Time to get a good 5.1 speaker system for my pc

wigster · 4 Nov 2007 at 12:08

Ive been meaning to get a good sound system for my pc but something else has allways come first

Im after a decent 5.1 setup what sort of money am i looking at?

Even better what one would be good to get

I will be using the onboard sound for now,but eventually i will be getting a good sound card

Thanks

wigster · 4 Nov 2007 at 19:24

Ive been chatting to a mate and he is saying go for seperates, is that what everyone else does?

Andeh · 4 Nov 2007 at 22:50

seperates?

I just scored a set of LG 5.1 speakers with an amp/sub for £35 off a mate. light years better than my 6.1 creative inspire speakers. I believe they retailed at about £120

badbob · 4 Nov 2007 at 22:55

A cheap AV amp + seperates will blow a PC 5.1/HTIB 5.1 out of the water. It just depends on how far you want to go. New, the PC gaming audio setup I'm using would cost £1400. But because either they're spare, or already used in the HT, were given free, or picked up cheap to go from stereo with a stereo integrated amp to 5.1 plus better stereo amp , and a av amp cost £100.

5.1 gaming sounds superb.

B&W 601 fronts, CC6 centre, Yamaha DSP-A592 av amp, Arcam Alpha 9 stereo amp, Kef Coda 7 rears, SVS PC-Ultra 13 subwoofer

benjo plz. · 4 Nov 2007 at 22:56

A592 doesn't have optical in does it?

badbob · 4 Nov 2007 at 22:59

You don't use digital out for gaming, as the X-Fi doesn't have Live encoding. Actually soundcard has ability to be used analogue out for films if you want, although if you have off-board processing ie Lexicon MC-12 that'll offer superior sound quality and bass managment.

benjo plz. · 4 Nov 2007 at 23:02

What about from a optical out on a laptop to a yam AX620 with seperates (I'm guessing it will only work in 2.1 unless a dolby encoded source is used?)

badbob · 4 Nov 2007 at 23:07

I would probably then use a soundcard (USB, PCMCIA or firewire) with digital out (DD/DTS support) or a module with 5.1 anlogue with DD/DTS decoders. I had a USB soundbox USB with digital out, just stereo but at least sound better than terrible onboard. No 5.1 but just used Logic 7 expansion on top of 2 channel and sounded great (Logic 7 expands 2 channel to 7.1, stereo sides and rears)

wigster · 4 Nov 2007 at 23:39

badbob said:
A cheap AV amp + seperates will blow a PC 5.1/HTIB 5.1 out of the water. It just depends on how far you want to go. New, the PC gaming audio setup I'm using would cost £1400. But because either they're spare, or already used in the HT, were given free, or picked up cheap to go from stereo with a stereo integrated amp to 5.1 plus better stereo amp , and a av amp cost £100.

5.1 gaming sounds superb.

B&W 601 fronts, CC6 centre, Yamaha DSP-A592 av amp, Arcam Alpha 9 stereo amp, Kef Coda 7 rears, SVS PC-Ultra 13 subwoofer

I think a av amp might be the way to go then

Would £200 get me a good av amp+speakers (I have no idea what one would be good)

EDIT:
My pc is in my bedroom and i have no hi-fi, so having a av amp would be good because in time i can add a cd player/tuner

EDIT AGAIN

Ive just been looking at the Yamaha AV61 looks pretty good and in the price range,what do you think?

I think ill be moving this over to the Home Cinema section