Looking for shielded speakers for use w/ CRTs

[Drunk_Caterpillar]

Even though PVMs and BVMs are known for their reference-grade picture quality, their built in speaker(s)—if they have any—leave something to be desired. The only problem is that CRTs are susceptible to interference from nearby magnets, so I'm hesitant to buy a set of speakers for this use out of fear that I'd obliterate the geometry of my tube. Does anyone here have any recommendations? Not exactly looking for anything mind-blowing, but it would be nice to at least hear my games in stereo.

[nmalinoski]

Aren't modern speakers shielded by default? Just buy something made within the last few decades and you should be fine.

[AceFan84]

Aren't modern speakers shielded by default? Just buy something made within the last few decades and you should be fine.

Actually shielded speakers are kind of hard to come by nowadays, there really isn't a need for them with modern tech where it is.

[eclypse]

Yes modern pc speakers will be shielded. Grab some cheap logitech 2 channel speakers and call it a day. I have a set right next to my old sony 1985 crt and no problems.

[andy251203]

Highly recommend the Creative GigaWorks T20 series II (the black ones; not the silvers). They are the best bang for buck IMO and the drivers are shielded. You can regularly find them on eBay in the $60-70 price range. I have 4 sets myself. They are slim and go great next to CRT monitors. What makes them great? They have a proper tweeter/woofer with a crossover, so for the size they sound phenomenal. They are better than Bose desktop speakers and cheaper too! Now, of course you are not going to get major bass out of them because of the small woofer. If you need bass, consider investing in an external subwoofer.

Also, don't bother paying the extra cash for the T40 version, which just adds another woofer. It doesn't improve bass; rather it just makes it sound more boomy. I bought one set and had to turn the bass knob all the way down to make it sound good.

[Speedy]

Another member recommended that I check out Polk's shielded line of speakers a while back. The Polk RTiA Series: https://www.polkaudio.com/collections/h ... tia-series

I ordered (from Crutchfield) a pair of tower speakers, found that they're nearly perfectly shielded, so I then also ordered up a matching center channel. Couldn't be happier with the setup. Sound great, look good, and keep my CRT safe.

I've had them for about a month now and I've been checking the convergence and geometry on my CRT every few days to make sure that nothing weird is developing and no issues so far. Just to be safe though, I keep the big tower speakers about 12-14" away, but the center channel is right underneath the CRT on a wire shelf and I've had no issues.

[Taiyaki]

A lot of newer speakers may or may not be shielded, it's hard to tell because they don't mention it as a selling point like they used to. My recommendation is to look for speakers made pre 2005 or so, since back than they were almost all shielded, or at the very least mentioned as being so, which certainly helps.

[JigsawMan]

I use the Logitech Z200, they sit about 2 inches from my PVMs and I get no interference. For the price, hard to beat.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FSF2OSS/

I believe that the Creative Labs Gigaworks series are also shielded, but I have never tested. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001IZZ2PE If I was buying again I would probably get those.

[Listai]

I've got the Logitech z623s right next to my 20L2 and they work great.

[Speedy]

If we're just talking computer speakers and not passive speakers then I used to use the Bose Companion 20 and was fond of them. They were good for music and games, but not great for understanding voices. : https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/spe ... ystem.html

If you're playing any consoles though with digital audio then you'll most likely end up wanting to find an AV Receiver and some passive speakers to use with it for LPCM as well as Dolby and DTS decoding.

[1040STF]

Highly recommend the Creative GigaWorks T20 series II (the black ones; not the silvers).

I would be surprised T20 speakers are shielded.

I own the T40 and use them with my 2130QM since two years... no interference on the first sight.
But when I tested one of them on the top of the PVM last night, after seeing Retrorgb's video on the matter, I realized they were in fact not shielded.

And that explains some white stains I saw recently on the top of the screen.
So yeah, you might check that again by testing on the top of your CRT.

[Tempest_2084]

Has anyone confirmed if the T20's are shielded or not? I keep seeing reviews that say they are, but you can't trust those a lot of the time.

Here's a video showing what's inside them, I don't see shielding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cF6QyciCmQ

EDIT: Amazon says no they're not:

Q: Are these magnetically shielded?
A: No, these speakers are not magnetically shielded.
By Creative Labs, Inc. on July 21, 2016

I'm looking at a pair of used Dell A425 or A525 as those are the ones I'm using with my current computer and they're nice for the price since they're used.

[bobrocks95]

Highly recommend the Creative GigaWorks T20 series II (the black ones; not the silvers).

I would be surprised T20 speakers are shielded.

I own the T40 and use them with my 2130QM since two years... no interference on the first sight.
But when I tested one of them on the top of the PVM last night, after seeing Retrorgb's video on the matter, I realized they were in fact not shielded.

And that explains some white stains I saw recently on the top of the screen.
So yeah, you might check that again by testing on the top of your CRT.

Has anyone confirmed if the T20's are shielded or not? I keep seeing reviews that say they are, but you can't trust those a lot of the time.

Here's a video showing what's inside them, I don't see shielding: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cF6QyciCmQ

EDIT: Amazon says no they're not:

Q: Are these magnetically shielded?
A: No, these speakers are not magnetically shielded.
By Creative Labs, Inc. on July 21, 2016

I'm looking at a pair of used Dell A425 or A525 as those are the ones I'm using with my current computer and they're nice for the price since they're used.

This was the thread that I found while googling for shielded speakers, and I made a thread about it on here. Unfortunately I made this follow-up post after buying a pair of T20's: viewtopic.php?p=1481500#p1481500

https://imgur.com/vv2Cs1d

The T20's in that Youtube video ARE shielded. The shielding is the big metal cylinder around the drivers- this is a magnet calibrated exactly oppositely in order to cancel out the speaker's magnetic field.

As you can see in my picture though, at some point the T20's stopped including the shielding. I have a fully exposed black magnet sitting there.

If you buy a used pair of T20's on ebay you *might* find ones with shielding. But you definitely can't order a new pair and get it. Mine were used and still didn't include it. So I would not recommend buying those speakers unless you want to play the lottery on them.

[Tempest_2084]

That would explain the conflicting info on the net. I don't feel like playing the speaker lottery so the T20's are out.

What would everyone recommend now? I'm looking for something in the $40-$60 range (or cheaper is good too).

[Spacemonkey]

Had a set of Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II 2.0 and they were not shielded, caused issues with CRTs.

I have had luck with Bose Companion 2 Series II Multimedia Speaker System but don't think you can get them new anymore. Cons are no bass/treble knob, but they sound great. Also they are not repair friendly, they are glued shut.

[Tempest_2084]

Had a set of Creative GigaWorks T40 Series II 2.0 and they were not shielded, caused issues with CRTs.

I have had luck with Bose Companion 2 Series II Multimedia Speaker System but don't think you can get them new anymore. Cons are no bass/treble knob, but they sound great. Also they are not repair friendly, they are glued shut.

I'll look for a used pair then.

[eric90000]

Hey, this is an older thread but I just wanted to chime in.

I bought a set of Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II speakers second hand locally. Unfortunately it seems that I got unlucky in the lottery, as they NOT shielded. It's a real shame because they sound quite good, and I got them for a decent price second hand (30 Euro).

I guess I will keep looking for something like the Bose Companion 2 Series II speakers second hand.

Is there any fully shielded speakers sold today that are easy to get, and are decently priced? I have a set of Yamaha HS50M studio monitors that I use and they are fully shielded. While I love them and they sound powerful, they are flat studio monitors (so the sound is a tad boring).

[Dochartaigh]

Since this ancient thread has had a couple rounds of retro-bumps through the years, thought I'd add my findings as well:

https://imgur.com/gallery/UHnU4j0


TLDR: If you're using ANY type of bookshelf size speakers (shielded or not), literally only have to be about 4" away from your BVM or PVM (both tested in that above gallery) and you don't have to worry about it interference and such. Makes it kinda a moot point worrying about this anymore unless you're using huge floor standing speakers or something...

[bobrocks95]

I want to say my PC CRT was more sensitive, but I didn't have a lot of room to play with on my desk and needed speakers that could sit quite close to the screen. I also wonder if there are potential long-term effects, especially if you end up with unshielded speakers close by but slightly pushed back as you show- no visual distortion, but maybe still not good for various parts of the CRT?

I am no expert but wonder if you shouldn't go to a distance where you don't notice any distortion, then add at least 2 or 3 more inches of space to be safe. I don't have a PVM or BVM to worry about though, just an FV310 that will be saved for light gun games one day.

[NO_ob]

If you can find them the first series of the T20 is probably a good option, I found this website saying they are shielded in the specs https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... html/specs

I've seen quite a few pairs of them ebay and they dont have that EU auto turn off bs, I have ordered some they should be here next week. I did order some Creative T60 but they are un shielded it immediately messed up my crt when i put them on top

I found this comparison video of the series 1/2 i know its a bit hard to judge speakers over video but they sound similar to me, i think the series 1 has a bit less bass though https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCBadialwug

[Link83]

FWIW I have two sets of Creative T20 Series II, one purchased in late 2011, and the other in early 2013, and Creative appears to have made some changes to them in that space of time.

The 2013 set features the EU 'auto sleep' function, whereas the 2011 set do not. I dont know if either set is magnetically shielded, but this might perhaps be one way to tell if you have an earlier T20 Series II or not (I believe the T20 Series II was originally launched in late 2008) Although i'm not sure if the 'auto sleep' function was only added to Creative speakers sold in Europe?

Another difference I noted is that the 2011 set requires 20V AC input for power, whereas the 2013 set requires 27V DC input for power, and this is labelled on the back of the speakers. Using eBay listings I found these pictures of the back (Didn't feel like pulling mine out to photograph):-


Note that I am not saying this will definitely determine if its magnetically shielded or not, only that these differences may help determine if one is an earlier version or not.

<EDIT> Based on the teardown video linked earlier it looks like at least some of the later 27V DC models still had shielded speakers, since the one in the video states 27V DC on the back.

[Lord of Pirates]

I should have a pair of shielded bookshelf speakers (per manual and product page) arriving today. Is there anything I should be checking for other than obvious distortions or any test patterns which might be more useful than solid colors?

Edit: I do have a PVM to test by if they're more sensitive than other displays.

Edit: Didn't bother checking with a PVM but there were no problems I could detect when waving a speaker around a PC monitor. Nothing with the speakers sitting on a desk next to another monitor either. Revel M12, if anyone is interested.

[DejahThoris]

I should have a pair of shielded bookshelf speakers (per manual and product page) arriving today. Is there anything I should be checking for other than obvious distortions or any test patterns which might be more useful than solid colors?

Edit: I do have a PVM to test by if they're more sensitive than other displays.

Edit: Didn't bother checking with a PVM but there were no problems I could detect when waving a speaker around a PC monitor. Nothing with the speakers sitting on a desk next to another monitor either. Revel M12, if anyone is interested.

A glass tube is a glass tube, there's no difference between them.

I'll toss in Klipsch R-15PM as an option for folks on a similar budget to the Revel M12 except they don't require any other hardware. "The Fives" are also shielded if you want to fork out a lot more.

[Lord of Pirates]

I didn't think it should matter, but I figured I'd ask since the content in the imgur link mentions different distances for BVM/PVM. Do the Klipsch actives (either) use individual power cords or do they daisy chain? Nice that they have output for a subwoofer.

[DejahThoris]

I didn't think it should matter, but I figured I'd ask since the content in the imgur link mentions different distances for BVM/PVM. Do the Klipsch actives (either) use individual power cords or do they daisy chain? Nice that they have output for a subwoofer.

I'd imagine the difference there is just distance between case and tube, amount of case between the edge and tube, amount of PCBs/wires/etc that are all in the way and affect things in some way. I'd bet plastic cased TVs have a different distance you could consider acceptable than metal cased ones too.

One contains the amp etc and has a power cord, the other is just connected by speaker wires.

[Lord of Pirates]

I didn't think it should matter, but I figured I'd ask since the content in the imgur link mentions different distances for BVM/PVM. Do the Klipsch actives (either) use individual power cords or do they daisy chain? Nice that they have output for a subwoofer.

I'd imagine the difference there is just distance between case and tube, amount of case between the edge and tube, amount of PCBs/wires/etc that are all in the way and affect things in some way. I'd bet plastic cased TVs have a different distance you could consider acceptable than metal cased ones too.

One contains the amp etc and has a power cord, the other is just connected by speaker wires.

Not bad, someone could easily do better on cost (barring extreme deals) opting for either Klipsch pair unless they already have an integrated or separates.

[Dochartaigh]

Have to chime in and say that the Klipsch's suck. At least their 4" I tried maybe 2x years ago (and several 5" models I've heard since then)... Vanatoo Transparent Zero's kick the shit out of them, and for the same money, if not quite a bit less depending on the 5" model you were looking at (and/or get the Vanatoo T1's, or the new 'plus' versions then .

Literally no competition. And Vanatoo's only need to be 3.5-4" away from a PVM or BVM and they're good to go fyi... although you should ALWAYS have more distance between them for proper stereo separation... otherwise not really worth spending this type of money on a speaker setup to begin with.

[DejahThoris]

Have to chime in and say that the Klipsch's suck. At least their 4" I tried maybe 2x years ago (and several 5" models I've heard since then)... Vanatoo Transparent Zero's kick the shit out of them, and for the same money, if not quite a bit less depending on the 5" model you were looking at (and/or get the Vanatoo T1's, or the new 'plus' versions then .

Literally no competition. And Vanatoo's only need to be 3.5-4" away from a PVM or BVM and they're good to go fyi... although you should ALWAYS have more distance between them for proper stereo separation... otherwise not really worth spending this type of money on a speaker setup to begin with.

I'm not going to argue that the Klipsch are amazing, but the Vanatoos are the most overrated speaker I've heard in a very long time. Definitely in the "everyone got paid to say they're amazing" camp of speakers far as I'm concerned. They're just there. Better than nothing for sure, but that's about it.

I actually returned these to buy the Klipsch The Fives (which are a *lot* better than the R15PMs which are only a little less middling than the Vanatoo). I only even own the R15PMs because they were on a super sale some years back. Went to try and find something nicer under 500 recently, went through the Vanatoos, and now running The Fives.

Guess this isn't helpful for everyone else, lol. Each one's got someone saying they suck.

[Dochartaigh]

I'm not going to argue that the Klipsch are amazing, but the Vanatoos are the most overrated speaker I've heard in a very long time. Definitely in the "everyone got paid to say they're amazing" camp of speakers far as I'm concerned.

Everybody of course likes their own flavor of sound... for example I can't stand the studio monitors in the several professional studios my cousins took me to... which I'm sure some of those sound rooms probably cost as much as my car (if not WAY more lol)... but I'm quite positive there's not a string of bribed Reddit Vanatoo users on r/budgetaudiophile and similar like you insinuate. People just like them which is why they're very well reviewed, especially for the price (got mine for $359... which unknown to me at the time barely even breaks the "budget audiophile" threshold... many of those insane people call $1000 setups, even $2000 setups, 'budget'! lol).

Anyhoo, all I know is I went through an exhaustive number of speakers (you can see about a third of them I tested in the link I posted earlier), and fell absolutely in love with the Vanatoo's. Sure, for a bass hound like me I really need a sub (which they have proper outs for), but the clarity I get from them (with surprising bass actually, especially for their super small size) still amazes me every time. They're definitely near-field-ISH or whatever they call it... i.e. sound fine anywhere in the room normally, but become magical when you have them positioned correctly and are in the right listening area (which I made coincide with where I sit with my 2x BVM's, 1211HG and 14L5 little CRT video wall I have setup) and this makes them absolutely shine the most... they're the best of all the speakers I tested. I honestly like them better than my so-called higher-end full Focal setup (Denon receiver) in my living room if I'm to be honest...

A fellow member here, Philexile, I believe went through a similar journey as I did with speakers, and has I think at least TWO sets of them in different parts of his home (and the nicer Vanatoo One's I think) – and pairs them with his BVM-D32 and other high end monitors – so the world-class picture has a match with amazing sound as well. My cousin (cousin-in-law technically ) with three studio albums LOVED the set in my little game room - they blew his mind for the size... so I'll let that speak for itself right there (as I have barely any musical talent compared to him lol). Even friends who are of the "I paid $300 for these [crappy] Beats headphones" crowd, who really do appreciate good sound (but probably don't know any better tbh) think the Vanatoo's are amazing! Sure, maybe they would also think the Klipsch are too... but I kinda doubt it if they're anything like I am (I couldn't stand the Klipsch).

[thchardcore]

Bose Companion Series II are fine for $30.