4.1 or 5.1? The Great Schism.

[LancerA]

Which should I get, if it's 4.1, than Z-560, no questions asked.

5.1 cost a lot more (for the quality ones), is it worth 330$ to get Klipish 5.1 or Z-680's($380)?
I mostly play games and listen to mp3's so I wouldn't use my speaker for DVD's.

4.1 would be ok...but with the new Doom III a new standard should be coming along, I just want to know will this make a big diffrence, so big that I should get a more expensice 5.1 system for just some center channel? Is it worth it ? Thanks in advance.


-LancerA

 

[mrconfused]

how big is the room where you are planning to using the speakers for? If you are going for budget speakers + some quality then maybe you might want to look into creative's new 6.1 speaker set. It's 120 watts total but it's got 6 speakers, center, left, right, rear left, rear right and rear center. You can check it out on creative's website. And the price is near $150.00. Hope this helps you.

mrconfused

 

[Pariah]

Get the Creative Megaworks 510D. A 5.1 system for $260 at Newegg. Better sounding in my opinion than any of the other mass marketed PC speakers.

Edit:

Just looked at Creative's site, they are releasing a new Megaworks 5.1 model. If you can wait, those will probably be the best around.

CREATIVE MEGAWORKS THX 5.1 550

Edit again:

They're being listed on a couple sites, though not in stock yet and they're not much more expensive:

mySimon

 

[thorin]

Unless you're going to watch ALOT of movies on your computer. Then don't bother with 5.1s on a computer. The Center Front channel is meant to carry on screen conversation, which there is very very little of in games and there is none of in music (except for maybe a video, but I doubt you download many videos that have 5.1 encoding).

Thorin

 

[Bovinicus]

I would go with 4.1 and save some money. 4.1 does an excellent job at positional audio in games. It also performs great with music. Jumping to 5.1 for music and games is almost worthless. If you are a real DVD surround sound buff, then it may be worth it to you. However, I have had the same 4.1 speakers for quite a while, and I love them. I watch a good number of movies on my computer and I am pretty pleased with the performance. 6.1 is just a gimmick, for the most part.

 

[Lore]

I tell you, there's something sexy about having 5.1 speakers. I bought the Cambridge Soundworks DTT2500 3 years ago and it has worked great for me until two days ago when I sold it to an old roommate. I now have the Logitech Z-680 but they have their own problems (hissing, pops and clicks when switching modes, etc). But it sure is a nice set of speakers!

 

[LancerA]

Originally posted by: mrconfused
how big is the room where you are planning to using the speakers for? If you are going for budget speakers + some quality then maybe you might want to look into creative's new 6.1 speaker set. It's 120 watts total but it's got 6 speakers, center, left, right, rear left, rear right and rear center. You can check it out on creative's website. And the price is near $150.00. Hope this helps you.

mrconfused

Thanks, but 120 watts may be not enough. I dont 6.1 will be that much better....thanks for the input anyway.

 

[LancerA]

Originally posted by: Pariah
Get the Creative Megaworks 510D. A 5.1 system for $260 at Newegg. Better sounding in my opinion than any of the other mass marketed PC speakers.

Edit:

Just looked at Creative's site, they are releasing a new Megaworks 5.1 model. If you can wait, those will probably be the best around.

CREATIVE MEGAWORKS THX 5.1 550

Edit again:

They're being listed on a couple sites, though not in stock yet and they're not much more expensive:

mySimon

Thanks, I look into these, however, I cant seem to find a review, they willl be around the end of the year?


Im still un-deceided, you bring up valid points for both systems, so what your basically saying is that unless you watch DVS's there is really no need to get 5.1. Meaning I wont regret a few months/years buying a 4.1(Z-560) only to have some games or new mp3 formats that utiilze the center channel to the max.


Thanks again .

 

[Pariah]

There's a review at SoundSurge:

MegaWorks510D

I agree that 5.1 isn't particularly useful for computer users, but the MegaWorks don't come in a 4.1 configuration, and they are decent bit cheaper than the Klipsch 5.1 and Logitech Z680 so the cost issue isn't as big of an obstacle.

 

[Lore]

Thinking about the Logitech Z-680s?

Don't buy them _just_ yet.

 

[flashbacck]

I'm glad you started this thread lancerA, I've been looking into new speakers lately too. Here are some of my concerns/questions...

Like LancerA, I'm wondering if 5.1 is worth the extra investment over 4.1. There aren't any games yet that use 5.1, on the other hand speakers are kinda long term investments, so maybe it is worth getting a 5.1 now so it's not something to worry about later.

and also, is an external DTS/dolby decoder necessary? If a soundcard has 5.1 analog output, isn't it just the same? The only reason I can see for having an external decoder is if I wanted to plug the speakers into a dvd player or ps2 in addition to my PC.

thanks,
Flashbacck

 

[Accord99]

Originally posted by: flashbacck
I'm glad you started this thread lancerA, I've been looking into new speakers lately too. Here are some of my concerns/questions...

Like LancerA, I'm wondering if 5.1 is worth the extra investment over 4.1. There aren't any games yet that use 5.1, on the other hand speakers are kinda long term investments, so maybe it is worth getting a 5.1 now so it's not something to worry about later.

The Live 5.1, the Audigy series, the 5.1 Phillips soundcards and probably the NForce all can produce 5.0 game audio, while the Audigy 2 can do 6.0. Games don't have to support 5.1 or 4.1, they only have to use a 3d audio API like DirectSound3D or OpenAl and the above soundcards will position them properly in the 5 speakers.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

is an external DTS/dolby decoder necessary?

No for watching dvd by software dvd player that can do DTS/DD decoding, using sound's card's 6 ch analog outputs to a powered 5.1 speakers with 6 ch analog inputs.

 

[LancerA]

Originally posted by: Pariah
There's a review at SoundSurge:

MegaWorks510D

I agree that 5.1 isn't particularly useful for computer users, but the MegaWorks don't come in a 4.1 configuration, and they are decent bit cheaper than the Klipsch 5.1 and Logitech Z680 so the cost issue isn't as big of an obstacle.

Hey, thanks for the input. You MIGHT have actually changed my mind to look more into the Cambridge SoundWorks MegaWorks 510D.

This a general questions, what's the diffrence beetween a digital and analog output. Would my Audigy make use of the speakers better if it were in digital?

 

[Prodigy^]

doesn't make any real difference in games and music, but it's very very nice if you watch a lot of DVD's. only speech comes out of the center speaker so you can turn it up real load and have the enviromental sounds blasting, but speech will remain at a relatively low level, just like in a movie theatre.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

what's the diffrence beetween a digital and analog output

digital is using spdif standard, either 2 channel raw audio signal or some sort of data signal.
for 2 channel raw audio, a plain 2 channel ampifier or 2 channel powered pc speakers is needed.
for data signal, an ampifier with built-in DD/DTS decoder or 6 channel powered pc speakers with built-in DD/DTS decoder is needed.
the ampifier or powered pc speakers must have spdif input - either optical or coaxial, some sound cards have one of them, some have both.

analog is raw audio signal, you only need a plain ampifier or powered pc speakers.
the amplifier or powered pc speakers don't need to have spdif input.

 

[DealyDo]

I've used both the Klipsch 4.1 and 5.1. The 5.1 were much crisper more positional in Counterstrike. I could tell a big difference. 5.1 do have a bigger sub. The 5.1 control unit is so more functional than the speaker/control unit on the 4.1. If you don't get the 5.1, you'll always wish you did.

PS: I was lucky to get in on a BB screwup and buy the Klipsch 5.1 for $99 new in box.