logitech z5500 vs creative gigaworks s750

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yes the soundcard I believe does do 7.1 upmixing, I have the z5500 and the Extreme music, and I must say... watching DivX Transformers with it, sound very stunning in my room, it nearly seemed real. The sub kicks ass with the sound card.. you just need to tune it a little bit. I'm absolutely amazed by this system for this amount of money. And the soundcard kicks ass too, the software and the use of this card in games is very sweet. minus point is I have a wooden floor and you can hear it down the parking lot where the people go for their shoppings, but hey, who cares anyway :) aslong as I don't get angry people at my door 😉
 
I don't remember sound card has coaxial/optical in, at least not for the cheap oem creative sound card that I have got. Where are you going to connect the red / white cable to? The sound card Analogue Line in? The red/white RCA don't carry multichannel, I suppose you already knew that.

Gigaworks can upmix a 5.1/6.1 from the sound card to 7.1 on Gigaworks. It cannot upmix the red/white RCA, 2 channel to 7.1. You need the DDTS-100 decoder to do that for you. I think my soundcard can upmix a 2 channel source to 7.1 via CMSS or CMSS2 (one is better for movie, the other is better for music, can't remember which), with or without EAX. But they are really crap, causes fatigue and echo, and I often do with just stereo and turn off the upmix, just can't stand the sound effects of the upmix, as if someone sing or talk through a bucket.

If you only intend to hook the speaker system to the PC and nothing else, Gigaworks is your choice (I never tried z5500, but tried z680 before, gigaworks still my preference). If you intend to hook the speaker system to your tv, or any other devices, i suggest you look for a separate av system.
 
i was thinking i could just get a splitter which spits the red white into 3.5mm, then a 3.5mm splitter which splits 2 channels into one. one from the tv and one from the pc. ah its confusing.
 
the sub is boomy but for movies it don't really matter. as the other guy said, saving private ryan is fantastic especially the intro with the crashing waves and games sound good as well. if music isn't needed this system will do you fine.

it will be more than you need as long as you don't hear anything that is better.
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Many people swear that dts is much better then dd, and i tend to agree. The problem is that very few movies are encoded in dts, as for recommendations i have never used the s750's but when i was in the market for pc speakers i heard many dreadful story's about people leaving the s750's on, causing the sub to overheat and rendered it useless... thus i avoided these problems by purchasing the z-5500 and they sound pretty good. I wouldn't consider them as good as a high end home theater system, but they sound great and the bass can be pretty heavy, plus you will never use them at full volume unless you just want to show off your vibrating house 😉 .
 
sharp, I don't quite understand what you are trying to do actually. You should connect all three 1/8" jack to the s750, it comes with cable with 3x1/8" (to the soundcard) and 4x1/8" on the other end (to s750).

Where are you going to plug your red/white rca? You said you gonna get a splitter which allows you to plug the audio out from tv and audio out from pc to a single 3.5mm jack, where does this jack goes? The back of the speaker? The speaker has four female jack.
 



You want to connect audio out from the TV to audio out from the PC. No, this won't work. An output must always be connected to an input. That is the basic. You can't go very wrong if you follow this rule.
 
Don't split signals you will get audio signal loss and more attenuation and noise in the signal!

Get a decent amp, and decent speakers and you will be happy, don't make it complicated!
 
agreed. and with $400 available to spend, you can get a pretty decent multi component setup. the a/v amplifier/receiver will make it so you can connect all of your individual media sources (pc/tv/console/dvd player/etc) and not need to bother with things being overly complicated as youre probably thinking, needing to split audio connections and all that.

at the very least you should get a 5.1 a/v receiver, which can run around $100+ for a basic 5.1 model. they usually have at least a few audio/video inputs/outputs, composite/svideo/component video connections, radio, analog and optical/coaxial digital audio connections, dd/dts decoding, dolby prologic, etc. pretty much all or most of the essentials included

a seperate 5.1 setup will provide standard surround, it usually consists of 5 satellites and a sub for bass, you can get a decent setup from sony for around ~$200+. decent satellites will tend to weigh a few pounds [each], and be able to provide ample midrange on their own, without needing the sub to help. they may come with 2-3 or more drivers installed per satellite. the dilemma here, is that most satellite setups tend to lack a lot of the midrange, leaving only the subwoofer to make up for it. huge gaps in the sound then, and the sub usually overcompensates for that with overzealous bass, which doesnt help.

if the a/v receiver has support for 6.1/7.1 surround, you can also choose to later invest in a pair of floorstanding speakers to use as your front channels (and move the satellites to being strictly surrounds). floorstanding speakers cover the whole audible range by use of 3-5 or more drivers, which smooths the transition between frequencies, filling in the gaps in sound between subs, midrange, and tweeters. some models are more slim/compact, and others are fairly large, which may take up more room than youre comfortable with. if you forego floorstandings due to space limitations, you can instead look at a pair of bookshelf speakers, which can offer decent bass midrange and higher frequences as well, they may come with as many drivers as floorstandings have, which will allow for a smoother sound between higher and lower frequencies. a pair of bookshelves can range anywhere from ~$60+ for more basic models, basic floorstandings are usually somewhat more expensive though ($100+), and usually require more listening distance to sound good; sit 'too' close and you wont hear all the sound

decent speakers can be heard quite easily without much volume at all or needing to directly face the speaker even, due to how theyre designed. most pc speakers however need more volume to be heard well, with them directed at you too, again, because of how theyre designed (typically a lighter weight/flimsier construction/only using tweeters are some of the biggest reasons for this drawback).

but, 7.1 and even 5.1 may be overkill if you dont have sufficient space to place all the speakers where youd really want them to go.

another issue is room acoustics, which is probably overkill to mention in itself, you may have a room that sounds really good, and can make even really bad speakers still sound decent. or you may have a room that sounds really bad (too much echo, etc), that would make really good speakers sound bad even. so, yeah.

but, all that aside, $400 is enough to get a decent HT setup if you look around. the all in one HTIB setups (home theatre in a box) that come with all the speakers as part of an all in one dvd/receiver, usually sound about as good as a typical 5.1 pc setup more or less. and theyre definetly not all that expensive either, ~$200 is probably more than enough for one.

as far as whether 7.1 sounds better than 5.1, its biggest advantage is filling in more of the surround sound field with additional ambiances from the sides, that you wouldnt get with 5.1, which only has speakers in front and behind for the most part, which leaves a noticable gap in comparison. movie theatres for instance, have the equivalent of 7.1 surround, in the sense that they have speakers in front, to the sides, and behind.
 
S750 is a very good speaker to go with your PC provided you don't introduce any additional devices to the speaker system. If you want to share your new speaker with other entertainment devices, I suggest you get a DDTS-100 or any standalone AV system.
 
knowing its a htib set, the biggest question i have then is if youre going to be able to make use of the multiple hdmi connections on it. since the amplifier i would guess is probably taking up around $200+ of the total cost. looking through the online manual, they have one half page devoted to its speakers, and the remaining 59 pages devoted mainly to 2 different amplifier models. just based on that alone, and the limited info on the speakers themselves, it does seem you can do a lot better, if youre going for sound quality over connectivity.

if you need the hdmi connections though (such as for watching bluray and hddvd discs, assuming you have a compatible player already), then i guess you cant argue with the price too much.
 
ah right, all i need is a optical in and a white and red input for my tv. supporting DTS and DD. I dont need all the HDMI inputs. does it seem like a waste then? is there anything better?
 
sorry took so long to respond...

but definetly. though most receivers will come with at least a few different connections, which given what youre looking for, is almost guaranteed to be overkill anyhow, unless you find other things you may want to connect later on too, such as you may want to later dedicate it to being strictly a home theatre setup, maybe in a living room for example when they outlive the life of your pc, which is something that you really cant do well at all with pc speakers. but that aside, heres some ideas for the receiver and speakers:

Sony 5.1 A/V Receiver - $118 (i added this afterwards, it comes with HDMI support too, coincidentally)
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DG510-Home-Theater-Receiver/dp/B000OG6I8S/ref=sr_1_1/104-0650996-8529545?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192337087&sr=1-1

Sony 6.1 A/V Receiver - $140
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-STR-DG500-Channel-Theater-Receiver/dp/B000ETYO7C/ref=sr_1_8/104-0650996-8529545?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192331750&sr=1-8

Sony Center Channel - $88
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SSC-N5000-Center-Channel-Speaker/dp/B000OGA81Q/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-0650996-8529545?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192331074&sr=1-1

Sony Center Channel and Satellite Pair - $55
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SSC-R3000-Channel-Speaker-Package/dp/B000OG88NQ/ref=sr_1_4/104-0650996-8529545?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192331074&sr=1-4

Sony Bookshelves - $49 per pair
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SSB-1000-Book-Shelf-Speakers/dp/B000OG88KY/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_2/104-0650996-8529545

Sony Bookshelves - $85 per pair
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SSB-3000-Shelf-Speakers-Woofer/dp/B000OG6I6A/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-0650996-8529545?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192331074&sr=1-2

Sony Powered Subwoofer - $67
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SA-W2500-Performance-Line-Subwoofer/dp/B000OL3QTW/ref=sr_1_2/104-0650996-8529545?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192330532&sr=1-2

Sony Powered Subwoofer - $120
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SA-W3000-Performance-Line-Subwoofer/dp/B000OL22T2/ref=sr_1_3/104-0650996-8529545?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192335500&sr=1-3


so, depending on how many and which model speakers you might get, youll stay under your $400 budget, possibly by a lot (the cheapest 5.1 speaker/receiver combination came out to $289). if you were to get a surround amp and just a pair of floorstandings ($233 cheapest combination from the list), it will definetly sound better than the $289 5.1 combo, but it offers no surround then either, as its only 2 speakers, you can always add more speakers though, of coarse

and if you later wanted to, you could add a surround back speaker too, since the 6.1 receiver will allow for 6.1 channel dd-ex and dts-es decoding. it might also allow for splitting the single surround back channel into 2 seperate surround back channels, as some 6.1 receivers will allow that, effectively creating 7.1 surround. and so if you later wanted to purchase floorstanding speakers for use as the front speakers, instead of purchasing even more bookshelves, then heres some examples:

Sony 3-way Floorstanding Speakers - $115 per pair
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SS-MF650H-3-Way-Floorstanding-Speakers/dp/B00029U12Q

Sony 4-way Floorstanding Speakers - $175 per pair
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SSF-6000-Floor-Standing-Speaker/dp/B000OG4E20/ref=pd_bbs_3/104-0650996-8529545?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192331074&sr=1-3

(you could also purchase 1 front center channel, 1 floorstanding pair for the fronts, 1 bookshelf pair for the side surrounds, and 1-2 other bookshelf speakers for the back surround(s), and maybe 1 powered subwoofer for more additional bass that you can position elsewhere, such as closer to where a person might be sitting; floorstandings effectively replace the need for a seperate sub, but a seperate sub can be helpful as well, if you need additional low frequencies)


as far as 5.1 satellite and sub setups, heres a set that was given to me as a gift at christmas, it was purchased for $200 in 2003 at best buy, this online retailer is selling them for $350 though, probably because theyre no longer available. they had sold for as much as $800 at some places, but i really cant imagine anyone having paid that much for them

Sony 5.1 Satellites and Sub
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SA-VE445H-5-1-Channel-Surround-Speaker/dp/B000095R9P/ref=sr_1_1/104-0650996-8529545?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1192333205&sr=1-1

so a pair of the above listed 3-way floorstandings 2 years later really helped to smooth out the remaining range that the satellites and sub were lacking by themselves, it was a significant improvement, to say the least.


but, all of the above listed speakers are matched fairly well as far as specs and such, being as how theyre all from the same relative range of models. frequency range, materials used, and all that, meaning they should all sound pretty similar to one another... i guess even colors are matched for that matter too, from an aesthetic POV.
 
i like all of them, but the only problem is I'm from the UK so i cant get the any of the speakers, i can only get the two two sony amps, which are more than twice that than in the US. 140 pounds and 160 pounds. and i cant get any of the speakers on ne pair which are pu of stock for the next 2 months. what can i get which is here in the UK, budget of £300 pounds, more if its worth it.

Thank you!
 
yeah, i wasnt sure if those models would be available to you, theyre just some basic guidelines to go by. also to show that if youre going to spend that amount on speakers, you really shouldnt go with anything less than higher quality, aka, HT range sound. pc speakers are more if youre on a constraint of some kind, either space limitations (which is why satallites were introduced), or a more limited budget, such as under ~$200 even.

i know a few of the etailers shipped internationally, cuz each item had like, ~6 or so seperate stores that sold them...

the 3-way floorstandings for example ship internationally:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00029U12Q/ref=dp_olp_2/104-6976674-8155100

though shipping is going to be a pain, looking at the price of shipping alone... $115 for the speakers, but shipping is almost half that, $54. so i guess if you take shipping into account for each item, you might overrun your budget by a bit, which isnt going to work then. so, the speakers are definetly worth it, no doubt (also because of the lifespan they have, ~20+ years, which is going to definetly outlive the usefulness of your pc), and many times theyre affordable, but, you may have to make some cuts if you this route from these etailers, either going with much higher quality 2 channel sound, which may be ideal given the cost constraints unfortunately (again, shipping cost is the biggest problem here, moreso than the cost of the actual speakers)... or lower quality 5.1 satellite/sub surround, which would also work. whichcase, the 5.1 HTIB you chose would seek to work given what you need, thinking about it again.

theres also ebay in the UK, if youre open to that. and you can definetly find some affordable deals on HT speakers. but again, its ebay.
 
plus in the UK they add tax like mad! so the 125$ speakers would cost be about 250-300$. which is about £125 pounds!!! I'll just need to search in the UK as import tax is mad!

I can increase my budget as like you said these speakers will last a number of years.

I'll just see what i can gt, as none of the shops sell speakers at my price.

Thank you
 
from what i can tell, it looks pretty decent. going by the speaker weight and dimensions, it looks like they should have fair amount of excursion, meaning you shouldnt need to turn the volume up by much to get a satisfactory listening experience. and because of their dimensions and weight, they most likely contain drivers that 'should' handle both mid/upper-mid and high frequencies well. and the receiver has everything you need too, 100w per channel is definetly enough to drive the satellites well, and all the connectivity options you need are there, and then some. the sub is probably okay at best though, it should be enough to provide adequate bass, as long as its not turned up loud, as itll probably bottom out and clip at higher volumes. just a guess anyhow, based on its dimensions, weight, and rated output, though i could be wrong.

but, as far as the sub being up loud, you may not need to turn it up much at all anyhow, because the receiver has an auto adjust mic that can tune all the speaker volumes to the appropriate levels, so theyre all balanced with one another, regardless of where theyre placed.
 
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