What THX-certified 5.1 speakers for X-Fi XtremeMusic card?

[olmer]

Hi, made a £800 HTCP for a client with the above card. Total budget is £1k. She likes her music/movies and wants the best speakers for remaining £200.

I?d guess 5.1 is enough? I personally a headphone man and do not spend so much on speakers (have kind neighbours in a semi who look after my kids for free ? do not want to piss them off with 300W+ bass).

Currently on Logitech Z-5500 or Creative Gigaworks G550W 5.1 both below £200.

Space/cabling/size is not an issue. Room is 5.5mx4m with 42? on the wall and sofa 3.5m from it.

Oh, the card is OEM with optical in/out.

Thanks in advance.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

To fill a whole room like that it would be a good idea to consider a "real" speaker set vs. a computer speaker set.

I'm not sure on specific product availability and pricing in England / wherever you are, but you might be able to get something going for that much.

I have a sticky thread in this subforum with some guidelines on upgrade paths and how you might budget the money.

z-5500s would be a decent budget system as well. It also has additional connectivity if she wanted to hook up more components to it.

 

[Slick5150]

Also, I wouldn't lock yourself into THX certified equipment. It really doesn't mean much other than the company paid THX to receive the certification. Yes, the stuff would have to meet certain performance criteria, but just because something is THX certified doesn't mean its necessarily better than something that isn't.

 

[olmer]

Thanks for your replies.

Okay. I am new on this sub board - ?real?? means one of those non-mainstream highly customisable pro sound systems? Not sure £200 buys into that category. I really need to get all 6 speakers for this price, not 2.1 and upgrade later. Very few of the companies on your list come up on the search and only in specialised music equipment merchants. I really do not want to go that far ? it is just scary and unnecessary. Pretty certain that any sort of mainstream ?Home Cinema? type products within this price bracket would be inferior.

THX-certified is what she wants, but she can be convinced otherwise if necessary.

It is UK. Gigaworks G500 can be had for £130 on a special offer ? is Logitech?s system or G550 worth £70 extra? Remote is really not necessary as well as ?hard? customisation of the channels since it can be done via software (with saved presets, etc ? much easier) Case has all sort of hardwired sound controls (sb panel) and display, so more of those hardly makes things prettier. For the same money I can get Klipsch ProMedia GMX D-5.1 (comes up pretty often on the search with good recommendations) ? is these worth consideration?

Please consider me lazy and ignorant (and happy to remain such) and simply recommend the best 5.1 setup for the price, taking full advantage of the hardware if possible.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I meant "real" as a receiver + speakers + subwoofer rather than a set of computer speakers. Not "pro" sound equipment.

Here in the states you can get something like
http://www.onkyousa.com/model....R800&class=Systems&p=i
for about $400

In the states someone could also piece together a system based on the Polk R-Series, a basic receiver from Pioneer / Onkyo / etc. and a basic sub from Partsexpress for about that same amount.

I don't know if there are similar deals around you at all.

THX certification for computer speakers is different than THX certification on Home Theater equipment. The THX certification for computer speakers assumes you're trying to play back sound for a while seating position relatively close to the speakers themselves vs. trying to fill a whole room. If you actually care, there's a bunch of info in here about it
http://forums.anandtech.com/me..._key=y&keyword1=z-5500

The ProMedia GMX D-5.1 does not have a 5.1 analog input on it afaik.
That's not a problem if she's only listening to music and movies though as you stated. Those are either going to get played back in stereo (2.1 in this case) or they'll already be encoded in DD or DTS which can be passed bitstream for the Klipsch set to decode.
You'd run into issues with gaming though.

I can't give you a straight answer on which is the best without knowing what other options you have.

Is getting used equipment a possibility? Is there a UK version of "Craigslist"?

 

[olmer]

Used not an option.

These are only Onkyo within price bracket

http://www.digitaldirect.co.uk...x.asp?product_id=14273

Can you please comment on G500 and price/performance difference above?

She is not an ?audiophile? as such ? uses Beyers 250 (was my recommendation) and integrated tv speakers at the moment. No Hi-Fi staff at all. Any good quality speaker system would make her very happy.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

I don't know enough about them to make an adequate comparison.

 

[nsafreak]

Originally posted by: olmer
Used not an option.

These are only Onkyo within price bracket

http://www.digitaldirect.co.uk...x.asp?product_id=14273

Can you please comment on G500 and price/performance difference above?

She is not an ?audiophile? as such ? uses Beyers 250 (was my recommendation) and integrated tv speakers at the moment. No Hi-Fi staff at all. Any good quality speaker system would make her very happy.

I've listened to the Creative Gigaworks and while they are very good sounding they simply don't have a large enough soundstage to fill a room the size you have specified. In general most computer speakers are made with the presumption that the listener is about 3-4 feet from the speakers. In this case your listeners are obviously going to be further away. I'd see if you could at least give a listen to the Onkyo setup that you linked to a listen yourself.

The other option would be perhaps to advise her that for a good quality sound system she may want to consider either investing more or just getting a good 2.1 sound system now and upgrading later. It's very easy to get a very good 2.1 sound system for the price point you specified, however a decent 5.1 is going to be a bit more, I would say at least double the price point you specified.

 

[olmer]

I wish 2.1 was an option (less cables to route/paint for me), but unfortunately it is not.

Room is just about okay for 5.1 due to sofa being against an opposite to tv wall.
The funny thing is ? she does not want any more ?clutter? ? receiver.

After more reluctant research I can get this Tannoy SFX http://www.superfi.co.uk/index...fo.cfm/Product_ID/3804 within budget if i drive to the shop.

They also sell EFX £160 - is it a more sound choice They both look a bit basic to me.
Z5500 is still on top of my list ? getting it on Monday unless you can convince me otherwise.

Thanks for all your input.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

That speaker package requires a receiver or other amplification

 

[trOver]

+1 for Z-5500