Soundcard or Receiver?

[Justintoxicated]

Putting together a somewhat ghetto 3.1/5.1 sound system for my HTPC until I can afford new stuff. I have 2 speakers for now, and I just borrowed a center channel speaker that I want to hook up.
So my temporary HTPC is an old dell with a ATI 4650 on the way.

My receiver is an older sony maybe 8 years old that has not been in use most of it's life. It supports 5.1 audio but only has analog inputs (RCAs)

The dell only has a headphone jack so I would assume it is stereo sound only (no place to plug in more jacks). So what is my best option.

1) get a new receiver that supports HDMI inputs (Sounds kind of expensive). Could output from the HDMI on the video card then, but I doubt it would sound much different due to non great speakers.
2) buy a cheap soundcard (Which one?) like an X-fi Gamer or something.
3) Remove SB x-fi! extreme gamer from my other PC (gaming / office PC has z5500's hooked up to it) and go back to using the onboard audio on that system, which may be quite decent? This is the board I have has the Bernstein audio module - Realtek ALC885 8-channel High Definition Audio CODEC

http://www.motherboardpro.com/DFI-L...el-X48-ATX-DFI-Motherboard-Retail-p-1049.html


Open to other suggestions as well.

 

[ryken]

What are your eventual goals for the system? Also, what sort of budget are you working on? It sounds like you are planning on upgrading in the future, and we need to know what those plans are and how much you are eventually going to spend.

Your best option is probably spending a decent amount of money on a modern hdmi compatible receiver, and then upgrading the speakers as you go. Something like the Onkyo 508 or 607 would be a really nice start to a nice sounding budget level home theater. They go for $250 and $350 refurbished on that site.

Let us know about what you want in the end, and it's easier to help.

 

[Justintoxicated]

What are your eventual goals for the system? Also, what sort of budget are you working on? It sounds like you are planning on upgrading in the future, and we need to know what those plans are and how much you are eventually going to spend.

Your best option is probably spending a decent amount of money on a modern hdmi compatible receiver, and then upgrading the speakers as you go. Something like the Onkyo 508 or 607 would be a really nice start to a nice sounding budget level home theater. They go for $250 and $350 refurbished on that site.

Let us know about what you want in the end, and it's easier to help.

Well I want a bigger TV eventually, and some decent surround sound (probably 5.1 because I don't think I could do 7.1 properly due to the shape of my living room. I'd say High end but I won't be able to afford it for a long time, and I'm not sure it would make sense with a non optimal layout. My living room looks like this, but I have the The TV positioned in the center of the wall rather than in the corner.

So as you can see with the fireplace at the top wall, and the sliding glass door at the left top, I don't really see an ideal position for the middle speakers in a 7.1 setup and in ceiling install is out at this time (because I may as well wait until I replace the roof to try to run wires (no way to crawl around in the attic)). Even for 5.1, the speakers can not be positioned behind the couch, so would it even be worth while?

I don't have a planned path of upgrades, but I'm open to suggestions. I'm hunting for deals since I don't have hardly any spending money at the moment. That does not mean I want to waste money on a sound card if I will eventually NEED to have HDMI sound anyways. But a part of me says get the X-fi sound card and use the receiver I have since it seems to do everything I need, and I think sony was much better in 98/99 than they are today (now that I think about it I think the receiver is older than I originally thought).

 

[J Macker]

I vote #1.

But, does your receiver not have S/PDIF (optical, toslink)? That is digital signal. Most motherboards have it as an output as well.

There are usually (but not right now apparantly) some good Denon receivers on clearance at
electronics-expo.com

 

[magnetik]

If this is primarily for movies.. I would just get a 5000 series ATI card and a new reciever with hdmi.

This is exactly what I did for my media center. I added a 5570 and now I have full TrueHD/DTS-HD when I watch bluray. All the audio just passes through HDMI to the reciever.

 

[Justintoxicated]

I vote #1.

But, does your receiver not have S/PDIF (optical, toslink)? That is digital signal. Most motherboards have it as an output as well.

There are usually (but not right now apparantly) some good Denon receivers on clearance at
electronics-expo.com

Nope I remember when I bought it they wanted an extra $200 $300 to get the same one with optical, it was pretty much the first year that digital audio came out.

I'm leaning towards getting a sound card because thats only $30 vs $100's for a new video card and receiver. Something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...akeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

?

I mean I do want a new receiver, but perhaps I should at least get some real speakers first?

 

[ryken]

I'd go receiver before speakers to get the right inputs and the decoding. Then I'd upgrade speakers as you go.

It sounds like you aren't ready to make the plunge into the HT just yet, which is understandable. The soundcard will get you going now, but will end up being $30 wasted when you get a new receiver (although that probably isn't a huge deal).

If you go soundcard first, then do speakers before receiver. Get the highest quality center channel you can afford. Get new fronts and put the current fronts in the rear. Then go for a sub.

If you do upgrade the receiver, I wouldn't give up on 7.1 in that room. Just put the side speakers to the left of the fireplace and above the loveseat. I really enjoyed 7.1 for sports games. I'd put the receiver on "All Channel" and it felt like you were in the middle of the stadium.

 

[Justintoxicated]

I'd go receiver before speakers to get the right inputs and the decoding. Then I'd upgrade speakers as you go.

It sounds like you aren't ready to make the plunge into the HT just yet, which is understandable. The soundcard will get you going now, but will end up being $30 wasted when you get a new receiver (although that probably isn't a huge deal).

If you go soundcard first, then do speakers before receiver. Get the highest quality center channel you can afford. Get new fronts and put the current fronts in the rear. Then go for a sub.

If you do upgrade the receiver, I wouldn't give up on 7.1 in that room. Just put the side speakers to the left of the fireplace and above the loveseat. I really enjoyed 7.1 for sports games. I'd put the receiver on "All Channel" and it felt like you were in the middle of the stadium.

Thanks for the input on the 7.1 thats good news.

The PC I'm using as a HTPC is a dell vostro 220. I do not believe it has SPDIF, but like I said my receiver is all analog inputs anyways. The reason I am considering the sound card is that I don't think analog is that bad, certainly not lossless, but most of my stuff has been compressed anyways. Analog is still used in car audio amplifiers which is essentially what the receiver is. It is a 5.1 receiver so it has an output for a powered subwoofer. If I repair some infinity speakers my dad gave me (bad surround) and continue using the pair I have now, id have the surround speakers and fronts. He also gave me a Boston Acoustic center channel. So I was thinking that for $30 + $20 (re-foam the infinity's) I could have surround sound 5.0. The font speakers I have now do put out some bass surprisingly (not like a woofer but a decent amount of bass). Hell I even have a 10" AA Assassin sub-woofer I could build a box for with a small parts express amplifier to go ultra gheto/budget system.

I'd love to put together a real system later, and any part of it could easily be upgraded.

The other problem I'm having is juggling video cards. I have a water cooled 8800GTS 512 in my main PC and a cousin 7600GS I'm using to run a 3rd monitor. But my friend jsut gave me a 5770 video card and I can't decide whether to upgrade my PC or just use it in the HTPC/Vostro 220. The 5770 of course has the audio over HDMI, but that does me pretty much no good for sometime out.

 

[ryken]

Well, the 5770 can run three monitors, but you'll need an adapter if none of your monitors has display port. The htpc does not need anything special in the way of gpu. Beefy onboard (8200/9200) runs fine, and just about any pci gpu is more than enough for playing hd content.

You could put the 5770 in the gaming rig and the 7600 in the htpc. Or just throw the 5770 in the htpc (where it will be overkill, hot, and loud) and run the audio from the new soundcard.

Your audio solutions seem pretty good given the money you are spending. You'll want a subwoofer next for sure, and then you can upgrade as you see fit.

 

[Justintoxicated]

Well, the 5770 can run three monitors, but you'll need an adapter if none of your monitors has display port. The htpc does not need anything special in the way of gpu. Beefy onboard (8200/9200) runs fine, and just about any pci gpu is more than enough for playing hd content.

You could put the 5770 in the gaming rig and the 7600 in the htpc. Or just throw the 5770 in the htpc (where it will be overkill, hot, and loud) and run the audio from the new soundcard.

Your audio solutions seem pretty good given the money you are spending. You'll want a subwoofer next for sure, and then you can upgrade as you see fit.

They seem good on one hand, but on the other hand I'm tempted to put the Z5500's in the living room. But then I have to deal with bulky speakers in the office... I do sometimes wonder if I even need speakers in the office since I have the AD700 headphones and little time to game... I'll bet I miss them as soon as they are moved though! the 7600GS is the passive version of the card too which leaves it nice and quiet.

 

[Justintoxicated]

I ordered the refoam kit from ebay, still undecided on the sound card $25 and I can have left right and center functioning. But I'm still on the fence, perhaps instead of spending more money on a sound card for the dell I should begin building the HTPC.

 

[ryken]

what are the specs of the dell exactly? You might not be that far away from a nice htpc.

 

[Justintoxicated]

what are the specs of the dell exactly? You might not be that far away from a nice htpc.

Its a basic vosto 220, dell does not even have win7 drivers for it yet, but it seems to be running ok.

I think its a e7500. Problem is that it's my GF's PC, so eventually I'd like to move it to the office or another room for her to get her work done instead of using mine. It's doing the job for now though. The onboard video is lacking, I h ave to turn off all visual effects in MCE, but that should be fixed with the 7600GS I hope.