Sound Help - Computer to Home Theater Surround Sound

[zessary]

I am in the market for a home theater surround setup. I'm fairly set on a 5.1 setup because I don't need the extra speakers/quality from 7.1+. At this point I'm very interested in purchasing (I'm not going all-out with the setup)

ONKYO HT-S3100 Black 5.1 Channel Home Theater System
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16882120085

I don't know much about setting up sound so I am trying to get input on the connections quality/compatibility. The Audigy 2 ZS has SPDIF output labeled as an orange "Digital Out" 3.5mm standard output. After some research, it appears I could use this as 5.1 surround digital output into the RCA coaxial input on the ONKYO HT-S3100 with a simple plug adapter. Am I correct that this will work and produce high quality surround sound?

Any input/suggestions are welcome on making a different purchase and definitely anyone who can confirm the above or help me understand this stuff better. It's definitely worth noting that I am willing to purchase a new sound card, if necessary. I do not want to bring my total cost up very much from this. My cap including shipping is $350, but under $300 is much better unless it's just an obviously better value.

I will be using this sound setup for movies, TV shows and to listen to music from my computer (also Xbox 360 and television). I would also like my games to utilize the new sound, but I know surround sound for computer games is dependent on the particular game.

In case any of this extra info is useful, I currently have the following PC setup.

MotherBoard:
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80570E8400 - Retail

HD:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST3500320AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Memory:
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model

Graphics Card:
MSI NX8800GTS 512M OC GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI

Sound Card:
Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS (WDM)

I forget the power supply, but it shouldn't be too critical to know.

Thanks for any help.

 

[PurdueRy]

You will get surround sound from pre encoded sources(ex. DVD movies) played on your PC but stereo for everything else.

I also would encourage you to AT LEAST get the 4100. Even at that, I still recommend jumping up to the 5100. The 3100 has cheap speakers and a cheap sub.

 

[zessary]

if I have a movie on my computer such as an .avi file, would that come through stereo even if we assume it's a dvd I rip to my computer? If so, is that because the actual file does not hold the "surround sound information" or a flaw in my setup? Main point of that question is to decide if a different soundcard or receiver is in order or if it's just the drawback of holding media on a computer while not in DVD/iso formats.

Second question: I was very split between 3100 vs 4100. obviously the 3100 had the VERY low price while the 4100 had what seemed, in my apparent ignorance, minimal benefits. I'll have to further research that. As I said before, i'm disinterested in 7 speakers so the 5100's 7.1 is not worth the money to me. Is there another brand or something someone would specifically recommend because ONKYO doesn't have a huge selection within my price range?

 

[vshah]

Originally posted by: zessary
if I have a movie on my computer such as an .avi file, would that come through stereo even if we assume it's a dvd I rip to my computer? If so, is that because the actual file does not hold the "surround sound information" or a flaw in my setup? Main point of that question is to decide if a different soundcard or receiver is in order or if it's just the drawback of holding media on a computer while not in DVD/iso formats.

Second question: I was very split between 3100 vs 4100. obviously the 3100 had the VERY low price while the 4100 had what seemed, in my apparent ignorance, minimal benefits. I'll have to further research that. As I said before, i'm disinterested in 7 speakers so the 5100's 7.1 is not worth the money to me. Is there another brand or something someone would specifically recommend because ONKYO doesn't have a huge selection within my price range?

in regards to question 1, it depends how the dvd was ripped to your computer. the avi file is just a container, it contains whatever audio/video codecs specified when you ripped and encoded the video. so if the dvd has surround sound, and you rip it to 6 channel ac-3 for example, the avi will contain the surround sound information and it will play back correctly on your home theater.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: zessary
if I have a movie on my computer such as an .avi file, would that come through stereo even if we assume it's a dvd I rip to my computer? If so, is that because the actual file does not hold the "surround sound information" or a flaw in my setup? Main point of that question is to decide if a different soundcard or receiver is in order or if it's just the drawback of holding media on a computer while not in DVD/iso formats.

Second question: I was very split between 3100 vs 4100. obviously the 3100 had the VERY low price while the 4100 had what seemed, in my apparent ignorance, minimal benefits. I'll have to further research that. As I said before, i'm disinterested in 7 speakers so the 5100's 7.1 is not worth the money to me. Is there another brand or something someone would specifically recommend because ONKYO doesn't have a huge selection within my price range?

The 4100 includes a power subwoofer which is a pretty big increase.

The 5100 includes more substantial speakers and a bigger subwoofer.

The reason I recommend jumping to the 5100 is not because of the 7.1. It's simply the first HTiB in this line to have speakers that I would consider decent for the price. You could not install the full 7.1 set and I still think it would be worth the increase. You can get the 5100 for not much more than the 4100 if you find a good deal.

 

[zessary]

I found the 5100 for $379.12 including shipping to Juneau, AK... that's $297.11 savings over NewEgg... I actually had to check every detail to make sure it was the same thing.

While i didn't intend on spending quite that much, it's quite the deal for something significantly better than what I originally thought I'd get.

Thanks

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: zessary
I found the 5100 for $379.12 including shipping to Juneau, AK... that's $297.11 savings over NewEgg... I actually had to check every detail to make sure it was the same thing.

While i didn't intend on spending quite that much, it's quite the deal for something significantly better than what I originally thought I'd get.

Thanks

:thumbsup:

It's definitely worth the increase in price. A passive subwoofer and tiny plastic speakers aren't going to sound anything like what you get in the 5100.