Looking for a set of 5.1 speakers.

Hi all,

I'm currently running a set of creative inspire T6100s off my x-fi gamer soundcard and feel its time for an upgrade. I already have a headset that I'm happy with for the odd occasion I need a microphone so don't want to consider earphones or a headset.

Basically I'm after something in the £200 to £300 price bracket, but it seems like my only choice in the world of PC speakers is the Logitech Z5500s which I'm not sure are right for me. The speakers are going to be used for everything, all kinds of music ranging from dance to pop to rock, gaming, and watching DVD's / blu-rays so I really need a good all round set.

What other options are open to me and can people suggest a good package? I'm aware I could go for a separate decoder and proper spekaers but then what would be the best way of hooking up to my sound card? If I use its optical out will I end up bypassing all the sound cards processing?

Thanks

35 views and not 1 suggestion?

If you can stretch a little further, for new you could get the Onkyo HTX-22HD kit, with the SKS11 addon speaker (about £350)

That'll give you an entry level av 5.1 surround kit, a low level amp built into the sub, with all the modern processing you'd expect in an entry level amp, and should sound better than the Logitech by a long shot, as well as being a lot more customisable.

Otherwise, with your price range you're going to be looking second hand, a lot of PC manufacturers dont really cater for this market, and a lot of HIFI/AV manufacturers aim above this segment.

Really depends where you want to go.

The likes of Logitech/Creative dont really provide much in the market you're looking for (AKA decent all round sound, not aimed at one thing).

If you're willing to go second hand, there's a whole realm of hi-fi kit just waiting to be re-bought and cherished!


If you go this route, then providing you have a reasonable sound card you can run 3.5mm to phono L/R cable connectors. MOST surround amps will allow you to input 5.1 or more this way.

Take a look at Phil2008's thread to see how successful this sort of setup can be with some tweaking and slow replacing of parts over time if need be for personal taste.

Thanks for the reply

That Onkyo system looks spot on, how would I go about connecting the x-fi up to it?



From looking at this picture it appears the only option would be optical? Am I right in thinking that I would then loose all the EAX effects that the sound card is capable off when gaming?

Yeah, I hadn't seen the inputs so couldnt comment, you'd either have to use coaxial or optical. This would disable most of the x-fi processing, but then IIRC the Onkyo amp build in has some processing anyway, so you'd likely be able to configure EQ etc there.
I cant remember whether you can use EAX with optical output or not.

Cheapest I've seen the HTX22 recently is about £250, whilst the extra speakers to bring it up to 5.1 are about 90.
You can actually use other speakers with the system as well as its basically just an entry level amp, so if you wanted, you could buy a second hand pair of bookshelves (higher quality) to use as fronts and relegate the original speakers to rears and hunt around for a cheap second hand matched center.
Some older Mission, Mordaunt Short or the likes should easily fit in under the £90 for the Onkyo.

If you upgrade to a newer GPU with onboard sound output in the future you could use that for sound also.

Thanks for your help

It definately gives me a bit more to mull over.

I do not even understand how you would get optical from the Xfi into the Onkyo? (also looking at doing the same thing.. i.e. was going to get the z5500 but now looking at other options and am new to the amp world )

deadkomodo said:

I do not even understand how you would get optical from the Xfi into the Onkyo? (also looking at doing the same thing.. i.e. was going to get the z5500 but now looking at other options and am new to the amp world )

Click to expand...

Sarcy answer...via an optical cable.

There's a little adaptor available (or a straight digital adaptor for one with a breakout box or front panel) that you just connect an optical cable to

Xonar do the same thing (combi jack with an adaptor).

To get full 5.1 via optical you MAY have to get the DD Live additonal pack for your Xfi card though, as this re-encodes everything into DD.

A second hand amp with full analogue input would be slightly easier in this regards; a lot of people dont buy amps without HDMI anymore, meaning older ones without sometimes go for a swansong (but would be perfect for this use!)

I am pretty much in the same situation, i was going to get the Z5500 but was put off by how much it had gone up in value from the last time i looked. But my surround sound set is packing in and i will need to look into a newer setup. Will be good to see what you end up with!!

Well I went into a big high street retailer today. not sure if I can say the name? But they were Super

Had a chat with them to see if there way anything new they could recommend for my needs within my budget and they suggested the Pioneer VSX 519 amp with the Kef KHT 1005.2 speakers.

Can get the lot for £500 (excluding cables which I can live with).

Any opinions?

Anyone?

i have the x-540s from logitech and they are amazing!! would certainly sugest you dont overlook thee z550s

There not really in the same league as what I'm looking at now if I'm honest. The Z5500s also present a problem as the controller cable doesn't seem to be long enough to put the sub the recommended distance away from my pc without it just being in the way.

BinnsY said:

There not really in the same league as what I'm looking at now if I'm honest. The Z5500s also present a problem as the controller cable doesn't seem to be long enough to put the sub the recommended distance away from my pc without it just being in the way.

Click to expand...

????

Controller has a remote so it can be anywhere so long as you can point at it so the short lead to the sub is not a problem.

Therefore, you only limit is the length of the optical/anologue leads from your pc to your controller. My controller is on the floor near the sub and I never look at it.

Oh the z-5500 rock as well. On full blast they make the ornements fall off the shelf on the other side of the room and they sound great coupled to my xonar. Great with music, games and films. They are THX rated which actually means something if you google it. They are the all round pc sound system IMO.

2nd hand perfect condition sets crop up on MM for around £130 to £150 (mine cost £140 from MM)

Wasn't aware of the remote which admittedly would make it easier, but if I'm honest the Z5500s didnt wow me last time I heard a set. They are definately loud and bassy but thats not what I'm after. I want the top quality mids and highs not just the volume and bass.

As I understand it the THX rating didn't mean quite so much these days as the standard is now 8 years old if I remember correctly. You can also get some pretty cheap speakers that are THx certified so I'm not going to be using just that as a benchmark.

The Z5500s are a good set, but I just dont think there going to deliver the quality that I could get with this set, though admitted there considerably cheaper, but I'm now more into the buy once buy right mentality.

I also like the fact that once I have the amp and speakers I could upgrade individual bits of it without having to replace hte entire system.

So yea, any one with any opinions on the amp and speakers I linked to?

Well I went today and had a listen. Considering the size of the demo room I was blown away (almost literally!) They gave out a stunning amount of sound. I was sat back a good.... 6 meters maybe, from the center speaking, watching spider man on a 108" projected screen, and the dialog sounded like it was right in front of me! Like literally. The sound just filled the room so well and was so crisp.

The really scary thing is that this was through the 519 amp which doesn't even play back the master audio soundtrack, with the 819 I've gone for it should be even better

I took a few of my own CDs and had a listen to Billie Jean by Michael Jackson as I think its a good all round track. Gaeta’s Lament off the Battlestar season 4 soundtrack which is all vocal and builds up to a massive battlestar crescendo and a couple of dance tracks with some nice heavy bass.

They all sounded stunning, it just didn't seem like the system struggle on any of the genres, the transition between mids and bass on Gaeta's Lament sounded perfect to me and apparently the 819 handles it all automatically where as this was relying on the generic settings that had set up before I got there. I left Billie Jean and Gaetas lament in normal stereo, but got him to turn on the upmixing for the dance tracks which sounded stunning. It handles it much better than my current setup which seems to double the bass whenever you do that kind of upmixing. It really re-created the club experience. The bass wasn't quite as intense as I expected, but if I'm honest it made it better. It was definately there, but sounded well blended rather than the overpowering bass I'm used to from my old car setup and in clubs. (The bass in my current setup is barely worth comparing)

Overall I was incredibly unpressed, unfortunately I've gone slightly over my budget and its cost me just short of £650. I had to spend another £25 on a 3 meter phono cable to connect the sub to the amp that I hadn't budgeted for, and the 22m of speaker cable came to just over £50. Luckily delivery was included in that and they let me pick the day and guarantee it before 12pm so I should have all day to play with it when it turns up They were also doing a deal where for every £100 you spend you get £10s worth of HMV vouchers, so even though I spent £50 more than I wanted, I will soon have £60s worth of HMV vouchers to make use of.

Overall I'm very very impressed and happy



But now there is round 2! I have the speakers sorted, now its time to get the headset sorted. I currently have the 5.1 Medusa's (awaits the onslaught) which if I'm honest I have always been happy with. If you set them up right (Which basically boils down to turning the bass redirection on, setting it to 200hz, with the boost and turning off cmss 3d) I think they actually sound pretty good, not great for music but fantastic for gaming with the bass they kick out. But after listening to these speakers I think its time to uprate my headset as well. After reading on here and doing some tests with an old set of sennheiser px-100s I have I'm very impressed by the cmss-3d effects and concede that there probably better than my 5.1 set for positional audio so I will definately be going to a stereo set of phones.

I'm willing to go to about £120 and at the minute the PC350s have caught my eye.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=SP-042-SN&groupid=702&catid=1058&subcat=

Having used the Medusas for so long I'm really pleased with the headset mic set up and I don't think I want to go for a seperate mic unless people on here can convince me the clip on ones are as good? I don't want a desk mic as I think I would have a tendency to lean into it or shout at it, but are the clip on ones as good as a proper boom mic?

If the clip on mics are a good match I might stretch to one of those and the 595s, would it be a noticeable difference?

These are going to be driven from the pioneer 819 amp I have gone for which is connected to my x-fi via analogue.

Any help on this bit would be appreciated

Anyone?

Glad you're finding a setup you're enjoying

At the money you're looking at on a headset, I'd say buy some Razer Carcharias and an extra set of Goldring DR150s, not the Senns!

The Sennheisers are reasonable but sell on the name; they use the same drivers as the 555 and 595 headphones, but with a different casing and design which mutes the base, and tends to emphasise the treble and upper mids, which makes them sharper, but a bit weak for music.

I recommend the Carcharias as the overclockers price of £60 (best in the UK pretty much) allows you to save £60, and unmodded they're meant to sound a little nicer overall than the Senn (there is a mod for the Senns which improves the bass...but you have to drill holes so could theoretically void warranty if you need it!). The Carcharias are one of the few sets of headsets I've ever seen recommended by someone who's used other equipment like the Senn 555/595, and are likened to the 555s, with equal quality, but with a mic attached.

If you want some better music phones, then get the Goldring's on top, as they can be had for about £50 and sound better than both [likened to somewhere between the 555/595 but closer to the 595 with a different presentation], although whether you notice it yet...

Either way the Carcharias from reviews and feedback should be one hell of a lot better than those Medusa, and if you want some music phones as well, see what you think of the Carcharias and if you want something a little better get the Goldring, or save up a bit more for something like some higher end Senns, AKG, Alessandro, Beyer etc.


You're remind me in a way I need to eventually upgrade my center speaker...it sounded fine with my old fronts, but sounds decidely weak compared to the 2 sets of floorstanders I changed to...

Thats actually not a bad idea, hadn't even considered going down a route where I get two sets.

If I'm honest I might just save myself the cash and go for the Carcharias' as I'm only going to be using the headset for gaming and possibly the very occasional late night music listening / movie watching but thats really what I have just spent £650 on speakers for

To drop the question to a more direct one then, or infact a more direct 2.

1. Purely for gaming, which is better the Carcharias or the PC350's?
2. Purely for gaming, which is better the Carcharias or the PC350's, factoring in the price?

Thanks

Carcharias mate

They give a slightly more full sound in the bottom end which will give you a more rounded experience, especially once they've loosened up after a few days of use (most phones can be a bit...dry for a day or two)

The PC350 would be better in they make vocals seem a little more exaggerated and surrounding noises (which can lead to an impression of increased clarity...when in fact it's not).

The Senns would have been worth it at say £80/90 if you were willing to do the mod perhaps, but not at £120.

Stolen from the head-fi thread:

ourfpshero/head-fi said:

so on to the razer- very nice box designed for store shelves! the headset itself seems well constructed, has velour earpads, cloth headband cushion, braided cable. i have read a few complaints about fragile cords
fit is circumaural (unless u have huge ears), little clamping pressure, and lightweight. very comfy, and no problems with extended use
so far so good.

the mic: on a non adjustable boom. works decent if not great. using the teamspeak test feature- my voice comes through clear. the steelsound is slightly better, the senn better still. the plantronics about the same.

the sound:
here's where it counts! sound is actually very nice for a headset. warm mids and highs, decent bass. sound is like a slightly bassy lower end audio technica. even kind of akg-k240-ish. details are present and works ok with music. probably the most musical headset i have heard. the senn (when stock) is harsh, the steelsound mechanical/cold, and the plantronics mid-bassy.

conclusion:
my fave stock headset for the moment. (the modded senn sound bigger and better but also costs 2x as much).

Click to expand...

Am tempted to grab a set myself right now for comparison purposes and not having to jury rig a clip-on to my Goldrings

I know the feeling on speakers too mate...originally my budget was the same as yours...I ended up buying a kit for over a grand with an RRP double that...then began upgrading the speakers!