Micca PB42X Powered Bookshelf Speakers, 30-Watt RMS Power, Active Near Field Studio Monitors, 2-Way (Black, Pair)

10 reviews for Micca PB42X Powered Bookshelf Speakers, 30-Watt RMS Power, Active Near Field Studio Monitors, 2-Way (Black, Pair)

1. 

   5 out of 5

   CoolGeek – January 23, 2020

   I finally replaced some really old Labtec (Logitech bought Labtec in 2001 so yeah, they were old) PC speakers with these. The Labtecs had good sound but these were a major step up. I haven’t put them through the paces but so far the frequency response seems to be flat as it should be for a pair of monitors. The 15 watts per channel is more than adequate for listening to music while I work and if I choose to crank them up, the sound remains clean without distortion. They won’t shake the house with deep bass but Micca specifications indicate frequency response down to 60 Hz and that is probably as good as you will find without a subwoofer.

2. 

   5 out of 5

   Some Guy – February 22, 2020

   First of all, let’s be clear, there are several products here; two versions of a standard bookshelf (one with crossover and one without), two versions of a center speaker, and a powered bookshelf speaker. This number of products makes it difficult to read reviews and ask questions. This review is for the latter, the powered speaker.If you are hooking this powered speaker to a turntable (one without an internal amp), you will need a preamplifier. Without a preamp, you will get very little sound. The preamp also gave me a place to ground the turntable and eliminate a slight buzz.If you are using these powered speakers speakers with a CD player, a radio, or (perhaps) an iPod or phone, a preamp should not be necessary.All that having been said, these are pretty darn good speakers. So good, in fact, I’m ordering another set (standard bookshelf speaker with crossover) for my receiver. Great price to performance ratio.

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Amazon CustomerAmazon Customer – March 24, 2020

   So I did my research into buying an Audio-Technica vinyl player. Ended up needing a pair of speaker with it (this particular player I bought didn’t include a speaker). Came across these beauties, and after weeks of looking for details and how to connect it all, I ended up buying these Micca speakers along with some speaker wire, banana plugs, and a 3.5mm-to-RCA connector, thinking I would need all of that to connect to this vinyl player. This speaker already comes with speaker wire (about 4 feet, already stripped at the ends so you can just screw down on them on the “Output to Left” and the one on the left speaker). An amplifier is built into the speaker, so no need to buy one (it also warns against connecting to an external amp, as that will damage these speakers). It also came with a blue 3.5mm-to-3.5mm cord (about 2-2.5 feet long), so you can connect it to your computer, iPhone, etc. If you plan for your speakers to be more than 4 feet apart, I would recommend buying some longer speaker wire and a wire stripper to strip the ends (No banana plugs really needed). The sound is great!!!!!! And it gets really loud for being so small!! There is a very low whirring sound when no sound is coming through and it’s on, but it’s not very noticeable. Extremely pleased with the results and the sound quality!!!! GET THESE!

4. 

   5 out of 5

   MyPenName – April 23, 2020

   I bought these because I’m a little bit of a speaker freak, because the idea of powered speakers intrigued me, and because these were relatively cheap.I was not disappointed.First, let me tell you what these are not, and that’s high end audiophile kit. My usual “cheap” system is a 100 watt per channel rotel integrated amp with a PUr iPod dock/dac and Martin Logan lx16 speakers. Not amazing, but a definite step up from a Sony boom box.In my use of these, I plugged them in using an audioquest RCA cable directly to the DAC, and ran Spotify through in iPhone 4.The sound was…not bad actually. They played loud enough to comfortably fill my living room (15×14 feet, 8 foot ceiling). They would play at and a little above comfortable listening levels without noticeable distortion – though at higher levels (think 7/10 on volume) treble began to exhibit a slight harshness and the bass got a little boomy and hollow – you began to hear the harmonics of the enclosure as well as the drivers. I listened to bluegrass, classical guitar, pop rock (well, my wife listened to it…I kind of cringed in the corner), industrial electronica and metal. Surprisingly, sound quality remained pretty constant. They sound slightly better with Crooked Still than with Skinny Puppy, but they didn’t shrink from anything I played through them. Obviously with a 4 inch woofer, bass rolls off pretty early, but not as soon as you might think. An RCA sub out would be a welcome addition on these.I’d love to see these come out with more options – perhaps larger woofers and a built in DAC, but with an eye for budget so that folks who don’t want to spend $500 plus for some of the competition could have some other options to consider.So, all in all these paired with a good DAC are head and shoulders above any of the other “computer speaker” options I’ve heard – but only for the price I paid for them. These retail for what, $200? I paid a bit less than that buying them refurbished. The price I paid vs the quality I got make them easily the best deal on the market. At full price, well…it’s a hard call. These are a well put together speaker, but moving up $50, $100, $200, and you start getting into some speakers with more to offer. My advice to the potential buyer is to definitely pick these up if you find them refurbished, and if not, to definitely consider them, as they are a well built pleasant sounding speaker with a lot going for them. I will be finding plenty of uses (hook them to a cheap projector and have movie night for the kids in the backyard…really awesome computer speakers…always a good reason to have more speakers around the house) for these in the future, and may consider buying others – especially if they offer things like the DAC, sub out, and larger driver options.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Mitchell J. Dalton – May 22, 2020

   Firstly, I like to call myself a low budget audiophile. I’ve never had much money but I know good speakers when I hear them. I would love to own a $30,000 setup but I doubt that will ever happen. The pb42x’s are absolutely nothing like a proper setup. Not even close. But for desktop computer speakers? Holy frikin’ crap are these worth the measly $100.I’ll get into it here and why some people have given them 1 star. It’s because they probably are used to crappy Bose or Beats headphones that max out the lows and highs despite what’s going on with the source. Those little bluetooth speakers do the same thing. They throw in a cheap little “sub”, some “digital tuning” and max out the frequencies pop music is designed for. They force the sparkly frequencies and leave out the rest because they only have so much power and plastic to push so much air.These are a different story. They reproduce what you give them. If you want bass, you have to up the low frequencies on an equalizer. I was blown away how deep they actually go when you ask them to. Like, blowing my curtains around from air pumping out of the port deep. It’s like there’s a 8″ subwoofer in the room. It’s actually pretty amazing. I called my wife in the room and she said, “wow, what the heck”. They’ll crank mids and highs if you ask them to. They’ll get shrill and bright if you ask them to. Now, of course they’ll only go so far. Once you turn up the volume it all starts to die. These won’t work in a big room. No way. Even a mid-size living room, you’ll find the limit right around “loud”. But at a desk, or in a small room, the sound to cost ratio of these speakers are pretty amazing.tldr; in a small setting these sound like a movie theater. be sure to use an equalizer. they reproduce accurate sound, not over dramatized “sparkle frequencies” like Bose or Beats (but they can if you want). Again, accurate reproduction. Crank the lows and they’ll go low. Crank the highs and they’ll do it effortlessly. Leave it flat and they’ll do it nicely. 10/10

6. 

   5 out of 5

   spr0k3t – May 22, 2020

   These speakers are almost identical to the ones I use at work, only these have their own amplifier built in. The sound is rich and nearly flat tonal response with just a minor bit of DSP tweaking to get a near perfect monitor pair on the cheap. You can find the DSP corrections easily in a simple Google search. I have a pair of the unpowered MB42X set up with a dedicated AudioSource AMP-210 (75W per channel) and a modified Pioneer SW-8MK2 (Stereo Dave, Google it). I didn’t think the powered speakers were going to be nearly as good but I thought I would at least give it a try. I was honestly blown away. I love the fact that I can move the pair anywhere and they are not tethered to each other like a pair of bolas. I use this powered set as my desktop computer speakers and couldn’t be happier. If you are looking for a set of decent speakers for your desk, or just something to fill a small room, this is a great set. Just check out some of the other reviews on them.I only have a single complaint unrelated to the speakers. The delivery of these goodies came three days after the expected 2-day shipping. I blame the shipping company for this due to zero movement in three days at one of the known sorting locations.

7. 

   5 out of 5

   Trash Boat – July 2, 2020

   I can’t begin to describe how well these things are constructed. After reading dozens of reviews, I was sure they were going to sound good. Though I haven’t broken them in enough to really get a sense of the sound, I am blown away at the build quality. They look great, and feel great. I seriously can no believe for the price how phenomenal across the board these things are. I purchased the self powered version, which came with all required cabling (3.5mm, AC power adapter, and speaker cables).

8. 

   5 out of 5

   Paul Kelly – September 29, 2020

   Well, after about six to eight hours each of critical listening with the Edifier R1280T and Micca PB42X, my audio jury has returned a verdict.Honorable audiophiles, the jury has determined that the Micca PB42X will remain atop my desktop as my speaker of choice.Both speakers are excellent for this budget range. But the clarity, especially in the mid-range, and separation of the Miccas win. The difference was noticeable from the second I first turned them on, and the sound only has improved further as the woofers have loosened and the bass gets a bit more thump.The Miccas are a 9/10 for me, while the Edifiers are an 8.5/10. The Miccas would be close to perfect if they had the same power as the Edifiers (42 watts for Edifier compared to 30 for the Micca) and the bass and treble knobs of the Edifiers.But the true banana plug speaker connectors of the Micca compared to the spring-activated pin connectors of the Edifier are a nice little plus for the Micca. I also love the uncluttered, magnetic grills of the Micca. Doesn’t block any of the sound, and it’s SO easy to remove the grills for listening and put them back on when done.But the Micca sound prevails, especially for me. I prefer a balanced sound for my favorite genres — rock, jazz, Americana/roots and progressive house/melodic deep house. I’m not a huge basshead.You can’t go wrong with either of these speakers. The Edifiers are for you if you want a $100 powered speaker set with solid bass at the expense of some mud in the mids. But if you want a powered speaker that has more balance and sounds more like a monitor with a few sprinkles of color, the Micca PB42X is the pick for $110.

9. 

   5 out of 5

   Amazon Customer – January 18, 2021

   These are perfect for my work speakers. I currently have these hooked up to my desktop. I have them maybe set at 50% volume and the clarity is perfect. Perfect sound. Not a ton of bass but for the clarity of these it makes up for it. Great clean music with a full sound. Not missing anything. Sure you could hook a sub up but these are not lacking in anyway. Beyond happy with these speakers

10. 

    5 out of 5

    Shopping Bag – January 18, 2021

    Wow! Read several reviews of these powered speakers, as well as a few audiophile blogs, all of which said these were hands-down the best small powered bookshelf speakers for the money. THEY WERE RIGHT! I bought these to use as speakers/monitors for my 27″ iMac and couldn’t be happier. The sleek design of the speakers compliment the sleek design of my iMac and they sit on my desk on either side of the iMac and about about 2″ out from the edge of the computer. The stereo imaging of these speakers in this position is ASTOUNDING! When the sounds coming out the speaker are panned to one side or the other, there is very clear stere separation on the Miccas; when centered, the sounds appear to be coming right out of the screen! Cannot believe the clarity and imaging. On the sound quality front, they are the best $89 speakers I’ve ever heard and could seriously compete with bookshelf speakers that cost 10x more. Do yourself a favor and get these right now.