How best to get Surround Sound from optical?

Ultra_Extreme · 21 Nov 2006 at 01:22

Hi guys, first time in here.

I have a 360 and also use it as a media extender. Was wondering what reasonably priced methods are available to me for me to get the optical signal out of my 360 and into some 5.1 speakers, for games and movies.

Phil99 · 21 Nov 2006 at 01:44

Depends what your definition of reasonable price is really...I know that's not a very helpful answer but it'd really help to get some sort of price bracket + idea of the room size.

You could go with a Creative decoder for about £50-£80 I think they are and hook them up to a normal PC 5.1 set, go with a PC set with decoder box included for a bit more, or if you're going to spend a bit more go with proper seperates, but that starts to get a bit expensive.

Ultra_Extreme · 21 Nov 2006 at 01:50

Phil99 said:
Depends what your definition of reasonable price is really...I know that's not a very helpful answer but it'd really help to get some sort of price bracket + idea of the room size.

You could go with a Creative decoder for about £50-£80 I think they are and hook them up to a normal PC 5.1 set, go with a PC set with decoder box included for a bit more, or if you're going to spend a bit more go with proper seperates, but that starts to get a bit expensive.

yeah, well ive got a bid in on the bay for a DTS decoder from creative

HERE

Which i could add to my current PC speakers for decent sound, would this do what im after? Im not after a £500 seperates setup because id rather get a HD first

james.miller · 21 Nov 2006 at 01:57

that decoders on £87 already :confused:

you can get a full 5.1 amp for less than that

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/YAMAHA-AV-REC...280QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item160053341085
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Yamaha-DSP-AX...650QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item270054640327

buying a decoder like that is throwing your money away. i dont see the logic in buying £100's worth of creative decoder just so you can use your pc speakers. thats wasting money.

Ultra_Extreme · 21 Nov 2006 at 04:09

wow those options look more inviting. Whats the difference then? was it just that that Creative one does 7.1 DD-EX? ah its all greek to me this audio stuff. So one of those amps would be quite nice for a DTS/DD gaming/movie setup yeah? Bearing in mind im not much of an audiphile i just want clear surround sound + the speakers ill be using will be low end really

WotDa · 21 Nov 2006 at 10:13

Xbox 360 VGA lead? Thats how I do it, but i do use my 360 on my monitor.

Dr.EM · 21 Nov 2006 at 10:14

Using one of those surround amps you can use proper full range speakers. These need not cost the earth, and providing you have space will give far better sound. Look on that auction site (I can post listings?) for "mission speaker" and "mordaunt short". You should see lots of M700 series missions pretty cheap, or MS10/MS15/MS20 Mordaunt short. You'd need a pair of fronts and a pair of rears and a centre to match the fronts. You could also search for "Eltax", but some of these arn't so good (mabye ok for rears)

Ultra_Extreme · 21 Nov 2006 at 23:57

Dr.EM said:
Using one of those surround amps you can use proper full range speakers. These need not cost the earth, and providing you have space will give far better sound. Look on that auction site (I can post listings?) for "mission speaker" and "mordaunt short". You should see lots of M700 series missions pretty cheap, or MS10/MS15/MS20 Mordaunt short. You'd need a pair of fronts and a pair of rears and a centre to match the fronts. You could also search for "Eltax", but some of these arn't so good (mabye ok for rears)

thanks for that m8