Need some A/V setup/speaker advice

A

AnNiMosSiTY

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 1, 2001
Messages
195
I just moved and ditched my creative labs 2.1 temporary speakers. I have a spare Denon AVR-2803 receiver, I hooked it up to two polk audio bookshelf speakers on my desktop (these guys) http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/recent/monitor30/

My sound card is a Sound Blaster Xi-Fi fatal1ty. I just hooked the Denon A/V and speakers up tonight using the CD input on the receiver with an RCA to 1/8 jack hooked to the line in jack on my sound card.
My motherboard is a Gigabyte 965P-DS3. The onboard sound I/O panel has alot more input then my sound card here is a picture of it.
10323_bpio.jpg


Compared to my sound card
card.jpg


1. Is this the correct way to hook my A/V and speakers up for what equipment I'm using right now? It kind of sounds lackluster like something is missing (could be a sub which will be added) there seems to be some very mild static/distortion the lower the volume is.

2. Would it be better to use my Onboard sound over the Xi-Fi card since it has alot more outputs for front,center,rear sub,coaxial and fiber?

3. Can you use 1 coaxial or fiber optic cable to cover all 5 channels?

4. What are some good speakers that are small and would go well with my receiver?

I want something small to mount on my wall and of course sound good :) . I am leaning towards 5.1 since I watch movies listen to music and play games. Any recommendations on a decent sub for the money will help as well.
 
1. yes this is the correct way to hook up stereo given what you've got

2. the onboard has nothing on the x-fi features or output wise, the x-fi just requires an adapter to use its digital output, and 6.1/7.1 is handled on 3 plugs instead of four (because Creative designs it to use TRRS jacks, and since Creative is basically the only one who makes 7.1 PC speakers, they can get away with it)

3. Yes, if you're passing a DD/DTS source out, which either means passthrough from a DVD or similar, or using DDL (which your X-Fi can do with an upgrade from Creative, doubt your onboard can do this under any circumstances)

4. What?

honestly I'd need more info about the distortion complaint to answer any better, but a sub would certainly improve things, the M30's aren't exactly full range
 
AnNiMosSiTY said:
4. What are some good speakers that are small and would go well with my receiver?

I want something small to mount on my wall and of course sound good :) . I am leaning towards 5.1 since I watch movies listen to music and play games. Any recommendations on a decent sub for the money will help as well. [/B]
Click to expand...

We need to know price range for speakers. "Sound good" is pretty generic and doesnt really help us.

Give us a rough estimate of how much you are willing to spend for 5.1. If you are looking for a cheap upgrade that will sound good and work with the Monitor 30's you have you could always purchase a set of Monitor 40's for your fronts and a CS1 for your center. Then all you need is a Polk sub and you would have a matched set of everything.

That may not be the way you want to go as some people dont like the way the Polks sound or know there are better speakers out there for the money, but I am running that same setup in my bedroom for my TV and it works out decent enough for me. With that said for purposes of listening to music I plan on purchasing a set of studio monitors and an external DAC (total cost around 800, but this is [H]ardForum ;) and using those rather than the Monitors as my bedroom receiver is much crappier than yours ;)
 
My sound card is a Sound Blaster Xi-Fi fatal1ty. I just hooked the Denon A/V and speakers up tonight using the CD input on the receiver with an RCA to 1/8 jack hooked to the line in jack on my sound card.
Click to expand...

Eh.. I might be missing something but maybe you should try digital out to your reciever - and see how that compares to the analog set up your using.

Now if you want 5.1..


http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=ENC200

They got some sweet deals over there. The temptation is pretty hard to resist.. And people generally like the sound of energy speakers. The buzz I heard is that they were poorly marketed but good sounding for the buck. kinda like the Anti Bose..

Pete
 
BTW count me in the DAC skeptic catergory. You get some nice DAC converters on those Xonar cards and they have that shielding bit too. I am not at all convinced they provide better sound. Strikes me is a audophile mumbo jumbo...

If you have a nice sound card I wonder if you can tell the difference between the DAC and soundcard in a blind test. let us know..
 
obobski said:
1. yes this is the correct way to hook up stereo given what you've got

2. the onboard has nothing on the x-fi features or output wise, the x-fi just requires an adapter to use its digital output, and 6.1/7.1 is handled on 3 plugs instead of four (because Creative designs it to use TRRS jacks, and since Creative is basically the only one who makes 7.1 PC speakers, they can get away with it)

3. Yes, if you're passing a DD/DTS source out, which either means passthrough from a DVD or similar, or using DDL (which your X-Fi can do with an upgrade from Creative, doubt your onboard can do this under any circumstances)

4. What?

honestly I'd need more info about the distortion complaint to answer any better, but a sub would certainly improve things, the M30's aren't exactly full range
Click to expand...






Can you send me a link of the proper adapter your referring to?
 
GuyClinch said:
BTW count me in the DAC skeptic catergory. You get some nice DAC converters on those Xonar cards and they have that shielding bit too. I am not at all convinced they provide better sound. Strikes me is a audophile mumbo jumbo...

If you have a nice sound card I wonder if you can tell the difference between the DAC and soundcard in a blind test. let us know..
Click to expand...

so you're talking about external DACs? (adding converter is redundant)

generally the S/N and IMD figures will be more or less identical btwxt x-fi/xonar/high end a/v stuff, unless you're talking to an audiophile, and then that 2 dB of difference suddenly becomes "night and day"

the shielding can help, if you've got the card hugged up to something noisy, like a graphics adapter, although it doesn't do a whole lot overall
 
EndersShadow said:
We need to know price range for speakers. "Sound good" is pretty generic and doesnt really help us.

Give us a rough estimate of how much you are willing to spend for 5.1. If you are looking for a cheap upgrade that will sound good and work with the Monitor 30's you have you could always purchase a set of Monitor 40's for your fronts and a CS1 for your center. Then all you need is a Polk sub and you would have a matched set of everything.

That may not be the way you want to go as some people dont like the way the Polks sound or know there are better speakers out there for the money, but I am running that same setup in my bedroom for my TV and it works out decent enough for me. With that said for purposes of listening to music I plan on purchasing a set of studio monitors and an external DAC (total cost around 800, but this is [H]ardForum ;) and using those rather than the Monitors as my bedroom receiver is much crappier than yours ;)
Click to expand...


Sorry if i was vague on that part.i was using creative desktop pc speakers. I am looking for a budget set of speakers that are decent for the money. Not lookin to spend over 500$ since im buying a 30inch display as well. I don't need audiophiles grade speakers just something that sounds better then what I was using. I would prefer some that are small cause I want to mount these on the wall surrounding my desk.

Thanks,
 
The receiver you have now is more than enough and you could utilize the Monitor 30's you have as rear surrounds (you can always upgrade them later) leaving you a decent amount to spend on some good quality passive fronts, center and sub.

Most folks here will say that you should always spend money on your center (where most of your dialog comes from) and your fronts (around 70% of your effects come from here). You can always get a more powerful sub and better surrounds later, but the front 3 speakers make the most difference in any setup. Here is another article about how to divy up your funds

A lot of folks recommend getting speakers from The Speaker Company. They have some setups for around 500 that I believe most folks here have found to be quite good for the price. Another great company is SVS, but unless you find a decent sale their systems are out of your range I believe.

There was a review sometime ago on a setup of their speakers that cost a total of around 500 (which is right at your budget) and they found them to be one of the best sets of small home theater speakers they had tested (cant remember what site and a quick search turned up nothing).

Here is another suggested setup

Another great place for research and suggestions is AVSForums
 
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