Need advice selecting a sound setup for PC

[1Wolf]

I'm looking to set up a decent sound system on my wife's PC for Christmas and was hoping maybe you guys could give me some recommendations. The primary use is music, maybe some PC games as well. She likes listening to MP3's off her hard drive, Pandora/Spotify/Internet Radio, that sort of thing. The budget is $400-$800...but I can push that a little if needs be. She has a pretty good sized workstation/desk area but I still need to keep the speaker size down. I don't have to go with tiny bookshelf speakers but I do need to stick with a relatively small footprint. This is especially true with the subwoofer as there is limited floor space. This would go in a medium-sized upstairs bedroom office.

This system would replace her current setup which pretty much sucks. It consists of an old Onkyo home-theater-in-a-box 5.1 setup. Her motherboard sound pushes the Optical signal to the Onkyo receiver and then to the speakers.

What would you guys recommend?

The above is the TLDR version. Below is a bit more detail for those curious.

Her current setup for that room is a bit complicated so please bear with me. Her actual PC is downstairs in the den where it runs sound off the motherboard 5.1 jacks into an old Klipsch Pro Media 5.1 speaker setup. When she is playing games or working downstairs then that works perfect for her and it sounds good.

However, she spends alot of time gaming and listening to music upstairs so, from her video card we have an HDMI that runs up to the bedroom above the den where it goes into a larger monitor. Via USB she's got another keyboard and mouse up there. There is also the optical line that runs from the optical out of her motherboard up to the back of the very OLD Onkyo Home Theater in a box receiver and its accompanying 5.1 speaker setup. The subwoofer is shot and broke a long time ago. The speakers don't sound very good.

Once upon a time, we setup the old receiver and speakers upstairs thinking that she'd rarely use them....but that when she did it would be nice to have music. However, she spends quite a bit of time up there and that setup has got alot of use.

For Christmas, I'd like to replace this upstairs system with a new system. I can then ditch the optical line running through the wall and I'm thinking the HDMI off her video card can daisy chain through the new receiver and then to the upstairs monitor.

Thanks!

 

[Snufykat]

I'll take a quick stab at suggestions.
Dayton audio 10" 100 watt sub, $95.
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-sub-1000-10-100-watt-powered-subwoofer--300-628
A 60 watt t-amp. $90.
http://www.parts-express.com/dayton-audio-dta-120-class-t-mini-amplifier-60-wpc--300-3800
MTX 6 1/2 monitor 60i bookshelf speakers. $200.
http://www.parts-express.com/mtx-monitor-60i-dual-6-1-2-2-way-bookshelf-speaker-pair--302-017
Quick single source list.
I would suggest changing to the 3.5mm output instead of optical and run a 2.1 system. I am sure there will be lots of suggestions to come.
Wire the 3.5mm outs on the motherboard to the sub and go from the outs on the sub to the t amp.
If you have a preference for a different manufacture than use that instead.

 

[KimChibi]

Perhaps the RuarkAudio MR1will suit you.

These are small 2way speakers that are amplified and got blutooth connection for 400$.
http://www.proporta.com/ruark-mr1-active-bluetooth-speakers
You'll then need a bluetooth key on your PC.

You can add easily a subwoofer thanks to the subwoofer output integrated to the amplified right speaker. I would go for the Polk PSW111 because of its small size and great musicality. It costs around 350$.

 

[1Wolf]

...
I would suggest changing to the 3.5mm output instead of optical and run a 2.1 system. I am sure there will be lots of suggestions to come.
Wire the 3.5mm outs on the motherboard to the sub and go from the outs on the sub to the t amp.
If you have a preference for a different manufacture than use that instead.

Thanks Snufykat. You'll have to forgive me as I don't know enough about audio systems to quite understand the bit about T-amps and outputs.

I'm trying to set it up so that I can run the sound off her Video Card via HDMI and use some sort of AVR for the DAC, and run the speakers from the AVR. If the AVR has lots of nice features like Pandora or Spotify or streaming or wireless or anything like that...even better as she would find that useful.

I've got a similar setup on my own PC downstairs that I absolutely love. I run out of my video card via HDMI into a Denon 1613 AVR, then to a 5.1 set of Emotiva speakers and a subwoofer. It sounds terrific and works well. A few years ago a few very kind and very helpful fellow [H] members helped me set it up and I've loved it ever since. They helped me choose the speakers, the sub, etc.

Her previous setup was similar but it was just a very old AVR and it didn't have an HDMI input...only an optical. So I was forced the run the sound from her motherboard sound "outs" via Optical to the old AVR and then to the crappy 5.1 speakers that came with the kit.

I'm looking to replace that with something way better for her.

Perhaps the RuarkAudio MR1will suit you.

These are small 2way speakers that are amplified and got blutooth connection for 400$.
http://www.proporta.com/ruark-mr1-active-bluetooth-speakers
You'll then need a bluetooth key on your PC.

You can add easily a subwoofer thanks to the subwoofer output integrated to the amplified right speaker. I would go for the Polk PSW111 because of its small size and great musicality. It costs around 350$.

Wow...very nice. Those look tiny. And Bluetooth too...very cool! I'm not sure if they would work though as her PC does have Bluetooth on the motherboard but her PC is downstairs and these speakers would be upstairs...so I'm not sure how the range would work out.

That subwoofer sounds like a great choice. Thats a heck of a lot smaller than the one on my own system and it seems like it would sound nice in that room.

 

[KimChibi]

Low end bluetooth devices usually go up to 10 meters, but this is an high-end product, it might go up to 20 meters.

However, I'm not too sure about that as I don't own those speakers ! It's quite expensive so you might ask someone who owns those. Still, there's a 3.5 jack input so you might use it.

 

[Snufykat]

HDMI sound will be more flexible in the long rule. I misunderstood that you may have been trying to go to something smaller than an AVR setup.

 

[B00nie]

For less than 800 bucks, ease of use, setup simplicity and desk space wise a pair of JBL LSR 308 or Behringer 3030a monitors are a no brainer.

All you need to do is plug the monitors in the wall socket, buy a 2xXLR-mini stereo jack cable and plug them to your computer. No separate amplifier, superb sound and the speakers even have protection circuits stopping you from killing the speakers by playing too loud.

 

[MadLight]

Denon has a nice network capable AVR, With multiple HDMI inputs. If you go to monoprice and look at the Redmere HDMI cables they are verfy thin and you pick the length, Very flexible.
http://www.amazon.com/Denon-AVR-X2000-Integrated-Discontinued-Manufacturer/dp/B00CALM2KS

I am currently running a Marantz 1604 AVR with Airplay 6 HDMI in 7,1 as a 5,1. I have my main rig, 3 monitor setup PLP and my Macbook feeding it along with my cable box and a 46 inch LED TV, Loving it. The receiver gives you the flexibility of multiple connections to one unit. I do optical out of my main rig's sound card to the receiver for music. I game with headphones, It's a solid unit to build around.

 

[ClutchAutomatic]

Get some nice powered studio monitors if you want some high quality sounds. Check out the KRK Rokit 5g3 $279 for a pair, and you would need a sound interface such as a PreSonus AudioBox USB $95, You can add a subwoofer such as the Polk Audio PSW10 for $90. Then you will need to figure out your cable situation. From the interface you can have a y splitter to go to one speaker and then to an adapter for a single rca connection to connect the subwoofer. At markertek.com you can buy canare microphone cable and Neutrik connectors and wire up to the length you need, I personally use a PreSonus running 2 KRK Rokit 6 at work on 6ft monster cable, and at home I run a Native Instruments Audio Komplete 6 to 2 KRK Rokit RP10-3 and a Polk 12 PSW505 in the theatre room with custom canare/neutrik cable. An alternative to KRK Rokit is the Yamaha HS5 monitors for $200.

 

[heflys20]

Personally, I just connected my speakers (LSR305) by XLR to a volume controller and then connected that by a TRS to 3.5mm cable to a cheap ($15) Xonar DG card. The controller came free with the speaker pair via AMS ($249 on sale).