£200 for amp and speaker setup

yantorsen

yantorsen

yantorsen

Permabanned
Joined
26 Jul 2007
Posts
3,583
Location
Coventry
As in title. I want a 2.1 system with an amp. Not sure what's good or really anything about sound hardware. At this bduget is it better just to get gd Pc speakers. And how much difference does a sound card make to music?

If you think it's worth it I could probably stretch to £250 but I would rather not.


thanks guys :)
 
yantorsen said:
As in title. I want a 2.1 system with an amp. Not sure what's good or really anything about sound hardware. At this bduget is it better just to get gd Pc speakers. And how much difference does a sound card make to music?

If you think it's worth it I could probably stretch to £250 but I would rather not.


thanks guys :)
Click to expand...

Hmm, tricky. Do you really want a seperates set-up for just 2.1 sound from a PC?

Aego do some corking 2.1 PC speakers well in that budget with high marks across the board.

For £200 Yamaha and Samsung both do 5.1 Amp and Speaker packages. Then there's the Logitech z-5500's- a 5.1 PC speaker set for £200 (ish) that I use for my home cinema set-up and you'd struggle to better for under £800. Seriously.

You can get very good speakers for music/games/movies from the likes of Creative/Logitech/Aego for well withing your budget, anyway mate :)

Also, yes. A good soundcard makes a BIG difference. If you factor in, say, £65 from your £200 for that you can still get good speakers.

My PC has Creative iTrigue 2.1's that cost about £80 4 years ago and they still sound great.

Hope this helps :)
 
home cinema set-up and you'd struggle to better for under £800. Seriously.
Click to expand...

I very much doubt that..
Onkyo TX-SR505E (RRP £250)
Q Acoustics 1000 speakers (1010 5.1)
(RRP £499)
30m QED Original speaker cable (RRP £90)
10 gold plated 4mm plugs (RRP £10)
5m Subwoofer lead (RRP £15)
1m Digital optical lead (for Sky) (RRP £10)
1m Digital coaxial lead (RRP £10)
On-screen menu lead (RRP £10)
Total RRP - £895
Hot Deal - £745
Save over £150!
2 year guarantee

You won't get much Hi-Fi seperates for £250, new for speakers and amp, although you'll get a good one from lowest model budget stereo integrated amp.

That's if you want seperates, if you plan to connect several things to your audio system I would go down this route....do a search with people have I/O limitations with PC speakers.
 
thaks for your help guys.

I only really want it for music. I'm intrested in surround sound or anything else.

so does the soundcard help much just for music? so what would you recomend?
 
I just bought the Logitech Z5500's and have been very impressed with them from everything from gaming, music (nightwish & android lust) right through to watching dvd's and shouting as the borg assimilate people. I was a bit shocked at first when I saw the size of the sub as it was twice the size of my previous C.S.W 3500 package! So if you are considering it make sure you have room.

I did also upgrade my sound card at the same time from a Audigy ZS2 to an X-Fi Elite Pro (for all the extra sockets).

I was able to do some tests (old soundcard + new speakers
old speakers + new soundcard) and there was a noticable difference in me moving between a Audigy 2 ZS and Elite Pro, but I think its the speakers that made the big difference.
 
there was a noticable difference in me moving between a Audigy 2 ZS and Elite Pro, but I think its the speakers that made the big difference.[/QUOTE]

thts wht i really wanted to know. So I think i'll get the 2.1 verion of those speakers whatever there called, and wht soundcard? I only need it for music, gaming isn't something I'm bothered about neither is films.
 
If you have any interest in sound quality don't touch the PC speakers side of things. A Nad 320BE at £150 plus second hand standmount speakers will totally destory the likes of Logitech speakers.
 
That NAD is £150 new. If your amp is quality seperates, it should be fine (barring things like capaictors aging etc)

So even with that NAD you still have £100 spare, that will get you budget second hand speakers.
 
and that will give me better sound quality than pc speakers? I don't really know anything about sound hardware :S

so you're saying my old amp would be as good as a modern one? I'll found out what its called tonight, but its pretty old it my dads one from when he was at uni lol.

and where do u get all this stuff from? any sites?
 
Yes far higher sound, build quality. Plus more inputs. I'm using something like this and this for PC audio.

http://europe.rotel.com/series06/specs/ra04.htm
http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=2301&sc=hf

A older, higher quality amplifier will be better than a newer, cheaper one. Technology hasen't changed in amps, pretty much the same. There a few discount Hi-Fi shops around probably can't name them. You could get that NAD plus 330163396644 that's on the auction site, £80 with stands..bargain. In another league compared to those Logitech's.
 
thanks for you're help.

I'm still a little confused. And I wanted a 2.1 setup because I like loads of bass. those sites don't say how much the things cost. so I'm notr really sure what I'm looking at. I have a guitar amp aswell don't suppose there's anyway of using that is there?
 
And I wanted a 2.1 setup because I like loads of bass.
Click to expand...

A standmount speaker will give out cleaner bass than a cheap PC subwoofer, in a small room you won't need a sub. In fact I have to dial down bass from my PC standmounts.

Don't use a guitar amp for Hi-Fi.
 
I would ditch the CD player and spend more on the amp...get the CDP later. That NAD 320BE is a higher quality amp. If your PC is a source you use that for music/games. No need for a CDP if your music is in flac, and have a quality soundcard.

I don't use my CDP anymore (Squeezebox's instead)
 
ahh yeh just fort it seemed like a gd deal, and i cnt seem to find the Nad 320be anywhere? and what is flac?

and my dad's old amp is a Rotel RA-500, and it's over 20 year's old. is it any good? and considering it's age how would i connect to the Pc same as usual?

here is a pic of it (not my actual one)

http://photos02.allegro.pl/photos/oryginal/240/56/29/240562933

and how do i know if speakers match and everything? what do i need to look for?
 
Last edited:
I would use that Rotel for now, spend your budget on speakers. That amp looks like standard RCA inputs, so just use 3.5mm stereo to stereo RCA cable.

That's if the Rotel is in GWO, I'd take it to a Hi-Fi shop and get it tested, also use it to demo speakers.

Flac is lossless audio, you rip your CD's to flac and playback in Winamp or Foobar. That's if your PC is the source for music, it will be until you buy a CDP.
 
so is flac like higher quality or something?

The amp does work my dad used it up until about 5 years ago because my mum told him to take it out the lounge because it looks ugly. if it works does that mean it's working fine? or should i still get it checked over incase anythings deteriated?

so my amp and some new speakers will sound better than say... Logitech Z-2300's? if so could you recomend some speakers? and maybe a sub.

thanks for the advise :D

edt. just read up on flac, can you convert mp3's to flac? or just CD's?
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom