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Is a audio receiver required for a surround sound set up?

1413 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by kapone, May 18, 2007

mikeftb

Discussion Starter · May 17, 2007

I've recently been looking in to building a HTPC, and I am really confused as to weather I'm going to need a receiver to out put surround sound to my speakers or not.

Ideally I would like to just use onboard/sound card audio routed directly to my speakers, is this a viable setup?

v/r

Mikeftb

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blue_z

· #2 · May 17, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeftb /forum/post/0

Ideally I would like to just use onboard/sound card audio routed directly to my speakers, is this a viable setup?

Hi there

Not quite. Almost all sound cards only output the analog at line-level, which does not have enough power to drive speakers. These line-level outputs should be connect to power amplifiers (or the inputs of a preamp or receiver which would give you an additional volume control) (or to powered speakers).

I do recall mention of audio amplifiers that occupy PCI slots, but that seems like a really bad use of the PC's power supply.

Multichannel (surround) output, 5.1 and even 7.1, is possible from sound cards, even some motherboards with integrated audio chip have this capability.

Regards

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ROBSCIX

· #3 · May 17, 2007

You can do it but you will need to buy a set of PC speakers with a built in AMP...such as the Logitech Z-5500's. Good luck

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mikeftb

Discussion Starter · #4 · May 17, 2007

Thanks for the speedy reply guys. Looks like I'm going to have to invest in a receiver after all. Got any pointers or recommendations on receivers that are good for HD-DVD/Blu-ray play back?

v/r

Mikeftb

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kapone

· #5 · May 18, 2007

Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeftb /forum/post/0

Thanks for the speedy reply guys. Looks like I'm going to have to invest in a receiver after all. Got any pointers or recommendations on receivers that are good for HD-DVD/Blu-ray play back?

v/r

Mikeftb

A receiver has nothing to do with HD DVD or Blu Ray playback...Well..almost. The receiver only comes into play from a spec perspective, if you are trying to output Multichannel sound out using HDMI, and it's not a standard format like DD or DTS..and you want the receiver to decode it.

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