Help me on 2.1 Setup

[hmz]

Hello,

I'm new to this stuff and really don't know a lot. Xmas is coming and everybody is shopping madly, so instead of buying stuff I don't need, I want to buy a gift for my self. Currently I'm using cheap PC 4.1 speakers. I got tired of it, and I want something nicer, but not very expensive . I thinking about to hook up the receiver to the PC via optical cable. Possible, right? Also I'm going to connect TV and Oppo player to receiver and that's pretty much it. I'd like to have a receiver with at least 1 HDMI input.

The rooms is kinda small, only 10 by 12. At the beginning, I'd like to stick with 2.1 system. I need suggestions on speakers, receiver, and cables. Haven't decided on budget yet, but I can put at least $550 for the speakers and receiver.

Here is what a came up with:

X-LS Bookshelf Loudspeaker
http://www.av123.com/products_product.php?section=speakers&product=82.1

Looks very nice, and the price is acceptable to me. I hope the quality is not bad either. Are those speakers have enough bass?

How about Panasonic SA-XR57K receiver? Don't know much about it, but it looks like it would do the job.

Thank you guys.

 

[spaceman]

Sure the Panasonic is awesome b/c it improve the sound via it's good dac when you hook it up to optical or coax digital.

Bang for the buck best speakers are the AV123 XLS series and the TAD 805 and sub.

 

[phide]

Looks like you don't need much help at all. You've picked the components I would have picked, and it looks to me like you're golden.

The cables are a fairly insignificant factor. I use standard Radio Shack 16 AWG speaker cable, but you might want to consider "reasonably good" interconnects unless you're taking the optical/coaxial route. The Belkin analog stuff Radio Shack sells is fine, though perhaps a tad overpriced. MonoPrice has a fairly good selection of reasonably priced cabling if that's what you fancy.

 

[hmz]

Thanks. I ordered most of the stuff. I have another question. I wonder if my onboard sound card will do fine or I need some better one like X-Fi?

 

[spaceman]

If you are hooking it up to your optical just make sure bit-matched output is enabled if you have that. The Panasonic DAC is very good so unless you need hardware acceleration for games the onboard should be fine.