Setting up Laptop centered home theater

[ojako]

Hi, everyone. I'm a long time reader of THG but this is my first time posting here.

I'm currently in the process of trying to replace my traditional home theater system with a new one centered on my laptop in order to save space.

My laptop has USB 2.0 and Firewire ports and I'm looking to get a home theater caliber sound card and speaker combo that will work with it and that I'll be able to plug my GameCube into, as well. From what I've seen, the Logitech z-680 and the Creative MegaWorks 6.1 look like the best speaker systems within my budget. From what I've seen, the Logitech has built-in decoders for most of the major codecs while the Creative does not.

I haven't really seen any products for laptops that output audio up to the standards that the Creative speakers can handle. The Audigy 2 Platinum EX has the features I want, but it requires a PCI card which makes it unusable with a laptop. The Extigy is close to it, but its lack of DTS and 6.1 support would make the extra money for the Creative speakers a waste, I think. THG raves about the Echo Indigo, but it seems that it is really geared for use with headphones. M-Audio makes the Sonica which is an USB 1.1 adapter with optical Dolby Digital and DTS output.

I'd greatly appreciate if any of you could recommend what you think the best pair of speakers and soundcards for use with my laptop, especially if you're aware of any products that provide similar featuers as the Audigy 2 EX platinum for a laptop with firewire or usb 2.0.

Thank you in advance for your help,

James

 

[mitcharf]

I definitely wouldn't recommend the MegaWorks THX 6.1 for your laptop, since you are correct that you won't be able to find a laptop soundcard that takes advantage of them.

I'm no expert on laptop audio, so I can't help you out much more than that. I think you will have a hard time getting equal sound quality from your laptop-based setup as you would from a desktop-based setup. The demand for such products isn't that great, which is unfortunate.

Mitch
www.mitcharf.com

 

[TKH]

Well, I also don't know much about laptops but laptops really not suitable to be centered as home theater system because there aren't many laptop using a decent audio processor. But if your laptop actually has the 6 channel audio output I would recommend Logitech Z-680 but laptop really not good at encoding digital audio. Please be kind if I'm wrong, like I said before I really don't familiar with laptop.

You never know how stupid you are until you have done something stupid enough for you to realize it.

 

[ojako]

Thanks for the responses. My laptop was supposed to have an internal 24 bit/192 khz internal audio processor with S/PDIF output on it, but I just found out today that the manufacturer advertised it falsely so I have to take it up with them tomorrow.

After some more research, I'm considering going with the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 with the DD-5.1 digital decoder. Of course that doesn't have pro logic II support for the gamecube though.

 

[TKH]

It sucks when you got cheated by salesman... Anyway Klipsch Promedia 5.1 THX maybe a bit expensive, I have read a review between this speaker and Creative Megaworks 510D 5.1 THX and Megaworks is another good alternate.

You never know how stupid you are until you have done something stupid enough for you to realize it.

 

[mattburklund]

Check this out for audio:
http://www.tomshardware.com/game/200302081/index.html

 

[umheint0]

Personally, I would opt for one of those mini-ATX computers, like the shuttle one. That way you can put any sound card you want inside. Laptops just aren't all that good for music.

XP 2500+ Barton @ 2241Mhz
A7N8X Dlx
2x512MB Corsair PC3200
MSI GF3Ti 500
16x DVD-ROM
2x80GB 7200RPM Maxtor
Onboard audio

 

[ojako]

Thanks for all your help everyone. Best Buy was actually classy enough to give me an Extigy for free after I proved that they committed false advertising on the laptop I bought. I bought the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 speakers to go with it and it sounds pretty good.

Best Regards,
James

 

[TKH]

You are such a good luck!

You never know how stupid you are until you have done something stupid enough for you to realize it.