Using old receiver to hook up to pc.

[de8212]

Just ordered a new receiver for my Home Audio system in the living room. That means my old Onkyo 575x will probably just sit in a closet. Would it be worth it to buy some budget (2.1 is fine) speakers and connect it to my PC? My motherboard is in my sig. Not sure what the best connection method would be.

I do not generally watch feature movies but I do play some games and watch some short videos in WMP, etc. I do play games occasionally. Would I get better sound?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

What are you using on the computer for speakers now?

You can certainly hook up a receiver to your computer, but whether or not it would be worth the time, effort, and money to do so would be up to you.

If all your source material is going to be of low quality (game sound quality varies, and I'm not sure what those short videos are going to be), then it's probably not worth it to do it. For example if you're going to be listening to youtube videos and such, then don't bother.

For a basic set of speakers and a sub you're probably looking at $150 for about as cheap as you can get and up from there depending on what you want to get.

What kind of outputs do you have on your motherboard and inputs on your receiver? If nothing else, you'd be able to hook up with a 3.5mm to 2xRCA cable, but you might be able to hook up digitally as well.

 

[de8212]

Thanks for the response.

I currently have a very old set of logitech Z560's.

My motherboard specs are here
but I think the only outputs that might matter are:
1 x coaxial S/PDIF Out connector
1 x optical S/PDIF Out connector
6 x audio jacks (Center/Subwoofer Speaker Out/Rear Speaker Out/Side Speaker Out/Line In/Line Out/Microphone)

The receiver has digital coax and toslink inputs I know.

I mainly play COD4/WAW.

Not sur eif that's enough info for someone to recommend me a specific set of speakers but I would like to get a few specific model/prices and go from there.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

FYI the z-560 satellite speakers are 8-ohm so you could potentially use those are surround speakers if you wanted to re-use them. I had a set for a few years.
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/sp...om/Log%20vs%20Rock.JPG
https://mywebspace.wisc.edu/sp.../Random/Log_vs_SVS.JPG

I tended to find the z-560s fine for gaming type audio, but I guess that was in my earlier days

Looks like your motherboard has DTS Connect for live DTS encoding, so hooking up via either digital coaxial or digital optical would probably be a good bet.

There is a list of some possibilities in the sticky thread for speaker / sub options.

What's your budget for this project? Based on the fairly capable set of computer speakers you have already, it might not be worth it to spend any more money on this second system unless you're going to spend enough to make a significant upgrade vs. the Logitech system.

For reference, what are you using in your main HT system?
Would it perhaps make sense to make a speaker upgrade replacement in that main system and take the replaced pair of speakers from your main system to use with this one?

 

[de8212]

Budget is cheap.

I am replacing the onkyo 575x with a denon 1909. Also bought a 52" samsung LCD and mount/wires. So, not alot left for the PC room for a while.

So, you're saying I could just connect the Onkyo to my PC via coaxil/optical and then the 560's to the onkyo? I think I remember the 4 speakers taking regular speaker wire but I can't remember what type of connection the sub has. Also there would not be a center channel. Do you know if games output sound to a center channel? Guess I could use one of the rear speakers if need be.

If all that works then how would the sound compare with the onkyo in the mix?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Having the Onkyo in there with the existing Logitech speakers probably wouldn't be a big difference. Instead of the integrated sound doing the digital to analog conversion, the receiver would now be doing that. Instead of the Logitech sub's amp powering the speakers, the Onkyo would now be powering the speakers. I'm not sure if either of these factors is going to make a significant difference.

I mentioned that the z-560 speakers were compatible so that if you were to connect up the Onkyo and two new higher quality speakers that you got, you could still connect the z-560 speakers as the surround speakers and get a 4.0 setup going again... and potentially you could hook up another of the Logitech speakers to get a 5.0 set going, although it's best to have the front three speakers match.

Games do output sound to a center channel.

If you do end up hooking up all the old Logitech stuff to the receiver just to check how it works, make sure to select a 4.1 configuration in the receiver's options and select a crossover that's high enough for the Logitech system. I forget what Logitech's crossover is for that system, but I think it's somewhere in the 120-150Hz range? (You could connect the Logitech subwoofer as well with an RCA to 3.5mm adapter and control the sub gain with the control pad volume).

If you're just going to use all the same stuff over again, it's likely not worth the hassle to do all this since the main benefit of connecting up the receiver to your computer would be the ability to get better speakers.

 

[Oyeve]

Unless you plan on getting higher quality speakers then I would just use the logitech speakers as is and maybe sell the onkyo. Just not worth it otherwise.