What is a good speaker system with surround sound and sub-woofer?

thepcgamer099 · May 14, 2014

Please can you tell me a good speaker system with surround sound and sub-woofer that has great sound quality and a price of preferably under £100 (sterling). If possible please can you find a speaker system with multiple inputs, three at best for my gaming pc standard pc and and PS4 or at least 2 for my PS4 and gaming pc. Also would the Logitech Z506 speakers be a good option and do they meet the requirements above? Please help many thanks!

MagicPants · May 14, 2014

The 506 is pretty good, but it doesn't have three inputs. It has 2 and only one is 5.1. For triple input you either need the 906 (4 input 3 of them are spdif) or a proper receiver.

ssddx · May 14, 2014

the problem with other sources is that they do not use the same outputs. for instance the ps4 uses hdmi and optical which is digital while the z506 has analog only inputs.

instead of a surround sound set, if you went with a 2.1 computer speaker set you could grab a hdmi audio extractor box which would give you 2.1 sound from the ps4. then using a 3.5mm splitter you could hook up your pc as well.

for 5.1 analog input sets its trickier. i've seen hdmi audio extractors which pull out three 3.5mm connections (LF/RF, C/SUB, LR/RR) but they are not cheap and pull a large chunk out of the budget you listed.

if you bought a 5.1 with spdif optical inputs such as the z906 it would fit your needs perfectly. however, its over budget by a huge margin unless you buy used. there might be other sets with optical input but they are likely still high priced.

you might be able to get a 5.1 home theater in a box (htib) set which has hdmi inputs however for that prices quality is likely to be poor and it has a higher chance of not having what you need for inputs (multiples) and if it does it might not even support surround sound from inputs.

a device like this http://www.amazon.com/Panlong-Dolby-Digital-Audio-Decoder/dp/B00JKBMXCI/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1400103179&sr=1-9&keywords=optical+5.1+dac which has optical inputs (ps4 side) and coax input (pc side.. or you can just bypass it and plug that side into the speakers) would work. however, it might not be available in the uk, takes up a huge amount of your budget and quality is indeterminable. to connect it to pc speakers you would need rca (2x male ends) to stereo 3.5mm (1x female end) for all 3 connectors.

if you left your pc running while the ps4 was in action its also possible to have your speakers connected to the computer and have the ps4 sound playing through them. the problem is that this requires a soundcard with audio input (probably spdif optical) which is hard to find and the cards arent cheap. expensive enough that this isnt viable for you.

in terms of audio quality the z506 really isnt bad for the price though.

sora · May 14, 2014

MagicPants :

The Logitech 906 speaker system is truly one of the best sound systems for a computer in my opinion, especially for the price.

thepcgamer099 · May 15, 2014

ssddx :

the problem with other sources is that they do not use the same outputs. for instance the ps4 uses hdmi and optical which is digital while the z506 has analog only inputs.

instead of a surround sound set, if you went with a 2.1 computer speaker set you could grab a hdmi audio extractor box which would give you 2.1 sound from the ps4. then using a 3.5mm splitter you could hook up your pc as well.

for 5.1 analog input sets its trickier. i've seen hdmi audio extractors which pull out three 3.5mm connections (LF/RF, C/SUB, LR/RR) but they are not cheap and pull a large chunk out of the budget you listed.

if you bought a 5.1 with spdif optical inputs such as the z906 it would fit your needs perfectly. however, its over budget by a huge margin unless you buy used. there might be other sets with optical input but they are likely still high priced.

you might be able to get a 5.1 home theater in a box (htib) set which has hdmi inputs however for that prices quality is likely to be poor and it has a higher chance of not having what you need for inputs (multiples) and if it does it might not even support surround sound from inputs.

a device like this http://www.amazon.com/Panlong-Dolby-Digital-Audio-Decoder/dp/B00JKBMXCI/ref=sr_1_9?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1400103179&sr=1-9&keywords=optical+5.1+dac which has optical inputs (ps4 side) and coax input (pc side.. or you can just bypass it and plug that side into the speakers) would work. however, it might not be available in the uk, takes up a huge amount of your budget and quality is indeterminable. to connect it to pc speakers you would need rca (2x male ends) to stereo 3.5mm (1x female end) for all 3 connectors.

if you left your pc running while the ps4 was in action its also possible to have your speakers connected to the computer and have the ps4 sound playing through them. the problem is that this requires a soundcard with audio input (probably spdif optical) which is hard to find and the cards arent cheap. expensive enough that this isnt viable for you.

in terms of audio quality the z506 really isnt bad for the price though.

thanks i have a speaker set that I could probably use which has a 3.5 mm jack but I don't understand how it would work, I was planning on using this monitor: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00CFFFGUM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=24SWABK273TUL&coliid=I1KD4NXIGAKGYL

if that would work?

ssddx · May 15, 2014

if the monitor has a headphone 3.5mm jack for output... and you are using a 2.1 speaker set (or 2.0) you could just plug it in to the monitor.

otherwise... you could use a hdmi audio extractor on the ps3 hdmi to get it that way. then use a 2x rca to 1x 3.5mm stereo cable. then a short 3.5mm stereo Y cable and you would be all set.

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keep in mind that this is for a 2.1 set which uses one single 3.5mm cable. this is not surround sound.

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if you wanted surround sound and multiple speakers (like a 5.1 system) its going to get more complicated (see my first post)

thepcgamer099 · May 16, 2014

ssddx :

i understand everything except if you use a hdmi audio extractor you then get two hdmi outputs for image and audio but my monitor only has one hdmi slot so i would only be able to plug in one
and my speakers are 2.1 sound so i would have to use the hdmi option

ssddx · May 16, 2014

take a look at one and you will understand
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-to-HDMI-Optical-SPDIF-RCA-L-R-Audio-Extractor-Converter-Audio-Splitter-/251468319879

it has one hdmi input (this is where the cable from your video card goes... from pc to hdmi audio extractor)
it has one hdmi output (this is where the cable goes to the monitor... from audio extractor to monitor)
it has two rca plugs. one red and one white (you would connect the rca to 3.5mm cable here and then your pc speakers would plug into it.

http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-Stereo-Female-Y-Cable-6-Inch/dp/B000I23TTE

if you wanted to have it plugged in to both your pc and ps3 at the same time you would need to put a 3.5mm splitter cable on the previous item (rca to 3.5mm cable... on the 3.5mm side... with the Y facing towards the inputs (one going to the rca/3.5mm adapter and one going to the pc soundcard) with the female end (the other side of the Y) plugging into the speakers

http://www.amazon.com/SF-Cable-Female-Stereo-Splitter/dp/B0016LDZ36

------------------------------------------------

of course if your monitor already has a headphone jack (3.5mm plug) then you dont need all of that and have a much simpler way of connecting. so far you havent said that it did so i'm assuming not.

thepcgamer099 · May 17, 2014

ssddx :

take a look at one and you will understand
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-to-HDMI-Optical-SPDIF-RCA-L-R-Audio-Extractor-Converter-Audio-Splitter-/251468319879

it has one hdmi input (this is where the cable from your video card goes... from pc to hdmi audio extractor)
it has one hdmi output (this is where the cable goes to the monitor... from audio extractor to monitor)
it has two rca plugs. one red and one white (you would connect the rca to 3.5mm cable here and then your pc speakers would plug into it.

http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-Stereo-Female-Y-Cable-6-Inch/dp/B000I23TTE

if you wanted to have it plugged in to both your pc and ps3 at the same time you would need to put a 3.5mm splitter cable on the previous item (rca to 3.5mm cable... on the 3.5mm side... with the Y facing towards the inputs (one going to the rca/3.5mm adapter and one going to the pc soundcard) with the female end (the other side of the Y) plugging into the speakers

http://www.amazon.com/SF-Cable-Female-Stereo-Splitter/dp/B0016LDZ36

------------------------------------------------

of course if your monitor already has a headphone jack (3.5mm plug) then you dont need all of that and have a much simpler way of connecting. so far you havent said that it did so i'm assuming not.

thank you so much i only didnt understand because of the hdmi audio extractors i saw had 2 hdmi outputs so i was confused but thank you

ssddx · May 17, 2014

one final note...make sure that the hdmi audio extractor supports HDCP since you will be using it with the ps4.

thepcgamer099 · May 17, 2014

ssddx :

k thanks

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