Tech: The Cheapest Speakers in the World

I'm glad I have my trusty Klipsch 2.1 speaker set, since the speakers that arrived with my new computer are...interesting, to say the least.

When I first opened the box, I knew these things had very little chance of sounding good. They were small, light, and they just felt cheap. There was no subwoofer, which is never a good sign. Most problematic, though, is that they are powered via a USB connection to the computer itself.

Making sound waves move through air requires power, and relatively large amounts of it (my high school physics teacher emphasized it like this - "Whenever you physically move something, you're probably increasing the 'd' in 'F x d = work', and that means energy is expended"). To give a comparison, the Klipsch set uses 200 watts - more than even a top of the line desktop CPU.

A USB connection is probably not the best place to draw that power from. Yes, it simplifies hooking the speakers up, but why bother in the first place when you don't get passable sound? These things are so underpowered that my laptop speakers can keep up with them. I'm not sure what to do with them - maybe I'll take them to the range one day for some "creative disposal."