HTPC Newbie - Speaker Choice

647 Views 15 Replies 8 Participants Last post by minidiscuser, May 19, 2006

Pavman1

Discussion Starter · May 15, 2006

Help, I am a new member of the Plasma / LCD fraternity and I am now getting ready to purchase a HTPC.

Although I have browsed many of the threads here I have not found an answer to my question so here it goes.

My setup is a 46" Samsung LCD and I have it in a vacation house as the main TV in the living area - I am buying an HTPC to intergrate all my Movies, Photos and MP3's in one location - although this is not a dedicated home theater I would like a good speaker setup without spending a fortune. A friend suggested I just purchase a set of 5.1 surround speakers from Creative and be done with it or is it more worthwhile to buy a separate receiver - the separate receiver seems redundant as the souncard will do the decoding - do I just buy a multichannel pre-amp. These home theatre speaker setups look ok but I don't need a DVD player.

I want to keep it simple but sound good for movies and general music as a cd / mp3 player. Is it bad to go with a PC speaker setup?

Thanks for your help.

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1 - 16 of 16 Posts

stanger89

· #2 · May 15, 2006

What's the budget, that will probably determine what you can do.

The "best" setup is a Pre/Pro and Amp (aka "Separates") plus a high quality 5-7 channel speaker package (meaning matched speakers not a "box") and a good sub or two. ($6000+)

More realistically, the best bang for the buck, IMO, is a nice HD reciever, combined, again, with a nice 5-7 channel speaker setup and a sub. ($500-6000)

Below that is the HTiB or PC speakers setup. (

Gushy

· #3 · May 15, 2006

If you are looking for pc speakers look at the logitech z5500's. They are hands down the best pc speakers I've ever heard. IMO they beat 95% of the home theater in box kits within the 300-500 dollar price range. If you look around you can find them for under $300.

I have the z5300's which are a step below these and I'm using them as my home theater speakers with my infocus 4805. I didn't feel I could go with a big audio setup because I live in an apartment and didn't want to get evicted for noise. My buddy hast the z5500's for pc gaming and they are a lot better. Better high's, and the lows rock. The only problem with both of these speakers is that they lack midrange pop but for the price they are still an excellent value.

Here's a review of the 5500's.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Logitech_Z_5...2.html?tag=nav

Pavman1

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 16, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by stanger89
What's the budget, that will probably determine what you can do.

The "best" setup is a Pre/Pro and Amp (aka "Separates") plus a high quality 5-7 channel speaker package (meaning matched speakers not a "box") and a good sub or two. ($6000+)

More realistically, the best bang for the buck, IMO, is a nice HD reciever, combined, again, with a nice 5-7 channel speaker setup and a sub. ($500-6000)

Below that is the HTiB or PC speakers setup. (

stanger89

· #5 · May 16, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pavman1
Well I would like to try and stay below $1,000 for the speaker / amp setup

Paradigm Cinema speakers, Sub, and appropriate reciever should fall close to that.

mnn1265

· #6 · May 16, 2006

I say forget PC speakers. They won't come close to the quality of even a low-end AV reciever setup. Spend your cash wisely and you still won't have to spend too much.

stanger89's recommendation seems like a pretty good choice. Even an inexpensive Sony/Panasonic/whatever reciever will produce better sound than PC speakers in the same or even higher price range.

joeyjoeyjoey

· #7 · May 16, 2006

I use the KEF KHT 1005 for my bedroom setup. Sound is good and price is very affordable. It's a complete 5.1 package all you need to do is add a receiver and your HTPC.

I paired this up with my Sharp SD-SH111.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...r/CRW_9505.jpg

The 1005 are offered in silver or black but the sub is always black.

mikeford

· #8 · May 16, 2006

Trouble with PC speakers is that they are not designed to support a large room. They are meant for listening just a few feet away as on a desk, when put in a big room like a livingroom they won't have nearly enough power for movies.

Receiver can be any old thing with 5.1 analog inputs, and I would use the HTPC soundcard as the decoder, not for fidelity reasons, it could go either way for that, but unless you spend a LOT on a PC sound card it won't encode games sounds etc into the digital output so you would need the analog for anything other than DVD etc. anyway.

Do get a powered subwoofer, even something like a $100 KLH from costco is way better than nothing.

Speakers anything you like the sound of, subwoofer will take a lot of the bass work away from them so pick them for vocal and up frequencies.

Pavman1

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 16, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeford
Receiver can be any old thing with 5.1 analog inputs, and I would use the HTPC soundcard as the decoder, not for fidelity reasons, it could go either way for that, but unless you spend a LOT on a PC sound card it won't encode games sounds etc into the digital output so you would need the analog for anything other than DVD etc. anyway.

O.K Thank everyone for their suggestions. What I understand is that I should not go the PC speaker route but should buy a 5.1 intergrated receiver/amp combo. What I need a little help with is understanding the function of the soundcard as it pertains to the decoding process.

Option 1: Use analog R+L Channel RCA output from the HTPC and let the 5.1 receiver decode the output to bookshelf speakers.

Option 2: Use the 5.1 output from the soundcard and run RCA cables from each soundcard output to each AMP receiver input bypassing the receivers decoding capabilities. If I go with this route would it not be better to go with a 2 Channel soundcard?? p.s. I was looking at the HDA X-plosion DTS Connect and the Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music 7.1 cards.

Which direction shold I head for?

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joeyjoeyjoey

· #10 · May 16, 2006

I would use the optical/digital out of the sound card and let the receiver do the decoding.

automagic

· #11 · May 16, 2006

With what you are doing, you don't really need a soundcard any more expensive than a bit perfect $25 chaintech. You could certainly spend more, but why?

IMO

Pavman1

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 16, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by automagic
With what you are doing, you don't really need a soundcard any more expensive than a bit perfect $25 chaintech. You could certainly spend more, but why?

IMO

Perfect - So I just need to use a soundcard with dirct output preferably optical or coaxial - whichever the receiver will accept.

Any suggections on a receiver or combo - I have heard both Denon and Onkyo mentioned here - I will take a look at my local price club as well as CC and Best Buy so I am not asking anyone to do my homework for me but if there is a good suggestion I would like to add it to my list.

Thanks to all for the help!

Update: I just found some suggestions in the HTIB forums here - so I will do some more reading there. thanks again.

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minidiscuser

· #13 · May 18, 2006

I bought a refurbished Harman Kardon AV230 directly from HKâ€™s ebay store last year and couldnâ€™t be more pleased with it. Iâ€™m a student on a budget, and didnâ€™t want to spend more than $1,000 or so on my total setup and found this to be a perfect mid-level solution for me.

As for HTIB I find them to be decent for movies, but terrible for music. I think you can get a better bang for the buck by the components, but there is something to be said about walking out with only one box, and researching only one item as opposed to 5.

mikeford

· #14 · May 18, 2006

I am a big fan of the good quality used audio gear route, but like the last poster there are often the best deals on factory refurbs.

HTPC audio is still much more theory than practice to me, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

Even the cheapest motherboard I have from the last few years has included at least 5.1 outputs, but what gets decoded to them I can't really say as I only use the HTPC for Tivo functions.

Basic digital output on what I have is strictly pass thru from the CD/DVD drive, and despite buying the S/P dif bracket for my motherboard, I just use the L/R analog outs.

With something like the Chaintech, to make the answer more direct, what DOESN'T it send out over the digital out? I assume no game sounds, since that appears flakey on even the most expensive new cards, but does it work with MP3 etc. from the hard drive?

Until everything works via the digital out, why bother with it instead of using the analog outputs? If you have some fancy receiver maybe, but in most cases I would not expect to see a big difference in sound either way.

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stanger89

· #15 · May 18, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeford
With something like the Chaintech, to make the answer more direct, what DOESN'T it send out over the digital out?

Mutlichannel audio, unless it's pre-encoded DD or DTS (ie DVDs). Games come out in stereo.

minidiscuser

· #16 · May 19, 2006

Might want to check into Fluance. I stumbled across them today as I was looking for a cheap surround sound setup for the house my buddies and I are renting this year. I wanted to have an area aside from my bedroom for group movie sessons, but don't want to spend that much. Seems like a decent deal for $300. Replace the center for 80 or so, throw in a good receive and sub and you're set, or at least that's what I'm thinking. I've never heard them, but from reviews I've read from a myriad of different people is that they're a steal for the price.

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