[tom10167]

Right now I'm using an Audigy 2, a Harmon Kardon HK-3480 2 channel receiver and two...

JBL 4311B monitors. One of them has some holes punched im them from when I was a kid but I really notice NO difference(does this tell you something?)

Anyways I want to upgrade to surround for movies and some gaming and I'm not interested in spending thousands, or even many hundreds. If you could get Logitech Z-5500s for $270 shipped would you go with it?

If I already had a good 5 channel amp I'd just get some really good speakers but as it stands I do need something cheaper.

How bad are these speakers? Will I be disappointed after leaving my JBLs? I don't need tons of bass.

 

[midnite8791]

i wouldnt even worry about surround sound for your PC and just stick to stereo. Unless you play alot of games i guess. I have that same reciever in my living room powering my B&W's and for only $250 it does quite well.

 

[oqvist]

I would say the opposite... 5.1 sound is awesome for gaming I wouldn´t settle for stereo if I had the chance...

Rather a decent 5.1 setup then a good 2.1 setup. If you do get a receiver you can comp a great stereo setup with some cheaper satellites

.

I got the Pure Digitheatre Platinum and they sound awesome as long as you don´t have to fill a very large living room. Power is what they may lack if so...

It has a good sub woofer that goes really low but don´t bloat. Z-5500 they have a lot of bass which can be great as well of course

From what I have heard it´s decent and hard to beat bang for the buck for that kind of money...

The benefit of the Z-5500 is that they are designed to work with computers so you have separate rear channels which makes them better for gaming in that regard.

Otherwise you need a soundcard that encodes dolby digital to get true surround or the DTS-601 box I guess...

 

[tom10167]

What about just for movies which is much more than gaming?

It's like 60/30/10 music movies games.

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tom10167 /img/forum/go_quote.gif What about just for movies which is much more than gaming? It's like 60/30/10 music movies games.

I would personally go stereo. A great stereo system can comfortably emulate the surround effect of a multichannel system (plus having better sound quality). My point is further driven home given your relatively low budget.

Regards.

 

[Ahriman4891]

5500 are good for the money, but I don't like them too much.

Since music is your priority, how about starting with stereo and expanding to surround later on? AV123's X-ls series or Ascend Acoustics speakers come to mind.

EDIT:
Or, if you want to retain your sanity unlike most of us, just go with Z5500 and be happy

Seriously, they are not bad at all and would pair well with your Audigy 2.

 

[Redo]

If you can 5.1 properly for your PC, go with the Logitechs and be happy

. I quite miss having a properly setup PC surround sound system, and virtual 5.1 does NOT work as well with speakers as it does with headphones (it is just not the same).


Though I must admit these Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's are still damned excellent for PC gaming.

 

[Poboy]

z5500 has tons of bass and that too boomy boom boom ... if you dont like that , avoid.

go for a good sound card & 2.0 speakers with your reciever depending on the budget ... there are 5.1 channel headphones which you can get for movies / gaming if you really want 5.1 experience.

 

[Ahriman4891]

I hear that pretty much all 5.1 headphones suck. Never tried any myself, though.

 

[Poboy]

i had tried gainward hollywood & zalman 5.1 at a shop some time back ... they sounded good for gaming & movies , not music... zalman better than gainward but doesnt come close to the stuff discussed here generally

 

[laxx]

I couldn't stand my z-680, which are very similar to the z-5500's. There's just too much bloated bass and the annoying hiss of logitech speakers are so very annoying.