ghetto 5.1 system with existing speakers?

[gbryant]

Lo, I have some very very old Altec Lansing speakers that I am very happy with. They were $150 for two speakers and a sub seven (7!) years ago and amazingly enough still sound incredible. However, I wouldn't mind having surround sound on my computer, but I really don't wanna buy a good enough 5.1 system that would sound better then my speakers (seriously, I've heard 4X as expensive living room set ups that sound worse).

Would it be possible to just buy some satellites, a center channel speaker, and have it work correctly? I dunno much about 5.1 systems, so I'm not certain if there's some reason they are always sold as a kit. Right now I have onboard audio that wouldn't even support it, but I'm considering buying an Audigy2 Zs. Any thoughts?

 

[The J]

What model are the speakers? Some PC speakers have a proprietary DIN-like connection to the sub that prevents you from being able to connect them to anything but that included amp/sub and prevent you from connecting more speakers.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Naturally it would be best to have a high quality matched system all the way around, but you can do some mixing and get some good results.

Yeah, you can just buy a set of three speakers like these, but you still need to get power to them from an amp of some kind.

Making a 4.1 (or 4.2) system adding to yours would be pretty easy. Just get whatever set you want for a surround set and just connect it to the surround output on your soundcard.

I don't remember seeing any "3.1" systems, so in order to get a center channel working, you'd probably want to get a whole 5.1 system.

If you got a cheap 5.1 system on sale (like x-530s or something) you could combine them to make a 7.2 system if you wanted with your current speakers as the FL and FR so you'd get the benefit from them when listening to stereo sources like music.

 

[gbryant]

Altec Lansing ACS55, yeah they have some funny connector to the SUB where they get their power.

7.2 system? Would that work on an Audigy2? Actually, having a center channel would be a very nice advantage for me. I dunno if perhaps my speakers are going a touch dodgey or it's just getting older, but I have a harder time hearing dialogue in movies anymore on my computer. Everything else sounds fine, but dialogue is very faint. I have to crank up the audio so everything else is REALLY loud. Center channel=dialogue the way it's usually mixed right?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Whoa... those are quite possibly the ugliest speakers I've ever seen

As far as I know the A2 that advertise support for 7.1 have it available with a special adapter you put in the surround output jack. Something easier would to just get a 1/8" y-splitter and run the same signal to the front and surround speakers of the cheap 5.1 set... those speakers would become surround and rear and get the same signal.

When you watch movies do you select the stereo track and not the 5.1 track?

In movies encoded for DD, something like 70% of the sound comes out the center channel.

 

[gbryant]

heh, that's part of their appeal to me. I love when people ask "wtf is wrong with your speakers" but most are impressed by their sound. I just need to find a really ugly case to go with them

Sounds good on the A2, I also select stereo track but it doesn't seem to help much. Could be some weirdness with my onboard sound too.

Thanks for your help

 

[TheoPetro]

Originally posted by: gbryant
heh, that's part of their appeal to me. I love when people ask "wtf is wrong with your speakers" but most are impressed by their sound. I just need to find a really ugly case to go with them

Sounds good on the A2, I also select stereo track but it doesn't seem to help much. Could be some weirdness with my onboard sound too.

Thanks for your help

if you looken for a horrid case check out that lian li shell thingy. its quite possably the groosest thing ive ever seen

 

[Eureka]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Naturally it would be best to have a high quality matched system all the way around, but you can do some mixing and get some good results.

Yeah, you can just buy a set of three speakers like these, but you still need to get power to them from an amp of some kind.

Makind a 4.1 (or 4.2) system adding to yours would be pretty easy. Just get whatever set you want for a surround set and just connect it to the surround output on your soundcard.

I don't remember seeing any "3.1" systems, so in order to get a center channel working, you'd probably want to get a whole 5.1 system.

If you got a cheap 5.1 system on sale (like x-530s or something) you could combine them to make a 7.2 system if you wanted with your current speakers as the FL and FR so you'd get the benefit from them when listening to stereo sources like music.

Hmm I'd like to hear how you would add the three speakers onto a 2.1 set.

Norm

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Naturally it would be best to have a high quality matched system all the way around, but you can do some mixing and get some good results.

Yeah, you can just buy a set of three speakers like these, but you still need to get power to them from an amp of some kind.

Makind a 4.1 (or 4.2) system adding to yours would be pretty easy. Just get whatever set you want for a surround set and just connect it to the surround output on your soundcard.

I don't remember seeing any "3.1" systems, so in order to get a center channel working, you'd probably want to get a whole 5.1 system.

If you got a cheap 5.1 system on sale (like x-530s or something) you could combine them to make a 7.2 system if you wanted with your current speakers as the FL and FR so you'd get the benefit from them when listening to stereo sources like music.

Hmm I'd like to hear how you would add the three speakers onto a 2.1 set.

Norm

You'd need to find an amp with at least three channels... and I don't know of any that are really a cheap option.
You'd probably be able to find a cheap 5.1 receiver or something off ebay to power speakers if they're speaker wire connections.
You'd need to get one that had more than stereo input though since you're want to run at least 3 speakers off it, and possibly the whole 5.0 set.
I don't know how cheap you can get a receiver or amp with 3.0 or higher input.

Do you have any speakers in mind?

If you're starting with a set that's not too great, it would probably be a better idea to give up on the current set and just save up to get a real decent 5.1 set.

 

[Eureka]

I was wondering if something like the MX5021 would work with those.

Guess not.

Norm

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
I was wondering if something like the MX5021 would work with those.

Guess not.

Norm

You could use the MX5021s in a 5.1 setup, but it wouldn't be cheap, would probably be pretty awkward, and when a quality 5.1 native set is not all that much more, it seems like a better option to me to just get a different set rather than try to patch something together.

It's one of the reasons I like the idea of HT type setups a lot. If for example you had a cheap 5.1 receiver and a set of bookshelf speakers now you could just buy a couple more pairs of speakers or whatever you wanted to do to add more functionality.

It's easier to kind of do a hybrid system when your satellite speakers are connected by speaker wire. I haven't looked into the MX5021 set much, they don't connect with speaker wire, do they?

 

[Eureka]

The satellites use speaker wire to connect to the Subwoofer, which uses a 1/8 to connect to the sound card.

Norm

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
The satellites use speaker wire to connect to the Subwoofer, which uses a 1/8 to connect to the sound card.

Norm

If those are standard 8ohm (or even 4ohm would work really) speakers, then you could hook up those and three speakers of your choice to a receiver with 5.1 analog input and send the sub pre-out to an adapter to feed the sub.

A refurb 5.1 receiver with analog input would

A sherwood 6500 has 5.1 analog according to the ecost description.
Onkyo 502 would be a better bet.

Pair that up with some more speakers (and some adapters) and you'd be in business.

Not that I think this would really be a good option for you, but I think that's the best option for adapting your speakers into a 5.1 set unless someone else has a simpler idea.

 

[Eureka]

Well, there goes that idea out of the windows. However, I did find out that I can just simply attach a 2.0 powered speaker system to the surround jack and have a 4.1 system if needed.

Norm

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: cevilgenius
Well, there goes that idea out of the windows. However, I did find out that I can just simply attach a 2.0 powered speaker system to the surround jack and have a 4.1 system if needed.

Norm

yep

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello

Making a 4.1 (or 4.2) system adding to yours would be pretty easy. Just get whatever set you want for a surround set and just connect it to the surround output on your soundcard.