Looking for Suggestions on setting up 5.1/7.1 suround sound speakers to computer

[Wxford]

Anyone here have any suggestion for a newb looking to add 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound speakers to my setup?

What is considered the best way to do this, with an internal card, external card, or routing the sound through a stereo system from the computer or from the computer through the TV to the Stereo system?

I am looking for the best way to do this without breaking the bank to much.

Also any good site recommendations I could go to for this that will explain how to set it up from A-Z?

A lot of the cards and things I am seeing only show cables that provide maybe 2 RCA plugs and I am not understanding how that becomes connections for a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup or even where the sub-woofer connects.

Thanks any any and all help and suggestions.

Paul e

[paulbeers]

Originally Posted by Wxford

Anyone here have any suggestion for a newb looking to add 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound speakers to my setup?

What is considered the best way to do this, with an internal card, external card, or routing the sound through a stereo system from the computer or from the computer through the TV to the Stereo system?

I am looking for the best way to do this without breaking the bank to much.

Also any good site recommendations I could go to for this that will explain how to set it up from A-Z?

A lot of the cards and things I am seeing only show cables that provide maybe 2 RCA plugs and I am not understanding how that becomes connections for a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker setup or even where the sub-woofer connects.

Thanks any any and all help and suggestions.

Paul e

Your best bet is to get a sound card that has SPDIF or Digital Coax output and connect it to a surround sound "stereo" (receiver) that has 5.1 or 7.1 sound. The SPDIF or Digital Coax connection will actually send the digital stream as is from your pc to your receiver. There are other ways to do it using computer speakers, but this will not sound nearly as nice. I would recommend checking out http://www.shoponkyo.com. They sell new and refurbished "systems" as they call it with the receiver and all the speakers in one set for a decent price and decent sound. Otherwise you can get cheaper alternatives at your local discount warehouses.

[Spartan]

Before I had an HDTV, I ran component cables + optical audio out to my receiver (Pioneer Elite VSX-01TXH), and then s-video to my old 27" Sony Trinitron. Optical can carry up to 5.1 Dolby Digital (not 7.1).

2 weeks ago, I got a plasma tv, and I changed all of the connects to HDMI (from computer to receiver, and receiver to TV), and it has been great. HDMI carries audio + video and can transmit 7.1 DolbyTrueHD & DTS Master Audio.

My motherboard has all of these connections onboard, so I do not have any external video or audio cards.

OTA HD captured with SageTV looks and sounds terrific!

[CollinR]

Originally Posted by paulbeers

Your best bet is to get a sound card that has SPDIF or Digital Coax output and connect it to a surround sound "stereo" (receiver) that has 5.1 or 7.1 sound. The SPDIF or Digital Coax connection will actually send the digital stream as is from your pc to your receiver. There are other ways to do it using computer speakers, but this will not sound nearly as nice. I would recommend checking out http://www.shoponkyo.com. They sell new and refurbished "systems" as they call it with the receiver and all the speakers in one set for a decent price and decent sound. Otherwise you can get cheaper alternatives at your local discount warehouses.

x2 all the way, and I also think Onkyo has great bang:buck ratio going.

Be aware the cheaper systems have a subwoofer with no amp, better off to spend a few more bucks and get an active sub with basband output from the reciever. This way you can change it in the future if you desire.


EDIT: Like this, everything you need referb for $339.
http://www.shoponkyo.com/detail.cfm?...il=1&ext_war=1

I put one of these in at my mother's place, not bad at all.

[btrcp2000]

Another for onkyo. Last year around this time they were clearing out inventory, and I ended up getting a 7.1 capable system. It came with six speakers, powered sub, and another free 2 channel stereo receiver. I kept the sub and the 7.1 unit, and sold the rest on ebay (already had speakers.)

There used to be a 10% discount for joining their "club", which was free.

[Polypro]

Here's what I have had, past to present, easiest and cheapest to less so

1. Motherboard S/PDIF (Optical or Coax) out, to a set of Logitech Z-680 speakers (would be Z-5500's now). Sounded good, and only have to buy the speakers. The Logitech "Pod" decodes the DD & DTS.

2. As above, but with a Xonar D2X and analog connections (Green, Orange, Black). Sounded better due to the analog processing on the card (LM4562's). Staying analog allows PowerDVD or ArcSoft to decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS-MA without fussing around with HDMI bitstreaming (16/48 is good enough for me)

3. As above, but swap out the Logitech for a set of Polk Audio RM95's, a Sub, and the cheapest Onkyo receiver that'll accept analog in, I'm done

#1 is cheap and will sound way better than the 2.0 you have now. I wouldn't worry about 7.1 until it's on *most* of the disks.

[stanger89]

Personally I think you should start with finding your speakers and power, and then finish with figuring out how to get it connected. Soundcard really can't be intelligently chosen until you know what connections you'll have on the device you're connecting it to.

The best way to go?

Get the best speakers and AVR/SSP you can afford, biased toward the speakers as they'll make a much larger difference. Then look at your connection options and what sources you're playing (ie what audio codecs/formats) and choose the best connection, be it analog (unlikely if you're getting a new AVR), HDMI, S/PDIF, etc.

The ideal setup would be an AVR/SSP with HDMI supporting multichannel PCM, then run HDMI from either a good onboard device (G35, G45, nVidia 8x00, 9x00) or a graphics card, (ATI 4000). That will give you the best possible quality for everything (up to and including Blu-ray lossless audio).

[Humanzee]

My AVR does not handle hdmi, but it does have 7.1 analog inputs. Right now I'm running the motherboards optical cable to the AVR for 5.1 audio through ac3 filter. If I want to get all 8 channels working for blueray's via the analog path, do I need anything special? Since I'm pretty much locked out of the HDMI bit steaming thing, cards like the ASUS Xonar HDAV 1.3 or the Auzen X-FI Home Theater HD would be overkill right?

Will PowerDVD or ArcSoft decode the TrueHD etc, to any 7.1 audio card that has analog out, or are they picky about that? The Cyberlink page mentions a few cards specifically, one of which I have as onboard audio, but it has an awful background noise comeing from something. Is there a particular feature set that I should be looking for in an audio only card to make sure it works? Adjustable speaker timing etc?

This is all for a vista client pc. Any help or recommenations would be great. I read about how this card or that is great for gaming but no so much info about HTPC and 7.1 analog for HD audio.

[stanger89]

They'll decode to 7.1 just fine. It's just that except on those few cards, they aren't allowed to output greater than 16bit/48k (per AACS). IMO the whole "downressing" issue is a non-issue, it's still lossless, and unless you're listenning at or above reference levels, you're very unlikely to be able to tell the difference.

[Humanzee]

Originally Posted by stanger89

They'll decode to 7.1 just fine.

So by "They", you mean I can get away with a run of the mill 7.1 analog card? Or if electing to, I could upgrade to one of the higher PAP cards for higher fidelity that I may or may not be able to notice? Otherwise the software is doing the same decoding, its just the AACS compliant cards are allowed to decode from a higher bit rate source, and those cards are also likely to have better DAC's etc?

Do I need X-Fi? I read someplace that the gaming features take away from music and cinema listening.

Thanks otherwise, for putting it in perspective Stanger.

[stanger89]

Originally Posted by Humanzee

So by "They", you mean I can get away with a run of the mill 7.1 analog card?

Yup, I used an M-Audio Revolution 7.1.

Or if electing to, I could upgrade to one of the higher PAP cards for higher fidelity that I may or may not be able to notice?

Correct.

Otherwise the software is doing the same decoding, its just the AACS compliant cards are allowed to decode from a higher bit rate source, and those cards are also likely to have better DAC's etc?

The same decoding is done, it's just than on a non-compliant card, the software will "down res" the audio to a max of 16bit/48khz.

The PAP cards (which few there are) do probably have better components than cheap (eg onboard) solutions, but aren't necessarily better in general (beyond not having the 16/48k AACS restrictions).

Do I need X-Fi? I read someplace that the gaming features take away from music and cinema listening.

It's not that so much as Creative's solutions happen to be the only ones with "cutting edge" gaming features, but at the same time aren't very good in terms of sound quality (the X-Fi is supposedly better). You definitely don't need an X-Fi, and if you're buying a card, I'd steer clear. I'm not a fan of their drivers.

[Humanzee]

Checked up on the m-audio card and it looks like they don't make it anymore.

The Auzentech X-Plosion 7.1 Cinema, may be up my alley, I guess it has upgraded OPAMPS. It doesn't have X-Fi and is based on the C-Media CMI8770 chip. This shouldn't require a creative based driver right?

http://www.auzentech.com/site/produc...ion_cinema.php

[stanger89]

Yeah, the Revo isn't exactly new

Honsetly I haven't followed audio cards much recently. I got rather sick of the state of things, or rather the lack of progress.

[AJ Bertelson]

A xonar or HT Omega Claro XT would be a good analog out sound card. I picked up a HDAV Deluxe Xonar for $125 and have been using the analog out connections to my parasound amps.

I really like it