I like sound quality, but i'm no audiophile - atm i have a Creative SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 (Which i got off eBay for £2.25 delivered - it's not 1337!) and a set of Creative P380 speakers, but i wondered if i should upgrade (link at the bottom) - i listen to music (although all my music is in WMA and MP3, not MP3 Pro, so iirc none of it's 5.1 anyway). I do game a fair bit, and although i don't think LFS uses 5.1 sound, if it did i'd be ready, and i also play a bit of BF2 - does that support 5.1 sound?

I'm also wondering wherabouts i'd mount the back 2 speakers, as i'm at a desk with a whole room behind me - if any of you use a 5.1 set, how have you mounted them?

These are the speakers i was looking at - Creative SBS 580

not these ones please.
If you dont look for 5.1 set then buy rather some 2.0 speakers with wood cabinet then these shitty plastic thingy.

I bought Genius SP-HF1250X for 33 Euros.I know this brand is nothing special but hey I was really suprised.They are made of wood cabinet and I had put them first time to half and was shocked what they did for the price.They have huge bass sound if you need.They are more then enought for big room playing at half volume.Very nice to listen music on them as well.

Maybe they have better price somewhere in UK.
http://www.techfever.co.uk/products.asp?partno=3847

i'm also wondering if the speakers i have atm are any good - i don't know much about Audio equipment, all i know is that they sound better than my Sehnnheiser PX100's

Nah don't EVER bother with a cheap 5.1. Or and cheap 2.1 for that matter. If you want good PC speakers you are looking at a starting price of around £100 - like my Cambridge Audio 250Ds (although my friend picked up a new set on ebay for £40 somehow).

I myself am in a bit of a dilemna atm, as I'd quite like to go back to 5.1 - my old system was about £80 and was absolute rubbish. I then bought the megaworks and really love them. 18 months or so later, no problems, big power, but more importantly to me high quality for the price. (I'm not comparing these speakers to £1000 or £2000 sets here, I've heard a £2000 set up before, and yer its nice lol).

However I was wondering about 5.1, and apparently the Logitech z-5500s are the way to go, although being a Creative audio equipment fanboy, I've looked up some user opinions on both, its quicker if I just link you to my final thoughts here.

Personally I'd say you don't have to be an audiophile to enjoy your music, games or films, or indeed any source of audio. Therefore I'd save up for a good set of PC speakers, you'll definately find it better in the long run.

Oh and don't buy that set, really not worth spending the money on.

Quote from pb32000 :

Nah don't EVER bother with a cheap 5.1. Or and cheap 2.1 for that matter. If you want good PC speakers you are looking at a starting price of around £100 - like my Cambridge Audio 250Ds (although my friend picked up a new set on ebay for £40 somehow).

A friend of mine has those, they are nice.

Do you really need 5.1 speakers? I have the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speakers (got them for $105 at amazon) and they are very nice, even with integrated sound. The Subwoofer can really shake the house. I don't entirely recommended to turn the bass up in an apartment.

For some good cheap 2.1 speakers I would recommend the Logitech X-230's as there are alot of great reviews on them and they are around $30 here. If you live in an apartment, I would recommend taking a look at some comfortable good quality headphones. Sennheiser makes great headphones and their high ends are loved by audiophiles. Something like this would be nice.

Sorry about the U.S store links, don't know very many good UK online stores.

I used to have the same 5.1 speakers Jakg- I really thought they were good enough for gaming , but they're certainly not going to win any awards for auido fidelity or anything. Right now I have a simple 2 speaker studio monitor setup- some nice little M-Audio BX5's. They'll fit on your desktop nicely, and they sound way above most of the desktop speakers you buy for computers these days, although they're designed primarily for home studios of course.

If you have the time and patience, you can set up your own 2.1 system using regular speakers and I am sure you can find quite a few guides as the price to performance ratio is much better.

I've got a 2.1 set -> a Hercules XPS2.100 , and i love it ! Bought it cca 2 years ago for cca. 50 pounds and I can just recommend it, although it may be hard to find. Anywayz, if you want a 5.1 set, buy this one . I know they are expensive, and I'm also aware of that you are no audiophile but this set just rock's and i'm really thinking a lot about getting one ( that would mean working a lot through the summer, but anywayz )

While I will admit to never owning a surround system, I really think there appeal is very much over-rated. They're no help to music unless you happen to own a lot of music encoded in surround sound, for many types of gaming there is no benefit to be had either. FPS games will make best use of such a setup, so it really depends how much you play FPS games. Films are also over-rated here, since naturally the vast majority of the action is on screen, so therefore is in front of you, thus sound comes from the front speakers. I've been to the cinema enough times and never particularly noticed the surround speakers, many films don't use the extra speakers at all. I think, while having genuine uses for which it is very effective, it is way over-marketed and comes across rather gimmicky.

Remember if you have a fixed budget, you will get a lot more quality from a 2.1 system than a 5/6/7.1 system for the same price. Also proper bookshelf speakers will generally sound better than a pair of satellites and a sub, although room can become an issue, (comparitively) large speakers need to be mounted and positoned properly and are often not magnetically shielded. For the majority of people, the small systems (sats+sub) are cheaper and easier to work with.

I have to disagree with Bob on this one.
5.1 is the dogs nuggets. All the games that have 5.1 have been greatly enhanced because of it imo. FPS's are awesome with suround sound..many a time i've got kills in COD2 because i can hear exactly when someone's sneaking up on me from behind..you can pinpoint their direction perfectly with surround sound.
Same goes for nKPro...i can tell exactly where someone is with 5.1..you'd be surprised how much difference it makes.

As for movies...well, it's a whole new world in 5.1 Take Star Wars ep3/LOTR/Terminater 2 for examples..talk about immersion.

I'd wouldn't go back to stereo sound if you paid me.

I played a lot of Colin 5 with my 5.1 speaker setup, and I also had a ton of fun. 5.1 is just a natural and obvious choice for racing games, because every wheel is outputting to it's own seperate channel (front left/right, rear left/right)- toss in a main front speaker for engine/wind noise and other sounds, and a whopping bass speaker for that immersive thick engine rumble and shake! how funky is that?

The Moose - I never said surround sound wouldn't be good for FPS games at all, so you don't disagree wiht me there. I never really thought about the tyres in racing sims so I'll give you that. I was thinking of RTS/top down RPG type games I 'often' play where it doesn't make sense to have rear sound.

Regarding video, I know there are plenty of films that could make great use of surround sound (action, adventure, thriller, horror) but I can also think of many genres of films where it would be of little use (comedy, romance, drama), not to mention the majority of TV footage.

So I think in depends a lot on your tastes and viewing habits as to how much benefit you are going to get out of such a system.

I abandonded my 5.1 set from my desk, because I started to think I´m getting deaf! The surround speakers were to near to my ears, so it would almost hurt after a while. Problem is, I just got one set of ears...

Good PC Sound Speakers are expensive. I changed my audio equipment to a cheap amp + 2 Magnat 100w + passive Subwoofer and it´s fine for gaming and hearing music.

Best racing game ever using surround sound was Burnout 3 on PS2. The sound of passing cars was very realistic and you could hear cars behind you coming.

Hey Jakg,

thats what I have as I said above.Very nice sound for cheap 2.0 set.

Looks like i'll stick with my Creative's then.

Are these headphones any good? I've got a set of crappy Sony Fonotopias atm that are slowly dieing, and they don't block out enough noise for me.

Well they're made by a gaming company, not an audio company, and cost peanuts... so probably, no.

Look at Etymotic Research, Shure or Ultimate Ears if you want good isolating earbuds.
Examples: Ety ER6i, Shure E2c, UE 2 - the cheapest model from each company. I'm currently using these.

Those Sony's aren't too shabby tbh but the bass is excessive and they can't compete in terms of clarity. The seal in the ear is nowhere near the same either.

Quote from The Moose :

I have to disagree with Bob on this one.
5.1 is the dogs nuggets.

I've got a set of Philips 5.1s and TBH I've never really actually found the surround sound part that useful, because my rear speakers are only just behind the front ones it kind of looses the effect, you should think of where you're going to put them if you're weighing up the pros and cons of 5.1. Personally I've found the sound quality to be fine from my 5.1s for what want, but nothing special and in hindsight I probably would have gone for a good set of 2.1s.

Quote from ajp71 :

I've got a set of Philips 5.1s and TBH I've never really actually found the surround sound part that useful, because my rear speakers are only just behind the front ones it kind of looses the effect, you should think of where you're going to put them if you're weighing up the pros and cons of 5.1.

Absolutely It's totally pointless having 5.1 if you don't have the room to set them up properly.

Logitech ftw?

im stickin wit mine...has kick @$$ bass!
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Cambridg ... timedia_speakers__5457196

Quote from scoobyrbac :

im stickin wit mine...has kick @$$ bass!
http://www.ciao.co.uk/Cambridg ... timedia_speakers__5457196

lol

I'm using a Sony LBT-V302 amplifier with a couple of Wharphdale Lintons ATM... Cost me £6 with everything

V. loud.... and incredible bass...

If you want Logitech, wach out for the prices, my sisters' boyfriend was getting rid of his older (like 4 years old at most) 5.1 surround sound system, I haven't heard it yet, mainly because I don't think it hooks into a computer, but the newer 5.1 surround sound from Logitech is quite pricey.

If you're looking for some good bass and 2 double speaker pods, choose the Logitech X-230, its only $50, and it is quite a small package for the sound quality produced.

More information: http://www.logitech.com/index. ... /devices/208&cl=us,en

Logitech's cheapest 5.1 surround sound: http://www.logitech.com/index. ... /devices/234&cl=us,en
Which, that 5.1 surround sound is made up of basically the same X-230 system as are all other speaker systems Logitech makes.

Well, im glad there is at least ONE person with cambridge audio speakers, there the daddy of speakers. I gone for the Cambridge Audio "GigaWorks" S750 7.1 system.

http://www.creative.com/produc ... gory=113&product=9306

there 70watts per speaker along with a 210 Subwoofer.

Along with that i also bought this...
http://www.creative.com/produc ... gory=136&product=9468

I bought this about a week after i bought the surround sound, and i thought it already sounded awesome, but when i hooked this little baby upto it and set it up nicely, MY GOD, it made a HUGE difference!! the bass came out alot clearer and the overall improvment was huge.

Quote from TAYLOR-MANIA :

I'm interested in purchasing the Logitech Z-2300 speaker system (2.1 200Watts). It looks real nice and sounds good on paper. But what do they sound like in RL? Does anyone own these speakers? If so, opinions please!

One of my mates has a set, he let me hear it on Foobar with some quality equalizer preset's he downloaded, as soon as he got it turned up about 3/4, the bass started to drown out the speech and generally distort. If you want my advice, dont go with logitech unless you know for sure that it is a good set of kit.

Frenchy