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Please recommend a good setup HTS setup

Forum CPU & Components : Sound Cards - Please recommend a good setup HTS setup

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08Roush   12-31-2008 at 06:43:33 PM

My budget is $400.00 or less and I use my pc primarily for gaming. My operating system is windows vista ultimate x64

I am looking for a better audio setup than what I currently have. I was looking into buying the logitech Z-5500's, but after what I read about how a home theater system would outdo it I am now looking to go that route. The problem is I have never owned a single home theater system, so I have no idea what is recommended for pc gaming and watching movies on a tv that would be within my budget.

I also have a very old analog tv that was made back in the 80's which I have been listening to in its default state for years. Would I have to buy a whole other HTS for this or can I connect both my computer and tv/vcr/dvd into the HTS I am going to buy.

I currently have an XFI Extreme Music audio card, but I was planning on buying an auzentech prelude 7.1 surround sound card or if I don't need to I can save the cash and put it torwards a new video card, say a GTX285 or a 4870x2 after price drops by the GTX295 intoduction. I like to listen to music while I game, by this I mean that I open up wmp 11 and listen to music thru it. I then turn the volume from 50 to 24 while my game sound is at 100% volume. This way my music is at a decent leveled volume when I crank my gaming sound up so, my gunshots and sounds of war are coming in at full volume.

Past audio:
The only audio system I have ever owned was for my car and that was 2 JL Audio 10W0's in a ported bandpass on a Zeus 500w Amp w/ Rockford Fosgate deck and PolkDB audio mids/highs. Truly a great experience I never should have sold it.

Experience as an audiophile:
I have never actually owned a full stereo setup or a HTS so this should be an interesting change. Just last year I bought my first LCD monitor, but I still don't own a high end tv or stereo. I always just bought the regular in store boom box's that cost maybe $20.00-50.00.

I really need your help in choosing a great audio setup within my budget that will work well for my budget and my primary task of gaming. I have no experience in the area of home theater systems.

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will_chellam   12-31-2008 at 07:45:43 PM
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Obviously the Uk and american markets are very different, but for the money you want to spend a high end 'computer' surround setup may be your best option....

I always look long term - my solution was to buy a decentish surround sound amplifier and two speakers and upgrade later to more speakers - even with two speakers youll notice a massive improvement from the sound from your aging tv....

Any half decent amplifier should have a few digital inputs thatll take audio from your pc and dvd player - i doubt your tv will have audio outputs, but if it does you can run them through the amp as well, if not just use your VCR as your tuner and run audio from the VCR.

As for models - in the uk onkyo and sony do some very decent amps at about £150 and you can find decent bookshelf speakers like mordant short or kef for about £100.

Reply to will_chellam
08Roush   01-01-2009 at 04:15:40 AM
- 0 +

I went out and picked up a Samsung Z410 and I must say it sounds 10x better than what I was listening to and its got a 5 cd changer built in. It was on sale at a local walmart supercenter for $248, but once I got it configured with 6DB bass boost and 3DB increase on the rear channels it sounded great as I watched a few of my DVDs for testing.

The problem I am now facing is that I don't know how properly hookup this home theater system to my Motorola DCH-6416 DV-R and my XFI Extreme Music Sound Card. I have all my speakers connected and a simple yellow video cable going to video 1 on the tv.

DV-R to TV (Regular fiber optic cable)
HTS to TV operating on video channel 1 - Only a single yellow line going from HTS to video 1 yellow jack.

This leaves me with the following connections to figure out how to connect both my DV-R or TV and XFI sound card to this...

remaining jack on my TV
Antenna in use by DCH-6416 DV-R
Video 1 red/white (Yellow in use by Z410)
Video 2 Yellow/Red/White
S-Video in use by 8800GTX dongle


remaining jacks on DCH-6416 DV-R that I can use:
S-video
Some orange color jack
Digital Audio
Y, Pb, Pr, blue/green/red
video out yellow/red/white
video in yellow red white
HDMI
eSata
Ethernet
USB
1394 firewire

Now on the HTS Z410 I have the following available to use
Wireless
iPod
Aux In 2 Red/White (Yellow in use for DVD Reciever to TV)
Component Out Y, Pb, Pr blue/green/red
Digital Audio In
Radio Antenna
HDMI out

Putting the DV-R aside by first focusing on the computer audio itself how would I go about connecting my new HTS to my XFI Extreme Music? If its still possible to connect my DV-R that would be great, but my first focus is to bring my new 5.1 experience to my pc games.

Addon: 11:56PM
I hooked a single rca to stereo Y cable from my center speaker directly into my Audio in jacks on the Z410
I also ordered a set of Y, Pb, and Pr cables to connect the DVR to the reciever

Last but not least I found a second set of the Z410's speakers on sale for $20.00 - I plan on bridging these two together, then plugging them into the reciever as thought they were one set. so I have a full 5.1 on my computer and a full 5.1 on my tv.


Message edited by 08Roush on 01-01-2009 at 07:02:47 AM
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