Sound System!

[nathan]

I'm after a new speakers to go with my new pc. Only have the abit ab9 pro onboard sound atm, but may buy a sound card in the future. Anyways, requirements;

Must be 7.1

Must be optical

Price: about £100 - £150 ish

Would like floor standing speaks, but not that fussed.

Any idea's?, any preferred makes?

Cheers guys!

 

[Ham]

Price range?

 

[Rastalovich]

Going by experiences with them, Creative`s 7.1 with or without a front panel Drive, with their latest theatre offering.

I got 5.1 side of this and have had it for as long as I can remember - excellent kit. I can only imagine the 7.1 version being classically better.

What is it ? X-Fi or summit.

 

[FragTek]

Creative GigaWorks S750 kit is pretty damn nice, I'd have a look in to that setup.

As for sound card... Auzentech X-Meridian FTW!

 

[nathan]

Sorry, price point would be about £100 - £150 ish, could sway a little either. bit like frag

Reviews on the Auzentech X-Meridian have all been that its a nop notch card and that i beats the x-fi hands down. £130 though!!!!

 

[FragTek]

Sorry, price point would be about £100 - £150 ish, could sway a little either. bit like frag

Reviews on the Auzentech X-Meridian have all been that its a nop notch card and that i beats the x-fi hands down. £130 though!!!!

Auzen cards beast all Creative garbage ass cards.

 

[Rastalovich]

Auzen cards beast all Creative garbage ass cards.

lol that`s a bit strong aint it ? lol

 

[FragTek]

lol that`s a bit strong aint it ? lol

X-Fi's are problem laden pieces of crap. IMO it's a step down from the old Audigy's, those were nice!

 

[nathan]

Going by experiences with them, Creative`s 7.1 with or without a front panel Drive, with their latest theatre offering.

I got 5.1 side of this and have had it for as long as I can remember - excellent kit. I can only imagine the 7.1 version being classically better.

What is it ? X-Fi or summit.

as far as i can tell, most creatives dont have an optical input.

 

[FragTek]

as far as i can tell, most creatives dont have an optical input.

Optical output, nope... Hafta spend the big $$$ for an X-Fi with an optical jack.

 

[nathan]

Optical output, nope... Hafta spend the big $$$ for an X-Fi with an optical jack.

i mean the speaker system, with an optical in, from sound card.

 

[Rastalovich]

as far as i can tell, most creatives dont have an optical input.

The Drive 5.25 bay thing u would need to have, it has more input/output than u could ever need, which includes optical i/o using fibre optics.

The 5.1 version I have has got them, used to plug the ps2 into it

EDIT: forgot to mention that includes a remote control thingy also.

 

[nathan]

The Drive 5.25 bay thing u would need to have, it has more input/output than u could ever need, which includes optical i/o using fibre optics.

The 5.1 version I have has got them, used to plug the ps2 into it

EDIT: forgot to mention that includes a remote control thingy also.

hmmmm, i shall investigate!

EDIT: I'd rather have all ports on the back as i'm trying to keep the front clean.

 

[FarFarAway]

I had an Auzentech and it was a POS for gaming tbh. EAX works best on X-Fi by a HUGE margin.

I got qa Fatal1ty edition for the front panel IO which is awesome, but I think an Extreme Gamers edition X-Fi has that and is like £70

 

[PP Mguire]

X-FI FPS FTW with games, but tbh id rather stick with onboard. EAX FTL. I really cant stand Creative products but most ALL games go SB rather than anything else so your kinda stuck. I tried going the Turtle Beach route but it didnt really work with anything. That was back in the 5.1 days. Just use the good ol Karajan audio now.

 

[mrapoc]

I have had many Creative speaker systems over the years and I must admit they are top notch. As with soundcards X FI is amazing with games with all that eax shizzle etc. but my major flaw is the lack of optical out as standard on the back of the card. An IO drive thingy + bezel in front of drivers = dang

I have my X fi running from the digital decoder to the card via coaxial

 

[PP Mguire]

EAX FTL and i believe Logitech puts out a better system than Creative. But im an audiophile sooo yea. If you get a true SPDIF cable and hook it up to your receiver you should be fine and dont exactly need optical out.

 

[nathan]

just a quick mention....it's not for games, it's for a htpc

 

[shiftlocked]

quick one, what about using spdiff on a motherboard and getting a decent amp with speakers. seeing as you can pick up a good amp for that price range, wouldnt that do?

 

[PP Mguire]

Oh like i did? THat would be the better bet for an HTPC. I use it for games too and i think it sounds the best. Of course, youd have to have a true SPDIF cable for it to work right.