Home theater in a box vs dedicated 5.1 system

[boyRacer]

I got my Klipsch PMs 5.1 about 2 years ago for $275... could I have bought those HTIB systems for around $200 and just use the digital out on my soundcard instead? Anyone using that kind of setup here?

 

[natto fire]

Haven't used one of those HTIaB so can't tell you for sure. However my reciever alone cost more than that so my guess is complete HT system for $200 is not going to be great. If it comes with a decent reciever you could always buy the setup, and buy different speakers later. The speakers are really the most important part so if the reciever at least does 5.1/DTS decoding and has at least 100w per channel you should be good. Could always try to sell your Klipsch to eat some of the cost but I am guessing that the speakers come with a HTIaB system for 200 are not going to be as good as those Klipschs.

 

[boyRacer]

yeah i was expecting those $200+ systems to have pretty crappy stuff but maybe it'll be good enough for general PC use. i'm not thinking of getting rid of the klipschs... just a thought for someone else later on.