PC to Reciever and HT Setup

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yossarian

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Nov 2, 2004
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I have Logitech 560s hooked up to an Audigy 2 ZS. I'm wanting to upgrade to a 5.1 system, and the Logitech 5500 / Klipsch 5.1 Ultra / Gigaworks look interesting, but I'm toying with the idea of a reciever / home theater setup instead. I've found a good deal on Paradigm Cinema 90's that I could hook up to a reciever such as: http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?action=detail&dpno=188174

Are there any downfalls to this concept? (except cost?) Will games work with digital output or will I have to switch between digital and analog? Just want to get an idea before I start buying stuff...

Dirk
 
The biggest downside is cost, yes, and that you WILL have to switch from digital [for watching movies] to analog [for 5.1 gaming]

Other than that, having a receiver hooked to your PC pretty much kicks ass =]
 
First let me say

The Paradigm Cinema 90's are very good for computer speakers. With a decent receiver they will own any Computer Speakers in the Box Setup.


OK, it costs a bit more, maybe even 2 times the cost as some of the best computer speaker sets.

You will need an easy method of changing the audio setup for the receiver from Analog to Digital when going from games to movies. I would suggest getting a receiver with a remote where doing this is easy.
 
I guess I realize that DVD movies output in Dolby Digital and such would be recognized by the receiver and correctly output to the speakers with the Audigy as a pass-through. But would the receiver correctly ouput signals to the speakers in games when using the analog output from the Audigy? In other words, games that use some type of 3-d sound effects (but probably not dolby) be correctly placed by a receiver since I guess the Audigy still wouldn't be directly controlling the speakers even with an analog / line-level output?

Dirk
 
I'd HIGHLY recommend a HT setup for your computer if you can afford it. It's sweet :D
 
Indeed, having a nice set of speakers is great, except when you start noticing that 192kbit/sec Mp3's don't sound so good anymore =[

I'm not going to say I can hear a difference between Lame APS and FLAC, but I certainly can pick out 192kbit stuff most of the time.

128kbit I could notice on pretty much any sound card with my old promedias.
 
Once you get some high quality HT stuff, we get spoiled and start demanding the best and the old stuff just doesnt cut it anymore haha.
 
If you are using an A2ZS, there is no need to use digital at all- let the Audigy decode the Dolby, DTS and leave it at that. Makes life easy, let us know if you notice a difference (you shouldn't).
 
yossarian said:
I have Logitech 560s hooked up to an Audigy 2 ZS. I'm wanting to upgrade to a 5.1 system, and the Logitech 5500 / Klipsch 5.1 Ultra / Gigaworks look interesting, but I'm toying with the idea of a reciever / home theater setup instead. I've found a good deal on Paradigm Cinema 90's that I could hook up to a reciever such as: http://www.ecost.com/ecost/shop/detail.asp?action=detail&dpno=188174

Are there any downfalls to this concept? (except cost?) Will games work with digital output or will I have to switch between digital and analog? Just want to get an idea before I start buying stuff...

Dirk
Click to expand...

If your sound card supports digital 5.1 output, then you can just run either a coax digital or TOSlink cable from the card to the reciever's digital input, and have 5.1 surround in any mode...well unless you tie up the digital in with another source, like say a PS2 or DVD player.

Downside is cost, and the reciever takes up more room. Games should work with the digital out so long as your card supports 5.1 output in digital. If you have to use analog however, just buy some nice double-shielded cables...just not the monster braded stuff, unless you like spending more than you have to...you can get pretty nice cable for half if not less if you look around, or if you want to make your own you can have double shielded cables for just a few bucks more than the cheap-single shielded stuff.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
If you are using an A2ZS, there is no need to use digital at all- let the Audigy decode the Dolby, DTS and leave it at that. Makes life easy, let us know if you notice a difference (you shouldn't).
Click to expand...
I notice a quality difference between A2ZS analog output compared to true DTS or even DD, digital being better.
 
What I use for cables and hookups (Audigy 2 ZS):
(when you get into better speakers, cable quality starts to make a very noticable difference)

Analog, acoustic research, 3 y-cables:

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Digital, radio shack, y-cable. The minijack goes into audigy part as you probably know, as for the other end with the 2 RCA plugs, red one works for me (no clue how that works):

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btw, does anyone know if a better quality digital cable will give better results, or is a digital signal a digital signal....
 
Seraphim974 said:
I notice a quality difference between A2ZS analog output compared to true DTS or even DD, digital being better.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you may- it's just a matter of where the DA conversion takes place really. I'm wondering if I will with my HT setup, need to test that out.
 
Seraphim974 said:
btw, does anyone know if a better quality digital cable will give better results, or is a digital signal a digital signal....
Click to expand...

only differences are that the better coax digital cables have better noise rejection, so if you have to run coax in a noise prone environmet those could do, however TOSlink is a better choice for high noise environments. better TOSlink cables for the most part might have better connectors, but performance wise wont vary much if any at all.
 
Seraphim, which B&W's do you have? What do you think of them? Just curious, haven't heard any, but I've seen them described as bright [which I personally like, my Ref 2's are fairly bright] Mind giving us a mini-review?
 
BO(V)BZ said:
Seraphim, which B&W's do you have? What do you think of them? Just curious, haven't heard any, but I've seen them described as bright [which I personally like, my Ref 2's are fairly bright] Mind giving us a mini-review?
Click to expand...

my sub ASW 600, Kevlar/paper diaphragm ($528)

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my other speakers, without grills on, yellow diaphragms are Kevlar (fronts, dm602 s3's, $639..center LCR 60, $378)

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Well, these have been my only really high-end system, having a sony home theater in a box previously. Of course, these speakers are probably the best that I've ever heard in my life. The clarity of DVD-audio is immaculate. I think that the fronts are capable of frequencies as low as 49hz. They can definitely play without a subwoofer. At very high volumes, my ears to not discern any distortion of any kind, which i thought was cool at first, but i'm now worried about my hearing. The fronts and center come with inserts that you can stuff in the flowports to limit the bass range. Thats about all i have to say about this set considering my limited knowledge of speakers. But, hey, i have learned a lot since getting these!
 
I noticed you had to use a separate "Y" connector for the middle position on the SB due to the tight spacing. The pics of Monster Cable I saw look like it has a flattened or oval connector for the mini plug so maybe it will work directly. http://www.monstercable.com/productPage.asp?pin=432

BTW, picked up the Cinema 90s today, I'll get the sub and reciever as money allows...

Dirk
 
Seraphim: Nice looking stuff =]

If you look in the 'post your speaker' section, you can check out my sub and my Ref2's [don't have pics of the ref1's in there, I'll do that sometime]

I've not fooled around w/ DVD-A or anything yet, but I'm very satisfied with my ref's so far. That, and my sub is great too =] I'm not sure I'm going to really go for DVD or SACD too much, because I doubt that I'll ever be able to find any artists I'm interested in. Instead, I think I'll spend some cash and get a good external DAC/upsampler combo from www.av123.com . No sense spending money for something I'll never use =]
 
heh, i don't know if i am losing my hearing or what, but when i got my speakers, the normal listening volume was around -45 on my receiver, now the norm is -25 to -30. -45 on my receiver is barely audible now. odd

and, yeah there is barely any good stuff out right now on SACD or dvd-audio.

wow, i wish i would have known about those monster cables meant for computer sound cards, daamn
 
seriously look for a shielded or preferably double shilded miniplug to RCA cable that is not monster...you will end up paying far less and get close to if not better quality for the price.

Basically you take a $10 cable, and throw monster's name on it and it becomes a $20 cable.

Their THX line is a joke....$100 for a cable which I can make (minus the aesthetic polish, but all the performance) for under $12. That's practically robbery. Given I do have a pair of monster RCAs I keep as a backup pair...it was also the only pair of their shielded ones I bought.....for that same $30 I could have made three sets of 6ft cables of better quality....right now my system runs all handmade cables, and trust me....once you roll your own, you wont settle for anything else.

BTW if you choose to make your own, rat shack has a miniplug to RCA adaptor so you can use regular RCA cables...this is how I went, only about $6 for the adaptor.
 
Well, the cabling/connectors for making cable is very cheap [even for good RG6 and Eichmann bullet plugs] but the crimpers can be pricey. I remember looking on partsexpress and seeing that crimpers were around 50$, so unless you were making lots of cables, it would make more sense to just pick some up from bluejeanscables or the like.
 
Ii've not made any cables myself, but have only looked at a couple tutorials. Just do a googlesearch for it, there really isn't much work involved to do it. I know that somewhere partsexpress has a brief tutorial on making cables. In fact, X posted a guide to making your own cables, right here on the forum. Just search for that =]
 
Seraphim974 said:
can you make pretty much any cable? are there any tutorials online at all?
Click to expand...

I wouldnt mess with fiber optic cables, but yes, you can make any cable...all it is is wire either crimped or soldered onto a connector. The thing is having the right impedance cable for the job. This is especially important for video and digital coax (which are both the exact same cable...so if you want a cheap dig coax, get a video cable). Analog audio connectors have a very broad impedance range which is acceptable, so some of them will work fine as digital coax, most could cause some issues, such as jitter.

There are some tricks to know, but there are plenty of DIY audio sites that will explain cabling to you. I would ignore most of the "this ddielectric is better", "metal X is batter than OFC copper", or "this abnormal design gets me blah" tips...since either the gain is offset by something else, orr it's outright snake oil. Silver cables are often smaller gague than copper ones, and from teh smaller gague alone the end resistance is higher than OFC copper, thus negating the electrical advantages of the wire....teflon dielectric has to be thinner to make for the same impedance matching as vinyl, negating its dielectric properties to the point of being equal in performance, but makes for a thinner cable (i use teflon anyways, just because I like thin flexible cables)...and some weird designs can actually be hazardous to your equipment...one maker had to make a backpedal statement after some folks took his advice and ended up screwing up their speakers...huge tip...never use exotic cat-5 designs for speakers that you value....just go buy some lamp cord, or get some OFC 12-ga for a buck a foot.
 
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