Good laptop speakers?

JBL are good. loud, clear and good quality
http://www.amazon.co.uk/JBL-Duet-White-Mac-Win/dp/B0001W8EF0/ref=sr_1_17...
thats wat we have at home

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/6755713/Trail/searchtex...

I have these and they are very nice. Full control over the amount of bass you get through the subwoofer as well if you don't want too much.

Those look pretty good Alex. Looking through the argos catalogue, they look to be, on balance, the best option (good sound quality at an affordable price). I'm just not sure where I put the woofer; if I have the 2 main speakers on either side of my laptop on my desk, where's the woofer go: the floor? Sorry if this is a very stupid question; like I said, I know nothing about these things!

Wherever you like. I've got mine on the floor.

Ahh the age old question. Where to woof? The floor has pros and cons. In its favour, it allows for bass resonance effects with the floor to give you a much fuller sound, and placing the woofer on the floor is recommended practice for increasing sound quality.

However, those same resonance effects allow the bass to carry thoughout the building in which they reside a lot easier. This can piss off neighbours no end (as all you hear is the bass, not even any mid, which can make it a lot harder to tolerate as there isnt even any melody). Especially if all that separates you is thin plasterboard.

If you are concerned about not annoying your neighbours but want a reasonable bass responce to your music then there are several options. One suggestion that has only really become space-viable with the advent of non-CRT monitors is to place it behind the monitor. Another option, if you have a tower PC is to place it on top of the tower.

If for logisitcal reasons it needs to be on the floor, there are a number of ways to minimise the resonance effects that annoy people. First, make sure it is not in contact with any walls or desk sides. keep a small (about 1cm will do) air gap from any sides. To retard transmission to the floor, place the woofer on something acoustically soft such as a towel or a piece of foam.

Of course if you are living in a basement or have forgiving housemates/neighbours, then allowing the floor to resonate with the woofer gives a great texture of fullness to the overall mix.

Thanks for that Tim

With my laptop I generally use a pair of full range general purpose cabinets with 15 inch drivers and a pair of HF horns, one wide field, one narrow field, all driven by a 600W studio quality amplifier. This is good for light bedroom listening, but isn't really good enough if you want to play guitar/bass/drums/synths along to whatever you're listening to. For that I recommend the following system: