2.1 Speaker System For £300-£400

S.A.S

S.A.S

S.A.S

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Hi guys i need a new 2.1 speaker system as my old cheap one just died but i want to invest a little bit of money into it and try and get some great performers, im not an audiophile by any means but i think we can all agree that we want to hear sound the way it was meant to be heard :). its mainly for music and movies as i game using a headset. i've been looking at Bose and Bowers & wilkins, but i do not have much knowledge of the sector to know if i'm looking at the best for my price range.

any help would be great
 
These are pretty good, google WHARFEDALE DIAMOND 9.1 SPEAKERS & SW150 SUBWOOFER 2.1 SPEAKER PACKAGE, offer on for £229, reduced from 430! Then use extra for receiver, seperates, best way forward ;)
 
No point buying such a sound card, if you are going to use the digital connection. You have to use analogue connection to the card, otherwise it's a waste of money.
 
A separates system is the way to go if you want decent sound, some of the high end pc speakers are good but but i find sound a little clinical.
What motherboard are you using and does it have optical out? That way you can send the audio stream direct and let the receiver do the decoding.
Some pretty good value for money receivers out there for about £230 from the likes of onkyo/yamaha/sony, and use with the package i mentioned above or just get 2 bookcase speakers an add a sub at a later date. And if you ever want to expand the system it is easily done when funds allow.
 
Nickolp1974 said:
A separates system is the way to go if you want decent sound, some of the high end pc speakers are good but but i find sound a little clinical.
What motherboard are you using and does it have optical out? That way you can send the audio stream direct and let the receiver do the decoding.
Some pretty good value for money receivers out there for about £230 from the likes of onkyo/yamaha/sony, and use with the package i mentioned above or just get 2 bookcase speakers an add a sub at a later date. And if you ever want to expand the system it is easily done when funds allow.
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Hi, sorry for the late reply been very busy. i'm using a Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe motherboard which does have an onboard optical out. and i am very new to the whole separate audio devices such as recievers and speakers, if you could point me in the right direction to a decent receiver that would work with the speakers you first posted, i would be greatful
 
not sure if i can post a link, so have mailed you. Even though there not a competitor!!
if you go down that route, use a digital cable and go into your audio options and set to bitstream out, this will let the receiver do the decoding.

dont forget to factor in cables to your budget!!!

like i said earlier i would get the best receiver you can, speakers and cables and maybe get sub at a later date, unless you can afford to do the lot in one go.
 
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Will probably go for the Onkyo or Sony receiver with the speaker package you said in your original post. Thanks for your help.
 
Onkyo yes very good... Sony not too sure as I have had very little dealings with them. Denon are another good make. I have two Denon AV receivers, a 7.1 running Kef eggs and a BK sub and a 5.1 (+ Kef sub) waiting for the wife to give the go-ahead for me to upgrade the PC audio... and until we move into a bigger house that aint going to happen. *rolls eyes* I already get moaned at for the numer of speakers in the living room. This is where the PC is and I already have a VERY old creative 5.1 setup running so I have 15 speakers in the living room at the mo.... no wonder I get moaned at I suppose.
 
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I'd look at speaker size and positioning first. I've got some Wharfedale 10.1s but recently switched to Monitor Audio BR1 for my desktop. The Wharfedales are simply too deep.

For stereo sound you want a stereo amplifier. Don't bother with Onkyo/Sony/etc AV amps. They will not sound anywhere near as good as a cheap second hand (£100) or new (£250) stereo amp. Nad/Marantz/Denon/Arcam/Rotel/etc.

You may want to invest in a sound card as you'll be using analogue. Any of the lower end Asus Xonars will do.
 
HaloUK said:
Onkyo yes very good... Sony not too sure as I have had very little dealings with them. Denon are another good make. I have two Denon AV receivers, a 7.1 running Kef eggs and a BK sub and a 5.1 (+ Kef sub) waiting for the wife to give the go-ahead for me to upgrade the PC audio... and until we move into a bigger house that aint going to happen. *rolls eyes* I already get moaned at for the numer of speakers in the living room. This is where the PC is and I already have a VERY old creative 5.1 setup running so I have 15 speakers in the living room at the mo.... no wonder I get moaned at I suppose.
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How many!!! :)

Which BK sub do you have? I got the xxls400, nice little sub!
 
sadbuttrue said:
I'd look at speaker size and positioning first. I've got some Wharfedale 10.1s but recently switched to Monitor Audio BR1 for my desktop. The Wharfedales are simply too deep.

For stereo sound you want a stereo amplifier. Don't bother with Onkyo/Sony/etc AV amps. They will not sound anywhere near as good as a cheap second hand (£100) or new (£250) stereo amp. Nad/Marantz/Denon/Arcam/Rotel/etc.

You may want to invest in a sound card as you'll be using analogue. Any of the lower end Asus Xonars will do.
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While this is true regarding a stereo amp, expansion is very limited, what happens if you wanted 5.1?, you have to buy more amps! Or get active speakers And obviously a sound card is a must.
And if the op bought the wharfedales and a receiver and found them too deep, you only have to change the crossover point, problem solved, something else you cant do on most stereo amps, but i do agree that your suggestion will give better sound.
 
HaloUK said:
Yeh I know *grin* wife hates them and all the wires run along the skirting board.

I have a black XLS200-DF sub. Yes, cracking subs for the money. :)
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Consider your self lucky. Some poor chaps other half's moan if the speakers are slightly too large, unsightly, or don't blend in with the décor. Women! :p

To get away with having 15 speakers, she must be more forgiving than most. :D
 
Hey S.A.S, sorry, we are getting a bit out of sync here. I have owned Jamo in the past and found they give a nice bass sound. Mine were floor standers so cant comment on the book shelf speakers. I also have a pair of Wharfdale bookshelf speakers & a long centre speaker infact thats what I had as my first 5 (- the .1) system. I had the Jamo's at the front with the Wharfdale centre and the two wharfadales at the rear. Sounded good. Like peeps have said, its prolly a good idea to get a nice surround AV amp as you will be able to upgrade in the future. Its a shame im not looking to get rid of my Denon 5.1 and Wharfdale's (which are still in really good nic).... you could have had them.
 
HaloUK said:
Hey S.A.S, sorry, we are getting a bit out of sync here. I have owned Jamo in the past and found they give a nice bass sound. Mine were floor standers so cant comment on the book shelf speakers. I also have a pair of Wharfdale bookshelf speakers & a long centre speaker infact thats what I had as my first 5 (- the .1) system. I had the Jamo's at the front with the Wharfdale centre and the two wharfadales at the rear. Sounded good. Like peeps have said, its prolly a good idea to get a nice surround AV amp as you will be able to upgrade in the future. Its a shame im not looking to get rid of my Denon 5.1 and Wharfdale's (which are still in really good nic).... you could have had them.
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:D im just waiting and looking for stock at the moment of the Wharfadale Spekaers and Sub. yeah that is a shame :D

so it looks like im getting
ONKYO TXSR313

WHARFEDALE DIAMOND 9.1 SPEAKERS & SW150 SUBWOOFER 2.1 SPEAKER PACKAGE


sorry for sounding stupid guys but what sort of cables would i need to buy for this system? i've never bought a seprate setup before :)
 
S.A.S said:
:D im just waiting and looking for stock at the moment of the Wharfadale Spekaers and Sub. yeah that is a shame :D

so it looks like im getting
ONKYO TXSR313

WHARFEDALE DIAMOND 9.1 SPEAKERS & SW150 SUBWOOFER 2.1 SPEAKER PACKAGE


sorry for sounding stupid guys but what sort of cables would i need to buy for this system? i've never bought a seprate setup before :)
Click to expand...




Nice:cool:

Speaker cable x2, if you can dont get the real cheapo stuff
Subwoofer cable, usually a single phono lead
1 optical cable

I would get a long sub cable, due to positioning, a poorly placed sub can either sound to boomy or non existent.
What you do is place the sub where you would listen(on a chair/sofa), play some music and get on your hands and knees and crawl around the room! Where it sounds best to you, that if possible is where you place it.
If it has a frequency control on the back of the sub set that to max and let your receiver set the crossover, usually about 80hz to begin.
 
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one last thing regarding cables.

are you using onboard gfx or do you have a gfx card??? if so does it have hdmi?
if your using onboard and through hdmi from your mobo, there should be an option in your audio setting to set this to "hdmi passthrough" this would be the best option because if you were to play any blu ray movies you could then let your receiver decode the TrueHD/dtsHD, optical can NOT do this.

so to clarify if hdmi audio is an option then use it, if not get an optical cable.
 
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