nowadays.

Unfortunately the Genelecs don't have enough input options, I need two wired inputs and a third being either another wired option or LAN/WiFi. Your suggestions do however give me a few avenues to look down. I do like the fact that the studio focused ones tend to favour a more robust design such as the solid aluminium casting for the newer Genelecs that I've been looking at. None of this hand carved and varnished precious wood malarkey that comes with esoteric audiophile focused speakers. This is useful seeing as the user audience isn't just me but includes some younger and less mechanically sympathetic members of my family!

Seeing as it's Friday night I'm going to crack a beer open and have a look at places that sell similar studio kit.

Genelecs are really solid! You'll struggle to find any active monitors with that many inputs, but I'm not sure why you need them? If you use a mixer for the analogue sources, and an Apple Airport or equivalent for the streamed ones, won't that work? IMO You'll get a lot better sound quality from professional audio monitors rather than 'hi-fi' - the pro audio market has been using active speakers for some time. Take a look at 'Sound on Sound' for reviews.

It's in my first post but maybe it might be clearer if I drew it. It's certainly a wide range of usage I'm trying to cover with one item. Basically I want two of the sources to be permanently connected and another that could added as and when. The computer will probably be the major user and I don't want to faff around with leads every time I need sound. Likewise for the streamed stuff, I just want to be able to play stuff.
The mixing desk and turntable will just be out as and when they needed and put away in a cupboard otherwise.


I could send all sources to the mixer and go from that to the speakers BUT the mixing desk is only there for when miniWishy is using it and goes away in a cupboard otherwise. It can't stay out permanently because the space it occupies is my computer desk that I use to work from.



Undoubtedly.

Thanks for your input Wink. I had a good look around but couldn't find anything that ticked my connectivity requirements like the Roth's so I got them. Just had the computer and the streaming set up so far but am pretty impressed.

Longer term, if I end up with a house with more room so the mixer can stay out permanently then I'll look at something more studio focussed like the Genelecs as I'll be able to route everything through it and just have one connection.

I am late in the day now you've made your purchase, but I think a Sonos Play 1, 3 or 5; and Sonos Connect would meet your criteria and allow you to expand into other rooms in future by adding more Sonos speakers.

2 phono inputs on the Connect for your mixing desk / turntable / PC, & if you opted for it a 3.5 mm aux input on the play 5. The Connect would stream the mixing desk / turntable to the play 5. You could stream from your server direct to the Play 5 controlled by the frankly excellent Sonos app.

If you go for the play 1 you can add a further play 1 for stereo sounds and upgrade the scale and sound of the set up, to add speakers elsewhere round the house.

Be warned, they are addictive!

A friend of mine has a multi-room Sonos set up and the seamlessness is pretty impressive, he certainly seems to have got addicted to doing "just one more room"! The Connect would an an extra box that I was trying to do without although they do have Ethernet so I could ditch the RaspberryPi and they are reasonably small. A connect and a pair of play 1's come into the realms of the Yamaha pair for cost but if I was looking to expand further then I'm sure some man maths could justify this as a starting block.

Is there a Connect that I haven't seen as the ones I've looked at have only have one set of analogue inputs?

I'm very happy with the ones I've got now that I've had a few weeks with them. They are very solid, sound is good and connectivity switching is painless as everything goes straight into the speakers and is managed by a remote.

The play 1's are surprisingly good, with the sub they are superb.

The Play 5 also has an analogue line in which can be shared to other speakers.

Wishy, well spotted! I had assumed, wrongly, that the 2 photos were both inputs! As Bockers has said the play 5 has the 3.5 mm jack in so could have be used as a permanent connection to your PC with the Connect attached to your Mixer.