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Comment by Jhsto | Hacker News Reader

Where I'm from everyone is using Genelec speakers.

In my home office I have a little Onkyo (CR-N575) desktop receiver and it sounds okay at best. I keep wondering if replacing the default speakers would make much of a difference? I'm doubtful because the amp itself isn't great.

I clearly don't know much about amplifiers, but the specs say "RMS output power: 20W+20W (1 kHz, 10% THD 6 ohm)" which is terrible, right?

https://www.intl.onkyo.com/downloads/manuals/pdf/cs-n575d_ma...

20W per channel at 10% distortion is pretty bad. The $350 powered speaker mentioned elsewhere in this subthread claims < 0.05% amplifier THD at 100W total power, and total distortion including the speaker of < 0.5% at 85dB SPL, which is an uncomfortably loud output.

On another line of the spec sheet I linked to, they say:

> 12W+12W (1kHz, 0.9%, T.H.D 6ohnm)

Which isn’t terrible. I have no idea how to read these spec sheets.

Difficult to answer the question without knowing the OP's budget, but I agree on the Genelec line. $700 for a pair of their smallest powered speakers, and they sound great. What you are getting from these little speakers would have been considered quite exotic a few decades ago: individually-driven speakers with active crossovers and equalizers. For a couple thousand dollars you can put together a system that would have cost more than a house 25 years ago.

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