Best speaker setup

[Topha]

whats the best setup to use with a soundblaster live platinum 5.1

i want dolby digital, which speakers should i get?
is it best to connect it to a hifi system, or is a system like the creative dtt3500 better?

opinions and recommendations please

[borat]

it depends how much you want to spend
if you want to spend less than $500 then the 3500' s would sound as good as anything at the price
however spend over $500 and the benifits are clear to here
dont plug an all in one midi hi-fi in go for separates
you will need a dolby digital amplifier check out What hi fi magazine or www.hifichoice.co.uk for reviews.
in terms of speakers you should go for somthing like mission M series cinima (www.mission.co.uk or www.hifijunkies.co.uk) or wharfedale diamond surround speakers.(www.wharfedale.co.uk) these both have a reccomended retail price of around $550 but shop around and you can pick the wharfedales up for 40% cheaper(www.qed-uk.com)they have the diamond 8.3's and 8.1's for sale for 210 pounds and the centre speaker should cost around 50 pounds. a sub is on its way in the future if you should need one(the 8.3's go very deep anyway).
one thing to bear in mind is that these take up a lot of room and if you dont have the space not only will the fill the room physically but they will also be over the top and give poor sonic performance and youd be better of with the 3500's.
another good hifi retailer is www.richersounds.com but bear in mind they charge a lot for post and packing however if you find a product cheaper elsewhere they will beat it by at least 10 pounds and they have hi street stores across brittain if you dont want to pay the p&p
hope this hasnt been to long and bored you to death

[Jammrock]

MUUUAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Unless you want to buy a true stereo for your computer, I recommend the insanely expensive Klipsch PC speaker rig.

Start with the Klipsch ProMedia 5.1's. 200 W subwoofer, 4 x 60 W surround channels and one 60 W center channel. King of the PC speaker world by many peoples standards...including mine. Retails for about $400 USD.

Top the speakers off with the Klipsch Audio Tornado, which will allow you to utilize 5.1 from your sound card. The Tornado comes with S/P-DIF (digital coaxial), Toslink (optical) and analouge inputs, to give you a variety of options. It has a built in Dobly Digital 5.1 decoder, wireless remote and surround sound modes. Retail price is about $100 USD.

For a more affordable choice...there is always the Cambridge SoundWorks DTT3500 which you have afore mentioned.

Jammrock

[[GDI]Raptor]

I use the DesktopTheathere DTT3500 from Crative together with my Live! 5.1 platinium, and I'm very satisfied with that setup

[Topha]

do i need that tornado to use the klipsch boxes?? my sound card already has a dolby digital decoder...

edit: cant i connect the sound card to a good dolby digital amplifier and then connect the klipsch speakers to that amplifier?

i admit i dont know much about hifi systems at the moment

[Topha]

where can i get a klipsch system, besides from their own homepage? all german online pc-shops i checked dont have it

[Indiana]

I would think twice about buying a "PC" speaker set - even though the Klipsch ones are quite good, the Creative IMO doesn't really sound well and in no way natural. If you want to use it for other things than just games and movies (like listening to music/mp3s) it's not at all recommendable. There's just some squeeky highs from those crappy small boxes combined with the subwoofers unprecise, too chesty bass and NOTHING in the middle. (Auf deutsch: plärrende mittlere Höhen - die richtigen Höhen kriegen die kleinen Pappdeckel-Boxen nicht 'raus und dann ein dröhnender unsauberer Bass dazu, Mitten gibt's nicht - so ein Sound kann einem auf Dauer ganz schön auf den S@ck gehen). The DTT2500 and 3500 might sound good for a short time to the 5.1 unexperienced when setup correctly, but once you've compared it to any "real"/hifi 5.1 speaker system you won't want to settle with it again.

I've got myself an Onkyo/Canton combo not so long ago because I was very annoyed by the fact that my old dolby-surround only (no 5.1) receiver with my regular hifi speakers, a center and two cheap surround speakers sounded so much better at watching videos / DVDs than the Creative set. Not to speak of listening to music.
Such a set is about 50% higher than the Klipsch (I could talk the guy at MediaMarkt into lowering the price even further), however you do get a full-blown receiver for your regular stereo at the same time.

[Rakido]

Topha,

try it here: http://www.audiotra.de/klipsch/index.html


Rakido