I really like the Apple Pro Speakers. For a pair of small, portable speakers they're hard to beat in terms of clear, clean reproduction. And they're cheap. You can find a demo set for $29! Okay, the bass response is so-so, but they beat the heck out of most 2.0 speakers, and they really are cheap. For me, they beat the Bose Mediamates in a head-to-head comparison, and the Boses cost $100.
"But, Joe," you say. "I don't have a flat screen iMac or a G4 or G5 tower with the funny plug and built-in amp to drive these. I can't use these speakers." Enter the Griffin iFire. This little beastie incorporates the small (10-watt) amp needed to drive the Apple Pro Speakers. it just needs Firewire power. So you can hook it up to any Firewire-equipped Mac or PC: plug the iFire into the headphone jack, and the Apple Pro speakers in to the iFire and voila - you're golden.
"But, Joe," you say."I don't even have a Firewire port." Okay, then get yourself an iPod power supply ($45). Add the portable music source of your choice, and you've got an impressive little setup that takes up very little space. I'm currently using one set of speakers plus the iFire and iPod charger with my old portable CD player to provide a nice little system in the room where we do yoga.
We'll probably pick up another one of these for the other room because they really are a good deal for the price. And before all the audiophiles pronounce me tin-eared, we use the Creative Labs I-Trigue 3300s for the primary system when we really want to listen to the music.
