£100 (approx) for a complete Sound System
- Thread starter Big Dee
- Start date
Hi fish99,
The PC will be for home ofice use and used mainly for internet, email, watching movies and some photo editing. Games may be played but this will not be my primary use.
As a first PC, I thought I'd buy a good sound system once and for all to see me through for a few years.
I have not decided on the motherboard, still trying to get some recommendations on that for an AMD 64 X2 3800+ cpu.
Therefore I'm not sure about which mobo will have on-board sound.
Cheers.
The PC will be for home ofice use and used mainly for internet, email, watching movies and some photo editing. Games may be played but this will not be my primary use.
As a first PC, I thought I'd buy a good sound system once and for all to see me through for a few years.
I have not decided on the motherboard, still trying to get some recommendations on that for an AMD 64 X2 3800+ cpu.
Therefore I'm not sure about which mobo will have on-board sound.
Cheers.
Well no point in splashing out on a soundcard until you've chosen your motherboard and you know whether it has onboard sound. TBH most of them do have onboard sound now. The Audigy 4 7.1 OEM at £35 is good value though.
Sounds like movies and games is the intended use then, rather than music. In which case you need to decide whether you want 2.0 (stereo), 2.1 (stereo with subwoofer) or 5.1 (5 sats + subwoofer). Obviously a lot of movies and games support surround sound.
If you're happy with 2.1 though, Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers are highly rated for £82. Acoustic Energy are a hi-fi brand so they know how to make speakers. If you want 5.1, things are a bit more tricky cause there's a hole in the market around £100. There's Logitech Z-5400 at £130 which includes digital inputs and a decoder. Below that price there's lots of samey cheap 5.1 systems in the £50-80 price bracket, but none of them really stand out.
Only consider 2.0 if you don't have room for a subwoofer, because they often struggle to produce decent bass.
Sounds like movies and games is the intended use then, rather than music. In which case you need to decide whether you want 2.0 (stereo), 2.1 (stereo with subwoofer) or 5.1 (5 sats + subwoofer). Obviously a lot of movies and games support surround sound.
If you're happy with 2.1 though, Acoustic Energy Aego M 2.1 Speakers are highly rated for £82. Acoustic Energy are a hi-fi brand so they know how to make speakers. If you want 5.1, things are a bit more tricky cause there's a hole in the market around £100. There's Logitech Z-5400 at £130 which includes digital inputs and a decoder. Below that price there's lots of samey cheap 5.1 systems in the £50-80 price bracket, but none of them really stand out.
Only consider 2.0 if you don't have room for a subwoofer, because they often struggle to produce decent bass.
To clarify, the PC won't be used for gaming (maybe only very occcasionally) and I forgot to mention I will be listening to music too.
Given the choice, I would like to go for a 5.1 system but £130 is probably too expensive for me. Can you suggest any systems £50-80? I know you said there's a lot about.
I assume that if the Audigy 4 7.1 OEM is backward compatible and I could install a sound card at a later date, once the PC has been built.
Given the choice, I would like to go for a 5.1 system but £130 is probably too expensive for me. Can you suggest any systems £50-80? I know you said there's a lot about.
I assume that if the Audigy 4 7.1 OEM is backward compatible and I could install a sound card at a later date, once the PC has been built.
Soldato
The Aego M's win every time here I think. Unless you're willing to shop around for a second hand amp and speaker combo (a bit pointless for an office) I think those will offer the best sound and value.
You can install a soundcard anytime you like, as long as you have a free PCI slot.
Are the I-Trigue 5600 to much at £117? Below that I dunno really. I've owned the Logitech X-530, they were ok for £45. I seem to remember reading a positive review of the Altec Lansing 5100 which are about £60.
You probably want to get googling for reviews. You probably won't find someone who has used enough of these sets to say which is the best for <£100.
I agree with Tom, the Aego M's I mentioned will give you the best sound for your budget if you can live without surround sound.
Are the I-Trigue 5600 to much at £117? Below that I dunno really. I've owned the Logitech X-530, they were ok for £45. I seem to remember reading a positive review of the Altec Lansing 5100 which are about £60.
You probably want to get googling for reviews. You probably won't find someone who has used enough of these sets to say which is the best for <£100.
I agree with Tom, the Aego M's I mentioned will give you the best sound for your budget if you can live without surround sound.
No, they don't have the AL 5100. Creative 6060 look 'ok' (I've never heard them), but these cheap creative sets don't have good reputations usually. Hopefully someone will contribute to the thread who has tried some more of these <£100 5.1 sets.
Sure you don't want the Aego M's? Do a search for threads about them, they're well regarded and they're likely to produce a better sound than the 5.1 sets you are looking at.
Sure you don't want the Aego M's? Do a search for threads about them, they're well regarded and they're likely to produce a better sound than the 5.1 sets you are looking at.
I have not considered 2.1 because I thought that 5.1 gave the true surround sound. Seems reasonable?
It would be nice to hear 2.1 vs 5.1 but I guess it's difficult to hear the setups somewhere to appreciate them. I will take on your suggestion though. Cheers.
It would be nice to hear 2.1 vs 5.1 but I guess it's difficult to hear the setups somewhere to appreciate them. I will take on your suggestion though. Cheers.
It's just the two uses you list for the speakers are movies and music. Movies - clearly surround sound is better (although everything over about 10-15 years old was recorded in stereo), but for music - it's all recorded in stereo, so stereo speaker are superior if you want an acurate soundstage.
The other point we're getting at is that with Aego M you're paying £80 for three speakers, whereas with the Creative 6060 for instance you're paying £50 for 6 speakers, so that's over three times cheaper per speaker, so you can guess at the difference in sound quality. Plus Creative have never made good speakers themselves, the only half decent speakers they put out are the Megaworks/Gigaworks lines which are made for Creative by Cambridge Soundworks. Acoustic Energy on the other hand make proper hi-fi speakers so they know their stuff. What Hi-fi gave the Aego M five stars.
Just depends how much you want surround sound. Maybe wait until you can afford some decent 5.1 speakers.
The other point we're getting at is that with Aego M you're paying £80 for three speakers, whereas with the Creative 6060 for instance you're paying £50 for 6 speakers, so that's over three times cheaper per speaker, so you can guess at the difference in sound quality. Plus Creative have never made good speakers themselves, the only half decent speakers they put out are the Megaworks/Gigaworks lines which are made for Creative by Cambridge Soundworks. Acoustic Energy on the other hand make proper hi-fi speakers so they know their stuff. What Hi-fi gave the Aego M five stars.
Just depends how much you want surround sound. Maybe wait until you can afford some decent 5.1 speakers.
Soldato
Have you seen the bundle on here fo0r the x-fi xtreme and the creative 5.1 speakers for £105
Big Dee said:
Asus A8N-E has Realtek ALC850 onboard sound, so it's probably not worth buying a dedicated soundcard, especially since you're not a gamer. You might want to check though that either the ALC850 or your DVD player software can do Dolby Digital/DTS decoding to make sure you get surround sound in movies.
Hi Meatloaf,
The bundle for the x-fi xtreme and the creative 5.1 speakers is something I initially considered but I'd think about the 2.1 Aego M aswell.
Can anyone suggest a place where you can hear the various types/brands of speakers? It's be nice to hear it and then make a decision.
The bundle for the x-fi xtreme and the creative 5.1 speakers is something I initially considered but I'd think about the 2.1 Aego M aswell.
Can anyone suggest a place where you can hear the various types/brands of speakers? It's be nice to hear it and then make a decision.
Soldato
I think the purple shirt place would be the best bet. To be honest they're all very similar in sound, big brash boomy bass with tinny treble. Once you start spending a bit more it starts to even itself out, but the bass is still very overblown, especially for music.