HTPC Audio System

[Ciphex]

So,

I'm currently trying to evaluate all the necessary components for a HTPC system, and I'm not clear on the whole home audio concept with modern day electronics. I want to hook up my Bose Acoustimass-16 6.1 Audio System to this HTPC system (below), but I'm concerned about power output and interface type. Should I use a power amplifier (like this) and what kind of sound card is going to best compliment this system? I had been looking at the CLabs X-fi XtremeMusic. Should I use SPDIF or optical?



---Intended Specs-------------------------------------------
Windows Vista Premium
Lian Li PC-V1200 [Looking for a HTPC Case large enough-- suggestions?]
Silverstone Strider 1kW
EVGA 680i SLI Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
GeIL 4GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1000 (PC2 8000)
Western Digital Raptor X 150GB
Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTX 768MB SLI x2
Creative Labs X-Fi XtremeMusic
Displays - Undecided:
(a) WestingHouse 37"/42" 1080p
(b) Spectre 37"/42" 1080p
(c) Samsung 22" / 24" / 30"
---Intended Specs-------------------------------------------

 

[phantomandy]

The amp you linked is a $2500 2 channel amp. You'd need 3 of those ($7,500) to drive your sattelites (the AM16 has a powered Sub).

What you need is a home theater receiver (such as the Yamaha HTR-5940 6.1 Digital Receiver/Amplifier). This will provide the amplification you need for your AM16, and also provide a the LFE channel output you need for your AM16 Acoustimass module.

The sound card just needs to be any card supporting 6.1 output on a digital output (such as SPDIF or Optical) - there are lots of them out there.

I'm running a SBLive! Value with the digital output using SPDIF hooked to my Yamaha HTR-5930 5.1 receiver. That receiver is driving my JBL sattelites, and then I use the LFE output to the JBLSUB10.

There are lots of other 6.1 Home Theater receivers out there, some more expensive, some less expensive. The Yamaha provides an excellent overall value/price/performance point. If your more into high end equipment and are going to replace your lower end Bose speaker system with high end, you will want to consider a higher end receiver.