Best soundcard, monitors, and subwoofer combination for lapt

[Rellik]

Hey, my current computer is going to be taken by another member of my family, so I will be getting a laptop in its place (roughly the same specs, probably). Anyway, since I will need speakers anyway to go with the laptop, this would be a good time to think about getting studio monitors. And I've also heard that you need a sub-woofer to go with the monitors, or else you wont have bass. And of course for all this, you'd need a sound card!

I don't need the super fancy expensive stuff: the less expensive the better. I just need some monitors that are not horribly colored and can take a good amount of volume, unlike my current computer speakers, which annoyingly start to crackle way before they should (volume-wise). To tell you the truth, it sounds to me like my Boston BA745 computer speakers are perfectly transparent and have no problems other than that wierd crackling thingy (although of course this is impossible). Is it possible that I won't even notice the difference between listening with monitors and listening with computer speakers?

And of course I need a subwoofer that would suit the monitors (correct?). And I need a soundcard that has fast ASIO drivers and sounds good. I don't know if it can be internal or if it needs to be external. These are all mysteries to me, although i've read about them sometimes. Any recommendations? Remember, all this is for a laptop, so keep that in mind.

Are the Edirol MA-10D's any good? They look good, and are pretty inexpensive. Then again, I know nothing; I don't think I've ever even seen a pair of a studio monitors, so even if I were to go and listen to some to try them out, I wouldn't know what I was hearing. Thanks for the help.

[VitaminD]

look in the yellowpages for instrument sales or musical instrument sales ..something like that.. then phone around and ask if they sell studio monitors.

if you live near a larger city (in the US), chances are you are living near an instrument store part of a larger chain (like guitarcenter or samash)

just walk into one and go to the pro audio / studio monitors area..

my best idea I can come up about this is.. listen to some music (cd's) that you are familiar with on your current speakers.. then take that music to the store and listen to it on a couple sets. maybe even listen to them in one of the more pricer sets (the sets costing a couple grand) and listen to how they sound.. then go for what sounds closest to your ears to them that is in your budget..


maybe thats a bad idea.. but who knows.. a thought

[Jeremy_NSL]

I wouldn't recommend mixing w/ a sub. Its really hard to balance the sub w/ monitors, making it very likely your bass balance will be off on your tracks.

Best just to spend every penny you can on some full-range monitors that can reach 25-30 hz with a little bit of power.

[7XL]

What?????