Recommendations? <$150 5.1 speakers w/ digital input/dolby decoder?

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knobbicus

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Messages
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Am I on crack? My dead Altec-Lansing ADA-880s had SPDIF input and built-in dolby/AC3 capability... These cost $80 originally. In looking around, I'm not finding speakers with this capability any more. It seems that most don't do digital in. they just take front/rear/center/sub directly from the soundcard- they don't do their own decoding. Does anyone make this kind of speakers anymore? My soundcard is an old Creative SB Live! with digital out. It seemed to work fine with the ADA 880s.

Recommendations? Help in pulling my head out?

Thanks.

barrettwilt@sbcglobal.net
 
DB,

I had a look at those- it looked to me as if they used only discrete analog inputs for front/rear/center/sub... maybe i missed something. will look again, thanks for the reply.

-knobbicus
 
i just looked again. i guess i had been looking at the 5300s and 640s, and not the 680s. slightly off my stated price point, i see. maybe that's as cheap as it gets for dd/dts decoding these days. still hoping for more options.

-knobbicus
 
Hmm, that is the cheapest option I know of.

Ha, those speakers are ugly.
ADA-880

Check this out -
"Creative Inspire® GD580 is a complete home entertainment speaker system, designed to support the latest surround formats - DTS®, Dolby® Digital and Dolby Pro Logic® II (movie and music modes) - and to provide a spectacular gaming, movie and music experience."

GD580
 
Klipsch Promedia GMX-D > you can get them for as lo as 130.00 now on ebay, originally retailed for $325.00
 
knobbicus said:
I had a look at those- it looked to me as if they used only discrete analog inputs for front/rear/center/sub...
Click to expand...
Is that a problem? Any DAC/decoder circuit used in computer speakers is going to suck compared to the DACs on a capable soundcard.
 
Check this thread for some suggestions http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=783980

Also, you need to ask yourself why you're looking for digital connectivity. Your SBLive will only be able to communicate with the speakers using 2 channel PCM mode - it cannot encode a multi-channel format like Dolby Digital or DTS unless it is pre-recorded on a DVD.

You could upmix the 2 channel digital PCM to 5.1 channels using Pro-Logic or whatever matrix mode the speakers provide, but you'd get much better clarity and channel separation if you just used the analog outputs already on your soundcard.

Basically an analog 5.1 speakers system is the only way you'll get 5.1 sound in games/music using your SBLive!. For $80 check out the logitech Z640's or Z5300's or some Creative Megaworks speakers.
 
DoinkyBottoms said:
Hmm, that is the cheapest option I know of.

Ha, those speakers are ugly.
ADA-880
Click to expand...

That's what I have. Retailed for $300 when I got them.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone.

SilverMK3: this is interesting information. obviously i'm more or less clueless regarding these sound encoding/decoding technologies. The SBLive comes with front/rear analog outputs only. So i'm guessing that the speakers will do the distribution to the subwoofer and center channel where appropriate?

xonic: frankly, i'm not sure if it's a problem or not. i was just concerned because I don't think my SBLive does any decoding at all... it's not an SBLive 5.1, it's just the original- front analog, rear analog, line in, mic in, digital out. as I mentioned to SilverMK3, i don't know how speakers handle the front/rear signals to get them into a 5.1 configuration. the subwoofer is easy- just the crossover frequency, but i don't know about the center channel.

Anyway- Thanks for the help. Stuff to think about.

Greg
 
knobbicus said:
xonic: frankly, i'm not sure if it's a problem or not. i was just concerned because I don't think my SBLive does any decoding at all... it's not an SBLive 5.1, it's just the original- front analog, rear analog, line in, mic in, digital out. as I mentioned to SilverMK3, i don't know how speakers handle the front/rear signals to get them into a 5.1 configuration. the subwoofer is easy- just the crossover frequency, but i don't know about the center channel.
Click to expand...
By definition, 5.1 audio involves 5 discrete satellite channels and a discrete subwoofer channel. That means six distinct interconnects and no crossovers. With the original SoundBlaster Live!, with quad-speaker output, you're not going to get 5.1 Dolby Digital decoding, for obvious reasons. The subwoofer won't get to take advantage of a discrete subwoofer channel; instead, it will be crossed over from the front channels, I presume. You could use Dolby Surround or Dolby Surround Pro Logic, though. That would provide a front right and left, a center channel, and a monophonic rear surround channel.

Of course, simply upgrading your soundcard would yield you true Dolby Digital 5.1 or DTS 5.1. There are some nice and cheap soundcards from Chaintech that should fit even the tightest budgets. I give my recommendation to the AV-710 from Chaintech, an excellent card for many uses.
 
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