PC Speaker recommonendations

[kingcon]

Hi, I am looking to buy a good set of speakers for my new computer (in the process of building) with Dolby 5.1 surround. Dose anyone have any recommendations for me? Looking to spend around £40-£50 in the hope i may find a good set on eBay or something...

 

[Tom]

I think you'll have to spend nearly double that to get anything decent m8.

 

[Uriel]

I agree with Tom. I spent quite a while earlier this year weighing up the various 5.1 packages specifically designed for computers. In the end I plumped for the Logitech Z-5300 and they set me back about £130. I remember most of the <£100 sets I looked at were fairly poor.

On the other hand, If you're trawling e-bay you could try for some older but still quality makes/models - like the Videologic Digitheatre DTS, the Sirocco Crossfire (only 4.1 but apparently about as good as computer speakers ever got) anything in the Klipsh Pro Media range - along with the usual suspects (Altec Lansing - the 5100s weren't too bad iirc, Logitech and Creative).

Oh, and if you can, it might be an idea to try and get a test listen as what's perfectly acceptable to one person’s ears is often completely unacceptable to another’s.

 

[TedTheDog]

I've got the Sirocco Crossfires here and they're superb. They dont do 5.1 surround, they're for music playing, and they excel at that. Wish they did do surround, but I'm reluctant to give these up just to get that.

 

[.Wilier.]

To be honest, these are as good as they get at that price, unless you want to find some of these second hand.

 

[PLightstar]

I got the Creative 5500 which cost me around £100 from ebuyer which has optical/Coaxial and phono inputs, very good system.

 

[~Yuckfou~]

[hijack]
I just aquired aa Asus A8V mobo. This has 8 channel sound onboard, so 7:1 I guess. My question is do I need to get a 7:1 speaker set or will a 5:1 do the job properly? Theres so much more choice of 5:1.
[/hijack]

ta

 

[Tom]

Realistically there isn't much of a benefit from a 7.1 arrangement. Certainly not unless you're prepared to do major building work on your room to make it acoustically viable. 5 channels is more than adequate for most people, although THX uses 6 discrete channels (the 6th channel is a separate bass channel).

Hell, I still have prologic surround, and it does me.

 

[old.user4556]

What Tom said,

6.1 and 7.1 is marketing shite - unless your 6.1 is DTS:ES Discrete then all you're getting is an "effect" rear centre channel and not any more sound per sé. Few DVDs support DTS:ES.

G