low-budget surround system?

[Wulfman]

hello everybody,

other threads have shown that some guys here are quite into audio-hardware - and now I'm asking for your help. the target is to pick the best of the worst (read: cheap).

as my videologic sonic fury will arrive soon (hopefully, this purchase is worth its own story), I'm looking for a surround-sound system.

the pc-speaker sets with integrated amp I've listened to (logitech, cheap creative set) were not that good. I'm considering buying an (cheap -> student) external amp now for about 200€ and some speakers to start with (they can always be upgraded, if necessary. DIY is an option, but is it worth the hassels?).

what will I be using the system for? No audiophile stuff, that's for sure. basic music stuff, games and occasional for watching DVDs.

will the result be better than the pc-speaker sets? do you have suggestions for a suitable amp?

thanks,
wulfman

PS.: no discussion about high-end-hardware, plz.

[az]

Any HiFi/HT receiver + speakers should be better than PC surround speaker sets (at least the ones you could afford).

Just go have a look at your nearest MediaMarkt/ProMarkt/Saturn/Schaulandt (whatever they're called in Austria) and see if they have any bundles. There are usually bundles with one receiver + matching set of sub/sat speakers (perfect for what you have in mind, since big front speakers wouldn't fit on the desk) from last year's collection, at a nice price

AZ

[Indiana]

What az said. The Magnat Cubus5.1 activ e.g. can be got for as low as ~120€ and sounds quite decent for this price.
I got a quite good bundle with an Onkyo Receiver and the Canton 5.1 system with active subwoofer (don't know the exact name by now, something like "Movie MX10" or so) from a MediaMarkt here some time ago. But you WILL get this cheaper if you do a thorough search (www.geizhals.at and the like).

One thing to remember: In this lowprice area the speakers are usually much more important than the receiver / amplifier, because most even cheap brand-name receivers/amps do have at least acceptabe quality, something which cannot truely be said for the speakers.

In fact even the crappy amplifier from the Cambridge/Creative DTT2500 digital does sound worlds better if I connect my Canton speakers to it instead of the crappy cardboard speakers that came with it. If I connect those terrible creative speakers to my Onkyo receiver they still sound as crappy as they do on the Creative receiver - I think you get the general idea.

[az]

Have a look at the Teufel Concept E. Costs 250,- EUR, is kinda like those PC speaker sets, but from a manufacturer that builds 10000+ EUR THX Ultra 2 Systems, too.

AZ

[Rakido]

absolutely agree with the Teufel speakers!! Worth every cent.


Rakido

[Dogbert]

They might sound great but they look, errr, not so pretty ?

[K6-III]

How about just going for some Diva Swan M200's...

[az]

The downside of the Teufel speakers is that you won't have all the features of a dedicated surround receiver, which means your computer will have to do the surround work. You won't be able to watch TV with dolby surround with this set, and it only has one input (albeit a 5.1 one). You don't have a remote, no radio, etc.

If it is really just only for your computer, I'd suggest trying them out. You have the right to return anything from them within four weeks if it doesn't please you (and if it's undamaged, of course).

If you plan to use the speakers not only for your PC, get a receiver-sub/sat combination. You might have to look around a little until you find something cheap enough, but I think it's worth it.

The only thing that's really important is that if you want to game, or if your soundcard cannot pass a dolby digital 5.1 signal through its digital out (and your DVD player supports it), you need a six-channel (sometimes called 5.1 channel) analog input.

AZ

[az]

Oh, and Dogbert: Teufel cares much more about sound than looks. I, too, wish my M80/825 wouldn't look so damn... plain And they are way cheaper than almost anything you can get that sounds equally good. (Unless you get a rebate, bundle, etc. of course).

AZ

[Wulfman]

Originally posted by az
The downside of the Teufel speakers is that you won't have all the features of a dedicated surround receiver, which means your computer will have to do the surround work. You won't be able to watch TV with dolby surround with this set, and it only has one input (albeit a 5.1 one). You don't have a remote, no radio, etc.

If you plan to use the speakers not only for your PC, get a receiver-sub/sat combination. You might have to look around a little until you find something cheap enough, but I think it's worth it.

AZ

as I tried to say/said, I'm looking into buying an external receiver/amp. more future-proof, hopefully.

mfg
wulfman

[az]

That's what I'd do, too

AZ

[Wulfman]

errm - looks like we can start all over again.

what I know now:

- any receiver in this price range will do it

that means, that I'll pick up the one with the features I need (remote, connectivity,..)
is there a brand I should/should not consider?

speakers - I'll look into that later.

mfg
wulfman

[az]

Really, the best deal would be to get a bundle - there are plenty of them to be had in big electronics malls, and you can get a ~500 EUR receiver plus ~1000 EUR speakers for under 500 EUR.

Just be sure it has analogue 5.1 ch input, a Dolby Digital 5.1 decoder, and preferrably digital inputs, too.

AZ

[Wulfman]

I got an offer for a 5.1 receiver - one without digital input.
I'm not sure if/how that would affect the usefulness - to hear surround sound in games, I would have to connect it analog anways, but for DVDs?



thanks,
wulfman

PS.: soundcard: sonic fury / santa cruz

[WyWyWyWy]

Actually DIY is kind of worth the hassles.

See

http://www.monster-hardware.com/articles/diysatelites%201.htm

http://www.monster-hardware.com/articles/diysubwoofer%201.htm

for more information.