YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Well I don't want to fvck up your finances suggesting things for you to buy, so I'll shut up until you've got some disposable income 🙂
Good luck!
Good luck!
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Sound card
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YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
If I was buying an X-Fi, I'd wait for a $60AR deal on the Xtrememusic instead
Dorkenstein
Diamond Member
Nice, where do I keep posted about that?
Continuity28
Golden Member
Can you recommend a nice set for me then? I'm content with 2.1 but would prefer 5.1+ if the quality is there. 🙂
Upper limit is $700. But it would help to know the "best-of" for lower brackets as well. Like 0 - 300, 300 - 500, 500 - 700, etc.
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
For an X-Fi deal, keep your eye on The Hot Deal area
Also there are a couple other places to keep an eye on.
For general deals I also check woot, slickdeals, and gottadeal for deals pretty much daily (or more if I'm bored 😉 )
I think $80 should be your upper limit for buying an X-Fi just due to the history of having good deals from time to time. Ebay is another source for cheap ones if you like that route.
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
There are a ton of great options out there at a variety of pricepoints but I can give you some options to think about. AVSforum and Hometheaterforum would be a couple good places to look for more opinions.
I think your main decision for 2.1 vs 5.1 should be made on what you listen to most.
For music, 2.1 is the way to go for listening to stereo sources.
For mostly gaming / movies, 5.1 is the way to go.
(ok, duh 😉 )
Also, when you get into "real" sound systems, you have a lot more options for upgrade paths. For example, you could buy a receiver and a pair of speakers. As time goes on and you want to put more money into it, you could add a sub, then center, then surrounds (or move the original pair to surrounds and buy new fronts)... etc.
When doing something like that, it's best to keep all (or at least the front three) speakers the same brand and product line to get a good match for sound.
Ok... so some options?
I'm probably going to kind of assume deal prices on these
5.1
0-300
Logitech z-5500
Klipsch promedia Ultra
Creative gigaworks
Cheap Onkyo HTIB (5XX) (maybe, there are issues)
300-500
Medium Onkyo HTIB (7XX)
Basic "hot deal" speakers + cheap receiver / sub - example Polk R15s for $50/pair x 3 + Onkyo/Pioneer/Etc. receiver <$200 + Dayton 10" - 12" sub ~$150-$200
Set of 5.1 speakers + cheap receiver - example Athena Micra + <$200 receiver
500-700
Slightly better "hot deal" speakers + cheap receiver / sub (keep receiver / sub prices about the same and dump the extra cash into speakers) - more speaker options will open up... like Infinity Primus etc.
There's always something a little better if you spend a little more, and this budget is almost to the point where you can get something along the lines of AV123 X-Series + a budget receiver.
Also, I'd just like to point out that it would be a good idea to check for used options. I know I've mentioned this before, but a short time ago I just got a $750 3.1 system for my parents that would have cost almost 2k new. (from Craigslist)
http://www.axiomaudio.com/m22ti_main.html
http://www.axiomaudio.com/fms24.html
http://www.axiomaudio.com/vp150_main.html
http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=subwoofers&product=6.1
and an Onkyo 602 to power the speakers
If you're willing to go used, you can move up to a whole other level of options.
Ok... 2.0 / 2.1 options... 😛
0-300
Klipsch Promedia 2.0 (+ sub of your choice if you want)
Klipsch Promedia 2.1
Klipsch iFi (great option if you can find it for ~$200)
Swan M200 (+ sub of your choice if you want)
Maybe some powered monitors (honestly I haven't paid attention too much since I've tended to go towards unpowered speakers once I got past "computer speaker" options)
Pair of speakers + receiver/amp + sub (recommendations would pretty much be the same "hot deal" speakers + a cheap amp + a cheap sub as stated above, just that you're buying 1 pair of speakers instead of a 5.0/6.0 set of speakers)
300-500
Pair of speakers + receiver/amp + sub - from here on up, you just get better and better options for your choices. I would still say stay very cheap on the receiver / sub and try to put as much into the speaker pair as possible. Example - if you can work a pair of X-LS speakers in there, that would be a strong choice.
500-700
Same as above, but even better options open up...
I still think very low receiver and sub are the way to go and get the best pair of speakers you can get.
Options are going to start opening up for some of the better retail brands and some of the good internet-direct brands.
Lot of options - hard to say what would be best since you have some really good choices starting to get into your range and it would be great if especially at this point and above you did some demo-ing to see what kind of sound you like.
Demo-ing would be great at all these levels to get a good idea of what you want, but once you have a lot of great options out there I think it makes sense to spend more time trying to get something that suits you the best.
Ok, I'm done rambling again 😛
Dorkenstein
Diamond Member
Wow. Out of all that, what receiver and speaker set is good for gaming and cd listening? Thanks for your wealth of info.
EDIT: I am probably going to go 5.1 so I guess I don't need a receiver. And what is an HTIB?
EDIT: I am probably going to go 5.1 so I guess I don't need a receiver. And what is an HTIB?
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Hmmm... well... they're all going to be decently reasonable for either. I mean a lot of people are fine with their integrated TV speakers or a $30 set of computer speakers. Everything on my list there is going to be better than that.
That said, this is kind of a personal preference thing.
I mean movies correlates pretty well with games for what kind of sound experience you're looking for, and I already mentioned music.
You're kind of asking what specific products are good for doing what the whole industry is producing products to do.
As long as you get good products, the more you spend the better it's going to end up sounding. (There's definitely some diminishing returns that start to kick in, but there are some large jumps in quality to be had in the priceranges I mentioned and above).
I can't tell you what you're going to be happy with. If you want to get an idea of what kind of differences you would get for different pricepoints, try to get out and do some demo-ing of different options. Although AV specialty stores that I have gone to have tended to focus on pricepoints higher than those I have listed recomendation for, you can still check some out and hear some different products. More mainstream stores (Circuit City / Best Buy / etc. will tend to have products in the lower priceranges and some have listening rooms where you can get a rough idea of some differences between them.)
Bring in some material that you like (CDs or something) and try out some different stuff using material you're familiar with.
I'm hesitant to encourage you to go out and buy some audio equipment if it's going to mess up your financial situation. Audio budgets tend to slowly creep upwards from my experience as people look for something just a little better than what they originally budgeted for.
I guess I just kind of needed to put that out there so I don't feel as guilty about all this knowing you're unemployed. I'm in college and I have it pretty well. I've justified my own AV spending thinking that I've saved a lot of money over the last 7 years by not having a car or insurance to pay for.
For 5.1 you'll need a receiver/amp if you go with anything I mentioned except for computer speakers or powered monitors.
HTIB = Home Theater In a Box.
It's generally a receiver, 5 - 7 speakers, a sub, and sometimes a DVD player sold as one package.
Example to the Onkyo 7XX I mentioned (the model numbers change when they come out with new versions) Onkyo 790
There are HTIB sets from really low budget (under $100) to relatively high ($3000+)
The Onkyo sets are fairly solid for their pricepoints. I think beyond $500 or so, you're often better off finding your own combo of speakers / receiver / sub than getting an all in one set.
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
I have no life
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
My job working for HomeBrewerDude hasn't started yet so I have lots of free time 😉
Does that mean no more zoo pics & updates? 🙁
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
Sorry 🙁
YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Moderator<br>A/V & Home Theater<br>Elite member
uhhhh... yes? :shiftyeyes;
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