5.1 or 2.1?

F

FMX

Gawd
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
574
Well here's my situation. I have a very small room. About 12 ft one way maybe and not that much farther the other way haha. I mean, its big enough unless your talking about very loud speakers in here.

The thing is I hate to think I'm putting $100 into like the x-2300 (2.1) when 5.1 is not that much more expensive.

I do wonder why people keep buying the 2.1's, when they can buy surround sound, and thats why Im posting.

I hear people saying you cant get 5.1 to work in small rooms or its not good, but I dont understand? If sound is coming from all directions no matter the room how is it not good? I don't know, thats why I'm asking.

But if the speakers are hanging up like in the corners of the room facing down at me wouldn't that work good?
 
For your budget just get 5.1

2.1 is better only when you can afford some high end equipment. Mine cost about $800 and that's kind of on the cheap side for high end lol.
 
You should be fine in any kind of room with a small-sized 5.1 setup. Just adjust your front and rear volume levels properly and it should work out.

I just got the Z-5500 setup and what I did was go into a game (Quake 4) and while in a room (in the game) where a door was making a knocking noise I listened to it while I was facing the door, then while standing the same distance away I turned my back on the door and adjusted the rear volume to be roughly the same as the front volume.

I'm no sound nazi but I'm a little picky and I think as long as your front and rear levels are good and even then you should get the surround sound effect fine.
 
The X-Fi's aren't THAT expensive and a $300 TV is pretty small..
 
I have a set of X-530's and a Xfi card in a small room 11'X11' and i could not be happier, The sound is great and it increases the enjoyment of my gamming time. Its also quite a advantage when you can hear people sneaking up on you in multiplayer games.

I would spend the extra bit and get a 5.1 setup if i was you.

 
BLUEFISH44 said:
I have a set of X-530's and a Xfi card in a small room 11'X11' and i could not be happier, The sound is great and it increases the enjoyment of my gamming time. Its also quite a advantage when you can hear people sneaking up on you in multiplayer games.

I would spend the extra bit and get a 5.1 setup if i was you.

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The real issue in the 5.1 vs. 2.1 comparison is *space*, not price. Decent-quality 5.1 speakers don't have to be expensive (consider the Logitech X-530/540 or Creative Inspire 5300 or current-model 5600; none of these are even $100 retail today, and all are 5.1 speaker systems). I'd only recommend 2.1 speakers when you have no space to place rear speakers of a 5.1 setup. You could team any of the 5.1 speakers I named with even an X-Fi Fata1ity Professional Series and *still* spend less than $300USD for the system. (Note that even for most gamers, the X-Fi FPS is overkill.)
 
yeah the fatality is just a marketing thing really. only 2-3 games benefit at all from it and even then not by much.
 
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