5.1 Speakers for P150EM

I am considering getting some speakers for my P150EM. My primary concern is with the on-board sound card. I want a set of speakers that work well without a dedicated sound card. Anyone have any suggestions? Something less than or around 80$ would be good.

 

The sound card is going to be the main determination on the quality of sound. You can get $80 speakers or $800 speakers but the sound wont be good unless the source provides good sound. I'd take some of your budget and get USB sound card then get them speakers with.

 

Just to confirm, you're saying that there is a big drop in quality without a sound card even if I only spend around $80 on speakers?

 

there's no "drop" in quality per se, it's more that clevo's on-board sound is pretty dismal to begin with. but most would agree with hutsady that you should start by looking for a cheap USB soundcard (like this or this) to go with whatever speakers you might decide on. and if you end up going with just a 2.0 setup, many people here would recommend the creative x-fi go! pro for both decent quality and mobility.

 

im using a 8 year old set of creative 5.1 speakers and after a few experiments with the P150EM you can do this and save on an external sound card.

5.1 speakers has black, green, yellow plugs.

plug the black into the headphone socket
the green into the mic socket (popup box pick speaker)
the yellow into the spdif socket (popup box speaker)

and it gives great sound.

 

Get the speakers and judge for yourself woukd be my advice. You can look for a 5.1 external card after if you want it.

 

As mattcheau mentioned there is not drop in quality, its just the quality isnt the best to begin with.
Just imagine if you took some very expensive speakers then hooked them up to a really cheap receiver, then you took those exact same speakers and hooked them up to a really nice receiver. You'd get better sound with the nice receiver even though its the same speakers.
As Meaker mentioned you could also get the speakers you want and try them out to see if you're happy with the sound quality. If not then look at USB sound cards.