Getting a 5.1 setup for the computer

[Chacranajxy]

So for a number of reasons, I've decided to hold off on getting an HT setup for my TV and DVD player and all that... instead, I'm going to get a setup for my computer for now. I'm planning on getting a receiver so I can actually get some decent speakers (checked out quite a few standard PC speakers at stores and they sounded like crap.) This will be hooked up through my Sound Blaster X-Fi card and will be used primarily for gaming. Right now, I'm looking at the Onkyo TX SR504 for the receiver and for the speakers:

These Velodyne Speakers
and the Velodyne VX10 for the sub

So are these good choices for the componenets? Should I look into a better receiver, or will this Onkyo serve me well enough? Any other suggestions for speakers?

[Zanza Hiro]

damn Cha-kun, that is sweet man

i'm not much of a PC guy so top tier for me are my Logitech Z-5500's :D

Velodyne makes a sick sub tho, not sure about the others. My eventual HT will comprise Polk Audio mostly with a Velodyne sub, heard good reviews and it sounds amazing in person

[Chacranajxy]

Originally Posted by Zanza

damn Cha-kun, that is sweet man

i'm not much of a PC guy so top tier for me are my Logitech Z-5500's :D

Velodyne makes a sick sub tho, not sure about the others. My eventual HT will comprise Polk Audio mostly with a Velodyne sub, heard good reviews and it sounds amazing in person

Yeah, my computer setup is getting a slight overhaul from what I had in that last batch of collection pics back in December... these speakers are going to complement my recently purchased Dell 2407 monitor which makes everything look pretty. I'll probably end up hooking the inevitable PS3 I'm buying up to this eventually, but PC stuff is the priority. Perhaps I've just gotten sick of listening to the shitty stereo equipment that everybody in college has, but I want something nice. I've heard that Velodyne has fantastic subs and the guy who I typically talk to about sound stuff seemed to think that these speakers would be fantastic... the specs seem right on, but I could always be missing something crucial.

[Chacranajxy]

Hmm... after finding out that the receiver is, in fact, important even if you're hooking this shit up to a sound card... I'm stepping up to a better receiver:

http://www.abtelectronics.com/product/24809.html

Obviously, that's not the price I'm paying though. Seems like that plus the Velodyne speakers and sub should be incredible.

[Zanza Hiro]

wow, this is gonna be sick. you're gonna have a PC audio set-up that most people would kill to have as a main HT set-up :D

i actually never knew a PC set-up could have a receiver before. i always thought all you could get was like Altec Lansing or Logitech speakers hooked up directly to computer

may i ask how everything works? i can't afford to do this but am very interested :D

[Chacranajxy]

Originally Posted by Zanza

wow, this is gonna be sick. you're gonna have a PC audio set-up that most people would kill to have as a main HT set-up :D

i actually never knew a PC set-up could have a receiver before. i always thought all you could get was like Altec Lansing or Logitech speakers hooked up directly to computer

may i ask how everything works? i can't afford to do this but am very interested :D

Well on my Sound Blaster X-Fi, there's a digital out as well as the typical analog out that you use for standard computer speakers. Creative's got a $10-$15 device that you plug into that port in order to get optical or coaxial out so you can hook the sound card up to a receiver. Plug that into the receiver's optical in and you're in the business. All the sound processing apparently still happens in the receiver which is why I wanted to step up to something that'll serve me well.

As for my TV and all that nonsense, I'm probably going to wait until HDMI 1.3 receivers sort themselves out and until there's a reasonably priced receiver with copious HDMI in's and HDMI upconversion.

[Pyocola]

Just remember that doing it this way, you'll only get true surround for movies with DD/DTS soundtracks, you will not get surround from games or anything else using the digital output on the X-Fi. Only way to get that would be to use the regular analogue outputs, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a high-end receiver.

[Chacranajxy]

Originally Posted by Pyocola

Just remember that doing it this way, you'll only get true surround for movies with DD/DTS soundtracks, you will not get surround from games or anything else using the digital output on the X-Fi. Only way to get that would be to use the regular analogue outputs, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a high-end receiver.

Any idea why that is? Is it that way even for digital speakers like Logitech's Z-5500's?

edit: Actually, now that I consider it, the X-Fi isn't too hot in Vista as far as 5.1 sound in games goes since MS removed DirectSound 3D... so having the receiver upmix it to 5.1 would be far better than what the X-Fi itself does anyway.

[JustThisGuy]

Originally Posted by Chacranajxy

Any idea why that is?

Because there's not enough bandwidth to do PCM with more than 2 channels over S/PDIF, and Creative Labs cards don't do real-time DD or DTS encoding.

If you want to play games over S/PDIF and get 5.1 or 7.1 audio, you'll need a sound card that supports Dolby Digital Live or DTS Connect.

Originally Posted by Chacranajxy

Is it that way even for digital speakers like Logitech's Z-5500's?

Yes, if you're using the digital inputs. You're fine if you use the Z-5500's analog ins.

[Pyocola]

You can only send DD, DTS and (I think) 2ch LPCM streams over the digital output. To get surround from games you would have to encode the game audio into a 5.1ch DD or DTS stream on-the-fly, which the X-Fi can't do (and it would mean a slight quality loss as well since you'd be recompressing the audio.)

It's the same if you use the digital connection for speakers with built-in receivers like the Z-5500. Upmixing in the receiver is one way, but of course that wouldn't get you true surround sound, so again, is it worth putting down all that money for a compromise? In my opinion, unless you're also going to use the PC as a home theatre I'd just get a normal set of speakers, but that's just me.