apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

As an Apple user you may already be familiar with the Harmon Kardon Soundsticks. They sport a love them or hate them design but are well reviewed from sound and relatively inexpensive. If you wanted to think outside the box you could always go with the airport express to receiver to bookshelf / in-wall speakers. AT recently had a post about a similar setup which looked fantastic.

I would just go with a sub/sat system so you don't have anything too large. There are a million sets by Logitech/Creative/Klipsch, with small little speakers that are pretty innocuous. Anything "designed" will stick out to my mind.

Now if you are OCD about it (like I am) then you just suck it up and don't use the speakers, because they do add clutter no matter what you do. I use an Airport Express with speakers somewhat hidden elsewhere personally.

You should look at Gallo Accoustics. (www.roundsound.com). I recently picked up a pair of Nucleus Micro's in stainless steel. They look great, come in a wide variety of colors (white, black blue, red, stainless & more), and they sound superb. You can get a set that will blend in, or get a set that will stand out..but not in the eyesore kind of way.

I have a pair of studio monitors on my desk. I do work editing audio, so its important to have them, plus I like listening to music with great sound. In choosing my monitors though, esthetics was an issue. I picked a sweet-looking and sweet-sounding pair of monitors by JBL. They have a very industrial look to them - even have handles built into the side. While they are quite large and take up a decent amount of desk space, they blend in with my industrial-decor and shout "hey, I'm not a toy - I'm here for business".

I got the 4326's. The 4328's are too big for me. They are about $1000 a pair. You can buy a pretty pair of Bang & Olufsen's for $1000/pair, but they won't sound ANYWHERE near as nice as these

http://www.jblpro.com/products/recording&broadcast/LSR4300/index.html

you know, i use a pair of klipsch and they're excellent but a little big. if i were you, i'd look into these:

http://www.bose.com/controller?event=VIEW_PRODUCT_PAGE_EVENT&product=computer_speakers_subcategory&ck=0

the thin stand reminds me a lot of the metalwork on your desk. i think they'd complement your laptop and desk well.

One good choice would be a Tivoli Radio. They come in a variety of color schemes, have line-in (for your macbook), and subwoofer out capability if you wanted more boom.

If you can swing it, I would get a simple amplifier (in that lovely cubby on your desk) and a pair of these B&W CM-1s. They are the small ones - beautiful and surprisingly full of sound.

Monitors and computer speakers don't jive with my aesthetic tastes, but are another good option if you like the look.

Check out auxout.com. I have the model 400 in my home office now, but they have a new model called the Level that would fit perfectly on your desk and I guarantee they're the best sounding solution you'll find.

i also forgot cambridge soundworks pc works. the cubes are terribly tiny (about 2x2) with pretty decent sound.

I have some JBL Creature Speakers. They sound great, and I think they look pretty cool. Not too expensive either.

I like the suggestion of the Tivoli, though I would consider the clock radio model with the top-firing driver, and Steven could consider adding a second speaker for stereo.