Computer & HT speakers setup

[drunknmunkys]

I don't have a TV, but I have a nice computer that I watch a lot of movies/hulu and game on. I've got a pair of crappy headphones, and no speakers so I figured it was time to upgrade. I found a pair of Polk Monitor 50s and a CS1 center on craigslist for a good price, and assuming they look ok, I'm going to pick them up today.

I pretty much know nothing about real audio. I've got a Razer AC-1 sound card I can hook up and I've got 3 speakers. Do I need a dedicated receiver? Computer -> Receiver -> speakers? If so, can somebody recommend a cheap receiver for this purpose?

 

[obobski]

well, you've got a decent sound card, and those speakers shouldn't be bad, so all you need is a receiver capable of surround output (you'll need at least 3 channels of amplification to handle that setup), check craigslist for something older, since you don't need hella processing, the AC-1 is probably going to do most/all of that and all the receiver really needs to do is give your speakers the juice

 

[drunknmunkys]

So I need a receiver capable of at least 3 channel output. If I add a sub later (which seems like you need to with the Monitor 50s) does that also hook into the receiver, meaning I'll need 4 channel output?

 

[obobski]

just get something designed for 5.1/6.1/7.1 and you'll be doing fine

you'll connect the M50's via L/R, and the CS1 to Center, if you add a sub it will connect to the subwoofer line output, you'll have to "inform" the receiver which speakers are and aren't connected

the downside to the center + L/R (with or without a sub) solution is that your PC is not going to generate a 3.0/3.1 signal for it, it will either generate a 2.0 signal which is adjusted by the receiver, or a 5.1 signal which is adjusted by the receiver, neither is perfect, and given that its free to try both, see what actually works out

 

[Sycraft]

The best way to go is to get a surround sound receiver. A 5.1 one is fine, though most are 7.1 these days and that is fine too. The receiver then acts as your amp, but will also act to deal with your speaker mappings. You tell it which speakers you do and don't have (or have it autoconfigure if you have one like a Yamaha) and it'll take care of mapping the signal it receives to the speakers you have.

This is particularly the case if you have speaker setups computers aren't built to handle. In my computer, and all the other ones I've looked at, the choices are 2 speakers, 4 speakers, 5.1 and 7.1. They also are in defined shapes so 4 speakers is quadraphonic, not 3 front 1 rear or anything like that.

Thus you can set your computer to its closest amount of speakers, and have the receiver handle the conversion to what you actually have. In the case of 3 speakers I'd probably set the computer for 2 channel, and then turn on Dolby ProLogic II when I wanted to use the center, and turn it off when I didn't.

 

[drunknmunkys]

There don't seem to be hardly any newer receivers on CL that have HDMI, so I guess that's out. From what I've read, receivers pretty much scale with price. There doesn't seem to be an optimal price level, or 'best buy' per say. Also doesn't seem to be much difference in the brands. Seems like I need to spend at least 150$ for something that isn't complete garbage.

One like the Onkyo TX-SR304B seems reasonable. I'm not looking to upgrade for another couple of years, I just need *something* now.

http://www.amazon.com/Onkyo-TX-SR30...?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247761663&sr=1-16
176$ shipped for a refurbed one

 

[drunknmunkys]

Just got a HK 254 from their ebay store for 220$ shipped. Aside from the firmware issue they seem to be pretty good for this price range.