Speakers In Monitors

[Luurch]

So hey everyone, just a thought that came to me as I was reading a review of a new Dell 38 inch curved widescreen, it comes with 9 Watt speakers built into it. Though it is good to have the peripheral attachment for an audio device, I couldn't really see to spend $1500 simoleons for something like a monitor, and really be expected to only use these crappy little speakers that come with the monitor. I mean why would these companies even bother with creating something that has great picture, and is the monster monitor that some of us want, and then proceed to put these under powered cell phone speakers into the monitor. Seems like a waste of development to me, get rid of the speakers, I never had a CRT that had them, why bother with something useless, save some money, pass it to your customers.

[Glenwing]

3 minutes ago, Luurch said:

So hey everyone, just a thought that came to me as I was reading a review of a new Dell 38 inch curved widescreen, it comes with 9 Watt speakers built into it. Though it is good to have the peripheral attachment for an audio device, I couldn't really see to spend $1500 simoleons for something like a monitor, and really be expected to only use these crappy little speakers that come with the monitor. I mean why would these companies even bother with creating something that has great picture, and is the monster monitor that some of us want, and then proceed to put these under powered cell phone speakers into the monitor. Seems like a waste of development to me, get rid of the speakers, I never had a CRT that had them, why bother with something useless, save some money, pass it to your customers.

If it didn't have them there'd be someone else here posting "lol $1500 and they can't even put in some basic $2 speakers, even my $100 TN monitor from 10 years ago has some"

[vanished]

9 minutes ago, Glenwing said:

If it didn't have them there'd be someone else here posting "lol $1500 and they can't even put in some basic $2 speakers, even my $100 TN monitor from 10 years ago has some"

You're probably right  but it just seems like a waste to me too.  It's a monitor, just do that.  I don't expect my speakers to have tiny little screens in them.

[paddy-stone]

I kind of agree with you, as anyone willing to pay $1500 for a monitor probably won't mind paying an extra $200 for some decent speakers... but at the same time I personally wouldn't pay that kind of money for a monitor anyway, and I actually like having speakers in my monitors. The ones in my LG ultrawide aren't bad actually, they don't sound "tinny", and have decent enough sound. My 55" 4K UHD TV aslo has decent enough sounding speakers that I put away my soundbar as it wasn't needed anymore and took up valuable space (it was a BIG soundbar that I'd had for quite a while), so onboard speakers still have their uses.

It seems daft to me to dismiss speakers as "useless" without even trying them in the first place. You might be spending that $200 on stand alone speakers for no reason afer all.

[vanished]

43 minutes ago, paddy-stone said:

I kind of agree with you, as anyone willing to pay $1500 for a monitor probably won't mind paying an extra $200 for some decent speakers... but at the same time I personally wouldn't pay that kind of money for a monitor anyway, and I actually like having speakers in my monitors. The ones in my LG ultrawide aren't bad actually, they don't sound "tinny", and have decent enough sound. My 55" 4K UHD TV aslo has decent enough sounding speakers that I put away my soundbar as it wasn't needed anymore and took up valuable space (it was a BIG soundbar that I'd had for quite a while), so onboard speakers still have their uses.

It seems daft to me to dismiss speakers as "useless" without even trying them in the first place. You might be spending that $200 on stand alone speakers for no reason afer all.

My issue is they're worse than useless since they will take up room in the monitor and add to the price tag, but provide no value since they will sound terrible compared to any real separate speakers you can buy

 

Edit: well, not any speakers you can buy, but any speakers you should be buying  

Edited June 16, 2017 by Ryan_Vickers

[Glenwing]

1 hour ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

My issue is they're worse than useless since they will take up room in the monitor and add to the price tag, but provide no value since they will sound terrible compared to any real separate speakers you can buy

 

Edit: well, not any speakers you can buy, but any speakers you should be buying  

The value is purely in convenience. I use headphones, so I don't have fancy speakers. But having speakers can come in handy once in a while, but not often enough to be worth investing in good speakers, or dedicating desk space to them.

 

Also we should consider it's unlikely removing a feature will affect the price unless it can save $50–100. I somehow doubt removing cheap speakers from a $1500 monitor would cause them to set the MSRP at $1487.50 instead. It would still be $1500, just now without any speakers at all.

[vanished]

23 minutes ago, Glenwing said:

The value is purely in convenience. I use headphones, so I don't have fancy speakers. But having speakers can come in handy once in a while, but not often enough to be worth investing in good speakers, or dedicating desk space to them.

 

Also we should consider it's unlikely removing a feature will affect the price unless it can save $50–100. I somehow doubt removing cheap speakers from a $1500 monitor would cause them to set the MSRP at $1487.50 instead. It would still be $1500, just now without any speakers at all.

I don't expect them to subtract the cost of adding them since if they only charged what it cost, everything would be a lot less.  I'd expect them to subtract the extra they think people are willing to pay for them, which is the problem - this number is probably a bit higher, and also probably something that will remain forever a mystery unless you know of a monitor sold in two near-identical models, one with and one without speakers.

 

Basically, I'm betting that they're not throwing in the speakers for free.  If they are, I can see what you're saying, but I just doubt that they are.  I'm betting they build a monitor they would otherwise sell for X, throw in speakers that cost Y, and then sell it for something more than X+Y since it has the amazing feature of incredible audiophile-grade surround speakers, or however they'll spin the marketing.

[Luurch]

Linus did a story couple of months ago now with the 6 speakers int he bottom of the monitor. I guess I want to rant a little bit, I bought a couple of new monitors a couple months ago, and all three are the same now, everyone once in a while the speakers on the monitors will pick up as default when I reboot or start up fresh, and bothers the hell outta me. And I would never pay 1500 for a monitor, even if I had it to blow for no reason. 
I love my Bose 2.1 speakers that I have, I also have a pair of headphones I use to block out the world now and then. 

[paddy-stone]

I like the TVs with soundbar idea that xiaomi started a year or 2 back, with the innards in the soundbar and a single cable going to the TV for the video and power delivery... I noticed there's at least one more company going that direction now. Makes sense to me, the TVs are much thinner/lighter and wall mountable without too much trouble, even magnetic now too... plus, if they followed suit with xioami should be upgradeable, just having to get a new screen OR soundbar and not both if you don't want.

Seriously, next time you're in the market for a TV, at least try the speakers without dismissing them offhand... yes they might need a little tweaking, but most TVs need their settings tweaked anyway. Not so sure about monitors, my LG (um68 IIRC) didn't need the display tweaked at all, at least to my eyes... well maybe the brightness.

[mach]

The sad truth is the large majority of people (I mean seriously most of people in the world) don't care about sound quality. Having sound at all is good enough for them. Just look at how many people use those abominable $10 earbuds (or those come with their phone) on the street. They don't have the concept of having speakers beside their monitors. 

I know they are horrible because I am an audiophile. In the same way I'm totally fine with my phone's camera but it must be a joke in eyes of camera enthusiasts.