Any home Audio guru's that can help?

[RPP Hobby]

I am looking to get a nice home audio speaker system for my home office. I want to be able to run my X box 360 and PC off of it. Would like to have surround sound while gaming, or kick ass tunes while working on the PC, or good sound for movies. Does any one have an suggestions?

[boosted4lyf]

I have always like Onkyo nice crisp sound and really solid bass that doesn't sound like it coming from the trunk of an old Honda
http://www.retrevo.com/s/Onkyo-HT-S7...20ag023/t/1-2/

[neillarson]

It is all about the bucks. In the better brands found at Best Buy and the like, you should consider (for components) Onkyo, Denon, Yamaha and Harmon Kardon. At the home audio store level, Carver, Marantz and Bang Olfson. Then if you want to go for the gold, McIntosh, ATI, Lexicon and Rotel are unbelievable.

For speakers Polk and Boston Acoustics are really the only choices at the mid level that I am familiar with. From there, KEF, B&W (Bowers & Wilkins) Martin Logan, Paradigm, Triad and Revel are screamers.

Now the advantage to a Bang and Olfson system is they are all in one systems and they make wall mounts that sound fantastic.

Personally, I am a fan of the Yamaha, Harmon Kardon and Carver gear with Polk speakers. I use Bose systems on my Macs and on my home theater.

[KC_JoNeS]

You dont need to spend a fortune here. The key is PC. There are tons of 5.1 channel PC setups, and even 7.1 setups. But, the 7.1 is a waste if you ask me.

I would pick up something like Creative Labs 5.1 setup. That will be more than sufficient and will be nice to your wallet.

Now, I dont have an Xbox, but the first thing I would do is see what connections the XBox offers out the back. If it has a digital audio connection (RCA connector), then be sure to check with the setup to make sure it can accept that type of input...you should be good to go.


Casey

[neillarson]

Originally Posted by KC_JoNeS

You dont need to spend a fortune here. The key is PC. There are tons of 5.1 channel PC setups, and even 7.1 setups. But, the 7.1 is a waste if you ask me.

I would pick up something like Creative Labs 5.1 setup. That will be more than sufficient and will be nice to your wallet.

Now, I dont have an Xbox, but the first thing I would do is see what connections the XBox offers out the back. If it has a digital audio connection (RCA connector), then be sure to check with the setup to make sure it can accept that type of input...you should be good to go.


Casey

I have a IMac hooked to a Bose 5.1 system and it sounds great, we use it in place of the home stereo when we are working around the house, but I believe the statement made was "Kick Ass" and that is not going to be a PC system. If he has any desire to use XM or listen to CDs, the DAC on a decent CD system beats the hell out of a PCs system no matter what sound card you have.

For a budget system they are fine. Not sure that was what he was looking for but as I stated in my post, I have Bose systems on 2 Macs and a Home Theater and I am happy with them for Movies and gaming.

[KC_JoNeS]

Originally Posted by neillarson

I have a IMac hooked to a Bose 5.1 system and it sounds great, we use it in place of the home stereo when we are working around the house, but I believe the statement made was "Kick Ass" and that is not going to be a PC system. If he has any desire to use XM or listen to CDs, the DAC on a decent CD system beats the hell out of a PCs system no matter what sound card you have.

For a budget system they are fine. Not sure that was what he was looking for but as I stated in my post, I have Bose systems on 2 Macs and a Home Theater and I am happy with them for Movies and gaming.

I agree, my recommendation is not "Kick Ass" but Bose is not exactly budget minded either. I use a Creative Labs 2.1 setup for all my office stuff like first person shooter games, music while working, and movies for my PC. I like it just fine. My home theater in the front room is a different story.

My front room has all B&W speakers (5.1 setup) and a Marantz head unit producing 125 watts RMS per channel.

[microgoat]

How much do you want to spend, and how much room do you have?

[wonder squirrel]

You can't go wrong with a 5.1 Logitech or Klipsch pc setup. I have an older set of 4.1 Logitech's (z560) I use on the computer for pc games/ movies and have my x360 hooked to. I use a RCA to mini jack adaptor (came with the speaker set) then run the mini to the soundcards input.

I've had the speakers for about 8 years and they still sound great. They are more than capable of filling the entire house with tunes and pissing the neighbors off takes no effort at all. The satellites can be mounted on a wall or stand on there own. The 8" sub hits pretty hard and the mids sound great.

[EeePee]

Originally Posted by microgoat

How much do you want to spend, and how much room do you have?

I hope he says a lot, and a lot.

[SMR 510RR]

I am running an Onkyo HT-S6300 and it sounds awesome. I am running 7.1 but rather than the extra left and right I am running high front left and rights with Dolby PLIIz and it really adds to movies and FPS on the xbox. Its freaking awesome playing COD and when a helicopter flys over it literally sounds like it is above you. Watching movies is great too, if there is rain in the movie it actually sounds like rain on my roof even during the hottest days of summer.

Also setup was really easy, it comes with a little mic that you mount on a tripod and place in your 3 primary listening positions and after going through series of strange noises it sets the speaker levels. The great thing is that it compensates for your room dynamics for you, my living room is connected to my kitchen on the left but the sound is completely balanced.

Also has an ipod dock so if you have a party of whatever you can just throw your ipod or phone on there and have tunes all night.

If you are looking to get a good system that is all ready for you to setup for a reasonable price I would check out Onkyo's stuff. They have tons of different systems at all different price points and configurations. You can also just get components of theirs if you are looking to piece a system together.

I would look for a receiver with HDMI repeating rather than just pass through, it simplifies the wiring so all you will need is HDMI rather than having to deal with separate audio cables.

[Caustic101]

You don't need an Ipod dock if you have a 3.5 mm ( 1/8 ) to RCA stereo cables.


Get the cable at monoprice, and its a heck of a lot cheaper then a dock, and you can order the cable plenty long to be able to pull it around to different places in the room.

I myself use a Yamaha AVR, DVD player, Emotiva XPA 2 and a XPA 5 with a paradigm 7 channel setup with a custom built sub. Except I use a PS3 instead of a 360 now.

[neillarson]

Originally Posted by Caustic101

You don't need an Ipod dock if you have a 3.5 mm ( 1/8 ) to RCA stereo cables.


Get the cable at monoprice, and its a heck of a lot cheaper then a dock, and you can order the cable plenty long to be able to pull it around to different places in the room.

I myself use a Yamaha AVR, DVD player, Emotiva XPA 2 and a XPA 5 with a paradigm 7 channel setup with a custom built sub. Except I use a PS3 instead of a 360 now.

Lol, I am still sitting on my old Yamaha R9, one of the best receivers ever made. It is in my shop.

[EeePee]

An iPod dock is a much better way. It bypasses the built in amplifier and is a true line out. And it sounds better than going out of the built in amp.

[Thorsteenster]

Economic, easy and kicks ass for price, Logitech Z5500's.
I've got em at home and installed a set at work in our meeting/A/V room.
Oops, in looking they've been replaced with an updated model, the Z906. The Z5500 had been around for a number of years though so I'm sure this successor is even better.
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speake...er-system-Z906
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...21050&Tpk=z906

[SMR 510RR]

Originally Posted by EeePee

An iPod dock is a much better way. It bypasses the built in amplifier and is a true line out. And it sounds better than going out of the built in amp.

And I can control the ipod through my universal remote rather than walking over there every time I want to switch it up. Not saying that an Ipod dock is a must have but my system came with it so I will use it.