5.1 Speakers under 20k!

[adithyagenius]

I have a T6060 connected to onboard Realtek ALC888 of Gigabyte 740G. I am planning to sell of t6060 for 2.5k and get speaker system and creative x-fi titanium.
I listen to music ( Rock and Metal ) 40% of the time and play games with EAX 40% and rest of the time I see videos having 2ch sound or encoded 5.1 requiring AC3 filter(dd/dts).
T6060 has served me very well for gaming and was decent for music. Movies in 2ch didn't sound good because they utilise only front left and front right. When I tried upmixing the subwoofer would either start playing all sounds through it or no sound at all. So I am planning to buy a higher quality speakers which can play 2ch without upmixing and still sound good enough. I heard logitech z5500 @18k is awesome for my purpose. But I also got an offer for Onkyo s3100 @18k. Onkyo uses more powerful speakers and less powerful subwoofer when compared to z5500. I don't care about volume. I never crossed half the vol for t6060. I only need clarity to fill a small room. I am not looking for stereo. I already have a bose wave music system. I need positional audio for games.

I am also concerned about power consumption. I listen at low vol. My t6060 used to consume 35w avg.

I have heard there is a Creative gigaworks near that price range.
So whats would you suggest- z5500 or onkyo s3100 or Creative Gigaworks?

noone wants to help?

 

[desiibond]

*g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/electronics/detail-page/htr340large.jpg

A rear look of Onkyo is amazing. Lot of connectivity options and Onkyo is good at making perfect audio setup.

I think you can rely on them but do take a demo coz audio is purely subjective. What I like may not sound superior to your ears.

 

[adithyagenius]

^^ how to connect it to PC?

 

[desiibond]

Use optical coax connection (a.k.a S/PDIF digital out)on extreme right and enable bypass sound to optical out in creative soundcard settings. For this you don't need a high end card. a 6k-7k card will do the job properly.

Since this is full blown amplifier cum speaker setup, you don't need a Dolby/DTS soundcard. You need a good soundcard that can send the signal from processor directly to optical/coaxial out without any work on the signal. The signal processing will be done by the amplifier.

 

[adithyagenius]

^SO onboard audio with optical passthrough will do?
What if I want to use analog outs of soundcard? Can it be connected?
I also want to know the power consumption. Since I will be using it as pc speakers. I will be using it at realistic volume levels (50% of t6060 or 65% of bose wave music system). Most of the time I am using computer for other than gaming, music and movies, there will only be windows sounds. I dont want it to consume much power. MY t6060 used to consume 35w avg.
Can you tell me how onkyo s3100 compares to creative g500 or logitech z-5500 in audio quality?

 

[desiibond]

Yes. optical passthrough will do

Not sure if you can connect analogue. you can check the DVD connectivity in (component in).

Since I have not used these speakers, I have no idea about power conumption.

Better go to Onkyo store and check the sound quality and performance.

Gigaworks G500 is nowhere near to Z5500 and S3100.

 

[adscience]

I just bought onkyo HT-S3100 the sound is perfect. I bet the sound is way better than Logitech Z-5500 and Gigaworks. The movies sound awesome on it. Also the connectivity and upgrade option are way much more than the other too. Has FM and AM radio too!

Connection to a PC can be digital or analog. Digital by SPDIF and analog by three separate 3.5mm to RCA cables which I purchased separately. Using the RCA cables you can get 5.1 surround sound with games. Hope this information helps.

Don't have any info on the power consumption.

Also for how much did you purchase or are planning to purchase X-Fi?

 

[m-jeri]

^^^

yes its true... onkyos are very good in the vocal range. they have a amazing mid range.
but the bass is tab bit low.i have only auditioned 2 peices but both did lacked the bass. i found that in z5500. but nowadays i listen to lots of mp3, here the onkyos would have been brilliant. but all talk onyos are very good. better than the logis. period.

I use z5500+Xfi..so i ought to know.

 

[adscience]

madjeri.........cld u plz let me knw the price of X-Fi as I am interested in purchasing one.

 

[m-jeri]

i bought my card and i/o drive is from US... it costed abt 9k in INR then...so sunno the indain costs...its more.or NA in india i guess..

 

[adithyagenius]

x-fi titanium will take around 6 months to come to india officially. But I may get a 2 or 3 cards from cyberstar india. They will import em from singapore.