I want to buy some new speakers, 5.1 ones. Which set should I buy?

could you provide some more info?

such as, are you looking at computer speakers? what sound card do you have now?

or are you trying to buy speakers for a home theatre? do you have any existing equipment?

how much are you willing to spend?
are there any brands you are familiar / comfortable with?

also, where do you live? some equipment might not be available in your country.

i'm sure as this discussion progresses, there will be a lot of other questions being asked.

Ok, my mistake. These speakers would be for my computer. Right now I have a Soundblaster Live! card, but in addition to speakers I might get an Audigy 2 if the speakers don't cost me too much. I don't wish to spend much more than $300 total.

The Aperion Intimus 5.1 System got Cnet's highest rating, and is editors choice.

http://reviews.cnet.com/Aperion_Intimus_5_...ml?tag=pdtl-img

I am just going to repeat what has been said by many others in this forum. If you are serious about audio playback quality with your computer for music, Creative cards should be avoided and M Revolution, or Terratec cards should be considered. If gaming is as important, or more important than audio listening, then you go for the Creative Audigy 2.

well, take a look at how much he's willing to spend on his speakers. he's got $300, and may spend a portion of it on an Audigy 2 if he's got money left over.

i currently have a $2000 sound system, which my Creative SB Live is connected to by headphone -> rca cable, and am pretty happy with it. the only thing that bothers me about the setup is that i need to turn up the subwoofer volume on my receiver when i'm listening to music from the computer, and turn it down if i'm listening to a CD from my panasonic dvd player (connected with optical cable).

if you ask me, he's best off spending the whole $300 on a set of speakers, because he's not really going to get a big audible difference from swapping out the card at his price range. the cost of the card will take out too much from the cost of the speakers in my opinion.

personally, i'd rather get a pair of killer stereo speakers for that price, but it sounds like maybe he's planning on playing games or watching movies on his pc, and not really listening to music. please elaborate more on your uses for the speakers so we can give better suggestions, warkrime.

Edit: more replies below...


once again, look at his price range. those speakers cost nearly 5x what he's willing to spend.


Sorry that I don't have a recommendation of my own, as I haven't even looked at computer speakers in a long time, but I'm trying to help 'moderate' the discussion in a way to help you more.

no offence paranoos, but I wouldn't take your opinion on soundcards very seriously if you haven't tried anything better than an sblive. warkrime maybe shouldn't buy a new soundcard with his budget as he wouldn't notice a big difference, but if your $20k were well spent, you should be able too..

I agree about getting a pair of good stereo speakers tho..

ever since i got my sound system, i intended to get an M-Audio Revolution with a new PC once i have a job. i was a student when i bought my speakers, and i'm sure you'll understand when i say i had no more money after that i just graduated, and am looking forward to having some cash in the bank again.

besides, my current implementation doesn't sound terrible at all. the lack of bass/treble controls in linux probably improves the quality of the sound, as i find it impossible to find the right balance in windows. and i have tweaked the volume to eliminate most distortion and clipping in the card. if i raise the volume any more, it sounds awful, and perhaps that's how the card got such a bad reputation.

back on topic though, my mention of the sb live being "good enough" however was really just meant to keep our friend warkrime from buying into the M-Audio fanaticism on this board, because it would be foolish of him to waste money on a new card when nicer speakers would benefit him much more, and i'm glad you agree with me on this.

Toms Hardware has a recent review of Speakers that you may be find useful.
http://www.tomshardware.com/video/20031222/index.html

They also have a recent review of the Audigy 2 card.
http://www.tomshardware.com/video/20031007/index.html

I think people have mis-read your post as "new HI-FI speakers." If you want to stay low in price, I say go for the M-Audio Revolution 7.1 (http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.main&ID=0ed0405324041d8025a955aa6ae2db1c) sound card instead of the Audigy2, and some Klipsch ProMedia 5.1s (http://store.klipsch.com/details.asp?ProdID=46). Your total price will be $320 without shipping which is a little over what you originally wanted, but for a PC audio system, will ROCK.

I'll put in a vote for Logitech Z-640 - very happy with the sound from them especially for a <$100 set I think it is an excellent choice, handles classical->Heavy Rock and movies. Leaves you a few dollars to get other stuff