Best Soundcard for receiver

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Newbify2

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 28, 2002
Messages
380
Hey I tried looking around for something fairly specific and saw that the nforce boards were recommended for pc to receiver situations but I just wanted to get more accurate opinion before my friend drops the amount of money he is going to spend on a system I am going to build for him.

I have showed him some multimedia speakers ... Logitech z680, Klipsch Ultras but I told him if he's got the money then a receiver to some a nice 5.1 or floorstanders would be nice.
I've showed him the Rocket Tykes 5.1 HT with Kenwood VRS-7100 that comes with which he would be getting a MSRP $499.00 receiver for $100 and he liked the sound of that.
I'm also going to show him some floorstanders or a nice 2.1 setup but I want to know what the best soundcard solution would be for this.

The specs on the machine:
ABIT "AV8" K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 939 CPU
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-127-181&depa=0&manufactory=BROWSE
AMD Socket 939 Athlon 64 FX-53, 1MB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-458&depa=0&manufactory=BROWSE
1 GB Corsair XMS (2x512)
so enough computing power for audio stuff

right now I have the Audigy ZS Platinum selected for him but if the nforce is going to be better for the receiver than we can switch that to one of the nforce3 boards
Thanks, and if there is already a thread about something like this feel free to link me.

also will that Kenwood receiver be best bang-for-buck or should we look for refurb denon/onkyo...
 
For strictly home theater, or HT and music, using an analog output to the receiver, the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 or 5.1 are your best solutions. If he plans to do S/PDIF over optical, even the ~$30 Chaintech AV-710 would fit the bill perfectly. For straight stereo analog or digital for music listening, I'd go with the E-Mu 1212M--it doesn't get much better than that anywhere. But if he also has some heavy gaming in mind, then the Audigy 2 ZS from Creative is about the best you're going to find. Soundcards that have good game support have become hard to find lately.

Now, the nForce and nForce 2 (not the nForce 3) have the unique feature of Dolby Digital encoding of a variety of audio content. The usefulness really depends on what he plans to do with his computer. I don't want to get into it much without knowing his needs. So maybe if you could elaborate on that, we can narrow down the options.
 
If it's just for PC use (ie, this ISN'T going to be an HTPC) then he might as well just get an Audigy 2 ZS or M-Audio Revolution and the Klipsch or Gigaworks set. Any combination thereof would serve him well, you'll need to compare the strengths of each in order to make a decision. Using an HT reciever for computer surround sound is spending way too much money on somehting that isn't going to benefit you; it will never be used loud enough or with an audience, which is what such things are for. And damn, those Gigaworks and Klipsch are still loud as hell.
 
Newbify2 said:
also will that Kenwood receiver be best bang-for-buck or should we look for refurb denon/onkyo...
Click to expand...

I think you'll find that that kenwood has no multichannel analog inputs. If he want's multichannel sound only from DVDs then that's fine, but I would reccomend a receiver w/ multichannel inputs so that he can feed it a quality analog signal from a Revo.

A Denon or Onkyo would fit the bill perfectly. Check out Ecost.com for some very attractive prices on refurb equipment.
 
Newbify2 said:
also will that Kenwood receiver be best bang-for-buck or should we look for refurb denon/onkyo...
Click to expand...


I've been using a refurb Onkyo (check www.ecost.com ) for over a year now and it has been a DREAM. I will never go back to a multimedia setup. I'm also using the Nforce2 optical out, as someone mentioned, and a pair ot floor standers.
 
Thanks for the replies,
This will be mainly for PC use, mostly music and doom3/halflife2. Not as heavy on movies but this will be the main audio piece in our apartment so it will probably turn into the movie watching computer.. He's pretty sure he doesn't want to go with multimedia speakers because he may be adding additional HT devices to the system (ie dvd player, nice TV).

If he went with the Revo with analog signals to a denon/onkyo would gaming suffer but music and movies be fine.

I'm leaning more towards the Revo with Denon and the Rocket Tykes 5.1.
 
Excellent choice.

Unfortunately, the av123 b-stock inventory of Rocket Tykes is sold out. $199/set was an attractive price. New sets cost $399.00. At that price, I woul dlean more towards a pair of b-stock RS550 towers for $399. That is an insanely fabulous deal, and should sell out before today is over. They will have excellent bass extension, and you can pick up an inexpensive pair of surrounds to fill out the experience. It will be 4.0, but for gaming and music, you will be pleased. The only thing that you will want a center channel and subwoofer would really be DVDs. Movies have nearly all dialog routed towards the center. It is less important for games.

This is always a good place for recievers, although shipping is a bit slow. In particular, I would reccomend the AVR-484 or the Onkyo TXSR501 if you want to stay under $200. If you think that you will want to get the big speakers, I'd go with the Denon 1804 for < $300. The extra power will give that unit will more longevity if you are going to get matching surrounds and center later.

p.s. think quickly. The B-stock speakers won't last long.
 
Haha - man I never would have found that 550 deal if I didn't check this thread, thanks man - I just ordered a pair. It's actually sort of sad considering what I paid for the first pair. :eek:

Oh, fyi - AV123 is offering the crossover upgrade for something like $50 to make the 550's in 550 MKII's (more bass extension, tighter curve etc..), so if you grab a pair you might ask about that.
 
i just use the hercules fortissimo III for my digital out to my receiver. great lil card.
 
Digital output from any solution other than Soundstorm will not yield surround sound. Analog is necessary.
 
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