5.1 speakers

jaycee · Post by **jaycee** » Tue Aug 21, 2007 7:13 pm

Hi everyone. I have a pretty good set of 2.1 speakers for my pc but I would love to improve the sound by using a 5.1 theatre type system.
Being a bit if a novice as far as tinkering around with the pc goes can anyone tell me if there is a simple way of finding out if my sound card will support these before I go out and buy them?
Thanks

yourweb · Post by **yourweb** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 3:42 am

Look at the brand name web site. They should tell you on there.

jaycee · Post by **jaycee** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:36 am

Thanks for that. Unfortunately the company I bought the pc from went bust at Xmas time !

Rich-Ando · Post by **Rich-Ando** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 1:36 am

if you are thinking of using the onboard sound for a nice new 5.1 surround with sub woofer then it will depend on how much you intend to soend on them.

ie. if you are spending around £50 on them you will be ok using your onboard sound as long as it's compatible.
if you are intending to spend around £200 then don't use your onboard sound, buy a seperate soundcard.

giving us an idea of the age of your pc may help determine if it will play ok ( usually ok)

or you can try http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html that will list whats inside your rig

jaycee · Post by **jaycee** » Tue Sep 11, 2007 12:08 pm

The pc is one year old and pretty good spec, plenty of memory. It was bought from Vantage computers who went bust at Xmas time.
I bought the speakers ( Logitech X540 ) for £60 and unfortunately they only work out of the 2 speakers. I assumed they would be fine because of the number of connections at the back of the unit where the sound card is.
Fortunately there is a switch on the remote which 'simulates` 5.1 so I have got a poor mans version which is a bit disappointing. I shall have to investigate further as the reviews for the speakers all seemed to be very good and I would like the best out of them

Rich-Ando · Post by **Rich-Ando** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 6:58 pm

Logitech do some good speakers m8 but with all good speakers i am afraid the on-board soundcard just doesn't cut it.

i originally ran my Logitech speakers on the onboard soundcard but you get things like CD drives whirring through your speakers when you do that. now on a seperate soundcard it's a hell of a lot crisper etc.
however my speakers at the time were £240.00.....

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/74753

just for info though, i have seen and heard so many of my m8's "home cinema" systems connected ot their TV's..wot a load of crap they are compared to PC speakers such as the ones i have. i will be buying some more soon as you can connected them to the TV too.

jaycee · Post by **jaycee** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:00 pm

Looks like a new soundcard will be the order of the day then. Thanks for the replies

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Wed Sep 12, 2007 8:42 pm

Rich-Ando wrote: i originally ran my Logitech speakers on the onboard soundcard but you get things like CD drives whirring through your speakers when you do that.....

I had something like this - clicking noises and stuff whenever I used my DVD drive in the PC - made it impossible to watch a movie or play CDs.
turned out it was the audio cable that goes from the CD drive to the sound card - pulled it out and noise went away - but didn't lose any audio features!

yourweb · Post by **yourweb** » Thu Sep 13, 2007 3:59 am

Well you will have to let us know what you did.

Rich-Ando · Post by **Rich-Ando** » Fri Sep 14, 2007 5:41 pm

agreed, please let us know what way you went and post some pics of what you bought.

Hitch, mine definatley wasn't the cable m8, i tried that 1st. wasn't a clicking noise was just a whirring noise which i knew was def the drive. i used ot get a few other things too but sound card in and all went.

netserve · Post by **netserve** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 4:32 pm

A 5.1 sound card will cost you less than £20 for a cheap version from ebuyer or ebay. No great loss but your 5.1 speakers will sound great!

Slugster · Post by **Slugster** » Mon Oct 08, 2007 4:43 pm

"home cinema" systems connected ot their TV's..wot a load of crap they are compared to PC speakers such as the ones i have

Damn right - speakers count for everything. I'm reasonably into home cinema and sacrificed space for sound quality.

I have B&W 600 series all round (old range). All full size with 602 for the front and 601 for the rear.

These 'bookshelf' jobs can sound like a mosquito is lose in the room.