PC Speaker System

[TinCow]

The left rear speaker of my PC system died a few days ago. It is a sad day, I've been using the same speaker system for over 12 years. I'd like some advice on what to replace it with. My current system is an Altec Lansing 5100, and I love it because of the small footprint of the speakers (2.5" x 2"). I really want to keep my desktop speakers as small as possible. These things do not need to put out a lot of sound, I only sit a few feet away at most. At the same time, I'm wondering if I really even need a 5.1 system. The way my desk is setup, it's impossible for me to actually have the rear speakers behind me. The rears are basically just to my extreme left and right, only a foot or two separated from front left and right. Dropping back to a stereo system would also reduce the number of wires I've got on and under my desk, and that's always a good thing. At the same time, I recall 2.0 system being significantly inferior for gaming, even with my non-optimal speaker placement.

So, anyone have any advice? I want a system that minimizes desktop real estate use and, if possible, wires, but still sounds good for gaming.

[Lemur]

Big fan of two-speaker systems, here. Never felt the needs to drill holes in the walls and surround myself with sound.

Lots of solid choices in the 2.1 arena. Logitech's top-end 2.1 gets consistently good reviews, for example.

If you're cursed with good ears, the M-Audios are basically studio reference monitors for your desktop. You can get them at a semi-reasonable price used.

As for surround v. stereo, I'll let someone who has experimented with both comment. I'm content with two channels, meself.

-edit-

This set looks intriguing, as well. Truthfully, speaker choice is terribly personal, and the best thing would be to take a CD you're intimately familiar with and demo some speakers at a shop. My current headphones, for example, got nothing but 5-star reviews, and I kinda hate them. The bass is boosted way the heck up. Maybe great if you're looking to jam out to some BF3 explosions, but they distort music beyond recognition. So ... try before you buy, if at all possible.

[TinCow]

Trying them out is actually an issue for me, as my local PC stores don't carry a very good stock of speaker systems. At the same time, my PC speakers only ever get used for gaming, so I don't need anything that's going to perform well for music or TV/film.

[Tellos Athenaios]

Depends what games you play, generally 3D stuff could benefit from a proper surround setup because of the 3d aspect*. Then again, it looks like you're basically arranging the outputs to be a glorified 2.1 anyway?

* Modulo support. For instance using SPDIF for gaming might not be such a great idea if the game cannot figure out that there's 5.1 on the other side instead of a simple stereo setup.

[TinCow]

I've been doing a bit of reading and I'm starting to think I should go to 2.1 + good headphones. For many games, surround sound is totally irrelevant, and I'd appreciate reclaiming some desk real estate and eliminating wires. For the games that do benefit from surround, good headphones might actually give me a better experience than 5.1 with the rear speakers placed to my sides.