Speakers: THX vs. non THX on surround?

[staereo]

I see that on average, a 5.1 non THX costs 200 dollars less than a THX certified system. Is the difference a mere level of sound fidelity and certification of such, or is there a differance that im missing?

Are non THX 5.1 systems true 5.1, or is it just 5 speakers with sound, like, is there true seperation of channels to the speakers, and levels to match dobly digital surround? I'm going to be getting an audigy 2 zs platinum card, and I want to utilize the seperate channels, so are non thx actually just a different level of sound quality or is is that non thx dont even sperate channels?

Thanks,
Bruce

 

[aug1516]

If some speakers have THX certification you can assume that they are pretty good. However, THX certification does not make them automatically better than another pair of speakers without the certification. You can't lump speakers into THX and non-THX. Why don't you post some of the speaker sets you are looking at and we can compare them against each other based on their strengths and weaknesses, not their certifications.

 

[staereo]

Well, I have a strong understanding of audio, as I not only used to install 12v electronics into vehicles for a living, but I also won 5th place worldwide in car audio competition.

I understand harmonic distortion, power, etc..

I just dont have any understanding of computer speaker systems, and whether or not they get channel seperation.

An example of this is the logitech 640 system, which claims 5.1 (Creative also makes a competitor to this in the same price range). I want to make sure that if I plug this into my audigy 2 zs, that I'm actually going to get 5 channel seperation with these speakers and not some sort of 'simulated' surround.

Hope this helps,
Bruce

 

[cw42]

you could always buy a reciever and real speakers. that'll garuntee you your surround sound + far better quality.

 

[lazybum131]

You'll get 5.1 if the SOURCE is 5.1.

If your playing CD's that are stereo, you won't get 5.1 unless it's being simulated.
If a game supports multichannel surround sound, then all speakers should get seperate channels.
A DVD with a Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1 soundtrack and proper decoder (i.e. software DVD player, or drivers in the case of an Audigy 2 ZS) will play out of all 5 speakers without upmixing.

Simple as that.

 

[staereo]

thanks so much!!